Defense

[im4wsu]

How do you all see these new guys on the defensive end? Will we mix the defenses from MTM and various zones? Is HCGM going to press full time? What type of press? Are we looking to get turnovers in the backcourt or just be a pest?

If zone in halfcourt, what is your preference? one-two-two? two-one-two?
Who would be the point in either one-two-two or three-two?

Is Ellis quick enough to be out front in a zone? He's certainly long enough to really cause some trouble out there. With legitimate athletic height underneath in EO/GS/RC, he could be a real asset at the key.

I'm asking, not prognosticating.

[SubGod22]

If the depth is as good as it seems to be then I'd think GM would press A LOT. And press to cause TOs. He's said in the past that he likes to mix up the Ds. I like the idea of a 3-2 zone with either AJ or Aaron at the top. Long and athletic can cause problems :D

[Maggie]

CGM will press and now it appears he has the athletes to do so properly. Part of setting up that press will be making baskets – something WSU was not so good at last year.

I don't think that CGM has any set way his teams will play defense (unlike Turgeon who was almost exclusively man to man) – it will depend on the match ups. I like CGM because he seems to be able to make decent in game adjustments.

[Snapshot9]

I think we will MTM mostly because of depth and quickness that is available to us this year compared to last year. We have 4 quick guards this year, and last year, I would not call Gal nor Hatch quick. We should benefit a lot more from pressing this coming year, and from trapping.

A 3-2 or 1-2-2 zone would be a good fallback defense, but we have to have good perimeter defense too.

[lilshock]

Coach loves to press. They did it last year with a bunch of slower players than he has had in his teams. I thought they did awsome at it. Anyway with the athletic group we have coming in we are going to lead the league in steals, may not win very many games but should be one of the most fun seasons we will have.

[ShockerKhan]

HCGM knows that forcing turnovers(especially out front) leads to easy baskets. I look for our
guards to pressure and trap out front and our 3's and 4's to be stepping into the passing lanes.
Push the opposing teams guards out past their comfort zone and make them start their offense as far out as possible.
Long scoring runs are usually fueled by defensive pressure and easy baskets off turnovers.

[macshocker2004]

Marshall doesn't really do any normal 3-2 or 2-3 halfcourt presses, I know the zone we used last year looked a lot like a 2-3 but it's not. It's a hybrid form of one, but it's not a true 2-3. You'll see a lot of the same zone defense we played last year, with better results since he has the players that he likes to use this zone with. I'm having a brain fart at the moment and can't remember what he calls it but I was talking to him about it one day while I was at the arena last year and he said that one of the teams he played while he was using the zone at Winthrop, they used it for 25 minutes and they scored 16 points or something like that in the entire time that they were in the zone. After that I paid attention to how many points were scored during games when they were in the zone and he was right, for the most part, they did hold the opposing team to less points than what they were doing in MTM, until JT forgot to rotate over anyway.

[shockmonster]

Match up Zone?

[Bigshotmaker]

With this kind of talent and depth, full court pressure Up tempo all the way,well that's what I like. :clap:

[The Mad Hatter]

While we will mix up defenses, I think that we will see a lot of man to man with hard pressure on the perimeter, and reliance on our 7 footers to guard the lane if the aggressiveness of the guards allows some drives to the basket.

[SubGod22]

While we will mix up defenses, I think that we will see a lot of man to man with hard pressure on the perimeter, and reliance on our 7 footers to guard the lane if the aggressiveness of the guards allows some drives to the basket.

:good:

[macshocker2004]

Yes it's a match up zone, but he has a name for it and I can't remember it

[The Mad Hatter]

While we will mix up defenses, I think that we will see a lot of man to man with hard pressure on the perimeter, and reliance on our 7 footers to guard the lane if the aggressiveness of the guards allows some drives to the basket.

:good:

This is the kind of defense Marshall ran at Winthrop, and the reason we didn't see it last year is that we didn't have the athletes, neither inside nor outside, to do it. Now we do.

Think SIU, but with an offense to go with it. SIU is built on high pressure physical defense, especially on the perimeter, and that is what we will probably be seeing a lot more of out of WSU. My guess is that it is a lot more fun to watch when your team is doing it than when it is being done to you (especially if you match it with an offense that can score more than 40 points per game).