BradFan Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 The Illinois manhandling of UWM shows what good coaches know - defense makes all the difference as you get down to the elite teams. As impressive as they are on offense, Illinois also played with smarts and intensity on the defensive end. For all the critics of the Michigan State-Wisconsin slugfest in the Final Four a few years back, remember that a hallmark for both teams was great defense. The only Big Ten team (and maybe the only team in the country) that could match Wisconsin's defense was Michigan State. It had as much to do with them winning the title as their scorers. Watching Gonzaga fall apart last week against Texas Tech, I couldn't believe how LAZY they were on defense. Mark Few's philosophy looked to be "let's hope they miss." Don't know if that is how they always look, but with defense like that, Gonzaga's future in the dance will be limited. Scorers are critical...but defense is the mark of a winner. That's one reason Brad's teams will get better in years to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 Illinois at best has been very efficient on offense, but they have been nails on defense. Right now you can't argue with their success and it may be enough to get them the championship. I would be very pleased seeing the Illini win the championship. They do figure to get their sternest test of the Tourney no matter who they get in the Regional Final. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 ...did I miss something in that game...I wouldn't exactly go that far. UWM had trouble getting from 7-9 to closer...but I wouldn't exactly call it a rout. A few breaks in first half and perhaps UWM is leading going into end half or close to it...U of I had a nice run to open it up, but it was a 7 point game that UWM couldn't turn the corner. U of I too good and held on and pulled away. Perhaps you listened to Seth Davis too much. It's unfortunate that Ok St and U of A had to play so early...a shame. Not sure if U of A will bring the consistency...they certainly have the talent to go to the four over Illinois. OK St would have been a nice matchup for U of I as well, easily the toughest region. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradFan Posted March 25, 2005 Author Share Posted March 25, 2005 I don't want to take anything away from UWM. I thought they really hung in there. Tucker was amazing, and their overall team speed did a lot for them. But all night, they ran their offense almost from the half-court circle. They had to work hard for nearly every bucket. That's all about defense, and it takes a toll. McCants may have been rushing his shots because his open looks were limited. As a result, he was off the mark. A team can get sloppy on offense when it knows it won't be given anything easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 We all know defense matters, but I don't want us to be ranked among the lowest scoring teams in the country ever again. There's no reason we shouldn't try to develop a team that is good on both ends of the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 Sometimes great offense wins. Sometimes great defense wins. But great offense is more fun to watch. Arizona and Oklahoma St. was the most entertaining game of the night. Wake and West Virginia was the most entertaining game of the tournament. I'm not asking for great offense. I just can't stand watching crappy offense. Good offense would suffice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradFan Posted March 25, 2005 Author Share Posted March 25, 2005 Even the strong offensive teams (like Arizona last night) won in large part due to some big defensive plays at the end of the game...and notably, Ok. State's defense fell apart a bit at the end of the game, giving Stoudamire too good of a look. Offense is critical to success, and yes, more fun to watch. But my point is this...offense alone won't do it. Defense has to be AT LEAST as good as the offense to be a power. I refer again to Gonzaga's matador defense in the second half vs. Texas Tech. Brad likes offense as much as the next guy. He wants scorers...he has said in the past it is hard to teach somebody to become a shooter, but easier to teach defense...assuming they are willing to learn. My point is that good defense can equal a lot of wins, and if you average 60 points a game as a result, so be it. You have to face the reality that under current circumstances, Brad has limited access to great offensive players, so he needs to manage the game to offset the weaknesses he has to live with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 "Defense has to be AT LEAST as good as the offense to be a power" So by your definition, UNC, Arizona, UConn, etc. are not powers. Those teams' defense aren't anywhere near as good as their offense. If you really meant that less talented teams can evolve into top 25 programs with great defense and average offense, then I agree with you. That's the Wisconsin Badger program under Bo Ryan in a nutshell. Note that the Badgers under the anemic Dick Bennett offense never was a perennial top 25 program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwyjibo Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 UNC has an excellent defense but because their tempo is so high it isn't obvious to the casual fan. They are 4th in points per possession. Duke is number 2. Washington State is #1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 Oh, I agree that UNC has a good defense. But they are an OUTSTANDING offense. They bury most teams in the first 20 minutes and then teams are forced to throw up a bunch of quick shots to catch up. But if they have to make stops in the last five minutes of a game, they usually run into trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 as i have watched ok state probably more than any other team this year besides the billikens, i cant help but wonder how much more explosive the tar heels would have been if jameson curry would be at unc as he was supposed to be before he was arrested for being a drug dealer and his scholarship offer was rescinded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triangle andToo Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 Offense wins a hell of a lot more games than defense (see Saint Louis University Billikens). You are not talking about the 3 Stooges out there playing Division 1 basketball - you are talking about players that aren't going too stand there and watch the other team score. Every team plays defense. The name of the game is putting the rock throogh the hoop - the more points you score, the better chance you have of winning. If you score 50 pts, you have a greater mathematical chance of losing than if you score 60 pts. Every D1 coach likes too pound his chest and expound on how important their defense was in making that important victory a reality while secretly thinking how they wished they would have kicked ass by 20 or more. Defensive stats are the most misleading stats in all of sports. Well, team A held team B too 36% shooting from the field when the fact is, team B missed 7-10 wide open jumpers or inside shots (see Saint Louis University Billikens) during a game that had nothing too do with defense. The team that makes the most of those wide open uncontested non defensive baskets will most likely win the game. so it goes...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 Defense is important but ultimately you have score. Averaging in the 50's is not going to win enough to be successful - as we saw this year - we had very good defense but scoring in the 40's and 50's caused us to loose games that we could have won with simply making a few more FTs or a couple of lay ups or a outside shots. What we have to do is keep the defensive effort we have and pick up our scoring - we don't need to put up scores in the 80's every night but we have to be able to consistently score in the high 60s and low - mid 70s. Watching the games in the tourney shows that even the high flyers are only really scoring like that not in the 80s or 90s except for the UL and UW game not many have been that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 We joked in our car as we were driving to the USF Vs Bills game on the over/under of the Bills scoring 50 in that game. I hate to admit that the under 50 won hands down, and IMHO that is almost as pitiful as our offensively challenged team this year. IMO that needs to change soon...OK to play tough D, but we need to have the talent to pick it up on the offensive side too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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