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The tape slows you down. The tape takes all of the sweeping conclusions you drew during the apex of your adrenaline charge and reduces them to stupors of the coping process. And that coping process is familiar to all of us, as is the emotional letdown that accompanied the loss of Wednesday night's double digit lead. Basketball isn't always as conducive to our attention spans as we would like, though. Small samples can distort or delay resolutions, and those samples become even smaller during high stakes game played between two of the slowest teams in the country. Subtle motions that incorporate the learned skills of players cannot always be appreciated by a game ultimately regulated by percentages; players and coaches spend countless hours probing tape in the hopes of turning a 40% shot into a 50% shot, and when the wheel spins to the wrong outcome, it's more convenient to represent it as something more romantic than percentages.
I suspect we do this because randomness is uncomfortable, but that's what sports are. Work guarantees you nothing but a lottery ticket, and the only reason I preface my post that way is because Kevin Ollie has taken a lot of heat for what sometimes amounts to losing a lottery. Take it from somebody who has been among his biggest critics over the last couple seasons when I tell you the tape invariably depicts Ollie in a better light than the adrenaline. That is both a good and bad thing, but with regards to what he can currently control, it is a good thing. The guy can coach x's and o's with the best of them, and everything that occurs on the court is purposeful and well-measured.
UConn blew a ten point halftime lead in Houston on Wednesday, but they blew it in a way that is unlikely to repeat itself. Gaffes by Purvis and Adams led to multiple transition baskets, easy shots were missed by virtually everybody, and offensive rebounds were conceded by fatigued weak-side guards who didn't come over to help the helper. Structurally, the game plan was sound, and with March approaching, where Ollie's teams perennially play their best basketball, it's clear that the evolution that has already occurred but hasn't been realized yet is a matter of attaining a level of execution that lurks in the shadow of the conferences epicenter, Hartford. Let me show you what I mean:
Watch how Jackson - embracing Meyer's screen - assumes the role of Brimah. Sampson's quest to invert UConn's defense - by pulling Brimah to the three point arch - is negated by Ollie's switch to the match-up zone, with Vital becoming the hedge man. Aside from the obvious benefit of reducing Brimah's range, it allows like bodies to navigate the ball screen. Here, Vital stops the ball, giving Jackson time to re-set, and quickly retreats back to Gray. These are exhibits of superior athleticism that tend to go unnoticed but incur as much value as speed or strength; Vital's ability to tune his footwork to the beat of what is programmed in his head destroys this action and eventually forces Gray to hoist a wild three.
Such a tactic highlights a knack of Ollie's that cannot be overstated: optimizing his personnel to the dimensions of the floor. And in playing the match-up zone, or the 1-2-2, as it took the form of at times, he has maximized the athleticism of his guards - Purvis, Adams, and Vital - in a way that a conventional man-to-man cannot, allowing them to spread their wings on the perimeter and flock to territory as much as players, shifting interchangeably with the precision to kill overloads and with the balance to maintain leverage between ball and man.
This defense isn't especially simple, which is why their adherence to its nuance indicates that Ollie has been thinking about it for a while. The wings pinch up to such extremes that it begins to resemble a one man zone at times, which is exactly the methodology that would align with modern basketball philosophy; spread yourself as thin as possible on the perimeter, blanket the rim with an elite shot blocker, and force them into mid-range isos.
Houston, in their 52 possessions on Wednesday, scored 75 points, or 1.44 points per possession. In the 22 possessions that UConn was in zone, they scored 15 points, or 0.68 points per possession. When they went man, Houston attacked Jackson relentlessly, exposing him as a slow-footed three ill-equipped to guard Houston's speedy guards. They generated a lot of their other offense in transition, off fouls when they were in the one and one, and off offensive rebounds (contrary to popular belief, the majority of these offensive rebounds were out of the man alignment).
In the coming weeks, you can expect to see it more, and in the coming weeks, you can expect UConn's defense to perform at a top 20 level. Kentan Facey's value as a zone defender is enormous - he can close out on shooters in the corner, stay in front of guards, and rebound from the weak side. Amida Brimah deserves an apology from me. I thought he was terrible on Wednesday, but when I watched the game again, he was actually quite passable. This is a zone team.
Steve Enoch is typically quite bad defensively, but the zone hides him in a way that enables him breath much-needed life into an offense absent a competent screener or pick and roll player. Enoch is wide-bodied and far more nimble offensively than he is on the other end. He and Adams have developed something of a rapport in the screen and roll game, a dangerous proposition for defenses limited in the amount of help they can send on Purvis, Jackson, and Vital. Check out all the problems caused here:
This isn't even one of Enoch's better screens, but already we see the dilemma: Facey's screen on the weak side chases Vance's trail defender out of the play, Gray is invisible due to his size, and Enoch's screen forces Meyer down to help. Adams turns the corner, pitches the ball back to Enoch, and watches him sink an elbow jumper before Meyer can scamper back. This would be one of the three consecutive pick and rolls between Adams and Enoch that resulted in baskets. Watch out for that next year.
UConn is not going to win the championship this season, but the charm of college basketball is that every season gives you a chance to feel like a champion for a little bit and every fan base has their opportunity to taste redemption. We've been a laughing stock all season in college basketball. That changes with three days in Hartford next month and it changes tomorrow. That's not a proclamation or a rallying cry. It's not a rallying cry to acknowledge the opportunity confronting you and it's not a rallying cry to watch the tape, review the records of Ollie's teams in postseason play, and believe that the systems he has been cultivating on both ends of the floor for the entire year are going to bite somebody in the ass. Maybe it doesn't happen this time. That's sports. But they've done the work and I've done the work and now you can too. All you have to do is show up tomorrow, and next Sunday, and for however long we play two weeks from now, and you'll have done your job. I don't watch this program for wins and losses, I watch for those few moments every season when the world stops and nothing else matters but getting a stop. With one stop comes another stop and with enough stops comes another game. That's the way it goes. On Wednesday they got a lot of them playing a defense diagrammed by our terrific head coach to fit the talents of our terrific players. Help me help them tomorrow even if that means being irresponsible and socially eccentric. One stop at a time. Let's go.
I suspect we do this because randomness is uncomfortable, but that's what sports are. Work guarantees you nothing but a lottery ticket, and the only reason I preface my post that way is because Kevin Ollie has taken a lot of heat for what sometimes amounts to losing a lottery. Take it from somebody who has been among his biggest critics over the last couple seasons when I tell you the tape invariably depicts Ollie in a better light than the adrenaline. That is both a good and bad thing, but with regards to what he can currently control, it is a good thing. The guy can coach x's and o's with the best of them, and everything that occurs on the court is purposeful and well-measured.
UConn blew a ten point halftime lead in Houston on Wednesday, but they blew it in a way that is unlikely to repeat itself. Gaffes by Purvis and Adams led to multiple transition baskets, easy shots were missed by virtually everybody, and offensive rebounds were conceded by fatigued weak-side guards who didn't come over to help the helper. Structurally, the game plan was sound, and with March approaching, where Ollie's teams perennially play their best basketball, it's clear that the evolution that has already occurred but hasn't been realized yet is a matter of attaining a level of execution that lurks in the shadow of the conferences epicenter, Hartford. Let me show you what I mean:
Watch how Jackson - embracing Meyer's screen - assumes the role of Brimah. Sampson's quest to invert UConn's defense - by pulling Brimah to the three point arch - is negated by Ollie's switch to the match-up zone, with Vital becoming the hedge man. Aside from the obvious benefit of reducing Brimah's range, it allows like bodies to navigate the ball screen. Here, Vital stops the ball, giving Jackson time to re-set, and quickly retreats back to Gray. These are exhibits of superior athleticism that tend to go unnoticed but incur as much value as speed or strength; Vital's ability to tune his footwork to the beat of what is programmed in his head destroys this action and eventually forces Gray to hoist a wild three.
Such a tactic highlights a knack of Ollie's that cannot be overstated: optimizing his personnel to the dimensions of the floor. And in playing the match-up zone, or the 1-2-2, as it took the form of at times, he has maximized the athleticism of his guards - Purvis, Adams, and Vital - in a way that a conventional man-to-man cannot, allowing them to spread their wings on the perimeter and flock to territory as much as players, shifting interchangeably with the precision to kill overloads and with the balance to maintain leverage between ball and man.
This defense isn't especially simple, which is why their adherence to its nuance indicates that Ollie has been thinking about it for a while. The wings pinch up to such extremes that it begins to resemble a one man zone at times, which is exactly the methodology that would align with modern basketball philosophy; spread yourself as thin as possible on the perimeter, blanket the rim with an elite shot blocker, and force them into mid-range isos.
Houston, in their 52 possessions on Wednesday, scored 75 points, or 1.44 points per possession. In the 22 possessions that UConn was in zone, they scored 15 points, or 0.68 points per possession. When they went man, Houston attacked Jackson relentlessly, exposing him as a slow-footed three ill-equipped to guard Houston's speedy guards. They generated a lot of their other offense in transition, off fouls when they were in the one and one, and off offensive rebounds (contrary to popular belief, the majority of these offensive rebounds were out of the man alignment).
In the coming weeks, you can expect to see it more, and in the coming weeks, you can expect UConn's defense to perform at a top 20 level. Kentan Facey's value as a zone defender is enormous - he can close out on shooters in the corner, stay in front of guards, and rebound from the weak side. Amida Brimah deserves an apology from me. I thought he was terrible on Wednesday, but when I watched the game again, he was actually quite passable. This is a zone team.
Steve Enoch is typically quite bad defensively, but the zone hides him in a way that enables him breath much-needed life into an offense absent a competent screener or pick and roll player. Enoch is wide-bodied and far more nimble offensively than he is on the other end. He and Adams have developed something of a rapport in the screen and roll game, a dangerous proposition for defenses limited in the amount of help they can send on Purvis, Jackson, and Vital. Check out all the problems caused here:
This isn't even one of Enoch's better screens, but already we see the dilemma: Facey's screen on the weak side chases Vance's trail defender out of the play, Gray is invisible due to his size, and Enoch's screen forces Meyer down to help. Adams turns the corner, pitches the ball back to Enoch, and watches him sink an elbow jumper before Meyer can scamper back. This would be one of the three consecutive pick and rolls between Adams and Enoch that resulted in baskets. Watch out for that next year.
UConn is not going to win the championship this season, but the charm of college basketball is that every season gives you a chance to feel like a champion for a little bit and every fan base has their opportunity to taste redemption. We've been a laughing stock all season in college basketball. That changes with three days in Hartford next month and it changes tomorrow. That's not a proclamation or a rallying cry. It's not a rallying cry to acknowledge the opportunity confronting you and it's not a rallying cry to watch the tape, review the records of Ollie's teams in postseason play, and believe that the systems he has been cultivating on both ends of the floor for the entire year are going to bite somebody in the ass. Maybe it doesn't happen this time. That's sports. But they've done the work and I've done the work and now you can too. All you have to do is show up tomorrow, and next Sunday, and for however long we play two weeks from now, and you'll have done your job. I don't watch this program for wins and losses, I watch for those few moments every season when the world stops and nothing else matters but getting a stop. With one stop comes another stop and with enough stops comes another game. That's the way it goes. On Wednesday they got a lot of them playing a defense diagrammed by our terrific head coach to fit the talents of our terrific players. Help me help them tomorrow even if that means being irresponsible and socially eccentric. One stop at a time. Let's go.
