Basketball Def. Struggles

[Big4Dawg]

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/mississippi-state/2015/12/07/msus-overhauled-offense-culprit-poor-defense/76928132/


The regression can be attributed to the work he put in revamping the offense.

"I thought we were so poor offensively when I arrived here, we spent so much time just working on the fundamentals of shooting in our two whole hours a week with our players in the offseason," Howland said. "That was a priority."
......
The summer of offense concluded after the Bulldogs returned from the Puerto Tip-off.

After a win against Texas Southern last week, Craig Sword and Travis Daniels chuckled when asked about their practicing habits.

"We always start with close-outs, then we?ll do defensive slides," Sword said. "All we do is defense."

And the offense?

"Not much," the senior said.

Interesting

[smootness]

And he's probably right. We were downright atrocious offensively, and it's easier for a guy to improve defensively during the year than offensively. So you may see us gradually improve on defense because we're already good enough offensively.

[Maroon_and_white]

We need a spark after this long layoff. We need to be more aggressive on defense, we need Malik and Sword to be explosive both offensively and defensively. Hope we see improvement

[gtowndawg]

We need a spark after this long layoff. We need to be more aggressive on defense, we need Malik and Sword to be explosive both offensively and defensively. Hope we see improvement

We also need someone to grow about 4 inches for some post depth. That scares me more than anything this year. Just no presence down low at all. I think we will improve as the year goes on (from a team defense perspective).

[msstate7]

Any word on Holman? Will strugg return this season? Any update on Malik's foot?

[Maroon_and_white]

We also need someone to grow about 4 inches for some post depth. That scares me more than anything this year. Just no presence down low at all. I think we will improve as the year goes on (from a team defense perspective).

I can accept losing a game against a team with a great front court because we just really compete there, but we have the backcourt to be able to win games against average frontcourts.

[Political Hack]

Box and 1 with Fred for 3-4 minutes a half will solve a lot of problems.

[Irondawg]

Glad to hear we are practicing defense but honestly these Jr and Sr guys shouldn't need a ton of coaching on basics of man to man defense at this point. We've lacked energy and effort on that end in additionl to some really sloppy fundamentals.

I still think Howland has to convince Sword that he needs to be a lockdown defender

[BeardoMSU]

I still think Howland has to convince Sword that he needs to be a lockdown defender

I wonder if we can lure Barry Stewart away from Europe to come teach our guards how to play D, lol.

[Political Hack]

I wonder if we can lure Barry Stewart away from Europe to come teach our guards how to play D, lol.

Along with Zim.

[BeardoMSU]

Along with Zim.

Indeed. And lets get JV a disguise so he can play the 5 for us again, while we're at it.

[Irondawg]

Zim was one of the best defenders I've seen

[Coach34]

Richard Williams can teach halfcourt man defense as well as anyone. Offense? Not so much

[mic]

It takes more effort than talent to play defense..
These Sr's better be glad there is NO one behind them or their minutes would be cut in half ..
CBH would treat them the same way Coach Cal does, don't play defense don't play...

[BeardoMSU]

CBH would treat them the same way Coach Cal does, don't play defense don't play...

I expect that is exactly what you will see once he gets a roster that isn't half-full of circus clowns masquerading as basketball players.

[smootness]

It takes more effort than talent to play defense..

This is not exactly true. There is some truth to it, and it's certainly true that it takes less natural talent to play defense than offense.

But defense is more about technique and knowledge than it is pure effort. You can make up for some shortcomings with pure effort, but it alone won't make you a good defender.