Defense

[Orlando]

If we are going to win the games we need to make the tournament, our defense is going to have to improve. I tend to watch the games from media time out to media time out. At each media time out I calculate how many stops I feel we will need before the next media timeout to either maintain or improve our position in the game. Because of this I tend to notice when we go long periods without getting a stop. Last night was tough. At the under 8 minute media time out in the second half (around 7:45 left) I thought to myself that we need 3 stops before the next media timeout to be in a good position going into the final media timeout. We got zero. I read comments about not understanding how Georgetown hung around and the answer is that in the last 9 minutes of the game, we only got 4 stops. Two of those were in the last 15 seconds. So from the 9 minute mark to the 15 second mark, Georgetown scored on every possession except for two. Derrick drew a charge and Jamil Wilson got a rebound on a wide open Smith Rivera 3 that did everything but go in. It is hard to win that way. Providence and Villanova are very good offensive teams. To beat them on the road our defense will have to get better.

[Nukem2]

Problem on defense the last 2 1/2 games, as Buzz noted in his post-game interview with Homer/Mac, is that MU is having a great deal of trouble stopping dribble penetration. Very obvious last night and at DePaul. Derrick and Jake and Juan, as much as Buzz praises their overall defense, really have trouble with that.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Our defense has definitely slipped in the past month or so. Maybe it's the level of competition being higher, but we have been allowing teams to score way too regularly on us. Last night was a good example of a game that could have been put away had we just got a few stops. DePaul was the same scenario. We've won 5 of our last 6 not because of our defense but our offense. The only team we've held under a point per possession was Butler at home.

Our defense against 'Nova the first time was atrocious. They scored every time they had the ball in OT as I recall. Providence, on the other hand, we had a great defensive game against, maybe our best defense of the year. I'll still be happy with 1-1 out of those, but I agree that if we want to win both it has to get better on the back end.

[Orlando]

Problem on defense the last 2 1/2 games, as Buzz noted in his post-game interview with Homer/Mac, is that MU is having a great deal of trouble stopping dribble penetration. Very obvious last night and at DePaul. Derrick and Jake and Juan, as much as Buzz praises their overall defense, really have trouble with that.

I agree that dribble penetration is a big part of the problem. For as athletic as we are, we either lack lateral quickness collectively or we lack that instinct that gives you a split second edge to beat ball handlers to a spot.

Our other problem is we foul too much. I don't want to debate the officiating, because people have strong opinions on that and I am not going to try and change anyone's point of view. The fact is though that we play with our hands below our shoulders as much as anyone in college basketball and the new rules have hurt us. I think it stems from our long time culture of getting deflections. We tend to play with our arms out like an airplane as opposed to up like a skyscraper. When your arms are below your shoulders, it is more instinctive to slap at the ball. I believe this is also why we give up an abnormally high number of three pointers to teams. We tend to focus more on passing lanes than shot trajectory. A defender with his arms out and not up is like a breath of fresh air to a good shooter. Most of them don't want to pass it anyway, so they don't care if you are guarding the passing lanes. They do like that clean look at the basket though. I think the deflection strategy has served us well over the years, but with the new rules it is hurting us at times.

[Goose85]

Another reason why it would have been fun to see Vander play this year. With the way games are being officiated, players who can make strong drives to the hoop can have a field day. Mayo could do this too as he has a great move to the hoop, his problem is he doesn't go in strong with the ball.

Overplaying to stop teams that shoot the three well leaves you open for the drive to the hoop.
Has anyone noticed if our stopping dribble penetration is different with Otule in the game as opposed to Davante?

[pbiflyer]

Overplaying to stop teams that shoot the three well leaves you open for the drive to the hoop.
Has anyone noticed if our stopping dribble penetration is different with Otule in the game as opposed to Davante?

Not sure, but I did notice that we STJ in the game, he came over a couple times with help defense that stopped the penetration. Not sure how consistent, but maybe that is why he played more than Burton.