Defense

[Huskerpapa]

Okay, I am not going to pretend that MVS was a good team.  In fact, in all my years, that may have been one of the top five most inept teams that have set foot on a Husker basketball floor.  And I do not think that is an exaggeration.

 

That said, I watched our defense last night and was surprised by what I was seeing.  I am also surprised nobody has commented on it to date.  We played several iterations of man, we played a 1-3-1 with Isaiah on top, and then later, with James on top and we played at least two versions of a 3/4 court zone press.  Good grief, we have gone whole seasons without seeing that type of variety.  Our length, athleticism and ability to switch off will provide problems for offenses all year.

 

We held a bad team to 37 points, but it could have been an even tougher beat down.  We switched defenses seamlessly without changing personnel or affecting our offensive flow.  We may struggle at times on the offensive end this year; slumps and whatnot.  But if we can maintain our defensive discipline (and keep Isaiah and Glynn out of foul trouble) that is going to help make this a very special season.

[Huskerpapa]

Team stats after one game:

 

TEAM STATS	PTS/G	OPP PTS/G
Big Ten	106.0	37.0
Division I	16th	2nd

[Handy Johnson]

All we do is win, all we do is WIN...

[HB]

Good post Papa.   I too was surprised we showed so much zone in this "fake game".  Thought we might wait to show it during the Seton hall game, but we probably figured it was better to practice it and have it on film than to go stealth.    Also gives opponents more to prepare for.  

[jason2486]

14 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

Team stats after one game:

 

TEAM STATS	PTS/G	OPP PTS/G
Big Ten	106.0	37.0
Division I	16th	2nd

Crazy that, with those numbers, we aren't #1 in both!

[Chuck Taylor]

13 hours ago, HB said:

Good post Papa.   I too was surprised we showed so much zone in this "fake game".  Thought we might wait to show it during the Seton hall game, but we probably figured it was better to practice it and have it on film than to go stealth.    Also gives opponents more to prepare for.  

I'd rather have the rough edges polished by the time we play Seton Hall than surprise them with it and have guys making mistakes. Miles' comments about midrange shots and the use of the 1-3-1 indicate to me that the staff spent a lot of time on analytics in the offseason. The 1-3-1 is likely the most efficient defense with our roster: long guys, little post presence, couple of guards who can get posted up, inexperienced bench.

 

[PointGuard]

In the 1-3-1 with Roby at top, Nana was in the middle.  Maybe this will hide Nana's defense weakness.

[Norm Peterson]

It's surprising that a guy with Nana's explosive leaping ability lacks quickness.  Those two things usually go hand-in-hand.

[Norm Peterson]

1 hour ago, jason2486 said:

Crazy that, with those numbers, we aren't #1 in both!

 

We may be the only team in the top 20 in both categories, though.

[hhcmatt]

21 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

Okay, I am not going to pretend that MVS was a good team.  In fact, in all my years, that may have been one of the top five most inept teams that have set foot on a Husker basketball floor.  And I do not think that is an exaggeration.

 

We could have won this game trying out a risky 2-2 zone.

[49r]

10 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

We could have won this game trying out a risky 2-2 zone.

 

#RiskyZone

[royalfan]

Especially loved the full court annoyance pressure.  No downside to it with upside of using shot clock and turn over once in a while.  I would do this every time if I were coaching.  

Edited November 8, 2018 by royalfan

[thattimeofyearchanges]

Did I see some 2-3 zone in there as well?

Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

[Norm Peterson]

3 hours ago, royalfan said:

Especially loved the full court annoyance pressure.  No downside to it with upside of using shot clock and turn over once in a while.  I would do this every time if I were coaching.  

 

Only downside is you potentially wear out your own players.  But if you're going 10 deep ...

[hhcmatt]

Rewatched some of this. We just threw a couple of looks out there. The token pressure might need a bit of work. Palmer at the top works real well.

[tcp]

if you think your team might have a real depth problem, zone becomes a lot more attractive. it's easier to keep starters in games longer with it, and I'm guessing that's going to be one of our biggest issues this season.  

[49r]

I wonder if we wouldn't benefit from running an amoeba type defense like the old UNLV teams did in the Tark days.

[hhcmatt]

14 minutes ago, 49r said:

I wonder if we wouldn't benefit from running an amoeba type defense like the old UNLV teams did in the Tark days.

 

Is that just switching on everyone? 

[49r]

1 hour ago, hhcmatt said:

 

Is that just switching on everyone? 

 

Not sure:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoeba_defense

 

But after reading up on it more it may not translate as well to the game today, I remember it really only worked for UNLV because they were so ridiculously long and talented.  But we're pretty long this year and it might be another zone to throw into the mix that could confuse the opposition and help keeps us out of foul trouble.

[49r]

 

[49r]

 

[hhcmatt]

2 hours ago, 49r said:

 

Not sure:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoeba_defense

 

But after reading up on it more it may not translate as well to the game today, I remember it really only worked for UNLV because they were so ridiculously long and talented.  But we're pretty long this year and it might be another zone to throw into the mix that could confuse the opposition and help keeps us out of foul trouble.

 

Defense packs the lane isn't something that translates as well to today's game.  Gambling defense in Vegas in the 90s makes too much sense though 

[49r]

17 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

Defense packs the lane isn't something that translates as well to today's game.  Gambling defense in Vegas in the 90s makes too much sense though 

 

It helps to have massive guys like Larry Johnson and Elmore Spencer as rim protectors too.  But outside those two, the height/weight composition of our roster isn't a whole lot different than that 1990 UNLV team:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990–91_UNLV_Runnin'_Rebels_basketball_team#Roster

 

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/roster/_/id/158/sort/height/dir/asc/nebraska-cornhuskers

 

But man they were an old team.  They had 9 seniors, 4 juniors, one sophomore and no freshmen!!!

[royalfan]

16 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

Only downside is you potentially wear out your own players.  But if you're going 10 deep ...

Yeah I would need to try to weigh that.  Certainly seems like a good idea when a Harris is in the game with his athletic ability to try to drum up some chaos.  

[jimmykc]

Somebody will have to get Timmy a towel to chew though.