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Message: [QUOTE="A Clockwork Orange, post: 5577044, member: 16"] An old axiom in basketball is that [I]"good defense doesn't take days off." [/I]I think you saw an example of that last night. This is a pretty solid defensive team, and they held their own against a perennially top-shelf defensive squad. The on-ball pressure is excellent, as are the hedges by our bigs. Kiyan seemed overmatched defensively last night (may have been who he was matched up with most of the time; I'll be paying attention today against Kansas). The other players all played solid help defense and didn't give up many easy opportunities. This almost feels like an old-school Jim Boeheim-coached team—uber-athletic, solid defensively, horribly out of position defensive rebounding, and poor free-throw shooting. [LIST] [*]Kyle is an undersized defensive monster. He hedges well and gets back to position quickly. [*]Sadiq has the opportunity to be phenomenal defensively, but he's not quite there yet. Faked out too many times, and has his athleticism and aggressiveness used against him from time to time. If he can be more in control, he can dominate a game simply from the defensive side of the ball. [*]Kingz is a solid perimeter defender. Moves his feet well and keeps his man in front of him. [*]Betsey is a step slow on the defensive end, but it shows that he's putting in tremendous effort on that end of the floor. Needs to quicken those slides in man-to-man. [*]George is a solid defender, but not spectacular. Smaller, faster points can abuse him. He'll need to use his length and size to his advantage and get in faster guards' shorts as soon as they get the ball. It's like bump-and-run coverage. Stop them at the outset, and you can contain the big play. [*]I think Zephir might be a solid to above-average defender, but I haven't seen him play enough to have an opinion. [*]Kiyan is the weak link, but his driving ability on the other end can somewhat offset it. He has the body size to be an effective defender, but he seems to take after his old man a little bit on the "ole" defense. He has quicker feet than Melo, which can help him if he commits to it and improves his defensive positioning a bit. As polished as he is on the offensive end, he's just as raw on the defensive end. If he doesn't pick it up defensively and his offensive contributions lag, he may lose some minutes as the season progresses. [*]JJ is an enigma. I think it's all about effort with him. He played really well defensively last night, but last year, he was an all-or-nothing defender. He was a steal or a bucket. He needs to be more consistent on the defensive end, but last night was a step in the right direction. [/LIST] Another old axiom is that good defense breeds more good defense. My hope is that the effort and positioning on defense are rubbing off on JJ. Good team defense makes good defenders better. It can also help hide some weaknesses (like free throw shooting...ugh). If this team wants to compete night in and night out, the defense will need to play like they did last night for a chance at a special season. If that effort lags, this team is a borderline NCAA team. I have high hopes they will continue their defensive artistry. The game against Kansas today will tell us a lot about this team. They're not quite on Houston's level, but they are a dangerous team. If SU wants to make a splash, this is a game they need to win. [/QUOTE]

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