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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Jan 17, 2016 23:04:20 GMT -5
After the Villanova game, there has been much discussion regarding fouls and officiating. Since we are 1/3 through the Big East season, I thought it would be best to look at our performance, and see if it demonstrates anything about our team. Most simply, we foul too much, which leads to free throws (and easy points for our opponents). and the team needs to figure out a way to stop doing it as much, because it is a huge impediment to our defense and our success.
Historically, these are our team Free Throw Rates, ranked nationally:
2016: 324 2015: 305 2014: 331 2013: 154 2012: 175 2011: 175 2010: 89 2009: 102 2008: 163 2007: 78 2006: 23 2005: 175
What this essentially means is that JT3's Georgetown teams were generally average or above average in fouling - UNTIL - the new rules came into affect in 2014 (the 2006 team was even great). Since 2014, we have literally been among the worst in the nation. Our big men have been particularly significant offenders, with Hopkins and Smith having very high foul rates. This year, Govan and Hayes are actually fouling at a higher rate than Hopkins and Smith, and they fouled a lot. On top of that, Peak is fouling at an incredibly high rate this season (6.2 fouls/40 minutes). You have to go back to 2013 for a guard who fouled that much (Bowen, who didn't even play much that season, and he wasn't a guard in the same sense).
Simply, we foul too much, and the team needs to figure out a way to stop doing it as much, because it is a huge impediment to our defense. We give our opponents way too many free throw attempts.
Now, back to the Big East this year. This is how many fouls each team has had in our six games:
Georgetown: 22 DePaul: 21 (away) Georgetown: 23 Marquette: 21 (home) Georgetown: 20 Creighton: 10 (away) Georgetown: 18 DePaul: 23 (home) Georgetown: 28 St. Johns: 24 (away) Georgetown: 23 Villanova: 13 (home)
In total, Georgetown has fouled 134 times, and our opponents have fouled 112 times. Home, we have 64 fouls to our opponents 57. Away, we have fouled 70 times to our opponents 55.
The disparity in free throws is highter:
In conference, Georgetown has shot 102/129 (79%, only slightly behind Villanova for best in conference), and our opponents have 115/156 (73%).
So, our opponents have 27 more free throws than we do in conference play. The disparity is actually mitigated by the fact that we are a very good free throw shooting team (our opponents have made 13 more free throws).
A few thoughts:
(1) This is a small sample, but I'll update it with time. So, take it for what it's worth.
(2) We have generally played the bad Big East teams. While the margins aren't way out of wack, I expect that could grow a lot more as we move forward and play better teams. You would think the better teams will draw more fouls, as Villanova did yesterday.
(3) We need to stop fouling. I think our defense has been improving throughout the Big East season, but this is still a big problelm. Not only does it give our opponents an edge in getting more free points, but it also keeps our own players on the bench and messes with our rotations on both offense and defense.
In conference play, Hayes and Govan both have high FC/40 rates (8.5, 6.5). Peak is similarly high at 6.6, and Derrickson isn't far behind at 5.5, and Kaleb is at 4.5. Those are way, way, way too high.
(4) For Govan, you know he's going to foul a fair amount, because he's a freshman, though you obviously want to see improvement there. To some degree our poor wing/guard defense has forced Govan and Hayes into bad situations, which also probably hurts their foul rate (e.g., Copeland loses his man, Govan/Hayes move over to help, and foul).
Now, in Peak's instance, he only committed 3.2 fouls per 40 minutes last year. This year he's at 6.2. I'm sorry but Peak doesn't go from 3.2 fouls per 40 minutes to 6.2 solely because of the rule changes.
Peak is a good defender, in principle. He's got athleticism, he moves well, and he can generally keep with his guy. But, he uses his hands way too much. Yes, he does occasionally get bad calls against him, but just as often (if not more), he simply makes a bad move with his hands/arms, and he commits a foul. He's got to work on moving his feet more. He has the ability, he just needs to do it.
(5) As anybody who reads this message board knows, I am very supportive of the coaching staff and JT3, in particular. That being said, I think the staff really needs to focus more on stressing defense without fouling. It's been a systematic problem, and it's been a major impediment to our defensive scheme.
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eagle54
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,471
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Post by eagle54 on Jan 17, 2016 23:28:16 GMT -5
After the Villanova game, there has been much discussion regarding fouls and officiating. Since we are 1/3 through the Big East season, I thought it would be best to look at our performance, and see if it demonstrates anything about our team. Most simply, we foul too much, which leads to free throws (and easy points for our opponents). and the team needs to figure out a way to stop doing it as much, because it is a huge impediment to our defense and our success. Historically, these are our team Free Throw Rates, ranked nationally: 2016: 324 2015: 305 2014: 331 2013: 154 2012: 175 2011: 175 2010: 89 2009: 102 2008: 163 2007: 78 2006: 23 2005: 175 What this essentially means is that JT3's Georgetown teams were generally average or above average in fouling - UNTIL - the new rules came into affect in 2014 (the 2006 team was even great). Since 2014, we have literally been among the worst in the nation. Our big men have been particularly significant offenders, with Hopkins and Smith having very high foul rates. This year, Govan and Hayes are actually fouling at a higher rate than Hopkins and Smith, and they fouled a lot. On top of that, Peak is fouling at an incredibly high rate this season (6.2 fouls/40 minutes). You have to go back to 2013 for a guard who fouled that much (Bowen, who didn't even play much that season, and he wasn't a guard in the same sense). Simply, we foul too much, and the team needs to figure out a way to stop doing it as much, because it is a huge impediment to our defense. We give our opponents way too many free throw attempts. Now, back to the Big East this year. This is how many fouls each team has had in our six games: Georgetown: 22 DePaul: 21 (away) Georgetown: 23 Marquette: 21 (home) Georgetown: 20 Creighton: 10 (away) Georgetown: 18 DePaul: 23 (home) Georgetown: 28 St. Johns: 24 (away) Georgetown: 23 Villanova: 13 (home) In total, Georgetown has fouled 134 times, and our opponents have fouled 112 times. Home, we have 64 fouls to our opponents 57. Away, we have fouled 70 times to our opponents 55. The disparity in free throws is highter: In conference, Georgetown has shot 102/129 (79%, only slightly behind Villanova for best in conference), and our opponents have 115/156 (73%). So, our opponents have 27 more free throws than we do in conference play. The disparity is actually mitigated by the fact that we are a very good free throw shooting team (our opponents have made 13 more free throws). A few thoughts: (1) This is a small sample, but I'll update it with time. So, take it for what it's worth. (2) We have generally played the bad Big East teams. While the margins aren't way out of wack, I expect that could grow a lot more as we move forward and play better teams. You would think the better teams will draw more fouls, as Villanova did yesterday. (3) We need to stop fouling. I think our defense has been improving throughout the Big East season, but this is still a big problelm. Not only does it give our opponents an edge in getting more free points, but it also keeps our own players on the bench and messes with our rotations on both offense and defense. In conference play, Hayes and Govan both have high FC/40 rates (8.5, 6.5). Peak is similarly high at 6.6, and Derrickson isn't far behind at 5.5, and Kaleb is at 4.5. Those are way, way, way too high. (4) For Govan, you know he's going to foul a fair amount, because he's a freshman, though you obviously want to see improvement there. To some degree our poor wing/guard defense has forced Govan and Hayes into bad situations, which also probably hurts their foul rate (e.g., Copeland loses his man, Govan/Hayes move over to help, and foul). Now, in Peak's instance, he only committed 3.2 fouls per 40 minutes last year. This year he's at 6.2. I'm sorry but Peak doesn't go from 3.2 fouls per 40 minutes to 6.2 solely because of the rule changes. Peak is a good defender, in principle. He's got athleticism, he moves well, and he can generally keep with his guy. But, he uses his hands way too much. Yes, he does occasionally get bad calls against him, but just as often (if not more), he simply makes a bad move with his hands/arms, and he commits a foul. He's got to work on moving his feet more. He has the ability, he just needs to do it. (5) As anybody who reads this message board knows, I am very supportive of the coaching staff and JT3, in particular. That being said, I think the staff really needs to focus more on stressing defense without fouling. It's been a systematic problem, and it's been a major impediment to our defensive scheme. Sounds like you are calling out coach for not adapting to the game. You may have been supportive but aren't blind. All valid criticisms that you shouldn't have to apologize for.
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LCPolo18
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,406
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Post by LCPolo18 on Jan 17, 2016 23:37:21 GMT -5
Thanks for putting this together. In addition to the new foul rules, I wonder if the 2014 timing has anything to do with the coaching staff turnover prior to that season.
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Bigs"R"Us
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,642
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Post by Bigs"R"Us on Jan 17, 2016 23:39:22 GMT -5
This is precisely why we don't advance in the tournament and lose to mid-major teams. We foul on defense and don't have the personelle to draw fouls on offense. Need to recruit a pure point guard.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Jan 18, 2016 0:25:44 GMT -5
This is precisely why we don't advance in the tournament and lose to mid-major teams. We foul on defense and don't have the personelle to draw fouls on offense. Need to recruit a pure point guard. To be fair, we have actually drawn fouls fairly well this year, at least compared to the past. The stat that measures this is Free Throw Attempts/Field Goal Attempts. This year, we are ranked 32 nationally in the stat. That's actually quite good. Here are our rankings in that stat: 2005: 302 2006: 277 2007: 164 2008: 237 2009: 41 2010: 184 2011: 281 2012: 102 2013: 146 2014: 63 2015: 30 2016: 32 Since the new rules, we have actually been among the better teams at drawing fouls. Now, some of that is likely the rules, but I think some of it also demonstrates a concerted effort to get to the line, which is definitely a positive adjustment that has been made. It also demonstrates that the offensive schemes used in 2005-2008ish are not the same as those used today.
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Post by hoyalove4ever on Jan 18, 2016 7:42:27 GMT -5
The new rules are garbage, and we should continue to ignore them. We can win in spite of them. I am proud of the staff for having that attitude.
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hoyainspirit
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
When life puts that voodoo on me, music is my gris-gris.
Posts: 8,394
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Post by hoyainspirit on Jan 18, 2016 10:32:56 GMT -5
This is precisely why we don't advance in the tournament and lose to mid-major teams. We foul on defense and don't have the personelle to draw fouls on offense. Need to recruit a pure point guard. Bigs, unlike with some of our previous teams, this year we actually draw fouls quite well. Going into Villanova, we were #23 in the nation in FTRate. Plus, we shoot them well. FT shooting is a weapon for us this year. Even after not getting to the line much against 'Nova, we're still number 32. As you said, and as 2003's data shows, we definitely have a problem fouling people.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Jan 18, 2016 11:50:09 GMT -5
The new rules are garbage, and we should continue to ignore them. We can win in spite of them. I am proud of the staff for having that attitude. I just don't see a reason why we should make winning more difficult. Whether the new rules are "garbage" or not we have to deal with them. The answer isn't to bury our head in the sand. It's to adjust and try to take advantage of them ourselves. We have to some degree (by drawing more fouls ourselves), but we also need to foul less. Other teams play aggressive defense (like Villanova) without fouling. We need to do the same.
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NCHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,927
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Post by NCHoya on Jan 18, 2016 12:10:28 GMT -5
This is probably my biggest complaint about this coaching staff. How do they continually watch our guys get into foul trouble and not take more action to curb the problem? Peak is a disaster right now. They moved him to the bench perhaps to stop him from picking up the quick fouls and yet he has still found a way to do it. 90% of the fouls on us are legit and the teams we play simply do not foul as much as we do.
Some of the issue is structural, we cannot defend quick guard penetration and our bigs pick up the fouls on help defense. However, we know this is going to happen, so all the unnecessary reaching and poor footwork needs to be eliminated. There are plenty of the other teams with the same issues that are not ranked over 300thn in foul rate.
Any time 300+ teams are doing something better than you for 3 years in a row, it is 100% on the staff. Different players, same results - figure it out III.
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prhoya
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Posts: 23,338
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Post by prhoya on Jan 18, 2016 12:19:00 GMT -5
This is probably my biggest complaint about this coaching staff. How do they continually watch our guys get into foul trouble and not take more action to curb the problem? Peak is a disaster right now. They moved him to the bench perhaps to stop him from picking up the quick fouls and yet he has still found a way to do it. 90% of the fouls on us are legit and the teams we play simply do not foul as much as we do. Some of the issue is structural, we cannot defend quick guard penetration and our bigs pick up the fouls on help defense. However, we know this is going to happen, so all the unnecessary reaching and poor footwork needs to be eliminated. There are plenty of the other teams with the same issues that are not ranked over 300thn in foul rate. Any time 300+ teams are doing something better than you for 3 years in a row, it is 100% on the staff. Different players, same results - figure it out III. So true, NC, a change of rules is not an excuse.
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hoyainspirit
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
When life puts that voodoo on me, music is my gris-gris.
Posts: 8,394
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Post by hoyainspirit on Jan 18, 2016 13:13:44 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm tired of all these damn fouls. We'd have a much better chance to win if we could cut our opponents FTRate.
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Post by HometownHoya on Jan 18, 2016 13:38:44 GMT -5
The only consistent on the roster from just the past 3 years is Reggie Cameron. This must all be his fault!
Am I using Hoyatalk logic correctly?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2016 14:19:32 GMT -5
I blame Jay Bilas. smh Who died and made this guy the author of the rule book.
The NBA isn't officiated that way, it's stupid...
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beenaround
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,475
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Post by beenaround on Jan 18, 2016 15:00:27 GMT -5
This is precisely why we don't advance in the tournament and lose to mid-major teams. We foul on defense and don't have the personelle to draw fouls on offense. Need to recruit a pure point guard. To be fair, we have actually drawn fouls fairly well this year, at least compared to the past. The stat that measures this is Free Throw Attempts/Field Goal Attempts. This year, we are ranked 32 nationally in the stat. That's actually quite good. Here are our rankings in that stat: 2005: 302 2006: 277 2007: 164 2008: 237 2009: 41 2010: 184 2011: 281 2012: 102 2013: 146 2014: 63 2015: 30 2016: 32 Since the new rules, we have actually been among the better teams at drawing fouls. Now, some of that is likely the rules, but I think some of it also demonstrates a concerted effort to get to the line, which is definitely a positive adjustment that has been made. It also demonstrates that the offensive schemes used in 2005-2008ish are not the same as those used today. Interesting statistics. Much appreciated.
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FLHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Proud Member of Generation Burton
Posts: 4,544
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Post by FLHoya on Jan 18, 2016 15:19:04 GMT -5
The new rules are garbage, and we should continue to ignore them. We can win in spite of them. I am proud of the staff for having that attitude. We're 11-7.
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FLHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Proud Member of Generation Burton
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Post by FLHoya on Jan 18, 2016 15:42:53 GMT -5
This is probably my biggest complaint about this coaching staff. How do they continually watch our guys get into foul trouble and not take more action to curb the problem? Peak is a disaster right now. They moved him to the bench perhaps to stop him from picking up the quick fouls and yet he has still found a way to do it. 90% of the fouls on us are legit and the teams we play simply do not foul as much as we do. Some of the issue is structural, we cannot defend quick guard penetration and our bigs pick up the fouls on help defense. However, we know this is going to happen, so all the unnecessary reaching and poor footwork needs to be eliminated. There are plenty of the other teams with the same issues that are not ranked over 300thn in foul rate. Any time 300+ teams are doing something better than you for 3 years in a row, it is 100% on the staff. Different players, same results - figure it out III. Nothing I'm about to say is all that new or insightful, but it's worth saying again. There are probably very short, short, medium, and long-term solutions to our poor defense. There's no guarantee that our coaching staff will choose the right one, or that I'm on the right track either, but here we are. The staff has taken a very short term approach with LJ by taking him out of the starting lineup, something Coach openly implied was about his foul trouble. It shifts him around in the rotation, ideally keeps him out of early foul trouble (i.e. 2 fouls in his first shift before the under 16/12 timeout), and hopefully manages his fouls/minutes so he can play at crunch time, when we've seen in some games (Charlotte, Nova to name two) that he can be our most reliable offensive option. Now, this is really just putting a bandaid on a gaping head wound--the short or medium term solution is the coaching staff has to get LJ some instruction on playing proper defense. This is beyond just adjusting to new rules--even cutting out the 1-2 silly reaches/blocks he commits per game would do wonders. In the short term, it would seem to me if your team struggles from a personnel standpoint to defend the perimeter in man-to-man, a zone defense is an option. Now, I would argue early in the season that we were even worse at the 2-3 zone, and I don't think we have great personnel for a 2-3 either, especially with White and Agau on the shelf--just not enough length, and the whole rotating and discipline thing is a bother. This being said, we're getting better at the 2-3, and using it for longer stretches at a time. We used it mostly in the 2nd half on Saturday, and generally I thought we were okay rotating and closing out where needed. Villanova went like 1 FG for the final 9 minutes right? Now, Nova can't really shoot the three, so they can't hurt the 2-3 that way, and they did get a lot of baseline cuts, so there's room for improvement. Still, for me, the best hope for this team in the short term to be passable enough defensively to get the wins needed for an NCAA shot is to continue to improve our 2-3 zone so that we can use it more regularly to mask our obvious MTM deficiencies. Medium term, I'd love to add one more wrinkle to the defense by the end of the season. Maybe it's doing more halfcourt trapping/extending the zone press where appropriate, like we did against DePaul and ALMOST seemed like we wanted to against Nova. Maybe it's going whole-hog on the zone press, though this seems less likely b/c (again, personnel) it really only works when you have length like Copeland in front of it, and Cameron (not enough length), Derrickson (too slow), Govan (don't want the center up there), Peak (too risky with fouls) don't fit the bill. One intriguing possibility--we played ONE possession of 1-3-1 zone on Saturday, in the second half, that we rolled into out of the zone press. Hadn't seen that all season, and it's...not the worst idea in the world. IIRC, Nova missed a three on the possession. Long term, IMO we need to junk the way we play man to man defense. We can't keep pressuring the ball as high up as we do with guards that either don't have the athleticism to stay in front or discipline not to foul. Maybe Peak grows into the new rules, and a Johnson-Mosley #2 line provides some better on-ball defense, and adding some length back to the frontline with White and Agau mitigates the slowness factor, but I wouldn't count on all those things falling into place. I personally like pack-line defenses...they're not for everyone, they're not the simplest thing in the world, they're not perfect, and like any defense they have certain vulnerabilities. I do think though that in the current rules era, the best philosophy in man to man with our roster makeup/talent would be to surrender a little space on the perimeter, even at the risk of giving up some three point attempts, to better play the angles on penetration and help down better. But that's a change that ain't happening during a season--frankly, I'm shocked I even saw a 1-3-1--and it seems unlikely the coaching staff totally junks its defensive approach. TLDR: Yup, we've been bad defensively since the new rules changes and it totally makes sense to blame our coaching staff. They're making some changes, and the impact of those is still TBD. I think there's still much work to be done.
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Post by hoyalove4ever on Jan 18, 2016 16:12:21 GMT -5
The new rules are garbage, and we should continue to ignore them. We can win in spite of them. I am proud of the staff for having that attitude. We're 11-7. Not because of fouling too much.
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vv83
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,328
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Post by vv83 on Jan 18, 2016 16:48:39 GMT -5
This is probably my biggest complaint about this coaching staff. How do they continually watch our guys get into foul trouble and not take more action to curb the problem? Peak is a disaster right now. They moved him to the bench perhaps to stop him from picking up the quick fouls and yet he has still found a way to do it. 90% of the fouls on us are legit and the teams we play simply do not foul as much as we do. Some of the issue is structural, we cannot defend quick guard penetration and our bigs pick up the fouls on help defense. However, we know this is going to happen, so all the unnecessary reaching and poor footwork needs to be eliminated. There are plenty of the other teams with the same issues that are not ranked over 300thn in foul rate. Any time 300+ teams are doing something better than you for 3 years in a row, it is 100% on the staff. Different players, same results - figure it out III. Nothing I'm about to say is all that new or insightful, but it's worth saying again. There are probably very short, short, medium, and long-term solutions to our poor defense. There's no guarantee that our coaching staff will choose the right one, or that I'm on the right track either, but here we are. The staff has taken a very short term approach with LJ by taking him out of the starting lineup, something Coach openly implied was about his foul trouble. It shifts him around in the rotation, ideally keeps him out of early foul trouble (i.e. 2 fouls in his first shift before the under 16/12 timeout), and hopefully manages his fouls/minutes so he can play at crunch time, when we've seen in some games (Charlotte, Nova to name two) that he can be our most reliable offensive option. Now, this is really just putting a bandaid on a gaping head wound--the short or medium term solution is the coaching staff has to get LJ some instruction on playing proper defense. This is beyond just adjusting to new rules--even cutting out the 1-2 silly reaches/blocks he commits per game would do wonders. In the short term, it would seem to me if your team struggles from a personnel standpoint to defend the perimeter in man-to-man, a zone defense is an option. Now, I would argue early in the season that we were even worse at the 2-3 zone, and I don't think we have great personnel for a 2-3 either, especially with White and Agau on the shelf--just not enough length, and the whole rotating and discipline thing is a bother. This being said, we're getting better at the 2-3, and using it for longer stretches at a time. We used it mostly in the 2nd half on Saturday, and generally I thought we were okay rotating and closing out where needed. Villanova went like 1 FG for the final 9 minutes right? Now, Nova can't really shoot the three, so they can't hurt the 2-3 that way, and they did get a lot of baseline cuts, so there's room for improvement. Still, for me, the best hope for this team in the short term to be passable enough defensively to get the wins needed for an NCAA shot is to continue to improve our 2-3 zone so that we can use it more regularly to mask our obvious MTM deficiencies. Medium term, I'd love to add one more wrinkle to the defense by the end of the season. Maybe it's doing more halfcourt trapping/extending the zone press where appropriate, like we did against DePaul and ALMOST seemed like we wanted to against Nova. Maybe it's going whole-hog on the zone press, though this seems less likely b/c (again, personnel) it really only works when you have length like Copeland in front of it, and Cameron (not enough length), Derrickson (too slow), Govan (don't want the center up there), Peak (too risky with fouls) don't fit the bill. One intriguing possibility--we played ONE possession of 1-3-1 zone on Saturday, in the second half, that we rolled into out of the zone press. Hadn't seen that all season, and it's...not the worst idea in the world. IIRC, Nova missed a three on the possession. Long term, IMO we need to junk the way we play man to man defense. We can't keep pressuring the ball as high up as we do with guards that either don't have the athleticism to stay in front or discipline not to foul. Maybe Peak grows into the new rules, and a Johnson-Mosley #2 line provides some better on-ball defense, and adding some length back to the frontline with White and Agau mitigates the slowness factor, but I wouldn't count on all those things falling into place. I personally like pack-line defenses...they're not for everyone, they're not the simplest thing in the world, they're not perfect, and like any defense they have certain vulnerabilities. I do think though that in the current rules era, the best philosophy in man to man with our roster makeup/talent would be to surrender a little space on the perimeter, even at the risk of giving up some three point attempts, to better play the angles on penetration and help down better. But that's a change that ain't happening during a season--frankly, I'm shocked I even saw a 1-3-1--and it seems unlikely the coaching staff totally junks its defensive approach. TLDR: Yup, we've been bad defensively since the new rules changes and it totally makes sense to blame our coaching staff. They're making some changes, and the impact of those is still TBD. I think there's still much work to be done. This is a very good assessment of where we are defensively, and where we might go. I do think we have been playing a bit better defensively lately - as Govan has improved, and as the zone press has at least slowed teams down a bit by using up some shot clock time in the back court. For this year, FL Hoya's suggestions make really good sense. Interesting note - our defense is now rated ahead of our offense on kenpom.com (offense 95th, defense 65th). unfortunately, I think this is more a reflection of bad offense than of better defense! Moving forward - the coaching staff does need to a full breakdown of our defense for the future. We have a chance to make some defensive advances just on personnel (getting Agau and White back, Govan and Kaleb continuing to improve, trading out some of DSR's minutes for Mosely next year, maybe some experienced-based improvement from Copeland and Peak). But three years of terrible fouling does seem to indicate that some significant philosophical change is in order. Pack Line D does take a lot of practice - but our best JTIII defensive teams played some pretty complex matchup zone stuff that needed a lot of practice, so it's not like JTIII has never coached complex defenses effectively. And in the current pick and roll based offense era, it i s probably better to concede some mildly contested jump shots rather than concede penetration into the lane. Once good guards get into the lane, we have seen how vulnerable the D becomes to committing fouls, allowing finishes at the hoop, and kickoff passes for wide open 3s. The game has really become all about the pick and roll - we simply have to do a better job of defending it, and of executing it on offense. Some of that is recruiting the right personnel, but some of it is coaching. It does seem like Thompson is trying to recruit to this reality more intentionally (the apparent growing interest in Chris Lykes is one strong indicator), but there has to be schematic adjustment as well.
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Post by hoyalove4ever on Jan 18, 2016 17:06:25 GMT -5
I am for full-court press out of the old Nolan Richardson book.
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Post by professorhoya on Jan 18, 2016 22:50:39 GMT -5
. That being said, I think the staff really needs to focus more on stressing defense without fouling. It's been a systematic problem, and it's been a major impediment to our defensive scheme. It's a tough question that alot of teams and coaches are struggling with. Look at Coach K and Duke losing to 3 unranked teams. Or Izzo and MSU losing to Iowa twice and Wisconsin. Kentucky has looked inconsistent as well. And packline teams like UVA, MSU, Arizona, Wisconsin (although more a function of losing talent), Butler aren't faring much better either and have some bad loses. The 2013-2014 rule changes favored packline teams. And those were the teams that really rose to the top which led to more defensive and lower scoring games. I think the 2015-2016 freedom of movement rules were to try to stop the packline because the NCAA wants high scoring, offense oriented games to get ratings. However, the unintended consequence is that the freedom of movement rules hurt tight man to man D. And if you have superior athletes and basketball players then you usually go to man to man because it's the most effective. And defense is the one things you can always control so it has the most consistency and least variability, especially for a superior team/personnel. But now that you can't play that tight man to man D, you are seeing superior teams like Duke, Kentucky etc, getting upset. All it takes is for the underdog to get hot from 3pt and/or free throw line to pull off an upset. Basically, what has happened is you can no longer play D, so the one thing you can control (although not as consistently because there's more improbability in 3pt shooting and finishing off dribble penetration) is just trying to outscore your opponent. And the best way to do that is if you either already have a dribble penetration and finish or kick system like Villanova or a run and gun superior cardio Paul Westhead Loyola Marymount style where you don't even pretend to play defense and just plan on scoring 122 points per game (like LMU did in 1990). I guess in theory moving away from man to man and packline towards a lengthy Syracuse sytle 2-3 zone and 1-3-1 zone might be the best way to play a modicum of defense while minimizing foul trouble. Just trying to play the passing lanes and get steals or create bonehead turnovers. Full court pressing might be effective as well but you need superior athletes at every position, ideally length and depth (because you will foul alot) or it's not effective and can't be sustained. The problem with our current team in running that type of system is that DSR, Cameron and Hayes aren't superior athletes and because of foul trouble you expose Govan to picking up tick tack fouls if the press gets beat. I suppose you could use Mourning on the backline of the press. That's the way I would go if you were going to run 40 minutes of hell.
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