ksummerlin wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:13 pm
The defensive scheme is correct. Our execution on the scheme is lacking. The idea is that the defensive big man steps out high on the ball screen, smothers the ball handler to take away that lob pass, thereby forcing the ball handler to dribble out wide which gives the original defender time to recover on the dribbler. At the same time you want help defense from the opposite side defender to take away the uncontested layup on the pass over the top.
Rafferty doesn't do a good job on smothering the ball handler, his defensive footwork is a little slow in this area. So he gets caught in-between defending his man or defending the ball handler -- stuck in no man's land. Also our help defense on the weak side was slow to help, or didn't help at all in those last two possessions.
WSU made a nice adjustment in the second half. They used their 6'5" small forward who could pretty easily see over Matt even if defended well as the ball handler. When we adjusted to that move, the small forward got a couple of slashing drives to the basket from the elbow extended that hurt us around the two minute mark.
It was a nice chess match to watch play out, they executed better.
The fact that Medved liked that "jump out trap" and used it for years has little to do with FU's winning progression. Niko is a good coach but has yet to coach his first game in the NCAA tourney. I watched lots of basketball over the past two days and did not see one team use that defensive maneuver. Those guys are the best in the game and they don't use it and haven't for about 5 years. It was trendy back then but the risk/reward ratio is poor. I have seen very few turnovers created by the trap but have seen a ton of layups that resulted from the offense getting the ball back to an uncovered big man. And even if it were more effective, k Summerlin points out that you need the right personnel to run. As great as Raff is, ksummerlin may be right in saying he is slow getting back to the big he was guarding and the weak side help is not getting over as well. Well, any coach will tell you that you have to suit your style to your players. If our big cannot execute that maneuver well, then you cant use it. The fact is it did not work well for FU and even casual observers at the game were talking about it. We gave up too many wide open layups.
I am well aware of Furman's good statistical progression in wins and that scheduling subject has been debated ad nausea on these boards. While enjoying the 25 wins, it seems to me that most people really want to see Furman win the league title or win the league tournament and then get to the NCAA's. That is normal. That has yet to happen and it is disappointing. Wofford has several recent titles and absolutely burst upon the national scene last night with a great win over Seton Hall on TV. Great exposure for that school. Isn't that where we want to be even if it comes at the expense of having less wins because of a more competitive OOC schedule? FU has been very competitive for the last 4 years or so but the fact is we have not taken the next step and that step is not to simply win 26 games next year & be proud of the statistical progression.
