Defense

[jdubs30]

Before anyone gets ridiculous here. Other than the Gillon year, we’ve had a top 20 defense nationally every year since 2010. A great team got hot from 3 tonight, that’s it. Duke lit up UVA twice this year but no one was calling for Bennett to abandon M2M. This defense has been great for a long time and 1 game doesn’t change that

 

[Jake]

The problem tonight was that we lost shooters early in the first half and gave a very good shooting team confidence.

Give them credit, they were making shots from Rochester. That was quite a shooting display.

Frank and Oshae did not defend well. At all.
If there’s no effort, no defense is going to work.

 

[orangehomer]

they were toying with frank and buddy on top of the zone in the second half. there can't be two slower players we have tried to zone with, ever.

 

[Ghost]

Before anyone gets ridiculous here. Other than the Gillon year, we’ve had a top 20 defense nationally every year since 2010. A great team got hot from 3 tonight, that’s it. Duke lit up UVA twice this year but no one was calling for Bennett to abandon M2M. This defense has been great for a long time and 1 game doesn’t change that

So, you're saying our offense is the problem? I hear you.

 

[CardiacCuse]

they were toying with frank and buddy on top of the zone in the second half. there can't be two slower players we have tried to zone with, ever.

frank seems checked out...last season he was good...he knew he was playing 40 so he was all in...now that he's being benched down the stretch of his career...its a character-tester and he's not necessarily passing...but i feel for him...gotta be hard to envision building up to this point for your whole college career to kinda have the rug taken out from under you...i mean yeah his play has been underwhelming but he was a good soldier and now its gotta be messing with his head in a way to have been benched so much lately...still, his play vs uva was bad - especially on d...really bad effort covering the shooters. which jb said was the game plan...

i had the feeling that the team needs frank to go far...or anywhere...but that ship has sailed...problem is the alternatives arent really any better, either...

this team is in a tough spot.

 

[MikeSU02]

Before anyone gets ridiculous here. Other than the Gillon year, we’ve had a top 20 defense nationally every year since 2010. A great team got hot from 3 tonight, that’s it. Duke lit up UVA twice this year but no one was calling for Bennett to abandon M2M. This defense has been great for a long time and 1 game doesn’t change that

No one was calling for Bennett to change because his team is getting a one seed and things are working for him. We’ve been a bubble team consistently lately. It’s easy to stay the course when you are killing it and only losing to a team that has three of the top five or so draft picks.

One game doesn’t change the fact that we do well in certain defensive rankings, but the fact that we won’t change makes us fodder for good teams a lot of the time. Combined with our offense, and we’re toast.

We’re a Tre Jones injury away from this year being way worse than it already is. That Duke win is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

 

[djcon57]

“"Our defense broke down and we allowed them to shoot. They're going to make shots. It was the worst it's ever been since I've been here," - JB

 

[Brooky03]

I feel bad for Frank. I experienced some parallels (at a much lower level of course) to his 4-year career arc. It's tough to be a big piece of an ultimately successful puzzle one year and a discounted, dwindling consideration the next (final) year... especially after injury. It's surprisingly easy to lose confidence in yourself once coaches and casual fans begin to lose confidence in you.

 

[longtimefan]

they were toying with frank and buddy on top of the zone in the second half. there can't be two slower players we have tried to zone with, ever.

Must be you're not old enough to remember the Sims-Cipolla duo (with Janulis coming off the bench).

 

[orangehomer]

sims was better than frank, and cipolla was better than buddy, and janulis was better than our bench, so i'm not sure what you are getting at.

 

[longtimefan]

sims was better than frank, and cipolla was better than buddy, and janulis was better than our bench, so i'm not sure what you are getting at.

What I'm getting at is who is (was) slower, which is what you originally commented on. I know you're sharp enough to get that.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Before anyone gets ridiculous here. Other than the Gillon year, we’ve had a top 20 defense nationally every year since 2010. A great team got hot from 3 tonight, that’s it. Duke lit up UVA twice this year but no one was calling for Bennett to abandon M2M. This defense has been great for a long time and 1 game doesn’t change that

"Top 20 defense" in what respect(s)?
No one is calling for Bennett to abandon M2M because they've been a consistent top 10 team, and at the top of the best conference in the country for quite a while. Getting "lit up" by Duke twice—a team with possibly the top 3 2019 draft picks—isn't a reason for any coach/team to abandon an ethos.
Our defense has not been "great for a long time." It's "great" sporadically and/or in occasional years. Other times, it just 'is.'

 

[FrancoPizza]

Must be you're not old enough to remember the Sims-Cipolla duo (with Janulis coming off the bench).

Yes but teams weren’t predominantly shooter-oriented back then.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Was thinking that Bennett started that little guard Clark to harass, frustrate and tire Battle and Howard in the first half. When Howard went out again during the first half, Battle finally took him inside making some short jumpers over him, Howard never took advantage of the height advantage he had. That Clark made them work hard in the first half but played sparingly in the 2nd half - his job was done.

We had an advantage inside against their bigs but we didn’t take advantage and our lack of ball handling hurts us in creating for teammates and against tight pressure. Speed might not be the biggest issue as much as ball handling skills. Wish we could borrow some of Lydon’s old ball fakes for our players too.

Who was that small walk on guard a few years ago? Reese maybe? He was a short speedy aggressive kid who pressed guards tightly in practice, was a real pain on defense, need one or two of those type kids to terrorize our starting guards in practice to try to duplicate that type of pressure. A kid willing to be hated but willing to prepare our guards for aggressive pressure defense.

 

[hoopsupstate]

SU did nothing to disrupt their rhythm in the second half. Trap, press, or knock a shooter on their butts. They were laughing. One of their guards would have ended up in the first row if Coleman was playing. They felt too comfortable all night.