Any news on Orukpe?

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

because outside of PJ nobody the played for Turgeon could block a shot.

[SubGod22]

But Marshall has shot blockers and I know he'll want to use them. Ehimen, Garrett, Aaron, Mantas, AJ and even JT are all capable of redirecting a few. Some on ball and other off. Hopefully baskets are much tougher to come by for our opponents this season.

[SubGod22]

because outside of PJ nobody the played for Turgeon could block a shot.

I would add Jamar to the list.

He is currently in the Top 10

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

because outside of PJ nobody the played for Turgeon could block a shot.

I would add Jamar to the list.

He is currently in the Top 10

I do apologize. Yes Jamar should be in included in that.
Im not even sure how I forgot him.

[SubGod22]

No worries, your point is still very valid.

And with how Miller was quoted a few weeks ago, it sounded as if blocking shots wasn't really on Turgeons to do list.

[rrshock]

No worries, your point is still very valid.

And with how Miller was quoted a few weeks ago, it sounded as if blocking shots wasn't really on Turgeons to do list.

It isn't important to make opposing players reconsider shooting over someone after all, is it?

[wu_shizzle]

No worries, your point is still very valid.

And with how Miller was quoted a few weeks ago, it sounded as if blocking shots wasn't really on Turgeons to do list.

It was eye-opening when Paul said going for blocks wasn't kosher with MT because it meant leaving defensive position.

[Aargh]

A lot of times a blocked shot ends up with the shooting team inbounding, but blocking it into the 15th row is still a good thing. No change of possession = no new shot clock. Next time the guy who got blocked gets the ball in a shooting position, he might remember what happened last time and hesitate just a bit ... or more.

[Ricky Del Rio]

A lot of times a blocked shot ends up with the shooting team inbounding, but blocking it into the 15th row is still a good thing. No change of possession = no new shot clock. Next time the guy who got blocked gets the ball in a shooting position, he might remember what happened last time and hesitate just a bit ... or more.

The message is "Don't bring that #### in here anymore."

[The Mad Hatter]

A lot of times a blocked shot ends up with the shooting team inbounding, but blocking it into the 15th row is still a good thing. No change of possession = no new shot clock. Next time the guy who got blocked gets the ball in a shooting position, he might remember what happened last time and hesitate just a bit ... or more.

There is no inherently better or worse approach on this issue. There are good reasons to go for blocks, as noted above, but MT had a valid point as well.

Just remember the KU-Oral Roberts game a couple of years ago. KU set a record for blocked shots against a way undersized ORU team in that game, but ORU won. Part of the reason was that, even on the blocked shots, ORU often retained possession because the shot blocker either knocked it out of bounds or left rebounding position to block the shot, which left an ORU player to get the loose ball. Another reason is that with defenders flying all over looking for the block, ORU got a lot of easy shots by head faking or passing to someone whose man just left them to get try a help side block.

The same can be said of our game against Syracuse a couple years ago. SU had some guys that had good shot blocking numbers, but just ended up giving up layups by being out of position and got in foul trouble.

Either way, more depends on how well the approach is executed than the approach itself, and both have both advantages and disadvantages.

[shockall]

A lot of times a blocked shot ends up with the shooting team inbounding, but blocking it into the 15th row is still a good thing. No change of possession = no new shot clock. Next time the guy who got blocked gets the ball in a shooting position, he might remember what happened last time and hesitate just a bit ... or more.

There is no inherently better or worse approach on this issue. There are good reasons to go for blocks, as noted above, but MT had a valid point as well.

Just remember the KU-Oral Roberts game a couple of years ago. KU set a record for blocked shots against a way undersized ORU team in that game, but ORU won. Part of the reason was that, even on the blocked shots, ORU often retained possession because the shot blocker either knocked it out of bounds or left rebounding position to block the shot, which left an ORU player to get the loose ball. Another reason is that with defenders flying all over looking for the block, ORU got a lot of easy shots by head faking or passing to someone whose man just left them to get try a help side block.

The same can be said of our game against Syracuse a couple years ago. SU had some guys that had good shot blocking numbers, but just ended up giving up layups by being out of position and got in foul trouble.

Either way, more depends on how well the approach is executed than the approach itself, and both have both advantages and disadvantages.

Good post. The blocking point of view relies heavily on whether you look at the game as a fan or as a strategist of the game. Blocking shots are loved by the fans, but too often the fans don't realize the true affects of trying to make blocks when they should be putting up a solid defense. I'll take the solid defense anyday and let some other team go for the blocks.

[SubGod22]

But blocking shots and solid defense aren't mutually exclusive. Marhall preaches good D. But he's also talked about the shot blocking ability of Ehimen and Aaron. If Aaron figures it out.

[Ricky Del Rio]

Shot blocking not only has benefits for the current game, but for future games as well.

Dribble penetration is discouraged. Small players will give it up and taller players will be wary.

In today's game, dribble penetration is a primary strategy. If the threat is taken away, then the offense will be hampered.

[The Mad Hatter]

But blocking shots and solid defense aren't mutually exclusive. Marhall preaches good D. But he's also talked about the shot blocking ability of Ehimen and Aaron. If Aaron figures it out.

No they are not, however, it can be a fine line to walk with college players to get them to be aggressive enough to go for the block regularly but not so aggressive that they get out of control and rack up fouls, or get out of position because they become more concerned about the person with the ball who might be shooting than the person they could pass to.

Every year in college basketball I watch multiple very athletic big men get schooled by some much slower smaller guy who knows how to head fake. With all the acclaim from fans and fellow players for a big block, it is really easy for blocking shots to take precedence over good defense. There isn't anything about playing good defense that disallows for shot blocking, but time and time again we have seen an obsession with shot blocking lead to poor defense.

I'm certainly not saying that I have a problem with a more aggressive approach to shot blocking, especially since, as you point out, we have brought in some guys with the right frame and athleticism to do it right. We have already seen Marshall bench Durley for displaying some of the attributes I describe above, so I do not doubt his ability to manage the situation, but I understand why MT took the approach he did, particularly with the players he had (albeit ones he had recruited).

[Ed Harley]

I loved Coach's comment on one of his coach's shows about Ellis. Something like, we were scrimmaging and I said "Aaron, why don't you try to block that shot?" He tried next time and he did.

In the Valley tourney game, Aaron had 4 or 5 blocks, even though he was credited with less. If you watched the game, it was clear he had more than the stats said. He could really be a beast next year.