royalfan

Not for me it doesn't. It is about playing it correctly. We didn't and it has nothing to do with the result, which ultimately did suck bad.

1. A 2-3 zone should be implemented as KLDM suggested. And a really packed in one. There isn't really enough time for them to inbound the ball and make another pass and get a shot off that wouldn't be incredibly rushed. If you have guys protecting the pain first, they should be sort of leaning towards getting out to the shooter if the ball is thrown in to their zone. By keeping you head between your zone and the inbound guy it should be pretty easy to get out to pressure the shooter somewhat. If you choose to guard the inbounder which I would do if I was in a zone then shade towards the hoop slightly. Make the pass go to the near corner or somewhere at least on nearside from the top of key to the wing. Then you can have what you deem to be your two best close out guys manning those areas of the zone. If you play this way you are going to allow them to get a shot up. But it is going to be a shot that should not be in great rhythm, and should be easily contested. A shot that shouldn't go in more than a third of the time. Once we have put ourselves in that position, that is the shot we need to live with them taking. 2. While I strongly advise against playing man, as it is too complicated against good movement, there are some things that must happen if you do. I would possibly forego the inbound pressure and have him play a one man zone surrounded by the man to man everywhere else. That one man zone is best shot altering guy playing a zone near the hoop. Possibly Roby or Jacobsen. If you do have the guy pressuring the ball, you have to have him strongly shading the paint so the ball cannot be thrown there. You don't need to be jumping up and down, you need to be sagging off him just enough where you can still get to him if he gets the ball back quickly in the corner, but main priority is sagging to make the ball go to similar areas of the court that would happen if playing the 2-3 zone. You need to shade the paint much more tough if in a man to man. I would never play man to man in that spot, but if I did, I would guard the inbounder but quite a ways off him to take away a lot of passing angles that include all angles toward the hoop. Basically not a hindering coverage, but a preventative coverage that still keeps him in touch with his man as there is just enough time to run a play for him to get it back quickly for a corner shot. This is also assuming that the guy is a competent shooter, as it would still be a bit rushed and unlikely to be made. Missed RR post when typing this, we seem to be in complete agreement. At least, I am in complete agreement with what he said. Jacobsen was in terrible position, given the angle that they had.

3 seeded Nebraska against 14 seed Xavier for me.

I think if you are going to play man to man you need to have nobody checking the guy passing it in. You must protect the paint at all costs in that situation. I think you have to live with a reasonably contested jump shot in that situation and hope they miss. If there is a particular guy you don't want to get the ball perhaps a box and one type of junk defense. When you start thinking of NCAA tourney chances, there weren't many realistic paths that don't include winning that game, that is why it hurts so bad. At the end of the day, we probably just are not good enough to make it. Too many small holes and the coaching we face is too good to get away with it.

Very encouraging news CIP. Thanks for the update. Hope things stay on course.

Collins defensive game plan against us was vastly superior to Miles and Molinari's was against them. And they did a good job taking advantage by shooting well.

What is traveling?

The one thing about the crowd is that nobody can ever take away that epic Wisconsin game. It would be impossible to ever be repeated again.

Davidson was mad as hell about the whole situation when I listened back to the broadcast.

For some reason since I cannot sleep after that game, I checked the crappy Jay message board to get their take. Predictably, it is one of the most popular discussions on that board. I am not sure what game some of them were watching, but it was apparently worse than Valley basketball and nobody involved in the game could sniff the court for Creighton. Unbelievably comical. Not to mention the other fella claiming we are bullying a bad Big 10 schedule. Yeah road games at Indiana and Maryland and a home game against a red hot NBA player are easy. It is so awesome that they have to act like they are happy after we win, even though they aren't because our athletic department is so superior to theirs. Yes, I am embarrassed for even going over there to check it out. That message board is such a train wreck I just cannot help myself. Give me credit for not creating a handle over there as I could stir a very entertaining pot.

Almost deserves its own thread, but has anyone ever seen anyone play better defense with 4 fouls as Webster did considering the caliber of player he was checking. That won us the ballgame.

Very curious myself. Was maddening knowing how important that call was at the time. We had the game on lock down if they didn't give him the hoop. But knowing the result, I think it is better this way. Another obstacle we stared down.

Hopefully the young man is getting a good education in case he never comes back in a way that can lead to a future in basketball.

I trust the staff to make the call over the likes of us if he is worthy or not. It seems to me he certainly is.

It must have been quite a ballgame. Besides mine, there were two other "holy shit's" in another thread. Like them, I apologize for my language, and being a religious man I certainly didn't mean it as it may have came off. What an incredible ballgame.

He didn't have his best game but I like his gunslinger mentality. We need someone like that on our team. I am a diehard Pacer fan and for some reason Horne reminds me just a little bit of the rifleman Chuck Person.

Agreed. Although a Collins coached team would probably be equally ready to go either way. The main impact is on RPI since we play them twice and Minny once. In any event, it is a HUGE ballgame for Nebraska Sunday.

Holy shit. Had super busy night of NFL playoff drafts so turned phone off so I could watch it at midnight when I was done without any knowledge. I am not sure I will ever sleep. What an amazing ballgame. And it is one of those ballgames where the confidence can quickly spiral out of control if we had lost it. HUGE momentum win. Iowa is WAY better than their resume would suggest up to this point. They are easily better than that Maryland bunch IMO. Especially for our matchups. Damn what a game.

The look ahead thing is way overblown in general IMO. If a team loses a game they should win it doesn't have to be that they were looking ahead, or was full of themselves or another such narrative. It can simply be that they didn't play well or the other team played above their norm. This is most often the case in a one game sample size, not looking ahead or this or that. When a 3 point line is involved it can be a very fickle line between winning and losing.

I like the fight that Horne showed on the glass, especially in the first half he was a man out there going after the ball. We are going to need that from McVeigh when he regains his shooting touch, so we can sort of ride the hot hand without having too much liability in other phases.

and he made it look relatively easy

The schedule is going to set up pretty nicely no matter what it is when you beat a front runner and a solid mid pack club on the road. Mostly agree with the original post. I disagree about preferring to play Purdue at home. I would rather play them on the road since we are likely to lose either way. I wish we could trade that game and Minny. Gophers are going to be very difficult to beat on the road. But a young team that I think we could clip at home. In any event, the schedule is workable to have a realistic shot to get to 11-7. I cannot possibly overstate how important it is to go 2-0 this week.

If he was, I don't think the uniform selection probably hurt matters. Nor did the result.

Not sure a new thread needs creating for this, but does anyone know game time of NW game Sunday, or at least possible times it could be? Thanks in advance.

Pack line is probably an overused term. There are infinite amounts of aggression levels, which should in turn create various levels of give and take on turnover creation versus shot ease. Seems to me our aggression level has certainly been ramped up a bit. Given our need to create some easy baskets, this was very smart. It is small sample size, so possible it is just fluky on getting steals, but to my eyes it sure looks like we have ramped up the level of pressure.