Basketball defense (or lack thereof)

[BayouDawg]

We obviously CANNOT guard man to man. I don't know why we've regressed so much. Is it how tight the game is called now? Did we get away with a lot more bodying up last year so that our poor footwork on defense didn't cost us as much? Whatever the reason we couldn't stop my great grandma from getting into the lane on her hoveround. We are going to have to go zone and pack the paint and make teams beat us with the jump shot. Some teams will be able to beat us with jumpers, but I'd rather that than letting teams drive the lane whenever they please. I know Howland hates zone and I'm not too fond of zone myself, but it's obvious that we can't man up for 40 min. There are some perks to going zone though. We could try a 2-3 trap by baiting teams to throw it into the corner and trapping it as soon as the ball arrives. You can even do a half court trap out of a 2-3 or a 1-3-1. That's my thoughts anyway. What would you fellas like to see?

[BeardoMSU]

I don't know why we've regressed so much.

We couldn't guard man last year either. We were somewhat decent in the 1-3-1, but that was only because our shitty style of ball slowed/uglied up the game, so it just felt like we were playing good D.

It's the players. IJ, FFTF, Zap, Gavin, Daniels, Ndoye...what do these guys have in common? They're all Ray's guys, and they absolutely suck at playing defense. Fred has his moments, but he has shit for instincts, and leaves his guy constantly, or gets left in transition, etc.

I'm not giving Malik and Q a pass, but they are freshman afterall. If Malik wants to go to the league after this year, in the first 15 picks, he's gonna need to start playing D, and averaging about 18 and 5 or 6.

[whosyourdawgy]

The new rules are killing chicken. Hell he fouled a lot last season but was aggressive and made a good many steals. But he at least moves his feet. IJ has absolutely sucked on D so far. Either getting crossed over, blown by, or losing his man for an open 3. I swear it was his man on most of those first few 3's vs Miami that got us buried early. It was 7-7 then went to shit. it by no means is all IJ because our d is horrendous

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Gavin Ware is lucky he our only legitimate down low scoring threat because he really needs to be benched for his lack of defense. HE IS TERRIBLE AT DEFENSE. I know others are too but he seems to take it to another level.

[BeardoMSU]

Gavin Ware is lucky he our only legitimate down low scoring threat because he really needs to be benched for his lack of defense. HE IS TERRIBLE AT DEFENSE. I know others are too but he seems to take it to another level.

He can't run the floor, either. His assignment is constantly beating him back for uncontested layups.

[thf24]

I think it's a combination of poor defensive ability on our existing roster and getting used to the new officiating style. I think we might get a little better as the season progresses due to the latter, but I don't think we're going to see decent defense until next year at the soonest.

[rabbitthedawg]

This is an example of the past three years of coaching. We have four starting seniors and not one of them has been taught how to play defense. Say what you want about Rick Stansberry, his team played great defense! Coach Howland will have to begin next year with the new signees, coach them on defense, and make them into a good team. Can't see much happening this year.

[maroonmania]

I hate to even ask this but is there any way we could play Ware and Ndoye together in the post? I realize Ndoye is a liability on the offensive side but, my word, watching other teams go against our current defense is equivalent to watching a team's pre-game layup drill. Its THAT bad. We've got to at least attempt to stop folks from just laying the ball in the basket. Not hard to shoot 60% or better from the field against us when its always from point blank range.

[Political Hack]

I actually think we need to think outside the box and go to a box and 1 when Fred is in. Let him lock up their biggest permitter threat and use the box to help inside. Will reduce foul trouble, allow us to use our best defender to do what he does best, and put us in decent rebounding position (better than most other zones).

[Maroon_and_white]

We couldn't guard man last year either. We were somewhat decent in the 1-3-1, but that was only because our shitty style of ball slowed/uglied up the game, so it just felt like we were playing good D.

It's the players. IJ, FFTF, Zap, Gavin, Daniels, Ndoye...what do these guys have in common? They're all Ray's guys, and they absolutely suck at playing defense. Fred has his moments, but he has shit for instincts, and leaves his guy constantly, or gets left in transition, etc.


I just can't buy any of this. I don't know why but we have regressed defensively. That's on coaches and players. In fact, I think it's more on coaching as of right now. I can understand us getting whipped by a team that has a strong frontcourt since our depth down low is bad, but we lost a lot of very close ball games last year. We should not be this bad period.

[Political Hack]

I just can't buy any of this. I don't know why but we have regressed defensively. That's on coaches and players. In fact, I think it's more on coaching as of right now. I can understand us getting whipped by a team that has a strong frontcourt since our depth down low is bad, but we lost a lot of very close ball games last year. We should not be this bad period.

FTF and Zupp are actually pretty good defensively. Zupp isn't a banger, but is heady, can get rebounds, and cover their 5th man while also providing some help side D.

[maroonmania]

I just can't buy any of this. I don't know why but we have regressed defensively. That's on coaches and players. In fact, I think it's more on coaching as of right now. I can understand us getting whipped by a team that has a strong frontcourt since our depth down low is bad, but we lost a lot of very close ball games last year. We should not be this bad period.

I agree. I would have expected much more than what we've seen so far even if Rick Ray was still the coach and we had not signed Malik Newman. The last 2 games have been an embarassment quite frankly.

[preachermatt83]

I actually think we need to think outside the box and go to a box and 1 when Fred is in. Let him lock up their biggest permitter threat and use the box to help inside. Will reduce foul trouble, allow us to use our best defender to do what he does best, and put us in decent rebounding position (better than most other zones).

I agree with this 100 percent. Would certainly help with rebounding which is KILLING us right now. We are giving up way too many second chance shots and new clocks. Drives me nuts.

[Dawg61]

I say camp a player under their basket the entire game. If we can't stop them anyways we might as well just play 4 on defense. I'm not actually serious about this but I do wonder why teams don't ever try it.

[Political Hack]

I agree with this 100 percent. Would certainly help with rebounding which is KILLING us right now. We are giving up way too many second chance shots and new clocks. Drives me nuts.

Not only that, but no other team uses it anymore. Teams won't be as prepared for it. It's a weird defense to play against. I've had to play against it a few times in high school and it was incredibly annoying.

[preachermatt83]

It's something that with the right game plan and time to prepare can be beaten but it can't be done in a day or two and Bc its so rare now days nobody is gonna spend the time needed preparing for it.

[mic]

"It doesn't take any talent to play hard.."
We haven't played hard on defense yet , or that's the way it has looked to me so far..

One would think with what the Sr's have gone thru the past 3 years they would bust their ass for this coach with this being their last year and having a shot a some kind of post season play