I know this appears to be the case but it's honestly not even close to true....he appears to hustle because he is so quick, but he's such a poor defender because he thinks he can outrun his opponent and then his opponent gets past him constantly.....he also doesn't play in the team concepts and leads to break downs on defense.
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I don't have an answer for what it takes to play good team defense without communication on what your teammates are doing......Jacob and the team last year rarely broke down on basics or gamble, this team now seems to follow the wrong path of JY reaching or leaning or cheating passing lanes....and it's really a slow footed team, if you remove Mathis from the equation, so you need communication and not individual play.....
If you do what JY does and get a steal, it looks good on a couple of plays because it's "hero ball"....then others try to go for steals too, they start to reach, get out of position and overplay passing lanes and get carved up like last night......that was a coaching clinic on undisciplined defense and limited offense winning.
You don't get 18 to 20 assists if you are Nebraska by "playing hard", on defense......that type of Princeton style offense thrives on undisciplined and gambling defense and you saw the results.
A lesser athletic more limited team like Purdue shut down Nebraska because they are connected 1 through 5 on defense....they don't play hero ball on defense, which hurts the overall team. As much as Mulcahy is limited with lack of quickness and footspeed, he actually understands angles and tries but is rarely out of position. He just needs 4 other players to help Mulcahy out when he's isolated but that also breaks down a defense, when Mulcahy is isolated by an opponent 1 on 1........you even see Geo gamble on steals and reaching way more than before to get beat on cuts backdoor.
The breakdown of whatever you are seeing starts on the defensive end.....too much JY hero ball needs to stop....he was lights out last year, this year, his lack of discipline has spread throughout the team defense. It's easy to correct with more zone concepts that eliminate 1 on 1 defense and force the team to defend as a unit....one breakdown, leads to easy baskets for an opponent.