Things I noticed vs. Slippery Rock

[billsin01]

Just a few random thoughts that may (or may not) prompt some discussion:

• Love Carlos' defense. He had a couple sloppy turnovers (that happens) and wasn't quite as impactful on the offensive end (though he still played really well), but I love the way Carlos plays defense. The way he hops from his guy to another guy to thwart penetration but then recovers to his guy. We need to get more guys playing that way. That's exactly what I've been posting about regarding team defense vs. five guys on five islands. He's a fun player.
  
  
• Starling MUCH more active defensively. It's easier to be active against the teams we played in these scrimmages, but I counted at least five moments where JJ got his hand in the breadbasket and messed up a ball-handler. He had a really tough year last year on the defensive end and i think part of it is that you have to anticipate and gamble at times defensively to be truly impactful. He's been much more active in that regard in both scrimmages this year. Hopefully a sign of things to come.
  
  
• Kind of a weird game defensively. Played pretty decently on the defensive end but forced 14 TOs and came up with 8 steals while being +8 on the glass. Obviously no Lampkin affects that. Think Donnie was maybe dealing with some leg stuff, that might have been part of it. But just a strange game -- forced Slippery Rock into a ton of bad shots but didn't turn them over quite the way I thought we would when that game started. Not bad, just a little unusual.
  
  
• Donnie was super-aggressive hedging screens. I like this style but just needs to be a bit more under control jumping those ball-handlers because better players will split that and attack the basket. If he's just slightly under more control he can string that play out a bit better.

That was it I think. Not a whole lot to take from that one, but will be really interesting to see what this all looks like on Monday.

 

[Dcuse]

I see your point on Freeman's attacking the screen but I actually loved it. That's how Virginia plays defense and I hope the rest of the team replicates the aggressiveness of defending the screens out front. That tactic causes turnovers or delays offensive sets creating shot clock issues.

 

[billsin01]

I see your point on Freeman's attacking the screen but I actually loved it. That's how Virginia plays defense and I hope the rest of the team replicates the aggressiveness of defending the screens out front. That tactic causes turnovers or delays offensive sets creating shot clock issues.

I did too, to be honest. Just need to execute it well because if it's TOO aggressive, it can be a problem. But I though he looked athletic enough to create problems for teams doing that. May just take a little time to figure out exactly the best way to attack that ball-handler.

 

[Orangezoo]

It was a bit of a weird game in that it took longer to blow their doors off but loved the defensive effort. They got too many offensive boards but some of that was due to forcing bad shots and unusual bounces off misses.

Donnie already is settling in more. Everybody is active on both ends and the team is just aggressive on both ends. Looking forward to a real opponent.

 

[HyattsCuse]

• Kind of a weird game defensively. Played pretty decently on the defensive end but forced 14 TOs and came up with 8 steals while being +8 on the glass. Obviously no Lampkin affects that. Think Donnie was maybe dealing with some leg stuff, that might have been part of it. But just a strange game -- forced Slippery Rock into a ton of bad shots but didn't turn them over quite the way I thought we would when that game started. Not bad, just a little unusual.

I am hopeful we'll see some big improvements defensively once we get into more of a regular rotation. Guys will get more chemistry and become more of a cohesive unit playing with one another regularly versus playing 20 different combinations of lineups like we have in these exhibitions.

I love the effort level that I'm seeing though on both ends of the court.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

One thing I noticed last night was there at least four guys dealing with minor aches and pains. Freeman spent time on the exercise bike last night. He had a little bit of an odd stride when not running. . Both Taylor and Lampkin had some back brace/heating device on during the game. JJ only played a few second half minutes. He came out and had a wrap on his knee, looked more like a post game recovery thing he started a little early. Obviously we still haven’t seen Chance play. It seems as if they will all be ok for Monday’s game, just something to keep an eye on.

 

[Niastri]

I see your point on Freeman's attacking the screen but I actually loved it. That's how Virginia plays defense and I hope the rest of the team replicates the aggressiveness of defending the screens out front. That tactic causes turnovers or delays offensive sets creating shot clock issues.

I agree, I wish we were much more aggressive on defense, especially when we have this kind of depth.

Aggressively overplaying screens, slapping constantly at the ball, physical play on the screener and the ball handler... Anything to make the opposing team uncomfortable.

We have seen it for decades, officials won't call every foul if you are slapping the ball constantly. It's so annoying to play against, as all of us can attest.

It causes turnovers, fatigue and hesitation. It also can cause foul trouble on your team, but we have too many guys who can play to need to worry about that. Our 12 guys are all viable players this year, unlike last year where we started with 4-5 guys who weren't going to play to start the year.

At the very least, I wish we would see some version of the Virginia defense, which is super simple, in principles. Sag back slightly when your guy doesn't have the ball to prevent penetration and make assisting in help defense quicker. Play very aggressively when your guy does have the ball to stop three point attempts and force penetration into the help defense.

Combine that with the extreme hedging and slapping defense and you force a lot of passes that can turn into turnovers and force a lot of bad shots.

EDIT: If it were that easy, everybody would do it. I get that.

Just watching vanilla defense at this level feels like a fail on the coaching staffs part. I was really hoping the new assistant would come with at least some change in our defensive philosophy. At this point, we're definitely going to have to outscore good teams to get victories. We aren't stopping many.

 

[Orangezoo]

One thing I noticed last night was there at least four guys dealing with minor aches and pains. Freeman spent time on the exercise bike last night. He had a little bit of an odd stride when not running. . Both Taylor and Lampkin had some back brace/heating device on during the game. JJ only played a few second half minutes. He came out and had a wrap on his knee, looked more like a post game recovery thing he started a little early. Obviously we still haven’t seen Chance play. It seems as if they will all be ok for Monday’s game, just something to keep an eye on.

Put the work into camp and then things get into a flow once the season starts. If camp is harder than the season that can be a good thing.

 

[007]

I agree, I wish we were much more aggressive on defense, especially when we have this kind of depth.

Aggressively overplaying screens, slapping constantly at the ball, physical play on the screener and the ball handler... Anything to make the opposing team uncomfortable.

We have seen it for decades, officials won't call every foul if you are slapping the ball constantly. It's so annoying to play against, as all of us can attest.

It causes turnovers, fatigue and hesitation. It also can cause foul trouble on your team, but we have too many guys who can play to need to worry about that. Our 12 guys are all viable players this year, unlike last year where we started with 4-5 guys who weren't going to play to start the year.

At the very least, I wish we would see some version of the Virginia defense, which is super simple, in principles. Sag back slightly when your guy doesn't have the ball to prevent penetration and make assisting in help defense quicker. Play very aggressively when your guy does have the ball to stop three point attempts and force penetration into the help defense.

Combine that with the extreme hedging and slapping defense and you force a lot of passes that can turn into turnovers and force a lot of bad shots.

EDIT: If it were that easy, everybody would do it. I get that.

Just watching vanilla defense at this level feels like a fail on the coaching staffs part. I was really hoping the new assistant would come with at least some change in our defensive philosophy. At this point, we're definitely going to have to outscore good teams to get victories. We aren't stopping many.

I hear you on being more aggressive on defense. But I would add that I saw more help rotations and hedging last night than I saw in any game all of last year. The defense has a long way to go yet - especially with respect to rebounding and defending dribble penetration - but the early improvements are encouraging.

As for Tony Bennett's defense, it was far from "super simple." All 4 off ball defenders have specific help positioning and rotations that are interdependent and varying depending on where the ball is on the court and the off ball action (screeners, cutters, post position, movement to or away from the ball, fronting, ball denial). If anything, all 5 players were so precise in their execution of those concepts that it made it look simple.

 

[Niastri]

I hear you on being more aggressive on defense. But I would add that I saw more help rotations and hedging last night than I saw in any game all of last year. The defense has a long way to go yet - especially with respect to rebounding and defending dribble penetration - but the early improvements are encouraging.

As for Tony Bennett's defense, it was far from "super simple." All 4 off ball defenders have specific help positioning and rotations that are interdependent and varying depending on where the ball is on the court and the off ball action (screeners, cutters, post position, movement to or away from the ball, fronting, ball denial). If anything, all 5 players were so precise in their execution of those concepts that it made it look simple.

I agree it's not simple in application. There is a reason Bennett was able, for so many seasons, to take a bunch of low ranked kids and win tons of games with them.

The basic concept is simple, though. Deny penetration AND three point attempts by sagging back on everybody except the ball carrier. The person with the ball gets their defender in their shorts with them. Most guys won't/can't shoot with a player right in their face, and will pass it out, or dribble into the double team instead.

The basics are really simple. I'm coaching it with my second graders. They do pretty ok against the other kids that can barely dribble

 

[IthacaMatt]

Just a few random thoughts that may (or may not) prompt some discussion:

• Love Carlos' defense. He had a couple sloppy turnovers (that happens) and wasn't quite as impactful on the offensive end (though he still played really well), but I love the way Carlos plays defense. The way he hops from his guy to another guy to thwart penetration but then recovers to his guy. We need to get more guys playing that way. That's exactly what I've been posting about regarding team defense vs. five guys on five islands. He's a fun player.
  
  
• Starling MUCH more active defensively. It's easier to be active against the teams we played in these scrimmages, but I counted at least five moments where JJ got his hand in the breadbasket and messed up a ball-handler. He had a really tough year last year on the defensive end and i think part of it is that you have to anticipate and gamble at times defensively to be truly impactful. He's been much more active in that regard in both scrimmages this year. Hopefully a sign of things to come.
  
  
• Kind of a weird game defensively. Played pretty decently on the defensive end but forced 14 TOs and came up with 8 steals while being +8 on the glass. Obviously no Lampkin affects that. Think Donnie was maybe dealing with some leg stuff, that might have been part of it. But just a strange game -- forced Slippery Rock into a ton of bad shots but didn't turn them over quite the way I thought we would when that game started. Not bad, just a little unusual.
  
  
• Donnie was super-aggressive hedging screens. I like this style but just needs to be a bit more under control jumping those ball-handlers because better players will split that and attack the basket. If he's just slightly under more control he can string that play out a bit better.

That was it I think. Not a whole lot to take from that one, but will be really interesting to see what this all looks like on Monday.

Great post. Agree with all your main points. I loved the aggressive hedging and switching on the high picks. Great stuff if you don't over do it.