Our vaunted defense.

[STEVEHOLT]

How many possessions did UVA have today where they didn't

either

score...
get fouled..
get an offensive rebound and then score or get fouled?

i would say the very FEW possessions where one of these did not occur were turnovers.

our defense is vastly overrated and has relied upon teams missing wide open shots for a while now.

dont be fooled by absolute scores. teams have been getting whatever shot they want against this D for quite some time now.

seems like the ACC teams have been much quicker to figure things than our Big East former brethren.

Im worried about next year.

 

[Cuse117]

Or maybe we had a bad game, because taking todays one game sample over the sample of the entire year would be a much better idea.

 

[samspann1]

The D hasn't been good of late, and it was downright terrible today.

UVa was getting easy looks both inside and outside for most of the game. The main reason for the game-ending run was that UVa finally started hitting some of their outside shots.

 

[OrangeYaGladi]

Or maybe we had a bad game, because taking todays one game sample over the sample of the entire year would be a much better idea.

nah let's base our entire perception on the most recent 20 minute sample. it's easier

 

[ROCuse]

dont be fooled by absolute scores. teams have been getting whatever shot they want against this D for quite some time now.

Absolute scores are all that matter. If they have been getting any shot they want why have we been keeping teams in the 50s?

 

[Ghost]

I would agree the defense isn't what it was last year, but at the end of the day I worry less about the defense than the offense. I think today we had a lot of things go wrong - Grant was out and our rebounding suffered. I think Roberson is our next most capable rebounder, but for whatever reason JB has decided he would rather go with a guard down low.

Our offense needs to pick it up. We seem unable to get anything in transition which leads to us playing a half-court which seems to reloved primarily around CJ isos. We do a lot of pick-n-rolls, but for what reason i don't know. We never even look to pass. Sort of a strange team, but we only have three losses, and are in line for a good seed, hopefully we figure it out.

Playing teams tight the whole way doesn't seem to be working in our favor any more.

 

[pearl31]

First half today it was good (except for the rebounding) but then Brogdon had his way in the 2nd, creating wide open looks, we got tired/disheartened, ballgame

 

[anomander]

Cooney and Ennis were atrocious on the top of the zone today. Were letting people go around them without any resistance forcing the back of the zone into tough spots, and bad position for rebounding. Then not closing out. Looked like a ton of fatigue from those 2, but that's a differeent topic for another thread

 

[dasher]

Might have looked better with Grant, a shot blocker, in the back? Just a thought.

 

[samspann1]

other irritating aspects from today:

- No bench whatsoever. Baye was brutal today, and G, aside from his nice drive and 3-ball, was hardly noticeable, despite getting significant PT. I know that I haven't won 900 games, am not a HOFer, but really, is there any reason that JB didn't develop the bench, especially after DCII's injury?

- Lack of offensive flow. Look, I love Ennis, but pounding the ball into the court for 20 seconds, or passing it around the perimeter doesn't really accomplish anything. There has to be a way to get Cooney more open looks, and to get Xmas more involved. And Fair needs to drive the ball more often than he does.

- The officiating. I don't know the last time we were on the plus end of blocking/charge calls for an entire game. Ennis' 2nd foul was horrid as well. The UVa player was out of control and simply ran over Ennis. He doesn't get that foul, and he only has 3 fouls, and likely is on the court during the game-ending run by UVa. The nickel & dime calls on Xmas are getting old, as well. If they're going to call that crap, call it both ways. But hey, UVa may have gotten hosed on an OOB call during the game, so it all evens out...

- Defensive rebounding. Ugh...brutal. Fair and Keita were simply just standing around at times, not boxing out, or contesting rebounds. A mixture of a lack of effort and lack of concentration, IMO. I believe that UVa has 9 o-rebounds in the 1st half, and we had 11 total rebounds. Grant's absence certainly was a factor, but we need more effort from the 3-5 guys.

 

[MGP]

Only the second team to get 70 on us since Maui, let's get real...

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Absolute scores are all that matter. If they have been getting any shot they want why have we been keeping teams in the 50s?

Several factors

Game pace
Playing some teams with poor offenses
Shot blocking

The top of our zone has not been very good for a while now

And our bigs are being hung out to dry because of it

Rak and Keita have been put in situations where they have no chance ..

People think it's their fault because they are the player closest to the opposition when they score

 

[STEVEHOLT]

First half today it was good (except for the rebounding) but then Brogdon had his way in the 2nd, creating wide open looks, we got tired/disheartened, ballgame

Classic analysis of result rather than process

They were getting the same wide open looks in the first half and were missing them

Then in the second half they started hitting them

 

[MGP]

Isn't that the process? Giving wide open looks and adjusting game to game as to the situation? I thought that's always been the philosophy of our zone. The fact that teams haven't shot well against us is the absolute...