Defense - one issue which has killed ius

[bfair]

Danny and staff (who I love) why for years do our 4s and 5s play man to man 40 feet from the basket. I’m sorry but no one here can make a case for this.

We lose rim protection covering guys who don’t want to and can’t shoot from three point line anyway. We give up stupid fouls by our bigs in years past! Most importantly our team is constantly chasing and closing out and recovering on def. Off screens. We often end up with a mismatch and/or unbalanced defense on a shot. next game watch and tell me this isn’t just silly.

You want to beat us. High screens on the ball with a guard and a big and eventually you get a mismatch. There is zero reason to cover a 5 with Sanango 60 feet from the basket.

I know we are a good rebounding team and lead in blocked shots and in general I love our defense and our intensity on that end but take our bigs off the ball so far away from the basket and we give up less 3s and we get more balanced on defense and give up less silly fouls (ie polly last year).

It may seem like a minor issue to most but I bet it changes our w/l line for sure .. just my opinion and I know the game .

 

[bmayuc]

An interesting observation that I'll wait to see the stats on as the season goes along - when Clingan is in the game they do play more flat ball screen defense because he's just too big to be out there high-hedging. And to my eyes our defense has looked much better in those situations - we have more rim protection (something Clingan is just better at than Sanogo full stop), and their offense gets fewer seams to attack the basket and force rotations and fouls. You may give up a few more 3s off the dribble but those are lower quality shots anyway.

Something to watch as the season progresses

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

With the size and athleticism of the guards/wings we'll have once Hawkins and Jackson return (Newton, Hawkins and Jackson all being 6'5"/6'6") and with Karaban (6'8")/Johnson when he returns we will not need to deploy our center out at the top of the key. I hope this becomes evident because if we can solve that, our D has a chance to be very good.

 

[Excalibur]

He knows the game, but doesn't know that "60 feet from the basket" would be just above the three point line -- in the backcourt . . .

I actually like the fact that we're mixing up our high ball screen defense, generally to match personnel (Sanogo can hard hedge, Clingan can't). Although even Sanogo wasn't hedging hard all the time, either.

I thought that Clingan struggled a bit with the pick and roll yesterday -- he got caught in between a few times and gave up some layups because of it, but his size and mobility can erase a lot of those mistakes.

 

[navery12]

We do it with Sanogo because he's really good at it, and it's effective. We don't do it with Clingan because he struggles with it, and it's ineffective. That's exactly how it should be

 

[REB1094]

Good thing modern coaches hate midrange jumpers, because it’s open every single time on the drop coverage. Not much we can do about that though, since Clingan rightfully will never high hedge.

Ideally the guards get better fighting around those screens, but we are also missing our two best perimeter defenders (although Alleyne is making a STRONG case to take over that top spot)

Stonehill shot 35%, BU 34%, and Buffalo 43%. Not bad

 

[husky429]

We do it with Sanogo because he's really good at it, and it's effective. We don't do it with Clingan because he struggles with it, and it's ineffective. That's exactly how it should be

I'd still like to see Clingan get some reps in blowouts or low-impact situations hard hedging if we can. He's our center of the future, and the more PnRoll coverages we can throw at teams, the better.

 

[elmcityboy]

i am guessing that hurley asked the bigs to hedge during this game because buffalo is so bad with turnovers -- i think clingan may have tried once, given up a wide open layup, and stopped -- but in general, they have been playing waaay more drop coverage this year.

i don't know where your point about "mismatches" comes from, because we haven't done very much switching of the pick-and-roll at all. i would actually like to see us try switching 1 - 5 a little bit with sanogo, just to see if he can move his feet with a guard this year. maybe they are waiting to get andre back before trying it?

 

[MJKI]

Sanogo has proven he can run a hard hedge. It's clearly effective when run right; Whaley excelled at this under Hurley. Hard hedge+proper defense rotation will lead to a lot of turnovers or forcing the other team to start their sets with 15 seconds instead of 25 seconds.
The part that worries me is the team is still new to Danny's defensive system, so there will be some kinks getting the help rotation right without over committing

 

[Umami Zen]

Argument could be made that three of our better defenders have been injured.. Once we have them back.. We'll be fine.. In the meantime.. It is what it is.. Not bad results from the opponent's FG % perspective.. Should be closer to full strength as we exit the cupcake part of the schedule.

 

[husky429]

i am guessing that hurley asked the bigs to hedge during this game because buffalo is so bad with turnovers -- i think clingan may have tried once, given up a wide open layup, and stopped -- but in general, they have been playing waaay more drop coverage this year.

i don't know where your point about "mismatches" comes from, because we haven't done very much switching of the pick-and-roll at all. i would actually like to see us try switching 1 - 5 a little bit with sanogo, just to see if he can move his feet with a guard this year. maybe they are waiting to get andre back before trying it?

Certainly no reason to avoid switching 1-4. Newton, Alleyne, Diarra can guard most anyone 6'6 and under with reasonable effectiveness, and Karaban is pretty switchable as well... just a bit more undisciplined/laterally quick defending the drive so far.

 

[coachn]

Our defense vs the 3 has been great with our big guards.
Waiting to see how this holds up in Oregon.