Man, gonna be hard to win games when we can't even stay with MVSU guards. So undisciplined and getting back door cut all night

Got burned 4-5 x for layups on 3/4 court passes in 2nd half and they also attacked the rim much more effectively in 2nd half as well. The 3 pt shots … defenders have to close quicker and perhaps our best overall guards just aren't long enough either . It'll probably get better as the defensive rotations improve but we may just flat have genetic shortfalls as well. Imo Lane is a good defender but he just isn't long . Things just run smoother when he's in the game so far tho imo.

Would like to see Lane, Griffen, Agee, Mgbako and Dominguez combo some more with Clemence , Vinson , Hill, and Holloway mixed in. Green showed some promise tonight . Not overly impressed by Fed so far. Obviously they are very much still figuring things out

If our defense doesn't improve significantly, I'm not sure we can outscore SEC teams.

This is called anti Buzzball. Buzz's teams has tremendous rebounding stats and did well on D with woeful O most nights. Buckyball is all offense and occasional D.

I don't disagree. I think this is a project ultimately. Bama is probably closer to the model.

31 turnovers though. That's the stat line that probably will matter to our success.

bobinator said:

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Kansas Kid said:

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This is called anti Buzzball. Buzz's teams has tremendous rebounding stats and did well on D with woeful O most nights. Buckyball is all offense and occasional D.

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I don't think this is actually true long term but it's probably true for this season.

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It is true that this is "anti-Buzzball" but not exactly in the way he means it.

Our defensive efficiency is 79th, which is admitedly mediocre, but incredible when you consider that our opponents effective field goal percentage is 323rd. We are 12th in forcing turnovers and 67th in defensive rebounding which is clamping down on the total number of shots that our opponents are able to put up. Its almost exactly like hoe we were able to be decent on offense under Buzz despite shooting poorly but its the reverse case for defense.

It also does seem like Bucky would rather give up an open layup than foul and give them free throws if we're already out of position. That's the one chapter in the Book of Buzz and the Book of Bucky that's the same is trying to get to the line while minimizing your opponents trips to the line.

I assume the pace of the game without the stop is preferable.

+26 at the ft line last night . 72 % of the victory margin

We allowed way too many free passes all the way to the rim tho imo. You can cut them off without fouling a lot more of the time than we do

My biggest frustration is that 7 games in, I don't see any improvement. I understand that there will be trade offs to get the number of turnovers we want. But I can't imagine we are seeing anything close to what Bucky is trying to execute defensively. If the roster as constructed is incapable of executing the desired approach, do you adjust or do you just keep working on it?

Disagree on the lack of improvement, though it was bad last night. But it's hard to stay locked in against a team that steps out of bounds like every third possession.

Thought we were much better defensively for most of the game against UCF than Oklahoma State, and I thought we were pretty good against Manhattan for most of the game too.

Problem though is we're not going to be good at individual defense, we're going to have to defend as a team, and it's hard to really improve at that when guys are in and out of the lineup.

But again, make no mistake about it, any hope this team has to do much is going to be by outscoring people.

I know shooting % is only one defensive metric, but every team we have played has shot it well. Too many easy looks. There is some hope that the team defense could improve over time. But the individual physical ability will not change. I'm probably most frustrated in just the effort. Too many guys just giving up on plays and not maximizing the ability they do have. That is more a mindset. Maybe this is just part of a turnover or die approach.

Sure they shot 50%, but what was the points per possession? We forced 29 turnovers. We can't just look at one metric and draw all our conclusions from it.

Honestly the overall FG% isn't as big of a deal to me as the three point percentage. We're going to give up some easy looks and as long as they're from 2 then that's expected but our opponents are shooting 42% from 4 which is #359. Just inexcusably bad.

bg92 said:

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I know shooting % is only one defensive metric, but every team we have played has shot it well. Too many easy looks. There is some hope that the team defense could improve over time. But the individual physical ability will not change. I'm probably most frustrated in just the effort. Too many guys just giving up on plays and not maximizing the ability they do have. That is more a mindset. Maybe this is just part of a turnover or die approach.

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The effort part is the part that gets me. I absolutely knew our defense wasn't going to be good this year, but team defense is about effort from all 5 on the floor. Some guys do it, some guys don't. The issue when we play the power 5/ SEC teams is that the defense will ramp up by opponents, which will cause our offense to not be as good. Hopefully it gets better.

i would like to see a Holloway, Dominguez, Griffin, Mgbako, Agee lineup consistently with Hill, Lane, Clemence/vinson off the bench. Those are the guys that have I have seen play the hardest and have skill. Maybe occasionally throw in Diba or Pop

It feels like our worst games are just one guy going off and shooting lights out… that one guy seemed like he couldn't miss regardless of the defense…

Agree with your rotation except would put Lane ahead of Holloway . I have seen Lane giving max defensive effort and also feel like the offensive game flow is less chaotic when Lane and Griffen are on the floor together.

This is based on eyeball test only as I don't have access to +/- stats but I sure would like to see the +\- stats to date if someone has them .

Having a defense/defenders that can slow down the hot hand(s) is exactly one of the issues tho. We haven't really demonstrated that ability. When it happens repeatedly against several teams it's probably not as much the hot hand as it is the defense.

Yeah, I just usually look at it like "what would this look like if we had [solo, Kirk, DR, or any other top defender] in this lineup?" I guess from my eye test against these couple guys, my answer was "not much different"

I get what your'e saying . One premium defender might not matter that much if they can't fix the fundamental issues on rotations and switching . I think they may get better as the season goes or maybe that's just hope .

The adj def efficiency actually isn't that bad in spite of the fg % we give up. That and the margin we are beating the no names with is ready to have some hope.