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Open letter to SLUDREW


Billikan

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What a miracle! Brad became a defensive genius in the second half.

Why do you insist on posting such drivel. The problem with the defense in the first half was the less than full effort and the fact that they hit everything they threw at the basket. We were not playing a "pack defense" we were playing a HELP defense.

In the second half we picked up the effort and they cooled off.

This is really a nice victory on the road. Ian played much better. The defensive effort in the second half was absolutely fantastic.

Kevin still is struggling from outside but he hit four big free throws.

One real bleak spot at this point is Danny. His shooting from outside is almost an airball on every shot and he continues to turn the ball over. I would sure like to see him recover his shot but I have very little hope.

This was a gut check game and this young team really proved itself again. To come back from 11 down on the road is almost unheard of.

Congrats to our Bills!!!!

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Through a veil of sarcasm Drew did have make a valid call for some type of adjustment. I would've liked to see UB throw a zone out there or adjust his 'help' defensive scheme as the matchups dictate in the last few games because his system wasn't working (whether it was the players or his fault doesn't matter). UB's adjustment tonight for the second half was to pick up the offensive player outside the 3pt line(how many second half 3pt attempts until the final 90 seconds?-I counted 3), worry only about the 3pt shot, and hope the team is good enough to recover on any drive to the basket; it worked. In the last few games he just hasn't made any adjustments, even he openly questioned what he was doing. Looks like he figured it out in time and the defense looked as good as any I've seen this year (including SIUC).

So now SLU can beat UTM and get ready for the biggest non-conference game of the year in my opinion-Missouri State.

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Missouri St. is the biggest.

Beat UNC and it'll be wonderful. Lose a close game to UNC and many (even some on this board) will believe it is a moral victory (please, nobody feel the need to tell me there are no moral victories) and lose big to UNC and its what people expected.

Beat Missouri St. and its a good win. Lose a close one and it'll be a mini-disaster and the whole Ahearn/MVC debates will fly again. It will certainly hurt us come NCAA time. Lose big to MSU and we look like complete schmucks.

Yes, I believe Missouri St. is the biggest OOC game of the year

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For sure, although if a Genie popped out of my beer can and said "one wish...one win from two games...UNC or MoState?" It would be hard to get MoState past my tongue. Sure would be nice to stick it to some arrogant 'Heel fans I know, Roy Williams, and all them hill jacks driving from Pine Bluff in their pick'em ups to see Super Ty. Wonder if they're going to do a caravan like the scene from "Hoosiers" with home made signs like, "Go TY...Go Heels...Ty for President....Beat the Mackerel Snappers!"????

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Thanks to Nark for the use of the Billiken

So SLD is calling for an adjustment...but UB didn't make one - the guys just got down and spiked up the effort. Seems to me the defensive scheme is ok as long as the players buy into it and perform.

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You and Drew never really see what is happening in the game, you just pontificate. Did you listen to Brad after the game when he was asked about the adjustments he made to the defensive scheme--and his answer was that he did not make any adjustments. The difference between the two halves was that our effort to cover the outside shots was much better in the second half and they missed some shots after hitting everything they threw up in the first half. The defensive scheme was the same!

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I fully realize they played the same scheme in second half last night but just played harder, but do you really think it is tolderable for a Division 1 basketball team to only have one defense in its aresenal? I don't care how good you become at one defense you need to mix it up once in a while. Syracuse and Temple are perfect examples. They virtually have patents on their defenses but even they mix it up once in a while. You have to do that or you are too easy to prepare for.

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the instances of syracuse and temple coming out of their zones are few and far between. i was actually going to use them as examples to combat your b!tch. knight is the same way. he plays his man-to-man 95% of the time as well.

i am a big fan of changing defenses as well, but there are enough instances of teams that dont to prove otherwise.

second, wasnt it just last year that brad utilized a triangle and two to win a game? the point is, i dont think brad does anything different defensively than a lot of coaches which is stick mainly to one defense.

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I think you are speaking of the Gonzaga game, which we lost. Brad had them scouted to a "T" and challenged their role players to beat us by using some hybrid of the Triangle and two. I was actually impressed at the time, but can't think of another example of Brad changing his defensive game plan so severely. Perhaps something similar is in the works for UNC...........

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last night when i heard Brad say that he didn't change the defense. I watched the game and all I can say there was virtually no full court, trapping defense in the first half but that was what clearly what sparked us in the 2nd half. We got a few early steals in the 2nd half and that got the whole thing rolling.

it may be a case of terminology in that Brad believes its still the same fundamental defense but in my opinion when the 1st half involves very little full-court pressure and trapping while the 2nd half has tons of it, we are looking at different defenses.

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you can still be playing a man to man without calling it a trap or press. my guess is he told whomever was on the ball to pick up their man at the foul line and instructed polk and lisch to stunt at opportune times. all at once the pack man to man will resemble something different. did the trap come when the player with the ball had turned his back to the floor? or did the trap come when the ball person was full facing the floor?

i can only assume that pacific didnt have two worthy point guard like guards to nullify the effect. plus, the likes of a savy defender like polk or lisch make that work perfectly, but if it is utilized too often it will result in opponents cutting to openings in the middle for easy threes or drives to the basket. then you got the bigs having to help which will result in fouls. so you cant do it all the time. it works a couple of times then you lay off it, and then come back a number of possessions later.

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I did not say they played the same defense the entire game-- what I said was they did not change the overall scheme. If you watched the games this year and last night you would have seen that the Bills have played tough man to man with help principles--their bread and butter--but they have also played a full court press, a half court trap, a run and jump double team, and defenses with zone principles. It almost makes me believe that you have never broken down a game tape before.

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Roy, i appreciate the explanation. I'll never profess to be a basketball guy (in terms of x's and o's).

"did the trap come when the player with the ball had turned his back to the floor? or did the trap come when the ball person was full facing the floor?"

Quite frankly, i don't remember.

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