Again that was last year's team. Next year's team is not last year's team. This year's team would beat those teams without EO I believe. EO was essential to last year's team. No one has ever doubted that except maybe Hawk with his 6ppg prediction preseason
Perception and reality of Omoruyi
- Thread starter cubuffsdoug
- Start date
Our defense over those 3 games fell off a cliff. My biggest fear this year is that we take 2 steps backward on the defensive end. When Eugene came back instantly our defense improved.
I think people underestimate the impact of Eugene had just an example on the floor on the defensive end. People just don’t play like he does on the defensive end on a possession by possession basis. I don’t think his absence will have nearly as much of an impact in the offensive end.
But we only allowed 65 points vs. Northwestern (allowing fewer in just 5 B1G games), while scoring just 57 (second lowest total in B1G play). We allowed 97 pts per 100 possessions (better than our average against B1G teams), but scored just 85.1 points per possession (tied for second worst in B1G play, and 4th lowest overall). It wasn't the defense that was our problem in that game, but our shooting (.388 FG%, .235 3P%, .600 FT%).
Yes, Eugene was probably our best defensive player last year...I've never seen a Scarlet Knight so adept at taking a charge like him, either.
I wouldn't assume we're going to become a sh1tty defensive team because he is gone. Sooner or later he was going to be gone due to graduation anyway.
We also thought the wheels were going to fall off when Corey left early but they didn't.
My point is our players have a year more experience, a year more development. Our Freshmen are more experienced, too. Since you did point out Mathis earlier saying he "looks the part" let's see what he can bring. He was a good defender as a first-year player so maybe he continues to grow into a dominant enforcer.
I wouldn't count the Duke or Carter out, either.
Finally, I trust Coach. He's a defensive-minded guy. Unlike when Gene went down unexpectedly he's had time now to plan and scheme with his current roster in his absence - we'll just have to wait and see the results.
So yeah, Gene was impactful. So are a lot of players in the past. So are a lot of the players now.
I remember why we lost down the stretch........a skinny player who we will keep nameless couldn't get through screens on a few possessions and a transfer coming from a lower conference who shot way below his average at his previous school actually made shots vs. us.
Without Gene, without Shaq D and without Jay Young, I think we're going to look different defensively next year. There are a lot of guards and a lot of length. I'm looking for a lot of trapping, and pressing and maybe even a little zone. I don't know how well we're going to match-up with the bigger Big Ten teams.
It is very different adjusting on the fly when someone goes down due to injury versus when someone leaves months before start of season and you have time to plan your changes to replace. As someone knowledgeable in b-ball you know that.
I'm honestly just guessing and speculating off of what Pikiell has said in some interviews. But I think on the defensive end, the loss of Shaq is almost as tough as the loss of Gene.
The first two games he was out, I agree that the defense was a bit of a mess. By that Northwestern game we largely pulled it back together defensively, but then we couldn't put things together offensively.
Baker, Harper, and McConnell went a combined 5/23 (.217) and 1-9 from deep (.111)... while Baker managed not to get a single rebound in 33 min (only two other games with 0 rbs, and both with fewer minutes) and McConnell had 0 assists to 4 turnovers (his worst total of the season). Omoruyi being there would have helped with foul trouble from our bigs, but it's hard to win games when you only put up 57 points (and to a team that allowed 67/game in conference play).
We were 12th in defensive efficiency in the Big Ten last year... Our 2P% wasn't awful (8th best) but we got shredded from 3 (12th best).
Interestingly, while our steal percentage was 7th, our turnover percentage was 12th, meaning we didn't force things like travel calls very often.
3P% defense is to some degree random but we need to do a better job closing out on shooters.
Interestingly, while our steal percentage was 7th, our turnover percentage was 12th, meaning we didn't force things like travel calls very often.
3P% defense is to some degree random but we need to do a better job closing out on shooters.
This is excatly how i remembered. The Minnesota and Purdue we also got crushed in transition.
In B1G games only I have us 11th, but Illinois is essentially right below us at 12th.
If you really want to realistic we were 13th best team in B1G when looking at efficiency numbers and a decent bit a way from 12th. If you look at that PLUS losing Eugene you can see why most might pick us 12th or 13th in conference.
Thanks for numbers. It seems like some of our guards will need to get better. Young might be able to help there. With our players and their arm length/height, you would think we would have been better.
There were plenty of threads here about how losing Sanders was not going to hurt because he was so inefficient and it turns out those were correct.
Addition by subtraction. We can't speculate anymore about EO. He is gone, we have great pieces in hand. We will be OKAY
Not necessarily, the team was better '18-'19 compared to '17-'18, but was that due to Sanders leaving or the fact there was a significant influx of talent?
We were 13th in 3P attempts last year, but 1st in 2P attempts.... with 69.3% of our shots coming inside the arc (second only to Minnesota at 71.9%, and ahead of the league average of 64.0%). I expect this to change next year with Yeboah and Young joining the lineup, and McConnell/Harper entering their sophomore years.
From an overall shooting perspective, we were 13th in FT% at .643, 12th in 2P% at .467, and 11th in 3P% at .314 (and 12th in True Shooting % at .502) - we desperately need shooters to step up. I want to say we'll be a touch better this year shooting the ball given the roster changes, but this is very much a "wait and see" item that is more optimism than anything else.
Not sure what % Yeboah shoots, but by the looks he’ll make a high percentage of his bench press attempts.
Wow.
Wow.
NW was terrible offensively. Vic Law was banged up in that game also. NW hit 65 pts in 7 games out of 21.
And we allowed fewer than 65 points in just 5 out of 21 games.
NW averaged 61 ppg in conference play, and we allowed an average of 73 ppg in conference play.... and they scored 65. That's not some stellar offensive performance or some defensive collapse - that's within expectations.
Meanwhile, we averaged 67 ppg in conference play and NW allowed an average of 67 ppg in conference play.... yet we managed to score just 57, our second worst conference point total of the season.
We lost that game because we couldn't score, not because we couldn't defend.
