Vital = Linehan? | The Boneyard

Vital = Linehan?

OkaForPrez

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6 steals in the exhibition, 7 tonight. Fluke or luxury of a new defensive scheme? 1.4 per game for the first 3 years of his career. Something to watch.
 

intlzncster

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Don't insult Linehan like that. And I'm not insulting Vital by saying that either.

John Linehan is one of the best defensive players in big east history.
 
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Taliek probably still sees Linehan swiping the ball away in his sleep.
 

Fishy

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Linehan was a tremendous on-ball defender - truly a malevolent dwarf. Really a horror to play against.

Vital is opportunistic and he does get into the passing lanes well on occasion, but he’s not a particularly good defender.
 
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I remember JC having Ben bring the ball up to give Taliek a break vs. Linehan.
 
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Fishy has it spot on. Linehan was in a league of his own on defense. I mean think back to 2014 and Florida's guards and Kentucky's too. I mean when Boat was out d'ing them coming over half court there were guys literally afraid to put the ball on the floor and their offensive flow started too far back. He would be your only comparison to Linehan at all but the Friar did it for so long and all game, he was tremendous. When you need to use your body to keep them off as a PG rather than using the crossover or the spin you aren't getting your offense going. Well with Linehan it was like that all game. You could only hope for foul trouble they guy was the largest (or smallest) pest I've ever seen guarding PGs 1 on 1.
 
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Fishy has it spot on. Linehan was in a league of his own on defense. I mean think back to 2014 and Florida's guards and Kentucky's too. I mean when Boat was out d'ing them coming over half court there were guys literally afraid to put the ball on the floor and their offensive flow started too far back. He would be your only comparison to Linehan at all but the Friar did it for so long and all game, he was tremendous. When you need to use your body to keep them off as a PG rather than using the crossover or the spin you aren't getting your offense going. Well with Linehan it was like that all game. You could only hope for foul trouble they guy was the largest (or smallest) pest I've ever seen guarding PGs 1 on 1.

Don't take it too far. While they had different styles, he wasn't in Ricky Moore's league defensively.
 
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Don't take it too far. While they had different styles, he wasn't in Ricky Moore's league defensively.

Hate to tell you yeah he was. And they did have different styles Ricky much more physical but both impacted the defense tremendously with their style. He was in his league no doubt but I love Ricky too.
 

HuskyHawk

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Hate to tell you yeah he was. And they did have different styles Ricky much more physical but both impacted the defense tremendously with their style. He was in his league no doubt but I love Ricky too.

Ricky could guard more guys due to size, strength. Linehan had quicker hands.

Vital isn't in the ballpark of either of them. He gets steals in part because he gambles, which leads to him also losing his man and giving up easy baskets. I was pleased that against Florida he gambled less and played overall better defense, which resulted in fewer steals. Vital is not a player you can judge by a boxscore.
 
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We need to get to the point where Hurley sends these guys to jail for stealing. :cool:
 

RichZ

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Hate to tell you yeah he was. And they did have different styles Ricky much more physical but both impacted the defense tremendously with their style. He was in his league no doubt but I love Ricky too.
Ricky played defense with his head and his legs. He knew how to take options away from the offensive player and force him to go the direction he wanted him to, then beat him to the spot.
Linehan played it with his hands. He seemed to touch the ball on every possession. Sometimes he stole it, but even the tiny deflections that don't result in a change of possession disrupt the offense.
Linehan created more steals than Ricky.
But Ricky shut scorers down way more than Linehan.

We have been very, very fortunate to have had three of the best one-on-one defenders ever on our team, in Lyman, Ricky and Boat. Providence had one, but he felt like he played as long as all three of ours put together.
 
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Ricky played defense with his head and his legs. He knew how to take options away from the offensive player and force him to go the direction he wanted him to, then beat him to the spot.
Linehan played it with his hands. He seemed to touch the ball on every possession. Sometimes he stole it, but even the tiny deflections that don't result in a change of possession disrupt the offense.
Linehan created more steals than Ricky.
But Ricky shut scorers down way more than Linehan.

We have been very, very fortunate to have had three of the best one-on-one defenders ever on our team, in Lyman, Ricky and Boat. Providence had one, but he felt like he played as long as all three of ours put together.

The three best defensive guards I've ever seen are Ricky, Linehan and Travis Walton (MSU 2009). I still think Ricky was the best. I compared him to Deion Sanders in his prime. Much like Deion would take even the best receivers in the league out of the game, with Ricky you could pick one guy on the other side and make him a complete non-factor to the point that they were playing 4 on 5 on offense. Linehan was incredibly disruptive but you could only put him on point guards.

Walton is the closest guy I've seen to Ricky. He basically erased AJ Price in our Final Four matchup.
 
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Ricky played defense with his head and his legs. He knew how to take options away from the offensive player and force him to go the direction he wanted him to, then beat him to the spot.
Linehan played it with his hands. He seemed to touch the ball on every possession. Sometimes he stole it, but even the tiny deflections that don't result in a change of possession disrupt the offense.
Linehan created more steals than Ricky.
But Ricky shut scorers down way more than Linehan.

We have been very, very fortunate to have had three of the best one-on-one defenders ever on our team, in Lyman, Ricky and Boat. Providence had one, but he felt like he played as long as all three of ours put together.

Boat was ridiculously good on D during the 2014 Championship run. His ability to take opposing guards out of their games without getting into foul trouble was incredible to watch. It was the perfect blend of athleticism and determination. One of the reasons that Boat is my favorite all time Husky.
 
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Ricky played defense with his head and his legs. He knew how to take options away from the offensive player and force him to go the direction he wanted him to, then beat him to the spot.
Linehan played it with his hands. He seemed to touch the ball on every possession. Sometimes he stole it, but even the tiny deflections that don't result in a change of possession disrupt the offense.
Linehan created more steals than Ricky.
But Ricky shut scorers down way more than Linehan.

We have been very, very fortunate to have had three of the best one-on-one defenders ever on our team, in Lyman, Ricky and Boat. Providence had one, but he felt like he played as long as all three of ours put together.

Two the best, if not the, defensive shutdowns in Husky uni's were freshman Ricky vs Iverson and Lyman 2nd half NIT semi vs Dana Barros. Entertaining and special defensive outings!!
 

HuskylnSC

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Do you mean "slap the floor" and shout 'bring it" to the opponent Ricky Moore? One of my all-time favorites. It's not just what he did, but what he inspires. None better for setting the defensive attitude of the whole team. How could you not give it all up on defense playing with a guy like that.
 
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1) I forgot about Murdock, who was an outstanding player and defender.

2) Steals is kind of a useless stat. Chis Corchiani couldn't guard a chair, and he's on the all-time top 25 list.

3) Henefeld, had he stayed for all three years of eligibility, was on track for over 400 steals.
 

OkaForPrez

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4 steals today. Averaging more than 3 per on the season.
 

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