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Rock Chalk Talk: Basketball
Anything pertaining to basketball: college, pro, HS, recruiting, TV coverage
Anything pertaining to basketball: college, pro, HS, recruiting, TV coverage
KU's former true identity (TENACIOUS DEFENSE)...
8 years 10 months ago - 8 years 10 months ago #2000
by konza63
“With kindest regards to Dr. Forrest C. Allen, the father of basketball coaching, from the father of the game.”
1936 inscription on the portrait of Dr. Naismith, displayed above Phog Allen's office desk at KU.
...has been MIA for three seasons now. And I believe it has hit its deepest valley with this squad. That, perhaps more than anything, drives me the most bonkers...because in the (increasingly distant) past it was the ONE thing we could always count on with Self-coached teams.
What in the heck has happened with our training and development on defense? Both for individual defense and team defense, I would underscore.
Modestly-skilled guards penetrate our perimeter D like a hot knife cuts through butter. And then everything collapses from there. You have to rely on helpers coming off their man, and they are usually either too late to help (resulting in a foul on the shooter) or the penetrator has the easy dish to the big they were forced to come off of.
We are also horrible at staying with our man for the deep 3-balls. Again, because our first-line individual D is so lackluster, the ball handler too often gets separation. This causes a secondary defender in the vicinity to overreact, and he then comes way too far off his man, who gets the dish and hits a wide-open three. This happened TWICE IN A ROW tonight (with Svi as the victimized helper), and you could see Self and the coaches on the bench just throw their arms up in sheer disgust.
Meanwhile, Self refuses to budge from Man to Man (to perhaps mix in some zone to blunt the dribble penetration). I get the notion that he doesn't want to forgive our individual inadequacies in M2M defense, but isn't it worth trying something? (See: Einstein's definition of insanity)
When you truly play great D, you can always hang your hat on that, and stay in every game until the offense comes around. But these days, we can't rely on it at all. It's an Achilles Heel in the worst of ways.
What the hell has happened to the KANSAS D we all grew so accustomed to? Was Dooley the key to it all? To borrow from Slim Pickens, what in the wide, wide world of sports is going on out there?
What in the heck has happened with our training and development on defense? Both for individual defense and team defense, I would underscore.
Modestly-skilled guards penetrate our perimeter D like a hot knife cuts through butter. And then everything collapses from there. You have to rely on helpers coming off their man, and they are usually either too late to help (resulting in a foul on the shooter) or the penetrator has the easy dish to the big they were forced to come off of.
We are also horrible at staying with our man for the deep 3-balls. Again, because our first-line individual D is so lackluster, the ball handler too often gets separation. This causes a secondary defender in the vicinity to overreact, and he then comes way too far off his man, who gets the dish and hits a wide-open three. This happened TWICE IN A ROW tonight (with Svi as the victimized helper), and you could see Self and the coaches on the bench just throw their arms up in sheer disgust.
Meanwhile, Self refuses to budge from Man to Man (to perhaps mix in some zone to blunt the dribble penetration). I get the notion that he doesn't want to forgive our individual inadequacies in M2M defense, but isn't it worth trying something? (See: Einstein's definition of insanity)
When you truly play great D, you can always hang your hat on that, and stay in every game until the offense comes around. But these days, we can't rely on it at all. It's an Achilles Heel in the worst of ways.
What the hell has happened to the KANSAS D we all grew so accustomed to? Was Dooley the key to it all? To borrow from Slim Pickens, what in the wide, wide world of sports is going on out there?
“With kindest regards to Dr. Forrest C. Allen, the father of basketball coaching, from the father of the game.”
1936 inscription on the portrait of Dr. Naismith, displayed above Phog Allen's office desk at KU.
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