Switching against picks and screens

[HoyaNyr320]

One thing I noticed during both the Hartford and ODU games was that both teams were able to exploit our constant switching to get matchups they wanted and/or open 3 pointers or lay-ups. Last year, this switching on defense was key to our success as Ashanti and Darrell were very smart in terms of timing their switch back with Roy or Jeff. Bottom line is that we were able to create more turnovers with this defense than the points we gave up because of it. However, this year, with the freshman and inexperienced sophomores, we are getting mismatches that aren't corrected at the right time. Roy or Jeff gets matched up with a guard and either a) they get burned or b) Jeff commits a bad foul. Also, with Roy on the perimeter, he is not in the paint to rebound when a shot is taken. This accounts for why we got outrebounded offensively. Instead of taking Roy out when he gets burned on the perimeter, I would be more in favor of seeing our guys fight through the picks and screens. I understand that this will not work against Big East teams, but there is no reason we can't do this against ODU or Hartford. Bottom line, we have to find a way to keep Roy and Jeff in these games and force the other team to keep their big guys in as opposed to us adjusting to their lineup.

[TBird41]

hoyanyr320 said:

One thing I noticed during both the Hartford and ODU games was that both teams were able to exploit our constant switching to get matchups they wanted and/or open 3 pointers or lay-ups. Last year, this switching on defense was key to our success as Ashanti and Darrell were very smart in terms of timing their switch back with Roy or Jeff. Bottom line is that we were able to create more turnovers with this defense than the points we gave up because of it. However, this year, with the freshman and inexperienced sophomores, we are getting mismatches that aren't corrected at the right time. Roy or Jeff gets matched up with a guard and either a) they get burned or b) Jeff commits a bad foul. Also, with Roy on the perimeter, he is not in the paint to rebound when a shot is taken. This accounts for why we got outrebounded offensively. Instead of taking Roy out when he gets burned on the perimeter, I would be more in favor of seeing our guys fight through the picks and screens. I understand that this will not work against Big East teams, but there is no reason we can't do this against ODU or Hartford. Bottom line, we have to find a way to keep Roy and Jeff in these games and force the other team to keep their big guys in as opposed to us adjusting to their lineup.

There were also alot of times that we had guards on their big guys. ODU didn't really capitalize on those mismatches, but I'll bet that teams with better front courts will.

[YB]

Inability to switch was one of the big stories here. Mainly the newcomers. Summers looked bewildered out there.

[Eurostar]

i saw us get burned a ton when roy was trying to switch back to his big man. in the middle of the switch they would hit the open guy for a layup or open 3. i saw it like 4-5 times result in easy baskets. im not sure what should be done in this situation... just reporting what i saw. they were obviously looking to exploit this.

[Dhall]

These are good observations, but I think Roy is more to blame for getting stuck out on a guard 20-25 feet from the basket than our guards. Once he jumps out there to defend, we are screwed in a number of ways (mismatch against our guard who took over the assignment of defending a forward/center, no rebounding under the basket, reach-in fouls on Roy, etc.). There has to be a better way to defend the three-point shot as opposed to putting Roy out there. I'm not a coach, so I don't know what it is.

[mrsixer123]

assuming a big man is setting the screen for a guard, our bigmen needs to "show" more aggressively on the ball handler so he is forced to dribble backwards or parallel to the basket instead if having a clear path to the basket thus allowing our guard time to recover.

"showing" doesnt mean the big man runs out on the guard it just means he slides his feet over with his long arms extending outwards so the guard cant drive to the basket. 9 times out of 10 if a center jumps out at a guard, the guard will drive right past him.

once the opposing guard clears the screen our guard needs to step in front of the opponents big man so he cant dive to the basket freely, allowing our big man to recover.

if the opposing guard can shoot, our guard needs to fight over top the screen. you can get an offensive foul by doing this as the opponents big will sometimes not have enough to set himself.

if he cant shoot go under the screen and wait for him to drive towards you

[lichoya68]

A COUPLE OF TIMES WE HAD JON OR JESSE ON THERE SEVEN FOOT GUY NOT A GOOD MATCHUP AND IT WAS A FEW TIMES AT LEAST GO HOYAS SWITCH QUIKLY AND WELL AND SMART

[mrsixer123]

lichoya68 said:

A COUPLE OF TIMES WE HAD JON OR JESSE ON THERE SEVEN FOOT GUY NOT A GOOD MATCHUP AND IT WAS A FEW TIMES AT LEAST GO HOYAS SWITCH QUIKLY AND WELL AND SMART

that is what happens when your big man runs forward instead of sliding parallel to slow down the guard receiving the pick. there simply is not enough time for the center to recover

[Locker]

Did we play any zone last night? I'm afraid that in the man-to-man Roy (like Shaq) will always be subject to being beaten by a good pick-and-roll game.

[YB]

We're playing a matchup zone D right now. Same as Temple. Problem is, it also requires some experience and discipline, which with young guys don't have- see letting ODU bomb away from 3.