Blueprint to Beat the Shockers

[SHOXAAC]

So Reggie Lynch minus the Afro? Ya he'd probably be about the same.

Terrible jokes aside I honestly haven't seen enough of Lynch to say with any kind of certainty. I've watched Darius for two years and like 60 games compared to like 5 games for Lynch. So, I guess my answer to your question is I don't know.

My point being 3 inches is huge (don't let me down now WstateU). I haven't watched Lynch more than 3 times this year, but I look at his shot blocking stats. He assuredly would be less productive and intimidating with 3 less inches (3...2...1 heeeeeeeeeeres WstateU). Height means a lot.

[vancedave56]

IMO, the problem is allowing the opposition to post up to close to the basket (low block). When they post that low, they need to be fronted by DC with help coming from the off-ball side. Can't allow an entry pass that close to the basket especially when we are generally undersized.

[pie n eye]

My point being 3 inches is huge (don't let me down now WstateU). I haven't watched Lynch more than 3 times this year, but I look at his shot blocking stats. He assuredly would be less productive and intimidating with 3 less inches (3...2...1 heeeeeeeeeeres WstateU). Height means a lot.

Tall ain't all. How many blocks does Bush have compared to Shaq? Stutz compared to Hall? Hell Ron Baker to Wamukota or Stutz. Sure it obviously helps to be tall but, in my opinion, shot blocking is as much or more about timing and fundamentals as it is just being tall.

[Dan]

IMO, the problem is allowing the opposition to post up to close to the basket (low block). When they post that low, they need to be fronted by DC with help coming from the off-ball side. Can't allow an entry pass that close to the basket especially when we are generally undersized.

Exactly. Darius doesn't deny the ball at all. He lets his guy catch it and then lets his guy back him down. For as much as we rail on Wamukota, he does one thing very good, he denies the basketball.

[SHOXAAC]

Tall ain't all. How many blocks does Bush have compared to Shaq? Stutz compared to Hall? Hell Ron Baker to Wamukota or Stutz. Sure it obviously helps to be tall but, in my opinion, shot blocking is as much or more about timing and fundamentals as it is just being tall.

I agree tall ain't all. most of the motivation for posting on this thread was jdshock's assessment that post defense "is not about height." It has a good deal to do with height. I should have done a better job in previous posts to state playing post defense is more than blocking shots. Having said that comparing Bush and Shaquille blocks is a joke. Bush as a very small BBIQ due to his basketball experience. He has a weak feel for the nuisances of playing basketball. We could play the Stutz vs. Hall cards till till hell freezes over. If I cared to play, trust me, I could easily come up with more examples of a 3-inch advantage post player being the better defender.

[pie n eye]

IMO, the problem is allowing the opposition to post up to close to the basket (low block). When they post that low, they need to be fronted by DC with help coming from the off-ball side. Can't allow an entry pass that close to the basket especially when we are generally undersized.

That's one way to overcome a height differential. Make sure your man catches the ball as far away from the basket as possible. Do work before he gets the ball. It's how Evan gets away with his height disad. If Darius could D like Evan we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[CBB_Fan]

That's one way to overcome a height differential. Make sure your man catches the ball as far away from the basket as possible. Do work before he gets the ball. It's how Evan gets away with his height disad. If Darius could D like Evan we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Evan is one reason Darius has problems though. If you look at past years you'll see we often were bailed out by help-side shot blocking, which helps offset some of the problems with a small center. Evan can't do that. He has to push his man out of the paint, and even if he was close enough to make a play he doesn't have shotblocking instincts to make plays at the rim (that isn't just height; see: Ron Baker). Wessel is a tremendous 1v1 defender, but I'd rather have Early or Hall if just for the additional rim protection. Don't me wrong, Evan is still our best defensive option by a long shot but he does put a spotlight on Darius. Carter cannot front his man, because if the ball gets in it is guaranteed to score and he struggles to guard bigger players from behind.

As far as Darius goes, his big problem is horizontal. When I said he had to defend larger players with his arms, I was trying to infer that he is much better defending vertically than horizontally. His long arms give him the reach of a much taller player, but his bad back has limited his movement this year (I don't recall him having as many problems last year, though he wasn't the defensive anchor for that team). This is especially obvious when he guards guys with some athleticism, if they catch the ball close the basket he often can't defend their post moves. It isn't pure athleticism though, because Carter is fine jumping to throw down a shot.

3" is just leeway. It won't make a terrible defender great and losing it won't make a great defender terrible, but it will give you a little more wingspan and a little more time. Maybe Darius is a quarter-step slow, and at 6'10" he wouldn't be. Perhaps it forces the opponents to adjust their shot and miss more shots. On some plays it makes an And-1 become 2 shots. A extra finger on the ball that leads to a rebound a game. A no-call with the hands straight up instead of a foul. Little things that add up all game, and less the opponent can exploit. That is the value of 3".

[observations]

GUARDS!!!!!!

I love our guards but they are the reason we get beat on defense. besides the 1 game for tuttle no other big man has had a high scoring game vs us. lynch had 11 points dc 9. george mason big man had 10 pts. utah 12. i dont expect much from the big men. its obvious with 1 returning pf playing center with all freshmen. coleby lufille 23 year old men playing with DC. carl harl was 25 playing with 7 ft sr. we now have shaq 21 dc 22 but i dont expect our guards to shoot so bad and let the other teams guard go for 25. we have all american guards and they bring out the best in other teams players. when they get beat out its not the big men fault. I doubt fred ron tekele are blaming the bigs. The recipe i see is play zone with longer players crowd ron pack it in on bigs force evan fred tekele to hit shots. seems pretty simple seeing as how those are the only 4 returning players. looking at the box score and reading this post doesn't add up. how is defending post going to stop knight from having 25. lynch fouled out wasn't in the game at the end.

[Steeleshocker]

I love our guards but they are the reason we get beat on defense. besides the 1 game for tuttle no other big man has had a high scoring game vs us. lynch had 11 points dc 9. george mason big man had 10 pts. utah 12. i dont expect much from the big men. its obvious with 1 returning pf playing center with all freshmen. coleby lufille 23 year old men playing with DC. carl harl was 25 playing with 7 ft sr. we now have shaq 21 dc 22 but i dont expect our guards to shoot so bad and let the other teams guard go for 25. we have all american guards and they bring out the best in other teams players. when they get beat out its not the big men fault. I doubt fred ron tekele are blaming the bigs. The recipe i see is play zone with longer players crowd ron pack it in on bigs force evan fred tekele to hit shots. seems pretty simple seeing as how those are the only 4 returning players. looking at the box score and reading this post doesn't add up. how is defending post going to stop knight from having 25. lynch fouled out wasn't in the game at the end.

How many fouls did Darius have? This would be the impact of poor defensive footwork. This limits his minutes and keeps him off the floor. But you are right about the perimeter defense and shooting. However, I would hope we don't see another 1 for 7 night for Ron again. He had plenty of open looks and just did not knock them down. Someone who wants to risk that in the big dance does so at their own peril.

I look at the ILS game this way.

It took a guard playing the game of his life plus our coach being sick, plus four outside shooters shooting poorly, plus us being on tired legs, plus our top two post players having foul trouble for a top 100 team to beat us by 3 on a neutral court.

Yeah, we're pretty good.

[pogo]

Shoot, we’d all be ‘stars’ with 3 more inches!

Yaayyy!

We would all be on SoCal makin' movies

[observations]

Knight!!!

Knight had 24 on us once before already this season. smith for Indiana state had 20 outscored baker vanfleet combined. sutherland for bradley 18 pts same as baker vanfleet combined we only win by 3. what is our 3pt defense % ? we talking about post defense?

[Steeleshocker]

Knight had 24 on us once before already this season. smith for Indiana state had 20 outscored baker vanfleet combined. sutherland for bradley 18 pts same as baker vanfleet combined we only win by 3. what is our 3pt defense % ? we talking about post defense?

If it limits our best post player to 17 minutes, then yes.

[Dan]

I'm no defensive guru, but it seems that part of our defensive strategy is shutting down the inside play. This entails having the guards make digs at the center, sort of a quick double down. When this happens, it leaves a perimeter guys open for split second. If the center is good enough, he'll spot the open man and get the shot off. That's why we often see a guard for another team go off on us. I don't think it has as much to do with an individual guard not playing D as it does with the type of defense we use. Marshall would rather take his chances on the 3 ball than let them get easy buckets inside.

[observations]

I dont recall seeing lynch making passes out of the post. indiana state bradley has no post. guards score just fine. tuttle was allowed to take as many dribbles as he liked no double.

[observations]

hawaii had 2 guards 17 pts whitehead 23 pts sterling gibbs 19 pts in 2nd half. I dont recall a big man being doubled passing out. i remember whitehead looking at marshall saying they cant guard me..