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[QUOTE="billsin01, post: 3184376, member: 837"]
I think there will be teams that will take advantage of us up there but I get where others are coming from too in the sense that we've had some long guards who've been monsters defensively -- rautins and mcw in particular -- but others that have been fine but not major difference makers. Battle and Frank were good but were we great defensively last year? I feel like we were solid but not good enough that it off-set our brutal offensive struggles.

As for this pair in particular I think Buddy is struggling up there and I'm sure players will shoot over Girard, but they do have good instincts and that will lead to turnovers and fast breaks/secondary breaks. We've had none of those the past two seasons.

There's a reality in today's game that almost all teams have 4-5 guys on the floor at all times who can score and, in most cases, shoot. It's tough to play a team with 4 shooters, let's say, and cover that ground no matter how tall your guards are. And players are shooting from DEEP on the reg, which is tough too.

For me, at the end of the day, you need to make shooters move their feet. Standing still, shooting from 30 isn't much different for a lot these guys than shooting from 22. Covering that type of ground flawlessly all game is difficult in any defense and with almost any personnel.

That's a long way of saying, to me, I'd be surprised if we don't struggle at times defensively but I'd also be surprised if we didn't offset that more effectively with solid offense this season.
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