HoopDreams said:

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Defensively I think the biggest problems are:

1. Lack of understanding zone defense. The primary culprits I see are the 4 freshmen.... Kelly, Bradley, Gordon and Vanover. Not knowing where to be, over helping, slow or no rotation, etc

2. In man defense - Over helping, slow help side defense, closing out on shooters wrong. Again, mostly the freshman, but actually the entire team at times. For example, I see slow post rotations from Sueing sometimes

3. No rim protector (except Vanover when he doesn't wander beyond 5 feet from the hoop

4. Inability to stay in front of guards/wings - many players including Paris (a big problem when there is no rim protection

5. Rebounds- when the opponent gets a rebound it becomes a scramble and defenses break down. That makes opponent shooting percentage increase (contributing to a poor defense)

6. Playing harder makes all these things better, but I think it's way to simplistic to say that is the primary or even in the top 3 reasons why our defense is so poor

Reasonable minds can differ

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I'm going to reasonably differ with your last point (slightly). If you add focus to playing hard, then I do believe it is the top reason (or top three). I'm sort of splitting hairs, in that in my semantics, playing hard is physical, but focus is mental. I think the big issue with this team on defense is mental. Maybe that is what you are getting at in points 1,2 and 5. But what I see is they can play correctly for a bit, but lose focus. This is why I think they lapse on zone shifts, help defense and tend to overplay or underplay. Not because they are lazy, but because they are sloppy - which is mental.

BeachedBear said:

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HoopDreams said:

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Defensively I think the biggest problems are:

1. Lack of understanding zone defense. The primary culprits I see are the 4 freshmen.... Kelly, Bradley, Gordon and Vanover. Not knowing where to be, over helping, slow or no rotation, etc

2. In man defense - Over helping, slow help side defense, closing out on shooters wrong. Again, mostly the freshman, but actually the entire team at times. For example, I see slow post rotations from Sueing sometimes

3. No rim protector (except Vanover when he doesn't wander beyond 5 feet from the hoop

4. Inability to stay in front of guards/wings - many players including Paris (a big problem when there is no rim protection

5. Rebounds- when the opponent gets a rebound it becomes a scramble and defenses break down. That makes opponent shooting percentage increase (contributing to a poor defense)

6. Playing harder makes all these things better, but I think it's way to simplistic to say that is the primary or even in the top 3 reasons why our defense is so poor

Reasonable minds can differ

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I'm going to reasonably differ with your last point (slightly). If you add focus to playing hard, then I do believe it is the top reason (or top three). I'm sort of splitting hairs, in that in my semantics, playing hard is physical, but focus is mental. I think the big issue with this team on defense is mental. Maybe that is what you are getting at in points 1,2 and 5. But what I see is they can play correctly for a bit, but lose focus. This is why I think they lapse on zone shifts, help defense and tend to overplay or underplay. Not because they are lazy, but because they are sloppy - which is mental.

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I think both of you are right (and I don't rank the issues). Defense is largely about desire and focus as BB has said; however, there are right and wrong ways to do things, and these require learning (and coaching). For instance you can try really hard and run hard, but if you take the wrong angle in closing out a perimeter shooter, he's going to have an open shot or you're going to foul him (or both). Basketball is largely a game of geometry, and you have to understand the geometry to play solid defense (and offense as well).

ASU game first half of first half the same as UCLA game. Conditioning, adjustments by opposing coach , combinations of players on the floor,defense, etc.
Any constructive thoughts. Wow this is tough right now.

Not worrh discussing.

805bear said:

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ASU game first half of first half the same as UCLA game. Conditioning, adjustments by opposing coach , combinations of players on the floor,defense, etc.
Any constructive thoughts. Wow this is tough right now.

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One of the things a team needs to practice is making adjustment during each half. That has to do with assessing the situation, communicating effectively and utilizing a few core aspects of the game that can be instantly incorporated. When a coach pulls out his clipboard on anything other than a last minute inbounds play, I get worried.

Typical aspects that this team could use:

• Spacing adjustments (wider, deeper, movement)
• Change rebounding scheme (i.e. having one, two or three perimeter players get back on D)
• Change offensive mode of attacking zone (behind, through the key, over the top)

Not seeing this during timeouts by this staff. Last night, watching ASU, Hurley tells his assistants what to cover and spends the timeout talking to the REF. Result, ASU adjusts quickly, gets better calls and pulls away.

This can also be done during substitutions or by calling signals from the bench.