I thought the article's contrast with Kelly Harper's approach in Tennessee was quite interesting. She is happy for her team to have blocked shots, but doesn't want to emphasize it or rely on it. She says that she doesn't want to "give up the lane". Geno's argument is not that the defense should give up the lane, but that it can take more risks on the perimeter if there is a reliable shot blocker to clean up the inevitable messes. Previously he has made an analogy to football -- that a team can blitz aggressively if it has defensive backs who can reliably cover their receivers 1-on-1, but can't safely do that if it has to use zone coverage (inherently more passive than man-to-man) in the defensive backfield.
At least according to his own account, Geno had the team playing somewhat passive perimeter defense against Seton Hall, thinking that the Pirates weren't good enough to do damage from beyond the arc. He certainly won't think that about DePaul, so my guess is that he will have his team playing aggressive perimeter defense based on the belief that DePaul can't do damage with penetration. But that means Liv will have to stay out of foul trouble, which she could easily have done (but didn't) in the Seton Hall game.
I thought that Liv's blocks against Notre Dame were more what Geno wants to see -- no fly swatting, the ball kept in play, and no dumb fouls after the very first defensive possession. That first defensive possession turned out to be her only foul of the afternoon against ND.
fivethirtyeight.com
