Travis, where did the defense go??

[mrjoelabs]

Honestly, we all should have seen this coming. Our offense has looked good in these 3 early wins. Yuri has been a revelation. But the D, especially 3 point D, has not been up to the standards we have had around here for around a decade. Seton Hall is not this much better than us.  We scored in the 60s, the offense was fine against a good team. The D was horrible.  If Ford doesn't figure out how to bring back strong defense to this team they aren't going anywhere. I mean we fouled out their massive front line, and it didn't matter. Powell is going to do Powell things, but their secondary guards and the big Georgian were the killers. They can't score as much as they did. 

Positives... Collins got to play against one of the countries best in Powell. He looked foolish often but he held his own. Still managed 5 assists.  Jimmerson was 50 percent from 3.  Perkins maybe found something to work with. I knew he had something to give.  Bell looked like a functional ballplayer and actually looked really good. Can't wait to see more of him.

Negatives: Thatch cant just be a 1 way player.  He has to score.  Goodwin had one of his sort've vanishing act games.  Jacobs shows flashes but then flares out. Weaver and KC didn't really get in the game.

We will be good this year if the defense is cleaned up. The A10 may not be as good as believed, and it could be us and VCU.  Collins and Jimmer will be a good combo for 4 years.  But we NEED post players, and need to play good D.  Getting beat by raining jump shots is inexcusable. 

[billikenfan05]

Trollabs is back

[mrjoelabs]

This was an intelligent informative post with positives and negatives.  You guys are something else.  Ive been posting positives about Yuri since game 1.  So you think our D was good today?

[willie]

5 minutes ago, mrjoelabs said:

This was an intelligent informative post with positives and negatives.  You guys are something else.  Ive been posting positives about Yuri since game 1.  So you think our D was good today?

I think Ford tried every defense known to man. I could be picky and say I thought he stayed in the 1-3-1 too long but that is a pure second guess. He tried his hardest. If your basic man to man isn’t good enough you try other stuff and he did. 

[mrjoelabs]

57 minutes ago, willie said:

I think Ford tried every defense known to man. I could be picky and say I thought he stayed in the 1-3-1 too long but that is a pure second guess. He tried his hardest. If your basic man to man isn’t good enough you try other stuff and he did. 

I agree, but the problem is the 3 point line has been wide open all season.  Philosophy and focus are off.

[Slowry]

I think what you’re seeing is inexperience.  A lot of these guys are brand new to this defense.  They have to learn to where they should be at all times.  When they were in high school they were better than everyone.  Now they are playing against people as good if not better than them.  That take a while to adjust to.  

I like Thatch but I don’t think he should be starting.  That offensive with JG running the point is not our best.  I think JG is a lot better slashing,rebounding,and scoring clean up points.

[mrjoelabs]

1 hour ago, Slowry said:

I think what you’re seeing is inexperience.  A lot of these guys are brand new to this defense.  They have to learn to where they should be at all times.  When they were in high school they were better than everyone.  Now they are playing against people as good if not better than them.  That take a while to adjust to.  

I like Thatch but I don’t think he should be starting.  That offensive with JG running the point is not our best.  I think JG is a lot better slashing,rebounding,and scoring clean up points.

100 percent agree. Yuri at the 1 and JG at the 2 is the way to go.   Honestly starting 5 should be.

Yuri, Goodwin, Jimmerson, French, Bell   

Then sub Bell out early for Jacobs, Weaver, Perkins or Thatch etc

[AnkielBreakers]

No one is talking about Hankton’s 3 minutes. I assume he is injured. He is a good defending PF. That affects us. That big Georgian was really effective against Perkins. Hankton is a good defender. I think he would have been more effective at slowing down the 17 points that guy poured in. Hopefully he can get back into the rotation soon.

[slufan13]

Am I allowed to agree with this general question without being a troll? I don't think the defense has been good all season

[moytoy12]

11 hours ago, Slowry said:

I think what you’re seeing is inexperience.  A lot of these guys are brand new to this defense.  They have to learn to where they should be at all times.  When they were in high school they were better than everyone.  Now they are playing against people as good if not better than them.  That take a while to adjust to.  

I think this is really the long and short of it for the new guys, but our starting lineup has 4 guys who have been in the system for at least 1 year and they just got shredded by SHU at the start. 

[slufanskip]

12 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

Am I allowed to agree with this general question without being a troll? I don't think the defense has been good all season

It hasn't. Contrary to what a lot of the board seemed to think earlier playing any D well including full court pressure D is more than just athleticism and hustle. A lot of youth with a lot to learn. 

[3star_recruit]

12 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

It hasn't. Contrary to what a lot of the board seemed to think earlier playing any D well including full court pressure D is more than just athleticism and hustle. A lot of youth with a lot to learn. 

Exactly. If playing good team defense was that easy, every athletic, hustling team would be good at it.

[mrjoelabs]

35 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

Am I allowed to agree with this general question without being a troll? I don't think the defense has been good all season

Thank you. And I agree with others that sure it isn't easy. But it has been a standard for this team. Should have had better prep in the summer. And Goodwin surely knows to play D.  Perkins should too from all his experience. Freshman are freshman but they can be coached too. 

[wgstl]

10 hours ago, mrjoelabs said:

100 percent agree. Yuri at the 1 and JG at the 2 is the way to go.   Honestly starting 5 should be.

Yuri, Goodwin, Jimmerson, French, Bell   

Then sub Bell out early for Jacobs, Weaver, Perkins or Thatch etc

You wont see thatch going to the bench.

 

Fred has to step it up on the offensive end. His defense will keep him in the starting line up, but if we want to be successful he has to step it up a little. I know these stats arent extremely accurate yet but hes 10th on the team in Fg%,  7th from 3%, and 3rd from FT.  

[slufanskip]

47 minutes ago, mrjoelabs said:

Thank you. And I agree with others that sure it isn't easy. But it has been a standard for this team. Should have had better prep in the summer. And Goodwin surely knows to play D.  Perkins should too from all his experience. Freshman are freshman but they can be coached too. 

D isn't a 1 or 2 man thing. It takes 5 on the court all working together. You have to guard your man, including defend the perimeter shot while stopping his drive, be in position to rotate over to help when your man doesn't have the ball, instinctively know the right path to take to recover or rotate over. Have proper footwork and spacing, good technique on closeouts, etc, etc, etc … I could go on and on. It doesn't just happen, it takes coaching with great technique with a lot of practice and repetition.

And those that are saying French's F/T's are mental. I agree it's partially mental, but his form is horrible. I sat right in front of him during the Valpo game. His elbow points at the corner of the court not the basket and his forearm is at a diagonal across his body. Until he gets this corrected the odds of him becoming even a decent f/t shooter is slim. His form is just reducing his odds of success. I'd bet you if I watched a video of 50 French f/t's his path or shot would rarely be repeated. 

[slusam]

Ford said after the game they have not rebounded or defended like he wants in any of the 4 games. The coaches think maybe they have made it too complicated 

[wgstl]

3 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

 

And those that are saying French's F/T's are mental. I agree it's partially mental, but his form is horrible. I sat right in front of him during the Valpo game. His elbow points at the corner of the court not the basket and his forearm is at a diagonal across his body. Until he gets this corrected the odds of him becoming even a decent f/t shooter is slim. His form is just reducing his odds of success. I'd bet you if I watched a video of 50 French f/t's his path or shot would rarely be repeated. 

I actually thought his form and ball movement has improved this year. 

[Sheltiedave]

His first free throw is generally short or short right, and when he misses his second, ofttimes it is long and a foot left.

I would ditch the square up stance, put him in a jab foot stance, and his shooting arm from the elbow to hand vertically motion aligned with the basket.

He can’t be a solid FT shooter with his arm/shooting motion crossing his body.

[slufanskip]

7 minutes ago, wgstl said:

I actually thought his form and ball movement has improved this year. 

Honestly, I never had the look I did against Valpo, so I can't say if it's improved. However, it needs just a complete overhaul. His elbow needs to face the basket and his forearm needs to be perpendicular to the ground. I'd make him shoot 1 handed starting from about 8 feet until he had a repeatable motion with a correct form. He'd then step back and shoot 1 handed from the f/t line until it was natural to him. I wouldn't add his off hand until then

[slufanskip]

17 minutes ago, Sheltiedave said:

His first free throw is generally short or short right, and when he misses his second, ofttimes it is long and a foot left.

I would ditch the square up stance, put him in a jab foot stance, and his shooting arm from the elbow to hand vertically motion aligned with the basket.

He can’t be a solid FT shooter with his arm/shooting motion crossing his body.

Correct. He needs to turn his feet making it easier to have his elbow pointing at the basket and his forearm perpendicular. This is true with a lot of bigger chested players. Anyone who's a little bigger try standing as if you were squared up at a basket, now bring your elbow to point at the basket and your forearm perpendicular to the ground. It's uncomfortable and you're stretching to hold the position. This is the point of the 1 handed shooting. Even with hands big enough to easily palm the basketball, to hold it 1 handed with his current form he'd have to squeeze the ball a bit so it wouldn't fall out. How the heck do you shoot a basketball while you're squeezing it. If he didn't squeeze or put pressure on it with his grip it'd fall out of his hand. Right now his off hand keeps the ball balanced in his hand. he shouldn't need that hand. 

[almaman]

still think they should give team option of taking ball out of bounds.

[Cowboy]

-but all of this change of form should have taken place in the off-season, I doubt there is the time to do it now

-a good drill is to lie on your back and use only your shooting arm in a straight position to go straight in the air with a ball