Going forward.

[jordoo]

Teams will go right at Christmas going forward if they are smart. Its no surprise that we have had a let down on defense in the middle since Chris went down. We have 5 fouls to use in the middle and that's it. Teams are going strong knowing they will either pick up fouls on Rak our he will stand there with his hands up without contesting. They are shooting with confidence down there because of this. Clemson also occupied him with a post player even when they had no intentions of giving that guy the ball. This kept Rak from rebounding out of his area and allowed them to try and over power our wings and guards on the glass. I expect much more of this. Then there was the very aggressive physical battle when Rak was on offense. Judging by the fouls they called on this action they basically could have whistled one every time because it was constant throughout the game. Again any team with depth at the center will likely be doing this as well.

If Cooney and Mike shoot that poorly its going to be ugly that's all there is to it. At this point its going to be on Joseph to score because the more I watch Tyler and Buss the more convinced I am that neither is ever going to be a scorer. Tyler struggles amazingly around the rim to finish even though he has long arms and is athletic. I think he can get better but I'm beginning to except that he isn't ever going to be a scorer main option type guy even as a senior IMO. A great boardman, good defender and later in his career a very good garbage man and spot up 15' shooter. Buss just looks so helter skelter on offense, he makes plenty of good plays because he is left alone but like Tyler he never seems to finish around the basket and the jumper just doesn't fall. BJ is still missing although at least he has the type of game where I could see him helping out on offense if his jumper starts to go. He can drive and shoot of the bounce. The best part about the Clemson game is that Joseph realized (all be it 20min late) that he needed to score since Cooney and Mike were not. He did it and did it well in the second half. He's really starting to put his game together and IMO the next step is punishing the defense all game for leaving him, once that happens its harder to cover Rak, Mike and Trevor while not being able to leave Kaleb and having to account for Tyler on the glass.

A couple points on Clemson. They rebounded like crazy on the offensive glass and I don't recall one loose ball foul on them! They had a guy in the lane all game long without any 3 second calls! They screened the top all game long often with a wing or a guard sliding into position without ever being called for a moving screen. Granted we aren't winning without Cooney and G scoring and making shots but it becomes incredibly hard to play defense well at all in that situation especially when 3 of your starters simply cannot afford to get into foul trouble at all.

Even with that our first shot defense was fine to start the game but as we continued to miss and they continued to get more looks from rebounding they gained confidence to the point of making well defended deep jumpers by guys who haven't made them all year. These games happen and we need to score early to pressure the other team since we can not play defense aggressively early in the game with only one center and a very short bench. I was happy to see us play better in the second half but we simply couldn't score for the longest stretch when we held them scoreless I think we had a 10-2 or 9-2 run and missed about 8 shots ourselves during it. That was our opportunity to really get back into the game.

Clemson has mastered the hip bump/push with no whistle. Every time someone rebounded over Mike from behind, almost every shot within 10 feet and on pretty much every rebound we got our guys were moving sideways. Okafor would have had 20+ FT's if he was defended like Rak who seems to get no respect even though he is clearly being targeted for physical play by the other teams. . College refereeing continues to baffle me but we lost that game because we couldn't make shots the first 20min plain and simple. If we made one jump shot every 4 minutes we would have only been down around 10 maybe less and likely won the game.

 

[Madbiker]

That officiating crew was perfect for the way Clemson was playing. They let all the physical play in the paint go -- pushing guys in the back, grabbing arms, hip checks, etc. No calls. It may have been that way for both teams but we don't play physical bang you around defense so we couldn't take advantage on the other end. If Karl Hess and his crew was doing that game, there would have been 50 fouls called. Who would have thought we could ever use Karl Hess?

 

[jordoo]

That officiating crew was perfect for the way Clemson was playing. They let all the physical play in the paint go -- pushing guys in the back, grabbing arms, hip checks, etc. No calls. It may have been that way for both teams but we don't play physical bang you around defense so we couldn't take advantage on the other end. If Karl Hess and his crew was doing that game, there would have been 50 fouls called. Who would have thought we could ever use Karl Hess?

Agreed our system of defense isn't a physical one plus with our lack of depth we simply cannot afford t play that way. The way they let Rakeem and his defender wrestle for position and only call it one out of every 8 possessions was frustrating because it was happening every time. If its a foul once its a foul every time (on one of them) and by not calling it you encourage both the defender and the offensive post guy to keep ratcheting the physical play up more and more.

Two hands or a forearm lower than the shoulders on anyone in the air or attempting to jump should be an automatic foul every time as it is in the NBA. I cannot recall a game in the last 5 years or so where we had so many players jump straight up and move sideways in the air. Even just a little bit throws you off your rebound or shot and if they get you on the jump you aren't getting up as high.