Its not just size and the zone

[STEVEHOLT]

Our ineptitude on the defensive boards is not simply due to size or the zone. There are plenty of smaller teams that would do a much better job on the boards than these guys. Its not like the opposition is out jumping us at the hoop or just overpowering us.

WE AREN'T EVEN NEAR THE DAMN BALL OR THE OPPOSING PLAYER HALF THE TIME.

This group of players simply does have the will to do what is necessary to rebound.

Pitt isnt even a big team.

ive never seen anything like this in 35 years...just unacceptable.

a team of jay bursons could rebound better

 

[Kowbelkat]

We need Ernie Seibert and the rest of Roy's runts

 

[SBU72]

On several, occasions , SU players were standing around inside the small arc, looking up and made no attempt to see if a Pitt player was charging down the lane. Which there was. The Pitt guy just blew buy SU and grabbed the ball.

 

[Jeremy L.]

One thing I learned playing basketball is there is no skill to rebounding besides boxing out. All about heart and wanting the ball more when it's up for grabs.

 

[brian williams]

Our ineptitude on the defensive boards is not simply due to size or the zone. There are plenty of smaller teams that would do a much better job on the boards than these guys. Its not like the opposition is out jumping us at the hoop or just overpowering us.

WE AREN'T EVEN NEAR THE DAMN BALL OR THE OPPOSING PLAYER HALF THE TIME.

This group of players simply does have the will to do what is necessary to rebound.

Pitt isnt even a big team.

ive never seen anything like this in 35 years...just unacceptable.

a team of jay bursons could rebound better

Heart and hustle are necessary to rebound. It doesn't help that the average weight of our top five players(minutes played) is only 207 lbs.

 

[shandeezy7]

Yup I'm sick of people just throwing in the towel saying that we are thin down low, we play zone, etc. and we are just going to get out-rebounded. Such complete BS. This team might have a size disadvantage at some positions, but they have size advantages at positions too. It's not like they are midgets out there.

And I'd be fine with getting out-rebounded by a few here and there, but this team is getting absolutely decimated on the boards. Completely unacceptable and is mostly attributable to an absolute lack of rebounding desire and a complete absence of any sort of rebounding technique whatsoever. Beyond frustrating to watch.

 

[DonLightfoot]

On several, occasions , SU players were standing around inside the small arc, looking up and made no attempt to see if a Pitt player was charging down the lane. Which there was. The Pitt guy just blew buy SU and grabbed the ball.

That's exactly what I was seeing several times throughout the game.

 

[iommi]

Buck Williams came to my basketball camp when I was about 13. If you don't know who he is, Buck was one of the best rebounders of his era, playing for the New Jersey Nets in the '80s. His session was all about reboundimg and how it's all about boxing out and desire. He picked out the smallest kid at the camp, showed him proper boxing out technique and then had him try to grab a board against a kid who was about 6" taller. Sure enough the small kid boxed out and out-hustled the tall kid for the rebound.

Then Buck showed what he could do with his rebounding prowess: he tossed the ball up high on the backboard, grabbed the rebound with two hands and flushed it viciously. It was a wow moment. He said, "most of you will never be able do that, but that's not important. I wouldn't have been able to do that dunk if I hadn't grabbed that rebound first."

 

[81South]

So you're saying size DOESN'T matter!! My wife says the same thing and its a good thing!!

Sorry guys...couldn't help myself.

Agree that HEART and EFFORT plays a big part of rebounding. Got to have a street fighters mentality in there.

 

[AZOrange]

Agreed. Pitt is not good.this might be our worst team in a long time.

 

[retro44]

Yup I'm sick of people just throwing in the towel saying that we are thin down low, we play zone, etc. and we are just going to get out-rebounded. Such complete BS. This team might have a size disadvantage at some positions, but they have size advantages at positions too. It's not like they are midgets out there.

And I'd be fine with getting out-rebounded by a few here and there, but this team is getting absolutely decimated on the boards. Completely unacceptable and is mostly attributable to an absolute lack of rebounding desire and a complete absence of any sort of rebounding technique whatsoever. Beyond frustrating to watch.

Who is our big man coach???

 

[AlaskaSU]

Other important factors are weight/strength to establish position, and most important - having live legs, ability to jump in rapid succession, like a pogo stick. For eg. Seikaly, DC, Hak and Stevie Thompson had live legs as did the Worm who was only about 6'6", but DCII needs to wind up to even make one jump and Lydon cannot establish position against a wide-body. When it comes to rebounding some of our players are at a physical disadvantage. Blaming our rebounding on lack of effort is akin to blaming a declining cancer patient for having a poor attitude.

 

[RF2044]

Our ineptitude on the defensive boards is not simply due to size or the zone. There are plenty of smaller teams that would do a much better job on the boards than these guys. Its not like the opposition is out jumping us at the hoop or just overpowering us.

WE AREN'T EVEN NEAR THE DAMN BALL OR THE OPPOSING PLAYER HALF THE TIME.

This group of players simply does have the will to do what is necessary to rebound.

Pitt isnt even a big team.

ive never seen anything like this in 35 years...just unacceptable.

a team of jay bursons could rebound better

Great OP.

Agree 100% [and funny last line]. I had a dopey exchange last week with a poster who suggested that "effort was a myth." Which it most certainly is not. Scrapping for loose balls, diving on the floor, etc. are not things that this team has ever been known for, and it hurts us in certain matchups against teams that consistently play scrappy, helping them overcome what is often a talent differential in our favor.

Pitt was a winnable game. We needed to fight more for rebounds, as we did in Atlantis against uconnvict and aTm. We didn't, and that cost us.

Turns out, effort isn't a myth.

 

[pearl31]

Agreed. Pitt is not good.this might be our worst team in a long time.

while it's neither here nor there as it pertains to this thread, Pitt is good.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

while it's neither here nor there as it pertains to this thread, Pitt is good.

I dont know how good they are yet. They've beaten nobody and should have lost to us. They are a bad matchup for us because they have a couple guys who know the nooks and crannies of the zone and how to exploit it, but they arent very big and they arent very quick, mostly remind me of those old school mid 90's st. johns teams ..

 

[Cuse'91]

DC2 - Undersized(by height/reach) for a center
Roberson - Undersized(by height/reach) for a power forward
Richardson - Undersized(by height/reach) for a small forward
Chino - Undersized(by height/reach) for a center
The staff has recruited square pegs for a round hole when it comes to the zone... But m2m would require that they play more of the bench, so they continue to pound away with something that isn't working...

 

[pearl31]

I dont know how good they are yet. They've beaten nobody and should have lost to us. They are a bad matchup for us because they have a couple guys who know the nooks and crannies of the zone and how to exploit it, but they arent very big and they arent very quick, mostly remind me of those old school mid 90's st. johns teams ..

Any team with a trio of Artis/Young/Robinson is a good team, and then throw in some nice complimentary pieces. Not saying they're top-10 or final4 good, but a solid tourney team

 

[AZOrange]

while it's neither here nor there as it pertains to this thread, Pitt is good.

I beg to differ on the quality of team Pitt has. Just not impressed having seen them.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Great OP.

Agree 100% [and funny last line]. I had a dopey exchange last week with a poster who suggested that "effort was a myth." Which it most certainly is not. Scrapping for loose balls, diving on the floor, etc. are not things that this team has ever been known for, and it hurts us in certain matchups against teams that consistently play scrappy, helping them overcome what is often a talent differential in our favor.

Pitt was a winnable game. We needed to fight more for rebounds, as we did in Atlantis against uconnvict and aTm. We didn't, and that cost us.

Turns out, effort isn't a myth.

One thing not mentioned in this thread is the awful job our guards do of boxing out as well. They rarely do anything to stop the guys they are playing from crashing the boards. If our bigs are otherwise occupied, then it's simply a numbers game and the offensive squad will likely end up with the ball.