With some offensive minded players might be somewhat defensively challenged and going bigger wouldn't solve those problems how about going out of the box and play zone it would cause problems initially because most people don't know how to play against it as they don't see it
I apologize in advance that this is way too long.
As a glutton for punishment, I watched the SIU vs. UNI game despite knowing the score ahead of time. Most of the time, I think Bryan is way too concerned about trying to have the best defensive team, rather than the best overall team on the court.
I think it is natural for fans to want to see the players that aren't playing as much, such as fans proclivity to root for the backup QB in football. We do not watch practice and so do not have nearly the same amount of information as the coaches do on the strengths and weaknesses of each individual player. However, as the games go on, there is more of a sample size for fans such as us to learn these facets and give reasonable observations based on the facts.
It is a fact that we are not a good 3-point shooting team. In basketball, I think the purpose of a coach is to try to get your teams to shoot "good" shots while limiting the other team's ability to do so. Good shots in my eyes being defined as shots a specific player can make at a reasonable rate. The best lineup is not going to be the best defensive lineup or the best offensive lineup, but the best combination of players that maximizes the net of points for vs. points allowed. The only "good shots" right now are layups/dunks from everyone, Domask from 2, Jones from 2, and Wonders from 3 (you could also argue XJ open from 3).
Especially in the UNI game, where they are liberally doubling Domask at every opportunity, there has to be someone on the court that can make them pay from 3. Whether it is due to poor recruiting or whatever, we only have 1 guy like this (Wonders), and he appears to be completely shackled by the staff or the fear of screwing up. There is too often that Domask passes to someone for 3 that has absolutely no interest in putting it up. For good reason, they aren't good at 3s, but if you load your team with these sorts of players (XJ, Jones, Newton, Domask, Rupert/Muila lineup), you confine yourself to tough 2s against a packed in team, which is exactly what UNI did to us. Really, it is exactly what every team should do to us, and I am surprised it took this long to be this exploited.
Wonders' defense is bad, I admit. But if you watch the game closely, you see that he was slightly late on a close-out from 3 in the first half and had a 3 hit in his face. He got juked and a guy missed a step to the side 3 (which is a terrible shot for anyone not named Curry). In the second half, he had somebody drive around him pretty easily for a foul. Those were really the only defensive plays he was involved in. He played most of the minutes before the announcer mentioned that UNI hadn't scored a FG in 3 or 5 (I can't remember exactly) minutes. Overall, he isn't good on switching but hasn't been dominated 1v1 as feared. He stays on his man, tries to prevent him from getting the ball, and the rest of the team plays 4v4. Not great, but workable.
Quite frankly, you need Wonders on the court, certainly more than the players he is competing with for minutes. He is the only true deep threat from 3, and he gets pulled anytime he screws up or misses a shot (or steps out of bounds and then hits a 3, waived off). His ability to hit from 3 will open the space for all the slashers and post players on the team, and make other teams pay for doubling Domask when they rotate the ball around. I really don't care of Brown starts, but pull him after a minute or two and put Wonders on who isn't much worse defensively and actually can hit a shot. I would literally tell Wonders before every game that we need 5 3s from him to win, so never pass up a shot. We need the gunner from Michigan to do his best Kent Williams impression, not a passive watcher.
TL;DR Play Wonders, especially if teams are going to double Domask.
Kenpom.com has the Salukis leading the country in teams that pass up an open look early in the shot clock, only to take a poor/contested shot as the clock expires.
@mike-belchaks-box No man bites dog headline there. This is 100% on BM.
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
Reading the article it states that UNI went to a triangle and 2 defense the last 3 minutes or so,obviously doubling Marcus, it would be interesting to know if that was recognized by siu staff. That defense is great for stopping 1 player and in the paint shots, but corner 3's and wing 3's are basically wide open
There can be no doubt. I have posted before that, if there was a stat for possessions without getting a shot off, SIU would lead the nation in that category too.Kenpom.com has the Salukis leading the country in teams that pass up an open look early in the shot clock, only to take a poor/contested shot as the clock expires.
March on triumphantly!
There can be no doubt. I have posted before that, if there was a stat for possessions without getting a shot off, SIU would lead the nation in that category too.Kenpom.com has the Salukis leading the country in teams that pass up an open look early in the shot clock, only to take a poor/contested shot as the clock expires.
Play 500 on the road and win em all at home is usually enough to be in the mix for championship. So far the Dawgs are 2-1 on the road; the problem is the home loss they need to get back at Tere Haute.
I thought Marcus and Lance,rightly or wrongly, were frustrated with the officiating.
This is a strategy to limit the other teams possessions to keep score down, so the coach can brag about how great the defense is, It works but you have to have some great scorers that can create their own shot at the end of shot clock. It's a little tougher now with shot clocks being 30 secondsThere can be no doubt. I have posted before that, if there was a stat for possessions without getting a shot off, SIU would lead the nation in that category too.Kenpom.com has the Salukis leading the country in teams that pass up an open look early in the shot clock, only to take a poor/contested shot as the clock expires.
I get teams can’t win playing defense anymore. Honestly, I agree with the points that Dent was making. I just don’t see that changes can’t be made. They can be made.
I get teams can’t win playing defense anymore. Honestly, I agree with the points that Dent was making. I just don’t see that changes can’t be made. They can be made.
The changes haven't been made in 4 years
A couple of thoughts and questions.
We are getting very little offense from our guards. Think about this for a moment. We have 6 true guards that play. I am not counting AJF, as he is not seeing much playing time. How many of these players do you consider to be good outside shooters ? I will let each reader answer that question.
Will a mid major team that has poor shooting from the guard position struggle to score ? Again, I leave the answer to the reader.
Before the season started I thought SIU would be very good this year with the addition of the guard transfers and the players we had coming back. I was pumped.
Just for reference I checked the scoring average for the past 2 seasons for our 2 senior guard transfers. One player is pretty much in line with what we are getting this year. The other player averaged 13.5 and 12.7 points per. game the previous 2 seasons. What has happened to those points this year ?
Do not get me wrong, I realize our record would not be as good as it is without the play we are getting at the PG position defensively and assist wise.
Surely, our guards cannot continue to shoot as poorly as we have seen lately. This must change to take this team the next level.
If Trent Brown starts the next game, BMull needs to take a drug test. End of story!
And if Rupert only plays 8 minutes like he did the first time (while they were eating our smaller defenders alive in the paint), they'll whip us worse than UNI did.
A couple of thoughts and questions.
We are getting very little offense from our guards. Think about this for a moment. We have 6 true guards that play. I am not counting AJF, as he is not seeing much playing time. How many of these players do you consider to be good outside shooters ? I will let each reader answer that question.
Will a mid major team that has poor shooting from the guard position struggle to score ? Again, I leave the answer to the reader.
Before the season started I thought SIU would be very good this year with the addition of the guard transfers and the players we had coming back. I was pumped.
Just for reference I checked the scoring average for the past 2 seasons for our 2 senior guard transfers. One player is pretty much in line with what we are getting this year. The other player averaged 13.5 and 12.7 points per. game the previous 2 seasons. What has happened to those points this year ?
Do not get me wrong, I realize our record would not be as good as it is without the play we are getting at the PG position defensively and assist wise.
Surely, our guards cannot continue to shoot as poorly as we have seen lately. This must change to take this team the next level.
Just checked. We're actually averaging a couple ppg more this year. We definitely miss Ben Coupet's 11 ppg and his excellent 3 pt. shooting, as I knew we would. There were also a few games where Verplancken lit it up from outside.
We're better at the FT line this year - 73.7%, which is excellent.
At UNI, MD was 0 - 4 from three, LJ was 0 - 6. Domask, Jones, and D'Amico are all shooting worse from three than last year. Only Banks has improved his three pt shooting - 20 % to 38.5%.
I'd like to see XJ shoot more - he's a good shooter.
