Why do we think the D stopped?

[Newhouser]

As we wrap up this nightmare I can't stop thinking about what happened that made our guys lose interest in guarding?

Teams figured out Kyle's drop off the hedge? Teams isolated JJ, Kiyan, and George more? Somehow Red got the effort how did it vanish?

 

[Blanko97]

Because red coaches bad defensive strategy. Early on this season the guys were likely still playing with their instincts from previous spots, once reds “strategy” started getting implemented they got worse. I don’t think it’s all that hard to figure out

 

[CardiacCuse]

As we wrap up this nightmare I can't stop thinking about what happened that made our guys lose interest in guarding?

Teams figured out Kyle's drop off the hedge? Teams isolated JJ, Kiyan, and George more? Somehow Red got the effort how did it vanish?

i think kyle got in foul trouble the first 3 or 4 ACC games and that changed everything

not having a backup center or even a center who can actually be an offensive threat means kyle has to be on the floor...so I think the coaches told kyle to play pasively and just do what he has to do to stay on the floor

thus, the rim protection that he offered in out of conference that covered up for mistakes disappeared...and teams have a layup line to the rim

i think ACC reffing is spotty at best and somehow calls games in a way that hurts SUs style to the maximum...because it usually seems opponents are allowed to play extremely physically with the orange...but a guy like sadiq gets every slight touch clalled against him so he also has been taken out of his possible defensive role

i also think that opposing bigs in the ACC are BIG and physical and skilled and having a 69 PF be your ceneter doesnt work all the time...even despite playing soft or aggressive...plus donnie plays more like a guard at times and also is more of a perimter player and can be caight missing a lot in terms of protecting things inside

guys like kingz and betsey are not really interior players either. so points in the paint has been a critical area where the defense has collapsed and it was pretty predictable imo from when the roster was constructed (even though I got lambasted for trying to call it out)...alll the forwards basically wanna be on the perimter: donnie, betsey, kingz

on the perimter, guys like kiyan jj betsey etc are poor at staying in fornt of their man off the dribble...so they cant funnel theri man to the hoop for kyle blocks because he doesnt wanna get foul trouble

then on top of everything, once the lofty expectations that red sold them on in the offseason began to evaporate...effort has waned...at this point they dont have anythng realistic to play for...they arent going to win the ACCT. the season is over. getting whopped by like 48 points by duke has to do a number on motivation.

its infectious...now theyre just trying to stay on the floor and not have to sit for foul trouble to get the stats they need for their next team imo

 

[IthacaMatt]

i think kyle got in foul trouble the first 3 or 4 ACC games and that changed everything

not having a backup center or even a center who can actually be an offensive threat means kyle has to be on the floor...so I think the coaches told kyle to play pasively and just do what he has to do to stay on the floor

thus, the rim protection that he offered in out of conference that covered up for mistakes disappeared...and teams have a layup line to the rim

i think ACC reffing is spotty at best and somehow calls games in a way that hurts SUs style to the maximum...because it usually seems opponents are allowed to play extremely physically with the orange...but a guy like sadiq gets every slight touch clalled against him so he also has been taken out of his possible defensive role

i also think that opposing bigs in the ACC are BIG and physical and skilled and having a 69 PF be your ceneter doesnt work all the time...even despite playing soft or aggressive...plus donnie plays more like a guard at times and also is more of a perimter player and can be caight missing a lot in terms of protecting things inside

guys like kingz and betsey are not really interior players either. so points in the paint has been a critical area where the defense has collapsed and it was pretty predictable imo from when the roster was constructed (even though I got lambasted for trying to call it out)...alll the forwards basically wanna be on the perimter: donnie, betsey, kingz

on the perimter, guys like kiyan jj betsey etc are poor at staying in fornt of their man off the dribble...so they cant funnel theri man to the hoop for kyle blocks because he doesnt wanna get foul trouble

then on top of everything, once the lofty expectations that red sold them on in the offseason began to evaporate...effort has waned...at this point they dont have anythng realistic to play for...they arent going to win the ACCT. the season is over. getting whopped by like 48 points by duke has to do a number on motivation.

its infectious...now theyre just trying to stay on the floor and not have to sit for foul trouble to get the stats they need for their next team imo

Good post. But Kyle isn't 6-9, he's 6-7. Just look at him on the floor next to our other players. Kyle should have been the back up to a legit big man.

 

[Jake]

As we wrap up this nightmare I can't stop thinking about what happened that made our guys lose interest in guarding?

Teams figured out Kyle's drop off the hedge? Teams isolated JJ, Kiyan, and George more? Somehow Red got the effort how did it vanish?

Effort stopped because the offense sucked. Kids are hard to motivate on the defensive end if they don’t see the ball going into the whole and the losses pile up.

If we kept winning, the effort would have been there….but it’s a catch-22

 

[jdubs30]

Effort stopped because the offense sucked. Kids are hard to motivate on the defensive end if they don’t see the ball going into the whole and the losses pile up.

If we kept winning, the effort would have been there….but it’s a catch-22

That’s completely on the coach then…whether a roster construction issue or a coaching/motivation issue. We don’t take pride in getting stops.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Effort stopped because the offense sucked. Kids are hard to motivate on the defensive end if they don’t see the ball going into the whole and the losses pile up.

If we kept winning, the effort would have been there….but it’s a catch-22

Donnie also came back.

 

[capeorange]

Donnie also came back.

Our D was better without Donnie. Does anyone think it was a coincidence that it went south after Donnie came back? We beat Tennessee and played Houston to overtime with our D.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

The whole season imploded when we lost to BC

 

[LpoolNative]

No viagra

 

[Bulldog04]

Effort stopped because the offense sucked. Kids are hard to motivate on the defensive end if they don’t see the ball going into the whole and the losses pile up.

If we kept winning, the effort would have been there….but it’s a catch-22

Bingo

 

[Cusefan95]

That’s completely on the coach then…whether a roster construction issue or a coaching/motivation issue. We don’t take pride in getting stops.

If I was on a team that’s not going to the tourney, has had a run of losses, and can’t score - my 100% effort on defense would be about 80%. It would feel like 100% to me - but it wouldn’t be. Pretty much every time I post this basic idea, the response is that’s a loser mentality, or you gotta have pride and play hard anyway - or some other irrelevant BS which tells me either that person never played on a terrible team, or lied to themselves about what a hustling superstar they were anyway. It’s not reality, players on bad teams quiet quit pretty consistently. Even if they don’t want to and think they aren’t.

We can say it’s on the coach, and to some degree it is - but the basketball version of Vince Lombardi would not have any success motivating this team to play defense.

 

[JustPherU]

Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

 

[Forloveoforange]

The whole season imploded when we lost to BC

Just like 25 and O, oddly enough.

 

[Fly Rodder]

I don't think it was ever that great. They just had a couple of games that made them look elite (Houston and Tenn), but that was fool's gold. The rest of the season looks like it was pretty consistently average and then once the end of the season was coming, they gave up. If anything, once Donnie came back, the defense declined from average to below average (that could also be attributed to conference play, but they played good teams in Nov/Dec, too).

 

[Eric15]

The whole season imploded when we lost to BC

Agreed. It felt like that shell shocked us. With two minutes left in that game, it really felt like the season was on track to make the tournament.

 

[capeorange]

Just like 25 and O, oddly enough.

That was the curse of the blue and orange uniform combo. They should have known...

 

[Scooch]

i think kyle got in foul trouble the first 3 or 4 ACC games and that changed everything

not having a backup center or even a center who can actually be an offensive threat means kyle has to be on the floor...so I think the coaches told kyle to play pasively and just do what he has to do to stay on the floor

thus, the rim protection that he offered in out of conference that covered up for mistakes disappeared...and teams have a layup line to the rim

I don't know if this is correct or not... but I'm going to take a victory lap. Who has 2 thumbs and said last summer that the missing piece from our portal infusion was a second, viable big man? This guy...

 

[Scooch]

The season went in the crapper during the off week between Tennessee and St. Joe's. That's when we went from playing hard and competitively against top 25 competition... to playing listless and lazy against St. Joe's, Hofstra, Mercyhurst and Northeastern. You could see the wheels coming off in that stretch, and it culminated in that lousy loss to Clemson.

Whatever happened in those 9 days off wrecked the season.