PPD and TKFH, it’s not like I disagree with most of what you are saying. Numbers do not overrule every human perception. But to believe the human eye does not need checked is naive. If there’s one sport I understand decently other than basketball is soccer. It comes with growing up in Europe. It’s religion. And that’s a sport, compared to basketball or baseball that does not have a ton of statistics. And yet, the rise of analytics, in depth analysis, whatever you want to call it, revolutionized the game. Often such simple things as being able to measure how much a player runs throughout the game. Use more players that go above 10km and you have a better team. There are so many numbers we don’t see that probably some teams track internally. I often wonder about how much each player goes for an offensive rebound. I played with so many guys that did not, even when they were in situations where they were supposed to according to the coach’s guidelines. That just means 2 to 5 more or less possessions. It’s significant, it’s like committing it forcing 2-5 turnovers.
OK, rambled a bit. I understand the arguments about defense and needing a human eye. But, regardless of +/- actually, to some extent, capturing defense over the course of a significant data set, the human eye sees different things. I personally don’t see Beran as a good defender at all. A better defender than Young guarding a 4? Yes. Better than Nance guarding a 4? No. Young guards a 5 with Nance on the court. I actually think Young guards a 5 better than Nance. Unless it’s a stretch 5, which I am struggling to think of one in the B1G.
The game against Wake Forest exposed so much this idea of Beran being a good defender. And not because of the last play. He floated so much, with no need, to start the game he allowed two 3 pointers in quick succession. Later there’s a play where there’s a double team and Beran gets caught between closing out on a player or sticking to his man. The rule is always to close out and trust your team rotates. Always. You don’t cover the “what if the ball goes to my player”, you cover the immediate open shot. Beran makes a half assed attempt of stretching his arm towards the open player and goes back to The guy he’s guarding. Open shot, 3 pointer. For as critical as I am of CC I don’t believe that’s what he teaches. It’s just bad defensive instinct on the court.
