Chief’s Briefs - DePaul 2 Edition

[Chief00]

I agree our playbook is definitely not deep enough. Hurley has some fantastic sets, but we don't run the basic, simple stuff with precision very often. But Nova isn't running "plays" every time down the court, they're running actions. Slightly different, but an important distinction and one I'd like to see us steal from a bit.

For example, in broken plays 'Nova is ridiculously disciplined with their secondary cutters when a driver gets stopped around the foul line--the always know exactly who is required to cut. It manifests itself looking like a "set play" but it's really just reactions to what the ball does.

You don’t need a lot of plays, just a half dozen plays with multiple read options as you mentioned Villanova runs. Quite frankly, Red Auerbach just had about a 1/2 dozen half court sets but the key was the multiple read options off of each of them. However, he first started with a starting point of running, even after made shots. This puts incredible pressure on the defense and literally puts them back on their heels.

 

[bendm]

 

[UconnU]

Incredible. Whaley is some kind of defender.

 

[Chief00]

Not totally sold on this metric, especially when defense is in transition between switches, but nevertheless it’s an indicator of good defense.

 

[3rdbass]

The same Bredan Adams who gets beat by his man all game long? These metrics seem to be off. Maybe this metric also measures players who play defense like a chicken with his head cut off. LOL!

 

[HooperScooper]

Wow. That's pretty telling.

 

[Hankster]

Yeah well said HH. It's brutal to watch our guards "walk" it up court get over with 22 seconds then be harassed by a defender who makes them back down and throw their first actual pass from the hash mark at 15-17 seconds on the shot clock left. Happened way too much last night and the inability for Cole or Gaffney to take their man off the dribble hurts that. Adams did ok a couple of times, was more aggressive but he's scary with the ball and just isn't a PG. I would consider Bouk taking it up against certain defenses and having Cole off the ball as it will be more effective. And the bigs have been ok until this game feeding each other from the FT line to the low post but last night yikes, awful. Whaley is a solid passer but had a rough night, the others just aren't that good.

I mean it's nice to have concerns after a win isn't it, but they will be magnified vs better teams if improvements aren't made.

Three wins on the road. They had to be beat. They rose to the occasion. Stayed in the game and forth. Good thing that home and away is over. GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!