WSU vs SMU Game Thread

[CBB_Fan]

Two things that would have helped last night 1. Go small. Play Kelly at the 5, MM and ZB at the 4, and use whatever guard combo you like. This would have enabled us to switch every ball screen which would really have eliminated their entire offence. On offence to we have more shooters and creators on the floor. Too often ZB of MM are our 3rd best ball handlers on the floor they are both better suited playing the 4. 2. The second option would have been to stay big with two bigs in the game and try to mash the ball in side and dominate the boards. But to this you must play ZONE on defence. Willis and SM spent large parts of the night chasing around guards, not a great match up as it eliminates what they do best on the defence which is protect the rim. I don't by that SMU is just a bad match narrative. The great thing about this team is our ability to match up with any team and any style. We can go small or big depending on what the game calls for. However the frustrating thing is we don't show this flexibility game to game.

I don't know about playing that small, but I do agree it would allow us to switch every ball screen. One crucial point is "the third best ballhandler." This is actually the basis for beating a zone. Let me clarify:

Imagine a 2-3 zone like the one SMU played last night. The worst way to attack that defense is a 2-3 offense, with two guards, a wing, and two posts. The defense is sitting right on top of the offense, and doesn't have to move at all when the ball does. So do teams do? They play 3 ball-handlers. Now the 2 guards at the top of the zone have to move. One of them has to come from the side to guard the PG bringing the ball up, one of the back three has to go to the wing.

That's not just how you beat a 2-3 zone, it is how you beat any zone. If they play a 1-3-1, you put 2 guys at the top. If they play a 2-1-2 you play 3. If they play a 2-3, you play 2. You always want to have a different number of ball-handlers than they have backcourt defenders. But when Zach or Markis is our 3rd ballhandler instead of Reaves, we can't pull this off as efficiently. Instead of frantically having to jump between Landry and Conner, the defense can wait to bring up either one of the frontcourt 3 or let the closest of the 2 backcourt players rotate, knowing the best we'll get is a low percentage 3 or a drive with a high chance of a TO. This is why Zach shot so much; he was open. The SMU defenders were cheating on rotations to pressure Landry and Conner more, which they couldn't do against Reaves. Markis finding his shot would also be a gamechanger.

[BOBB]

Yes. They would have let Zach shoot all day until he made them pay repeatedly. Sometimes he makes those wide open shots, but last night was definitely not one of those times. Zach has been a great four year player for us, but last night was not his night offensively or defensively.

[Shaqness]

SMU's zone offense was not that good. We consistently got looks and they provided no pressure to the flasher in the middle. Kelly had a great game just setting in the middle of the zone.

[im4wsu]

Gotta hand it to SMU. KenPom estimated the pace at 60 for the game. According to Nat'l Statistics, Liberty and Louisians-Monroe have the lowest average pace in Div-1 at 60.7. The Shockers are at 72.9. At nearly 13 possessions under our average, we still put up 78 points, just 6.6 below our average per game of 84.6. At our 1.3 offensive efficiency that game, the 12.9 missed possessions would translate into 16.8 points. At our KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency of 118.3, these missed possessions would translate to 15.3 points.

SMU scored 1.38 per possession compared to their KenPiom average of 1.13.

Our offense was good, our defense sucked, statistically.

[Stickboy46]

SMU's Foster is done for the year. Partially torn ACL from the game at CKA

[Play Angry]

SMU's Foster is done for the year. Partially torn ACL from the game at CKA

Ugh.

[Stickboy46]

Yup .. someone put Houston on Medi-Watch. Someone is bound to get hurt soon.

[ShockTalk]

Given he only played 5 minutes against us, it didn't seem to hurt them much.