My view of the Miami game

[Alsacs]

It was a win so that is good. However, some things stood out to me. It was obvious from the beginning that Miami was going to play stall ball and shorten the game because of the difference in talent.

JB in the beginning of the game used to the press a couple of times, but we got no turnovers and he just stopped using it the rest of the half and allowed Miami to dictate tempo. I hope the next time we play Miami in 3 weeks that he has the team ready for stall ball. The offense looked like a clogged toilet yesterday and I get Cooney was off, but Ennis/Grant played passively and made Fair/Cooney take all the shots.

I wish JB would give the bench a little more run, but obviously he knows this team a lot better than I do as yesterday we only went 6.5 deep yesterday. I get with not many fouls their was no need to play that many guys, but with Cooney struggling in the 2nd half I was wondering why Mike Gbinije didn't get much playing time.

It appears to me JB is comfortable with these slow tempo/stall ball type games because he likes his talent more than the others. The reason yesterday was a bad game was we never put game pressure on Miami and allowed them to stay within 7 points the entire 1st half and thus shortening the game made a lot of sense. I love this team and honestly think we are legitimately a top NC contender, but JB needs to light a fire under this team as I don't care if the other team hits their shots and beats us I just don't want to watch a team play passively and let the other team dictate tempo/style of play. If we press in the beginning of games and give up a couple of layups because of it, but it speeds the other team up I think its smart to do that as the more possessions in games favors the better team.

Finally, Rak Christmas is improving and I am loving his post ups. The kid may not be perfect, but his offense is improving and if he can post and give us ANY threat down low that could be huge in March. This kid may not be the defender that Keita is, but he is improving and had FOUR key points in the 2nd half yesterday. I hope this kid keeps improving and we have a post presence.

 

[Jack Hall]

It was a win so that is good. However, some things stood out to me. It was obvious from the beginning that Miami was going to play stall ball and shorten the game because of the difference in talent.

JB in the beginning of the game used to the press a couple of times, but we got no turnovers and he just stopped using it the rest of the half and allowed Miami to dictate tempo. I hope the next time we play Miami in 3 weeks that he has the team ready for stall ball. The offense looked like a clogged toilet yesterday and I get Cooney was off, but Ennis/Grant played passively and made Fair/Cooney take all the shots.

I wish JB would give the bench a little more run, but obviously he knows this team a lot better than I do as yesterday we only went 6.5 deep yesterday. I get with not many fouls their was no need to play that many guys, but with Cooney struggling in the 2nd half I was wondering why Mike Gbinije didn't get much playing time.

It appears to me JB is comfortable with these slow tempo/stall ball type games because he likes his talent more than the others. The reason yesterday was a bad game was we never put game pressure on Miami and allowed them to stay within 7 points the entire 1st half and thus shortening the game made a lot of sense. I love this team and honestly think we are legitimately a top NC contender, but JB needs to light a fire under this team as I don't care if the other team hits their shots and beats us I just don't want to watch a team play passively and let the other team dictate tempo/style of play. If we press in the beginning of games and give up a couple of layups because of it, but it speeds the other team up I think its smart to do that as the more possessions in games favors the better team.

Finally, Rak Christmas is improving and I am loving his post ups. The kid may not be perfect, but his offense is improving and if he can post and give us ANY threat down low that could be huge in March. This kid may not be the defender that Keita is, but he is improving and had FOUR key points in the 2nd half yesterday. I hope this kid keeps improving and we have a post presence.

jb said it well imo when he said something to the effect- if TC makes his usual percentage we win this thing easily. i couldnt agree more. if TC makes 6-12 there are no worries. but he didnt shoot his normal percentage and there will be 4-5 more games like that this season imo...at least duk lost which hopefully makes our winning the acc more attainable

 

[longislandcuse]

Miami had the perfect formula to beat us.

Underrated opponent. Played stall ball and hit a bunch of threes. Kept it close and due to their athleticism and everyone on our team having an off game were able to execute a grind it out rock fight.

Unless we have a different press, I don't know if that's the answer. Our press is weak sauce rn.

 

[upperdeck]

if you reverse the start with the end. we hit a couple 3's and they make 1 instead of 3-4 we are up 10-12 and they are done.. we had it to 6 and chances to make it much more.. xmas missed 2 dunks, cooney misses more than usual, they make more 3's than avg , we miss every shot for 10 min, perfect storm for them.

the flip side is they made more 3's than usual and still scored 40+ pts. what happens if they shot worse?

and our press is close to working , but not good enough to be only close.. we got our hands on several balls but as usual we missed them.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

The press has some risk attached to it. Mainly it could allow a higher offensive percentage due to one on one play at the basket if it is beaten. Miami looked like it had an excellent game plan. Points were hard to get.

Allowing Miami the opportunity to have some increased percentage of offense may not be a good idea, especially if they go immediately back to stall ball in instances where the opportunity was not there.

Also looks like JB is giving the important status to in-conference games, meaning little consideration to bench development. I mean couldn't/shouldn't the giveaway fouls in the first half gone to Buss? I think Ennis and Cooney should both have been taken out of there if JB was going with that strategy. Buss and MG up top seems like it would be a formidable defensive lineup and not waste fouls on starters.

 

[two3zone]

It was a win so that is good. However, some things stood out to me. It was obvious from the beginning that Miami was going to play stall ball and shorten the game because of the difference in talent. JB in the beginning of the game used to the press a couple of times, but we got no turnovers and he just stopped using it the rest of the half and allowed Miami to dictate tempo. I hope the next time we play Miami in 3 weeks that he has the team ready for stall ball. The offense looked like a clogged toilet yesterday and I get Cooney was off, but Ennis/Grant played passively and made Fair/Cooney take all the shots. I wish JB would give the bench a little more run, but obviously he knows this team a lot better than I do as yesterday we only went 6.5 deep yesterday. I get with not many fouls their was no need to play that many guys, but with Cooney struggling in the 2nd half I was wondering why Mike Gbinije didn't get much playing time. It appears to me JB is comfortable with these slow tempo/stall ball type games because he likes his talent more than the others. The reason yesterday was a bad game was we never put game pressure on Miami and allowed them to stay within 7 points the entire 1st half and thus shortening the game made a lot of sense. I love this team and honestly think we are legitimately a top NC contender, but JB needs to light a fire under this team as I don't care if the other team hits their shots and beats us I just don't want to watch a team play passively and let the other team dictate tempo/style of play. If we press in the beginning of games and give up a couple of layups because of it, but it speeds the other team up I think its smart to do that as the more possessions in games favors the better team. Finally, Rak Christmas is improving and I am loving his post ups. The kid may not be perfect, but his offense is improving and if he can post and give us ANY threat down low that could be huge in March. This kid may not be the defender that Keita is, but he is improving and had FOUR key points in the 2nd half yesterday. I hope this kid keeps improving and we have a post presence.

I don't understand the misconception about BMK being a much better defender than Rak. I'm sorry, if he was an expert defender like most say he is on here he'd be playing 25-28 minutes a game, even with a healthy Coleman.

I truly believe the misconception about his defense is because he's so poor at offense that he HAS to be good at defense. It's like the old theory that old crappy hitting catchers were good at defense even though there's no evidence proving it.

I get it, BMK played great D in March last year, guess what, he hasn't come close to matching ANY of that this year and I really think last March was more of an outlier than him actually being a great defender. If we're going anywhere this year it'll be because Rak is getting a majority of the minutes at the 5 when Fair and Grant are in.

 

[tbonezone]

either you missed the NOVA game or have a pretty short memory.


Q:It seemed like Keita’s hustle really helped you guys out when he got in, can you talk about that?
A:“Well Baye’s been doing that every game, he does what he does. He’s active, he’s a tremendous defensive player. He’s been good. Every year we’ve had him he helps us win.”

 

[two3zone]

either you missed the NOVA game or have a pretty short memory. Q:It seemed like Keita’s hustle really helped you guys out when he got in, can you talk about that? A:“Well Baye’s been doing that every game, he does what he does. He’s active, he’s a tremendous defensive player. He’s been good. Every year we’ve had him he helps us win.”

I never said he doesn't hustle, have size, or moves well. But watching it game by game with no bias I don't "Baye" that BMK is any better a defender than Rak.

 

[orangedave]

I don't understand the misconception about BMK being a much better defender than Rak. I'm sorry, if he was an expert defender like most say he is on here he'd be playing 25-28 minutes a game, even with a healthy Coleman.

I truly believe the misconception about his defense is because he's so poor at offense that he HAS to be good at defense. It's like the old theory that old crappy hitting catchers were good at defense even though there's no evidence proving it.

I get it, BMK played great D in March last year, guess what, he hasn't come close to matching ANY of that this year and I really think last March was more of an outlier than him actually being a great defender. If we're going anywhere this year it'll be because Rak is getting a majority of the minutes at the 5 when Fair and Grant are in.

It's not a misconception

 

[SarasotaPaul]

I don't understand the misconception about BMK being a much better defender than Rak. I'm sorry, if he was an expert defender like most say he is on here he'd be playing 25-28 minutes a game, even with a healthy Coleman.

I truly believe the misconception about his defense is because he's so poor at offense that he HAS to be good at defense. It's like the old theory that old crappy hitting catchers were good at defense even though there's no evidence proving it.

I get it, BMK played great D in March last year, guess what, he hasn't come close to matching ANY of that this year and I really think last March was more of an outlier than him actually being a great defender. If we're going anywhere this year it'll be because Rak is getting a majority of the minutes at the 5 when Fair and Grant are in.

Golly - for someone know as 2/3Zone you should know more about the 2/3Zone.

No misconceptions. He keeps shots from being taken - doesn't show in his stat line. He directs defensive traffic better - doesn't show in his stat line. He is in the right position himself most of the time - Rak and esp Coleman are not. Rak is getting better and you see see the strides. Rak is the answer long-term but his fouling tendencies (I.E. bad defensive skills) often keep him seated.

 

[SarasotaPaul]

either you missed the NOVA game or have a pretty short memory.


Q:It seemed like Keita’s hustle really helped you guys out when he got in, can you talk about that?
A:“Well Baye’s been doing that every game, he does what he does. He’s active, he’s a tremendous defensive player. He’s been good. Every year we’ve had him he helps us win.”

I want to know just what the tbonezone is and who plays it?

 

[two3zone]

Golly - for someone know as 2/3Zone you should know more about the 2/3Zone. No misconceptions. He keeps shots from being taken - doesn't show in his stat line. He directs defensive traffic better - doesn't show in his stat line. He is in the right position himself most of the time - Rak and esp Coleman are not. Rak is getting better and you see see the strides. Rak is the answer long-term but his fouling tendencies (I.E. bad defensive skills) often keep him seated.

I'm not saying Kieta is awful defensively, I just think the difference between him in there and Rak is not the huge difference that people are making it out to be.

If BMK was hands down the better defender, no way Rak is in there for more minutes than him per game, and no way Rak is finishing games off with BMK on the bench.

 

[Dave85]

I'm not saying Kieta is awful defensively, I just think the difference between him in there and Rak is not the huge difference that people are making it out to be.

If BMK was hands down the better defender, no way Rak is in there for more minutes than him per game, and no way Rak is finishing games off with BMK on the bench.

BMK had a slow start last year but got better as the year went on. I suspect he will do the same this year.

The best part of the Miami game was when it was over!

 

[doc05]

It's Keita's hands man - has hands. SMH. He will play great D and then a defensive rebound will just go through his hands like magic.

 

[SarasotaPaul]

I'm not saying Kieta is awful defensively, I just think the difference between him in there and Rak is not the huge difference that people are making it out to be.

If BMK was hands down the better defender, no way Rak is in there for more minutes than him per game, and no way Rak is finishing games off with BMK on the bench.

Sure there is a reason. Better offensively and better hands. He is also hitting his free throws better now. End of games you need good hands out there.
Defensively there is still a big difference. Thankfully Rak is starting to get it and the gap is closing. Ergo: more minutes and getting to close out games recently.

 

[orangefan13]

Fair and cooney weren't hitting jum shots, grant and fair weren't scoring in isolation/the post. Ennis wasn't driving and scoring much and had nobody to throw a assist to, and when that happens to all four there was no leader on the court.

Interesting the way it ended with a rak hook , then grant(with a jumper), fair in iso, ennis with two drives, and cooney getting to the foul line(although I thought it was a bad call). I give miami's defense more credit then their gameplan. This happens in a sweet 16, elite 8 or better though and we probably lose.

 

[Cowtown]

I hope no one in this discussion is confusing blocking shots with good defense. Because blocking shots is not "good defense." Good defense begins long before the ball gets there, and if you're blocking a lot of shots it's because you're giving up way too many good shot opportunities. Good zone D play involves movement ("every player moves with every pass," right from JB's own vid on zone D which I used for years), defending the 3 point line, cutting off passing/drive lanes, and trapping. Watch BMK move when the other team has the ball, for he's smart and he's quick, invariably in the right place, and he gets there on time. So it's easier to defend the perimeter well, knowing the guys behind you aren't standing around like a bunch of lifeguards, just watching and moving only in an emergency.

 

[pearl31]

I get it, BMK played great D in March last year, guess what, he hasn't come close to matching ANY of that this year and I really think last March was more of an outlier than him actually being a great defender.

Sorry, but you're wrong.

 

[Madbiker]

If the only adjustment we make for the rematch at Miami in 3 weeks is, well Cooney has to shoot better, we'll be in trouble. You can't let the other team just dictate the game to you. I'm sure Miami feels if they just had a couple fewer TO's they win. Yesterday's game was a classic copy of what every mid major tries to do to us especially in the NCAAT. We have to be much more aggressive and get out to a lead, and not just 4 points, to get them out of their comfort level and speed them up.

 

[Gabjon]

It's Keita's hands man - has hands. SMH. He will play great D and then a defensive rebound will just go through his hands like magic.

This is it! Baye is a great defender in the zone but doesn't always finish the play with a rebound and that gets him on the bench!

 

[two3zone]

This is it! Baye is a great defender in the zone but doesn't always finish the play with a rebound and that gets him on the bench!

Isn't rebounding a part of defense?

 

[Gabjon]

Isn't rebounding a part of defense?

No! When you don't play good defense there is no rebound just the ball coming out of the net and Baye's rebounding issues are just as bad or worse on the offensive end...

 

[Cowtown]

I'd suggest if you don't have the ball, you're on defense.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Yes rebounding is part of defense.

And no, we didn't go 6.5 deep. We played 7 players. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but ill never get how there can be a half player. Yes, I get the half means they didn't play many minutes, but still. A pet peeve of mine.

Back on topic- when Cooney has an off night, and it will happen more times this year, that's a fact, we need Ennis to get more aggressive on O.

Right now, Grant gets by via his athleticism. He really isn't a great finisher and only has one hand. Loved the J he hit. He needs to make that somewhat consistently.

 

[Gabjon]

When the ball comes of the rim it is a loose ball. There is no offense or defense, it is recorded as an offensive or defensive rebound to denote change of possession. This is why a team can be a good defensive and not a good rebounding team. Rebounding is like special teams in football not really offensive or defensive.