Fullbacksympathy

I thought it worked well with Palmer at the top of the key and Watson running the baseline--there isn't a ton of rebounding from that spot and you need a lot of quickness to contest baseline/corner jumpers when the ball is being swung and skipped. Your rebounding comes primarily from the weakside wing and center. So, starters would be: Palmer Taylor Jordy Copeland Watson ^^^ The other nice thing I just realized is that Roby could be subbed in at literally ANY spot of that zone and function just fine. Ugh. I really want to see this more now. It completely ruins pick and roll offenses, which destroy us.

I absolutely hate our 2-3 zone. It's completely worthless unless you are a morph wizard like Boeheim--it's hardly a 2-3 with all the variations they work with. We don't have that level of sophistication here with ours, so we shouldn't run it. But the 1-3-1 has been very disruptive with our length. We've forced some uncomfortable shots and turnovers with it. Now, MSU hit a baseline jumper right away, and we never even bothered trying it again. I looked at it as a positive--everything we had given up to that point was a layup or putback, so at least it forced their center to shoot jump shots. And, yeah, I agree that Miles hates zone--he's adamant about this. I just don't get it when it comes to our current roster--we don't have great lateral athletes, but we have good length and skill in addition to straight line speed. It makes players like Jack and Jordy WAY more useful, and it creates a lot of fast break opportunities out of rebounds.

PLAY ZONE PLAY ZONE PLAY ZONE. We do not have the lateral quickness to consistently defend pick and rolls. We do, however, have the length, skill, and savvy to be a very pesky 1-3-1 team.

MSU is my honest pick for the NC. Their brand of play works in the tournament, and they are rarely THIS good at the beginning of the year. Izzo's teams are always about twice as good by tournament time. Hard to imagine how good this team will be by then.

I'd like to see a 1-3-1 zone get more than one possession. All their MvM shots are layups and putbacks.

Agree with this. I think we need to keep in mind Jordy doesn't have to score on this team. He just doesn't. He only took two shots and made one of them, but he is was extremely active, set good picks, accounted for 7 points from assists (the opposing bigs combined for 0 assists and 5 TOs) and kept pressure on the other bigs. If he makes a couple free throws and gets the rebounds instead of getting fould, he has a 4-6pt, 8-10rb game. But getting opposing bigs in foul trouble is a HUGE game changer--just ask Nebraska.

I thought Jordy and Duby played great tonight and were both unsung heroes of the game. Though it won't show up in the stat sheet, I counted at least 4 fouls Jordy drew on opposing bigs by having great rebounding position. He was dominant without scoring. Duby had a couple of great clutch blocks that were under control and fought well on the glass. Outstanding team win against a power 5 opponent.

I think we match up pretty well to BC, but it's important to remember that our 2nd half meltdown against LBS was because of our bigs' foul trouble, not necessarily Roby's injury. We need to have Jordy play over 20min to be disruptive on the defensive end. If that means more zone, so be it. We need to protect those guys a bit against quicker, undersized centers. Watson - Allen (Taylor) Palmer - Gill (Taylor) Taylor (Palmer) - I wouldn't mind seeing Nana get a look here. He might not be quite where he needs to be mentally, but he doesn't look afraid when he's out there--far from it. Copeland - McVeigh Jordy - Duby ... can't emphasize this enough... even if they both foul out, LET THEM FOUL OUT.

Yep. Yet another reason to play zone (with a center) a significant amount of time. Also, I think something that Jordy is not getting credit for is how he alters shots/gameplans of opponents. You cannot teach size, and I think he's done a pretty good job of playing in position. He just needs to go straight up and remember how big he is. On the offensive end, do not underestimate what a 6'11" 270lb dude does to the energy of a 6'7" 230lb defender while being leaned on throughout the course of the game. Even if Jordy doesn't impact the game by scoring and getting a bunch of rebounds, he creates a lot of problems on both ends of the court and wears down opposing bigs.

BC and Minnesota are winnable. We used to beat KU at home all the time with similar talent, so I think we'll give them all they want as well. I think MSU and CU are going to beat us handily. We aren't a road team yet. I really, really, like this team's potential to be a bear at home.

Go 2-3 at home. It's not unreasonable. It should be expected. We've put together 3.5/4 good halves of basketball of late. Gotta play defense and move the ball offensively.

Once again, Jordy wasn't playing against a traditional center. He was guarding a 6'7" PF. That is a recipe for foul trouble. Gotta go to zone once in awhile to protect him a little bit.

Played good defense for a little over a half... I hope the small ball experiment is over moving forward. Disappointing that we didn't try zone WITH a center in the game. I thought Jordy had a lot of really good defensive possessions from a position standpoint, but he'll always be a little awkward against 6'7" centers.. same with Tanner. Duby's fouls were pretty much idiotic across the board. But, yes, we were definitely missing Roby. That Levin kid is a nice player, but Roby would've held his own and given Copeland some needed rest. Great game from Watson/Copeland/Gill. I thought Allen could've taken Palmer's spot tonight. Allen made a couple of clutch plays for us that were pretty understated in the win.

Come on James... make a damned free throw.

Ugh.

Did we have a center in?

Another great defensive play from Glynn.

Missed a lot... did we try any zone?

HUGE shot from Gill... play some damned defense please.

Defense/passing coaching emphasis has clearly taken hold. This is a talented passing team. I had no idea. They are having a blast.

Phew on the break, but I'm guessing that's a couple of weeks minimum.

Of course. Frost is a wrap.

Good take Jack!

Good minutes from Tanner. He's held his own. Played a hell of a lot better than Duby.

1. Defense. 2. Passing. 3. Not horrible coaching and weird substitutions.