Is UCONN's defense REALLY that good?

[EricLA]

First of all I want to say emphatically that yes it is. But something occurred to me while watching ECU that I've not seen addressed before, at least not in the same conversation as "good defense".

I noticed that a good number of times vs. ECU that they actually ran really good offense and did get an open shot. I'm not referring to the block party that Kiah (mostly) and Breanna were part of, but open mid range jumpers. Even some drives to the basket when Kiah was not close enough to block.

The problem is that none of these kids could put the ball in the basket. Open shots don't mean squadoosh if you can't get the ball to go thru the hoop... and that brings me to my point.

Geno said, several years ago at least, that he likes to recruit kids who know how to put the ball in the basket. That's why it's called "basketball". His point being that he likes to recruit kids who really know how to score. One of the reasons UCONN scores so many points every game (besides the fact that they really do run terrific offense) is because all the players are really good at scoring from wherever their comfort zone is.

Contrast that to teams like Kentucky or Duke (or Tennessee) who even often struggle to even make layups. And look at ECU last night - they did actually get open shots. Their players simply could not get the ball to go in.

I know there are exceptions to my main point. UCONN is not the only team who has players who can score. ND has Loyd for example. Kentucky has O'Neill. There are scorers on almost every team. The problem is none of those teams can put 5 on the court at the same time...

 

[AnotherVolFan]

I constantly say thats the problem with Tenn, its not the actual offense itself....we get open shots from the offense, the players just can't put the ball in the basket! I completely agree with your post...you can run the BEST offense in the country and get countless open shots but if you don't have players who know how to put the ball in the basket....what's the point!

 

[DobbsRover2]

I know there are exceptions to my main point. UCONN is not the only team who has players who can score. ND has Loyd for example. Kentucky has O'Neill. There are scorers on almost every team. The problem is none of those teams can put 5 on the court at the same time...

And please tell me again why that is a problem? I see no problem there at all, in fact it seems a point of profound contentment for me.

ECU was averaging around 40% shooting going into last night and is now below 39%, so it is one of UConn's less potent offensive opponents that are much better on defense. Those kinds of teams have particularly tough times against UConn.

 

[EricLA]

I constantly say thats the problem with Tenn, its not the actual offense itself....we get open shots from the offense, the players just can't put the ball in the basket! I completely agree with your post...you can run the BEST offense in the country and get countless open shots but if you don't have players who know how to put the ball in the basket....what's the point!

I wonder what the problem/solution is? I know that there are tons of kids who score thousands of points in high school and most of them go to schools not named UCONN. So what happens in college? I should have used Graves as an example too because she shoots close to 50%. It's sort of mystifying that Harrison only shoots 42% since I bet more of her shot attempts are layups than anything else.

There's not a single UCONN starter (or including Kiah and Gabb) who has a FG% that is under 50%. And Chong, a guard, is 44%. I do think part of it is the guards for UCONN - Geno says we are a "terrible" passing team, but it's great passes that helps get Tuck very easy high % shots that she makes all the time. Same goes for Stewie when she's in the post.

Anyway interesting points - I wonder why some of these kids are scoring machines in HS but struggle in college. Some of it has to be better competition in college, but why then, do the college kids suddenly seem to miss so many open shots?

 

[DobbsRover2]

In HS and for most players shooting 50%+, the key is simply getting a lot of layups, because it is much harder to keep the shooting north of 50% if you don't get a lot of easier ones to compensate for the mid range misses. Now in college, one thing that coaches know is a must is that you have to teach and practice a tough defense that will at least give yourself a chance of winning. Getting back on defense and shutting down the paint and making teams shoot jumpers is the standard strategy. So those easy lay ups the players got in HS are much harder to get. And there just aren't that great a supply of players with the balance and form to shoot high percentages on jumpers with hands being waved in their faces. Players with the incredible balance and perfect form of KML are incredibly rare.

 

[xHunt3r]

...Geno says we are a "terrible" passing team, but it's great passes that helps get Tuck very easy high % shots that she makes all the time...

Geno exaggerates all the time... they specifically (and are on record saying so) only recruit players that are good at passing. But of course, once you get to UConn... you're "terrible"... at everything... until February, when your "OK" at it... and then just before tournament time you're the "very very good." Surprisingly!! this pattern repeats every year.

 

[meyers7]

I wonder what the problem/solution is? I know that there are tons of kids who score thousands of points in high school and most of them go to schools not named UCONN. So what happens in college?

Anyway interesting points - I wonder why some of these kids are scoring machines in HS but struggle in college. Some of it has to be better competition in college, but why then, do the college kids suddenly seem to miss so many open shots?

Being "open" in HS and being "open" in college are probably quite different. Kids are much quicker and close down open shooters very quickly in college. I don't imagine (I don't watch a lot of/much HS ball) it's like that in HS.

 

[CocoHusky]

Eric,
I disagree with conclusion but strongly agree with your analysis. UCONN’s defense is that good! Shooting can be significantly improved across WCBB.
On January 11, 2015 there were 18 teams ranked in the top 25 played. Only 4 of the 18 teams (ND, WF, UCONN and Minnesota) shot better than 50%. Two of the four teams (WF and Minnesota) lost. On this same Sunday there was a game featuring a pair of teams both ranked in the 10, the winner shot 33% the loser shot 34%. If you fast forward and do the same analysis 1 week later on January 18th 2015 when 14 teams playing ranked in the top 25. Only 3 of the 14 teams (UCONN, Minnesota and UNC) shot better than 50%. So I completely agree with you that even on top 25 teams there are too many poor shooters. There is one team currently ranked in the top 10-been there all season-that has shot over 50% in exactly 1 game this year. Same team once shot 30% against an unranked team (< top 100) and won the game handily. I think this is what makes some WCBB un-watchable.
Because we have so many poor shooters in WCBB does not mean that UCONN’s (or any team) defense should get less credit or praise. When I watch & access the UCONN defense I’m looking for a couple things and I am rarely disappointed. Multiple individual efforts, understanding of the defensive game plan and your individual role in it, proper technique and rotations. I occasionally see the same thing you do-opposing players getting open shot. But here is what I almost never ever see: the same UCONN player getting beat the same way twice. Some of this is Geno yanking then but much more of it is simple basketball IQ. Quite honestly when I see a player get an open shot against the UCONN defense I chalk it up to mostly the UCONN scouting report that says “we will live with that shot, by that player, from that spot on the floor because we are trying to take something else away". Sometimes it’s perfect execution by the other team. The first two possessions by ECU last night was “perfectly” executed offense against good/great UCONN defense.

 

[Aluminny69]

The answer is: Your practices have to approximate your games. It it one thing to go in an empty gym, and take repetitive shots. It is a whole other ball game to shoot while under pressure. So, I would guess that the problem is that other team's practices do not approach the intensity of game situations. Now, what some lazy coaches do is run their offense around those who do shoot well. So, if you just shut the scorers down, you have effectively shut down the team. The correct coaching approach is to get everyone on the team comfortable with shooting. Do not let one or two players dominate the shooting in practice. Like many things in coaching, it's a lot easier said than done.

BTW, have you noticed how virtually every announcer, after having seen UConn's practices before a game, come away awestruck. This implies that, not only are UConn's practices intense, but that other teams are not putting that much effort into their practices. And Announcers notice the difference.

 

[Sonny44]

Well there's no defense against free throws. How could a kid make 95% in high school and only 50% in college? Roughly.

 

[Zorro]

I don't know where the rumor about Gabby shooting 95% on FTs in HS. I just checked, because it did not sound reasonable, and in the 13 games she was able to play in her senior year, she shot 35/54, or 65%.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Are the men that much better shooting % wise? Granted, they have a good 50-year head start, so they SHOULD be better.... and they're taller, so it's a different angle...

 

[DobbsRover2]

Well there's no defense against free throws. How could a kid make 95% in high school and only 50% in college? Roughly.

Just because the Husky FT defense is down a little bit this year (-1.4% worse) doesn't mean there's no defense against FTs. The loss of last year's two FT defense mavens Stef with her goofy looks and Bria with her freezing stares is something that UConn has to find an answer for if they hope to really mess up the FT shooter in the second half of the season. If MoJeff can sneak in low and unobserved and tie some shoe laces together, the Huskies should be able to get the FTs down to 65% again.

And no Gabby has never been a good FT shooter, though this year she has struggled even more than her past usual 2 of 3. The same extendable frame that allows her to pull down so many impossible rebounds may also have a few too many moving muscles when she steps to the FT line. But someone had suggested she might do better and not bounce so many off the back of the rim if she steped a foot or two back from the line. Or she might try banking them in as her standard technique.

 

[UcMiami]

A couple of points:
Getting an open shot is not the same as getting a good shot. Uconn's defense is pretty good at taking away the things the opponent wants to do. If player A is a three point specialist who loves the corner three, Uconn will make sure she does not get that open look - she may get open for a foul line pull-up, or even for a three from the elbow - shots that they don't like and don't practice and don't shoot well. Player B might like those shots, but will find herself guarded tightly there while she may be wide open for the corner three. (And yes the scouting and coaching is that good.)

Uconn has always done a good job of identifying the best scorers and making life especially hard for them.

With the general frustration of finding it hard to get the shots they want and usually falling further and further behind, players start jacking up any open shot they get whether it is good or not, in the flow or not. They also end up rushing the shots.

 

[johnnyc]

First off yes UConn's defense is that good. In fact their offense runs off it's defense. And yes UConn can put the ball in the basket but it sure helps when you can get close to the basket. UConn always wins the points in the paint battle. As far as teams getting open shots.....well they might be open but on the perimeter so still might not be good shot selection.

 

[CocoHusky]

I don't know where the rumor about Gabby shooting 95% on FTs in HS. I just checked, because it did not sound reasonable, and in the 13 games she was able to play in her senior year, she shot 35/54, or 65%.

Elzo,
The 95% was from an article quoting her father and he was talking about AAU not high school.

"His { Gabby's Father} only criticism is her free-throw shooting. She hit free throws at a 95 percent clip in AAU ball; now she's at 43 percent (19-of-44).

The full article is here.
http://www.rgj.com/story/sports/201...lliams-making-impact-uconn-freshman/22303489/

 

[Geno-ista]

Well there's no defense against free throws. How could a kid make 95% in high school and only 50% in college? Roughly.

The foul line is farther in college- obviously!

 

[DobbsRover2]

Elzo,
The 95% was from an article quoting her father and he was talking about AAU not high school.

"His { Gabby's Father} only criticism is her free-throw shooting. She hit free throws at a 95 percent clip in AAU ball; now she's at 43 percent (19-of-44).

The full article is here.
http://www.rgj.com/story/sports/201...lliams-making-impact-uconn-freshman/22303489/

It would be strange for a player's high school FT shooting to be so at odds with that incredible figure cited by the dad, which is better than every single college player in the nation. I know from personal experience that fathers sometimes misremember things about their daughters' performances, and I would take Mr. Williams' statement to mean more that Gabby once shot FTs a lot better, than that he actually has AAU stats showing her at that extreme 95%.

After the operations on the knee and likely some growth spurts that could have messed up the old FT routine a bit, she might very well have lost some of her touch, or like he says, she just needs to relax more and and take something off the shot and put some backspin on it.

Looking at her AAU track records, Mr. Williams would be right if he said that Gabby won 95% of her 100m hurdle races and high jump matches in Nevada meets, because she could fly very fast and very high. Almost a shame she had to give that all up just to become a Husky ball player.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Some BYers know more precisely, but I think that Gabby shot FTs at about 65% in high school. Her form is good, and almost all her misses are straight on and 2-3" too long. She can adjust.

Actually, there are things that we can do for FT defense:

Get the leading FT shooters in foul trouble.

Foul only the weak FT shooters.

Run the team into the ground, so that their shooting form suffers from fatigue.

 

[reno tony]

This picture was taken during last years N.C. game. It tells me all I need to know about UCONN's defense.

 

[DobbsRover2]

The foul line is farther in college- obviously!

In Gabby's case, it seems like they actually moved the line in on her, because all of her misses are a little long.

 

[reno tony]

In Gabby's case, it seems like they actually moved the line in on her, because all of her misses are a little long.

She played H.S. ball in Reno, NV which is approximately 4,800 ft elevation. The air is lighter in Reno than the air in CT so when she shoots she is probably over-compensating for the different weight in the ball. Or something like that.

 

[xHunt3r]

I don't know where the rumor about Gabby shooting 95% on FTs in HS. I just checked, because it did not sound reasonable, and in the 13 games she was able to play in her senior year, she shot 35/54, or 65%.

Her father was quoted saying she shot 95% in AAU.

http://www.rgj.com/story/sports/201...lliams-making-impact-uconn-freshman/22303489/

 

[Vowelguy]

It may be the level of talent in the conference: ....

Drawing inferences from games in this horrible conference is questionable. These teams are bad. It's like playing Providence every night.

 

[cabbie191]

She played H.S. ball in Reno, NV which is approximately 4,800 ft elevation. The air is lighter in Reno than the air in CT so when she shoots she is probably over-compensating for the different weight in the ball. Or something like that.

I'm really tempted to toss in a quip about the Patriots moving here so they won't need to deflate balls in the future (and for the record, I'm not convinced they did) but don't want to mess up their Super Bowl chances with bad mojo.