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Message: [QUOTE="Orangezoo, post: 5201516, member: 237"] Defense is a concern for sure. I feel like that was a combination of the drama, poor communication, youth and guys not playing the positions they should by necessity. Paired with overall ending up as a smaller team for most of the year. We brought in a coach who has a history of being a defensive tactician and have much better size, especially up front. Lampkin was a poor defender at Colorado but was solid at TCU( not winning any awards but not a weak spot either). He dealt with a back issue last year as well. Just looking at his practice tape now vs his game tape even as recent as the tourney you can see he’s slimmed down a good bit which was definitely needed. JJ is a gym rat and has committed it seems ( his words ) to using his speed and athleticism more on the defensive side of the ball to pair with honing his playmaking skills on offense. Carlos is a decent defender, Taylor showed on tape he can be and coaches seem to see him as a good defender and he has the size and frame where he should be. Naheem being healthy means we have a post presence and Donnie being the athlete he is should be able to help on the weak side as we will be challenged on ball screens and pick and roll with the big guys. The staff and players have noted the importance of the big guys handling being put in that action. Cuffe has trimmed down and looks explosive and showed to be a decent on ball defender in stretches but he just was too heavy last year. So far it seems everyone is eyes wide open about defense so it comes down to execution. Red made what he could out of having one committed defender last year (maybe two in Taylor) in Brown. Judah was Jekyll and Hyde on defense. Had he committed every game we might have made the tourney but that’s in the past. I’m neutral until we see them play a game but there is more reason to be hopeful about defense when you look at everything leading up. Notice I am silent on Bell- he’s got a long ways to go so I’m still expecting he is probably a major weak spot out there. [/QUOTE]

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