2023 Maui Classic

[upperdeck]

That would probably have something to do with us playing basically guard sized guys at forward and a forward sized guy at center. We really need to have some time with McCloud out there at center along with Brown at power forward if we want to have a shot in hell at competing with the size and strength of these teams. A front court of Bell Brown Taylor (or Copeland/Cuffe) will look comically small and incompetent on defense against these teams. They already struggled against weak competition.

I think its more from playing bad man defense

 

[DoctahLexus]

Outside Of Bell the guys you mentioned are not the main reason for our bad defense. JJ and Bell have been horrific on that end with Judah slightly less horrific.

Taylor and Brown have also struggled at times on defense, and that was against guys who are probably on average 3-4 inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter than the guys they will have to guard in this tournament. I like what we are seeing from Taylor on the boards and at least like his effort in 1v1 defense, but when he is up against a 6'8 strong athlete instead of a slow 6'4 guy it is going to be different.

Bell has not been horrific in 1v1 D and was high quality in the full court press. Cant dismiss his quickness and ability to fight through picks these past few games. It is the boards and any sort of rim protection where he has been not getting it done and it will only get worse against more athletic opponents. If we find a way to put him on a faster skinny guy I think he is as good an option as any. Just worry that a stronger player will be able to take the body and get where he wants. He feels more suited for defending guards.

Our size has not been truly exposed with these first few teams. That changes today

 

[DoctahLexus]

More Benny could help with better help side defense (along with just having a better plan for addressing rotations/help side defense). Maliq isn’t much of a rim protector but our defense is statistically better with him in than McLeod so far.

Agree on Benny. Just can't play him if he looks like he did against Colgate. Looked like his standard self a beat late to jump for the rebound, a beat late to jump up and protect the rim. He has the size and athletic ability but most of the time a negative IQ on what to do and when to do it. Feel like we have to grit our teeth and give him a shot to keep pace with these opponents.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Taylor and Brown have also struggled at times on defense, and that was against guys who are probably on average 3-4 inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter than the guys they will have to guard in this tournament. I like what we are seeing from Taylor on the boards and at least like his effort in 1v1 defense, but when he is up against a 6'8 strong athlete instead of a slow 6'4 guy it is going to be different.

Bell has not been horrific in 1v1 D and was high quality in the full court press. Cant dismiss his quickness and ability to fight through picks these past few games. It is the boards and any sort of rim protection where he has been not getting it done and it will only get worse against more athletic opponents. If we find a way to put him on a faster skinny guy I think he is as good an option as any. Just worry that a stronger player will be able to take the body and get where he wants. He feels more suited for defending guards.

Our size has not been truly exposed with these first few teams. That changes today

Bell played well in the press against Colgate. 1 on 1 he's terrible. He's our worst defender according to every metric after JJ and was our worst defender last year. Just because people are athletic does not make them a good defender. JJ is completely lost out there which is concerning because he had the same issues last year at Notre Dame.

Brown and Taylor have had some issues against size, but they are way down on this list of problems with our defense. We are getting gassed on the perimeter.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Bell played well in the press against Colgate. 1 on 1 he's terrible. He's our second worst defender according to every metric after JJ and was our worst defender last year. Just because people are athletic does not make them a good defender. JJ is completely lost out there which is concerning because he had the same issues last year at Notre Dame.

Brown and Taylor have had some issues against size, but they are way down on this list of problems with our defense. We are getting gassed on the perimeter.

Im not saying throw metrics out the window, but these metrics are all based on opponents of a different caliber than the teams in Maui. Think there will be times where it is best to put out our bigger and stronger guys out there just to keep up on defense and the boards.

JJ is a concern and I think it will never happen, but would love if we gave Taylor or Bell some mins at guard. Feel like we could use both their size and shooting in the backcourt. Judah and JJ trying to keep pace with guards that are 6'4 plus all day sounds like a nightmare.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Im not saying throw metrics out the window, but these metrics are all based on opponents of a different caliber than the teams in Maui. Think there will be times where it is best to put out our bigger and stronger guys out there just to keep up on defense and the boards.

JJ is a concern and I think it will never happen, but would love if we gave Taylor or Bell some mins at guard. Feel like we could use both their size and shooting in the backcourt. Judah and JJ trying to keep pace with guards that are 6'4 plus all day sounds like a nightmare.

That’s what’s concerning. There should be zero excuse for our perimeter defense to be this bad against mid majors. JJ was suppose to be a first round pick. He’s not anything close to that.

I agree Taylor and Brown may have some issues against bigger teams, but Tennessee is a team that plays small ball

 

[DoctahLexus]

That’s what’s concerning. There should be zero excuse for our perimeter defense to be this bad against mid majors. JJ was suppose to be a first round pick. He’s not anything close to that.

I agree Taylor and Brown may have some issues against bigger teams, but Tennessee is a team that plays small ball

Yeah some slight reassurance looking at the Tenn roster specifically. They are tall at the guard position however. We will see what happens. Looks like they do not have a super tall center who could give Brown trouble so we can hopefully get away with him in the middle for that game at least.

 

[two3zone]

That’s what’s concerning. There should be zero excuse for our perimeter defense to be this bad against mid majors. JJ was suppose to be a first round pick. He’s not anything close to that.

I agree Taylor and Brown may have some issues against bigger teams, but Tennessee is a team that plays small ball

Not sure we have any 1st round picks on the roster right now, I think Mintz could play himself into that spot but he needs to be a lot better or he may not even get a call on draft day. You’ve been right about JJ since he played his first game for ND, no idea what he’s doing and has played himself out of any draft and that’s being kind.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Cuse_NYC]

Have to stay within idn 10 on the boards, or this will be an absolute bloodbath

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

I’ve never seen this forum this negative before a basketball game. After or during sure. So that means we definitely play well hope we get the W. Gotta get off the beach and up to the room to call an Uber kind of worried the box office will only have 1 person selling these GA tix and there will be an insane queue.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[CuseTroop]

Ima need to bump into some folks today or tomorrow. Where’s everyone post gaming at? We had Pearl Harbor reservations right after the game yesterday.

 

[CuseTroop]

Hasn’t been too bad of a time so far

 

[DoctahLexus]

Lol at Bill Walton with the big toothy smile in this shot. Has no clue where he is. "Whoo wee this movie set is a trip man!"

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yeah, that Gonzaga game was pretty rough. Not enough offense, not enough effort on defense. They have a lot of work to do.

 

[CuseTroop]

Red asked me to warm up real quick, just in case they needed a shooter

 

[orange79]

Red asked me to warm up real quick, just in case they needed a shooter View attachment 233507

In case???!!!???

 

[sufan59]

Tennessee Purdue in a tight game. Edey has four fouls which can be an issue in the final minutes here.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Everyone rooting for Tennessee, Marquette, Gonzaga and us?

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Edey and Purdue looked real good in 1st half vs Marquette. See what Shaka does at halftime.

Hopefully Red is watching these top teams play. Especially watching how they pass and cut and create great shots. If any positive comes out of Hawaii, it's that some of the juju of the top teams rubbed off on us.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Purdue up 1

:45 left

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Purdue miss, but Edey putback 78-75.

Marquette missed 3, Purdue rebound.

7.6 seconds

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Purdue missed FT, Edey offensive board.

6.2