Offense & Defense Improvements Needed

[bowhoya]

There are two glaring deficiencies that need to be changed if the Hoyas are to advance deep in the post season. One is advancing the ball up the court after a made basket by the opposing team. When the ball is put in play by the Hoyas I've noticed that they are very tentative in passing the ball, often close to getting trapped along the sidelines or in the back court. Sometimes they pass the ball from side to side more than they should. The best way to beat trapping or aggressive defense in the back court is to pass the ball over the top of the defense and immediately attack the goal. Usually, if there's trapping in the back court, somebody is left uncovered in the front court. The Hoya players should be instructed to go to their basket. This will allow for easy baskets and dunks, thereby burning the defense. This will "make them pay" for the back court pressure. The tentative back court passing only raises the possibility of turnovers.

On defense, the the Hoyas need to stop bringing Hibbert from under the basket to help with the out front defensive pressure. This leaves the Hoya defense open for the opposing teams to immediately swing the ball inside for easy baskets. I especially noticed this in the Louisville game. It greatly decreases the Hoya interior defense and cuts down on Hibbert's rebounding. By positioning him and keeping him under the basket, this will add at least 4 to 6 rebounds to his totals and maybe 2 to 3 blocks.

[JohnnyJones]

Feb 24, 2008 10:22:44 GMT -5 bowhoya said:

There are two glaring deficiencies that need to be changed if the Hoyas are to advance deep in the post season. One is advancing the ball up the court after a made basket by the opposing team. When the ball is put in play by the Hoyas I've noticed that they are very tentative in passing the ball, often close to getting trapped along the sidelines or in the back court. Sometimes they pass the ball from side to side more than they should. The best way to beat trapping or aggressive defense in the back court is to pass the ball over the top of the defense and immediately attack the goal. Usually, if there's trapping in the back court, somebody is left uncovered in the front court. The Hoya players should be instructed to go to their basket. This will allow for easy baskets and dunks, thereby burning the defense. This will "make them pay" for the back court pressure. The tentative back court passing only raises the possibility of turnovers.

On defense, the the Hoyas need to stop bringing Hibbert from under the basket to help with the out front defensive pressure. This leaves the Hoya defense open for the opposing teams to immediately swing the ball inside for easy baskets. I especially noticed this in the Louisville game. It greatly decreases the Hoya interior defense and cuts down on Hibbert's rebounding. By positioning him and keeping him under the basket, this will add at least 4 to 6 rebounds to his totals and maybe 2 to 3 blocks.

I don't know if I would tinker with anything on the defensive end at this point, but with respect to your second point, the other big concern is the increased likelihood that Roy will pick up some silly fouls out beyond the top of the key.

[SFHoya99]

At least 4 to 6 rebounds and 2 to 3 blocks? That's seems a bit high, don't you think? I might as well say if he doesn't show on the pick and roll, our opponents will hit at least 10-12 more threes.

Roy very rarely gets beat even when he shows on the pick and roll. It looks bad the few times we do get beat, but there is a reason for it -- and it's how nearly every team that defends the pick and roll well defends it. You show, then recover or switch.

I'm not saying Roy doesn't show too much sometimes, but you're acting like this defense has been a devastating problem and wed automatically win a national title if we changed (which is more or less what would happen if we somehow reduced our opponents' O boards by 4 to 6 AND prevented 4 more points at minimum).

[Locker]

I love it when the opposing team's guard tries to shoot over Roy on the switch. I'm guessing that shot is going in at about a 20% clip this season.

[geedell]

If there's anything that this team does that I have no problem with, it's the defense. It's pretty obvious from the shooting percentages that we're doing something right.

[DanMcQ]

I used to hate Hibbert hedging out as much as he does, but he seems to be getting better at recovery and it really does disrupt the offense of some opponents. It goes without saying that against certain teams with quick centers (Louisville and Padgett being the prime example) he should keep the hedge-switch to a minimum if not at all.

[EasyEd]

I actually thought we got a bit better in breaking the press against Cincy even though we still made some mistakes. I'm glad they pressed as it gave us a chance to work on how to break it.