Is D Efficiency the Elephant in the Room for Our Natty?

[1SE]

Everyone knows that no team has won the natty without top 25 O and D since UCONN in 2014.

Everyone talking about matchups in the bracket - none of them scare me - I think this team can beat any team in the country on a given day. However - winning 6 (5) straight against high quality opponents means little margin for error - part of the reason the champs have both O and D is because if one side of the ball is off on a given night, the other side can compensate.

Is D efficiency our achilles heel for winning it all? I really don't think so - because we've had situationally superb D this year. I think so much of our relatively poor D efficiency number comes from games where we were comfortably in control but playing at a high pace so it became a bit of a track meet. But there are a few games - and a few stretches therein - where it was our D that won the game.

So I think we can buck the trend - of course any champ has to catch a bit of lightning in the bottle, but no reason that can't be us.

[Goose]

1SE

I think that there has been a greater emphasis on D over the past month or so and it has been a big reason for success. They have had stretches that has been outstanding. Granted it was Butler, but they played great D for much of the game on Tuesday night. I have said many times that I believe defense will be the program's calling card in the future and I like the improvement over the past month.

[Heisenberg]

If MU wins against STJ, the BET, and a Natty, that means they will end on something like a 14-game winning streak.

This will probably push their D efficiency into the top 25, and O efficiency to #1 again..

The point is the winner usually ends on a big streak beating tough teams meaning the efficiency numbers end the season on a high.

I have not done it, but I'm guessing if you looked up the O and D efficiencies a week before the regular season was over, you will not see the top 25 in a lot of them. Thinking of UNC last year and UConn ten years ago as two examples,

[panda]

1SE

I think that there has been a greater emphasis on D over the past month or so and it has been a big reason for success. They have had stretches that has been outstanding. Granted it was Butler, but they played great D for much of the game on Tuesday night. I have said many times that I believe defense will be the program's calling card in the future and I like the improvement over the past month.

Defense is much improved the last seven or so games. We've won games on the end of the floor. Keep it up and we're a force to be reckoned with in the tournament.

[MuggsyB]

My biggest concern is Oso orTyKo getting into foul trouble.  I think we've rebounded the ball a bit better in recent weeks but against strong physical teams that may also be a concern.  Defensively I think we've been considerably better the last month.  When Marquette is clicking on all cylinders it's an absolute joy to watch and we can take down anyone.  One other little thing I would like to see is for Oso to axe that little push shot and go up like a normal J from 5-8 feet.   He did that twice vs Butler and looked very comfortable.  That's a shot he can make consistently.  When Kam and Jop are draining threes MU is the most dangerous team in the country.  Ultimately that will be the difference against the top teams imo.