There is a nice interview(by Fred Mitchell) with Chris Collins in the online version of the Chicago Tribune today(7/16). Chris believes the key to a successful season is to play better defense. Let's hope for the Big Dance in 2016!
Chris Collins interview in Tribune
- Thread starter purplebirder
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Interesting. I would have thought more consistency on offense and eliminating the 8-10 minute scoring droughts. I thought the defense was actually pretty good last season once they went zone.
He wants to go man and we were not in a position to really stay in man last year. D is what started to break down and he went to zone to shore it up.
I really don't think Olah was the problem. He can hold his own and be a presence in the middle.
Here's looking at you guards....
Could you explain this a little bit for me?
I was thinking that when Olah tried to play man, some how it took him out of position and he got into foul trouble. I'm not sure where I got that idea but when they went to Zone his game seemed to get better and he became a more dominant force.
I agree with you. Olah had trouble when his man went up high and then rolled to the basket.
But the guards also couldn't guard. NU was not very athletic last season, and the zone covered up their lack of quickness.
Opponents would draw him out of the lane and then pass or dive to the middle, including the opposing center if he was quick enough. If Olah collapsed to cover guards or forwards penetrating, then they'd dish to the center. In a zone, he doesn't have to both cover his man as well as protect the middle.
Hopefully, the VaTech center will give us a sort of Adrian Jordan in the middle.
Hopefully, the VaTech center will give us a sort of Adrian Jordan in the middle.
Then why the optimism? Our guards will be exactly the same - with the exception of Ash who may or may not play much this year.
That's who I meant to post. All I knew was his last name. I'm afraid the VaTech isn't any better as a free throw shooter.
I googled it! Found Adrian Jordan, thought that sounded familiar, but didn't read any further. Now I wish I had so that my heart wouldn't be so filled with hatred now towards a fellow poster.
Obviously a lot of our issues are interconnected on the defensive end. Olah is not a particularly fleet footed or athletic center, so he definitely has a defensive ceiling; however, I thought the real problem was not him being drawn out of the lane, but our guards getting blown by seemingly at will, which then places any big man in a no win situation. To me, the zone was more of a way to get the guards out of having one-on-one defensive responsibilities and to limit the driving opportunities other teams got.
I hope so. But I'm not sure just how much one can improve their quickness. But I suppose a lot of things go into being a good defender in addition to quick feet and perhaps those can all improve during the off-season.
Lindsey and Law are quick enough and an extra year of conditioning etc should help them a lot. New guys should help as well.
I'm still in shock there's a fairly knowledgable discussion about defense out here. We're really moving up in the world.Within the framework of a m2m defense, I think everybody has targeted the main culprits, except I think we can remove the plural in "guards."
To simplify this, I think most teams can hide one weak defender. For instance, I could see Law very easily covering a guard if BMac could be switched to defending a so-so 2 or a mid size, mediocre 3.
But when you have two crappy defenders, they are tough to hide in m2m.
It will be interesting to see how CC addresses this challenge if BMac or Olah's D hasn't improved, especially at the end of a tight game.
They will be in a zone if the M2M ain't better than it was last season. Olah and BMac are what they are defensively. Can't play JvZ down the stretch because Olah is a MUCH better FT shooter. Any time JvZ touched the ball he would be fouled which is as good as a turnover.
Within the framework of a m2m defense, I think everybody has targeted the main culprits, except I think we can remove the plural in "guards."
To simplify this, I think most teams can hide one weak defender. For instance, I could see Law very easily covering a guard if BMac could be switched to defending a so-so 2 or a mid size, mediocre 3.
But when you have two crappy defenders, they are tough to hide in m2m.
It will be interesting to see how CC addresses this challenge if BMac or Olah's D hasn't improved, especially at the end of a tight game.
I don't know that I would remove that plural, but I'd like to hear your take on it. To my eyes, despite being more athletically talented, Demps is often out of sorts positionally in relation to his man and to other defenders.
I think BMac will be improved--he also has a ceiling, but I think he has plenty to work on technique wise that would help him be competent before the athletic limitations kick in.
NU was 164 in adjusted defense, 94 in adjusted O, so the D was definitely a bigger issue.
Right. Any conceivable crunch-time lineup this year will have Mac and Demps, two guys not known for their defense. And Olah will be the third guy out there against most teams due to JvZ's FT shooting unless we go for a small-ball lineup with maybe Taphorn or Lumpkin playing the 5. I think we're stuck with the 2-3 zone, which may bother some people (like Collins) stylistically, but is a necessary evil given our personnel.
I like this discussion. Here is a definite improvement from last year's defense to this year's defense. At PF, you will have an active and more muscular 6'9" Gavin Skelly, a 6'8" top 100 PF in Aaron Falzon and hopefully, a 6'8" Taphorn who will hopefully, be able to guard PFs more effectively than 6'5" Lumpkin who was playing out of position the past two seasons at PF. Also, according to reports, Law has put on 20 lbs. of muscle which will help to recover on defense if Olah or our guards are beat on dribble penetration. Also, there is a possibility that Demps can see some minutes at PG this season when Mac is out with a 6'5", 6'6" long armed Lindsey playing some minutes at SG who might be a better defensive matchup than a 6'2" Demps having to guard 6'5" SG like Zac Irvin who lit up the 'cats in the double OT victory over UM.
Also, MacIntosh has taken some heat over his last minute decisions. Yes, he did force some shots and made some TOs on weak passes. Part of that can be explained by the fact that he was a true frosh and lack of experience. However, when Lumpkin was in the game in the last couple of minutes and/or Cobb, was in the game, the offense was hamstrung because Lump is not much of a shooter and Cobb was fighting through multiple injuries and did not have an ability to create a shot. So we were effectively putting MacIntosh in tough situations with limited other offensive options. With more offensive options out there like Falzon, Tap and Olah and hopefully, more developed Law and Lindsey, MacIntosh will have better options to play with and play off of. Just some ideas where we, hopefully, see some improvements.
Also, MacIntosh has taken some heat over his last minute decisions. Yes, he did force some shots and made some TOs on weak passes. Part of that can be explained by the fact that he was a true frosh and lack of experience. However, when Lumpkin was in the game in the last couple of minutes and/or Cobb, was in the game, the offense was hamstrung because Lump is not much of a shooter and Cobb was fighting through multiple injuries and did not have an ability to create a shot. So we were effectively putting MacIntosh in tough situations with limited other offensive options. With more offensive options out there like Falzon, Tap and Olah and hopefully, more developed Law and Lindsey, MacIntosh will have better options to play with and play off of. Just some ideas where we, hopefully, see some improvements.
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