Some videos that illustrate the issues

[kcg88]

If you're wondering why teams have gotten so many open 3 pointers on us this season, this clip is why:

Myles Johnson comes way out to hedge on the screen, which forces Caleb McConnell to slack off his guy to cut off the roll by Johnson's. This leaves McConnell's guy WIDE open for a three pointer. Bryant, Drexel, and now St. Bonaventure have all exploited this to great success. We survived Bryant because they only made 33% of theirs. Drexel hit 37% of theirs, we mainly survived that game on turnovers.

But as soon as the competition got tougher we got gashed. And yes 46% from 3 is an outlier performance but when we're consistently allowing attempts like this we're going to get lit up for a high percentage.

There's also no need for Johnson to be that far out... if the guy turns the corner then Harper is there to give the help D, with Baker ideally getting to Harper's man in the corner.

Other defensive lapses... certainly not comprehensive but these stood out to me.




In clip 1, Shaq Carter just completely loses his man and leaves him wide open for a 3. I don't think it was a miscommunication with Mulcahy because he doesn't follow Mulcahy's guy either, he just sits back in the paint near Yeboah's guy.

In clip 2, Jacob Young goes under a screen but still somehow gets completely beaten to the basket. As athletic as he is that should never happen.

And in clip 3 Harper is in no-man's-land on the screen. He doesn't come up hard enough to be hedging and he allows the easy pick-and-pop.

And two on offense:



Keep your eye on Mathis in the first clip and Baker in the second clip. Neither guy touches the ball or even moves for the entire offensive set. Offenses become a lot easier to guard when they don't need to worry about half the court. In the first clip the Bonnies are in zone, in the second clip they're in man. But in both clips we just give a defender a complete possession off. The zone never has to extend side to side. We score a bucket in the second one on a nice play by Young and Carter as the result of a screen and roll, but the overall lack of movement off the ball has been a problem in every game.

 

[BillyC80]

Phenomenal analysis and accompanied video clips. Like a master class on playing Defense. Well done kcg, much appreciated.

 

[Shell21]

Great job . Our problem on offense is we rarely swing the ball from side to side as that forces the defense to help and recover and forces close outs . Closing out is where dribble drives and open shots occur because the d is at a disadvantage . Our ball movement tends to stick on one side and allows the weak side d to sag off like showed . It also doesn’t force many close outs .

in another thread I suggested more of a dribble drive motion a la Kentucky. If we aren’t going to run this we at least need some weakside action to occupy the weakside d

 

[RobertG]

Thank you for the analysis.

Looking at those clips my uneducated impression is that they looked lazy. There didnt seem to be any hustle.

 

[bac2therac]

thank you for posting these clips

 

[Groz]

Excellent job posting those clips. The bottom line is that we don't close out quick enough on the shooters(whether it be not hustling the whole possession or getting lazy or just losing our men), thus making it MUCH easier to make shots.

The difference in making shots when there is a hand in your face versus being wide open, is night and day.

Best of Luck,
Groz

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

These are basic basketball plays that happen 40 times a game and come from scouting but it's not as if a basketball program is going to come into a game without a gameplan on how to attack and score against an opponent.....the Bona coach isn't a scrub or 1st time coach who hasn't won games, neither is the Drexel coach, who put a good gameplan together.

While these are good clips, with Young missing 2 FTs at the end of the half and 2 down the stretch of the game, that's the aspect that's most correctable. Myles actually made FTs, which was surprising to see.

Guards like Mathis and Young have to be better from the line....we can analyze plays all year long.

Mathis has to be better from the line, to play defense in crunch time, so if he is on the court and gets fouled on a drive, we have a 2 way player on the court. Same with Young....they have to match Baker and McConnell as starting caliber players who knock down FTs

 

[goru7]

If you're wondering why teams have gotten so many open 3 pointers on us this season, this clip is why:

View embedded media

Myles Johnson comes way out to hedge on the screen, which forces Caleb McConnell to slack off his guy to cut off the roll by Johnson's. This leaves McConnell's guy WIDE open for a three pointer. Bryant, Drexel, and now St. Bonaventure have all exploited this to great success. We survived Bryant because they only made 33% of theirs. Drexel hit 37% of theirs, we mainly survived that game on turnovers.

But as soon as the competition got tougher we got gashed. And yes 46% from 3 is an outlier performance but when we're consistently allowing attempts like this we're going to get lit up for a high percentage.

There's also no need for Johnson to be that far out... if the guy turns the corner then Harper is there to give the help D, with Baker ideally getting to Harper's man in the corner.

Other defensive lapses... certainly not comprehensive but these stood out to me.

View embedded media

View embedded media

View embedded media

In clip 1, Shaq Carter just completely loses his man and leaves him wide open for a 3. I don't think it was a miscommunication with Mulcahy because he doesn't follow Mulcahy's guy either, he just sits back in the paint near Yeboah's guy.

In clip 2, Jacob Young goes under a screen but still somehow gets completely beaten to the basket. As athletic as he is that should never happen.

And in clip 3 Harper is in no-man's-land on the screen. He doesn't come up hard enough to be hedging and he allows the easy pick-and-pop.

And two on offense:

View embedded media

View embedded media

Keep your eye on Mathis in the first clip and Baker in the second clip. Neither guy touches the ball or even moves for the entire offensive set. Offenses become a lot easier to guard when they don't need to worry about half the court. In the first clip the Bonnies are in zone, in the second clip they're in man. But in both clips we just give a defender a complete possession off. The zone never has to extend side to side. We score a bucket in the second one on a nice play by Young and Carter as the result of a screen and roll, but the overall lack of movement off the ball has been a problem in every game.

Nice job posting the clips. I unfortunately did not see the game as I was out to dinner and could only sneak a score from time to time, that upset my dinner. . Those clips are a small sample but the defensive effort looks like it was missing. Plenty of space between our defender and the offensive player.
Now I also see you are very critical of Coach on your other threads, some directed at defense and some at the lack of offensive sets. I am partially critical of his failure of sets, curls to get our guys a jump shot, Geo, Caleb, Akwasi, or Ron or a Drive all including Montes should have plays called. The lack of pounding the ball down low is the biggest culprit. Either Myles makes a move to the hoop or Shaq, or he passes diagonally to a wide open shooter or driver. Coach is having a difficult time with the extra rotation and that has resulted in our guys not getting into a rhythm . It has made us look very guardable, which we should not be. I have a lot more faith in Coach than you do condemning him after 4 games. I think he will figure it out soon, like before Pittsburgh.
Defensively , our Coach’s signature card is our tough minded defense. He was concerned about our defense in the preseason and so far, our length has deflected a lot of balls, but our clinging to guys and effort is lacking especially in the clips you showed. Was the second half during the comeback any better because we were not close to them in any of those clips. We have seen tremendous defense against the Big 10 in past seasons so I am thinking it will be corrected, although there is some truth to losing Jay Young , the defensive guru to head coach at Fairfield .
The biggest problem is the lack of a top league player. Corey was feared by most Big 10 teams and gave us a chance against any team. Eugene from midway through his sophomore season through last year could get us a bucket down low when it was needed. So far , Geo or Ron , the obvious candidates, have not stepped up yet. The Pike mantra in his post game pressers that he trusts all “11” of my guys , which was thought to be a strength and still might be , has backfired. One of any of 5-6 guys should get 20-25 on a particular night. If someone starts hot , ride them. If Geo starts 2-2 , then ride him so he gets us 25. If Ron, or Montes, or Caleb are going early , ride them. Get Ron on the block and see if they can guard him and when they cannot or bring 2, then let him drift to the three point line and drain it . Start the game pounding to Myles.and if he gets 6-8 quick ones maybe that gets him to 15-20 one game. Last year Caleb Wesson scored 16 quick points in the first half of our away game and it was enough to get them a cushion and enough for the win. Myles should be given that opportunity . This rotation problem is causing us to look worse than the talent on the floor. Coach is a good enough Coach to figure it out. Yeah very disappointed in the first 4 games but have a little more faith in Coach than you do.

 

[LotusAggressor]

Great job . Our problem on offense is we rarely swing the ball from side to side as that forces the defense to help and recover and forces close outs . Closing out is where dribble drives and open shots occur because the d is at a disadvantage . Our ball movement tends to stick on one side and allows the weak side d to sag off like showed . It also doesn’t force many close outs .

in another thread I suggested more of a dribble drive motion a la Kentucky. If we aren’t going to run this we at least need some weakside action to occupy the weakside d

Forcing closeouts requires inside threats, whether it's from the dribble or posting up. That requires players who can get to the rim and are a threat to finish. An inside-out system like the Dribble Drive motion places a premium on good one-on-one players that thrive in isolation, and players who can knock down open shots consistently. So far, I haven't seen those kinds of players here.

 

[soundcrib]

Cliff notes for me:

1. We lose our man.
2. We have no concept in defending against screens.

 

[RU MAN]

If you're wondering why teams have gotten so many open 3 pointers on us this season, this clip is why:

View embedded media

Myles Johnson comes way out to hedge on the screen, which forces Caleb McConnell to slack off his guy to cut off the roll by Johnson's. This leaves McConnell's guy WIDE open for a three pointer. Bryant, Drexel, and now St. Bonaventure have all exploited this to great success. We survived Bryant because they only made 33% of theirs. Drexel hit 37% of theirs, we mainly survived that game on turnovers.

But as soon as the competition got tougher we got gashed. And yes 46% from 3 is an outlier performance but when we're consistently allowing attempts like this we're going to get lit up for a high percentage.

There's also no need for Johnson to be that far out... if the guy turns the corner then Harper is there to give the help D, with Baker ideally getting to Harper's man in the corner.

Other defensive lapses... certainly not comprehensive but these stood out to me.

View embedded media

View embedded media

View embedded media

In clip 1, Shaq Carter just completely loses his man and leaves him wide open for a 3. I don't think it was a miscommunication with Mulcahy because he doesn't follow Mulcahy's guy either, he just sits back in the paint near Yeboah's guy.

In clip 2, Jacob Young goes under a screen but still somehow gets completely beaten to the basket. As athletic as he is that should never happen.

And in clip 3 Harper is in no-man's-land on the screen. He doesn't come up hard enough to be hedging and he allows the easy pick-and-pop.

And two on offense:

View embedded media

View embedded media

Keep your eye on Mathis in the first clip and Baker in the second clip. Neither guy touches the ball or even moves for the entire offensive set. Offenses become a lot easier to guard when they don't need to worry about half the court. In the first clip the Bonnies are in zone, in the second clip they're in man. But in both clips we just give a defender a complete possession off. The zone never has to extend side to side. We score a bucket in the second one on a nice play by Young and Carter as the result of a screen and roll, but the overall lack of movement off the ball has been a problem in every game.

Excellent points and observations. What bothers me most about this, is many of our sophomores should know better and shame on Pike and the other coaches for not making adjustments including in-game switches, which I see all of the time with the better teams. There is NO EXCUSE to have guys that wide open on basic offensive weaves. No excuse.

 

[kcg88]

These are basic basketball plays that happen 40 times a game and come from scouting but it's not as if a basketball program is going to come into a game without a gameplan on how to attack and score against an opponent.....the Bona coach isn't a scrub or 1st time coach who hasn't won games, neither is the Drexel coach, who put a good gameplan together.

While these are good clips, with Young missing 2 FTs at the end of the half and 2 down the stretch of the game, that's the aspect that's most correctable. Myles actually made FTs, which was surprising to see.

Guards like Mathis and Young have to be better from the line....we can analyze plays all year long.

Mathis has to be better from the line, to play defense in crunch time, so if he is on the court and gets fouled on a drive, we have a 2 way player on the court. Same with Young....they have to match Baker and McConnell as starting caliber players who knock down FTs

Obviously guys aren't going to be constantly moving every possession, that's not realistic. But I cut those two videos as evidence of the problem... there are too many possessions where guys are just standing around.

 

[ImBadRU]

Bottom line, we are tall, but not fleet of foot.

 

[zebnatto]

Good work, 88.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Carter D...I hope Carter thought he and Paul were switching

Young...how do you go under the screen and get beat?

 

[kcg88]

Carter D...I hope Carter thought he and Paul were switching

Young...how do you go under the screen and get beat?

That's what I thought but Carter goes down on Yeboah's man, not to the corner with Mulcahy's.

With Young, it's a bad camera angle but it looks like he stumbles or takes a weird step or something. Like he was expecting to have help but I don't see why he'd think that considering the point of going under a screen is to cut off the drive.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Movement 2...Young does not know how to use a screen. That is rather surprising.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

If I had the inclination i'd like to look at Myles 2 fouls.

Last year Baker was the MVP (based on the strictest sense of the term)

This year it is Myles Johnson.

 

[RUJMM78]

Bottom line, we are tall, but not fleet of foot.

Maybe,Rutgers should play zone defense like Syracuse and utilize their size at the guard positions.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE coaching staff.........teach Jacob Young how to use a screen. KGC showed a clip from the SB game and then twice last night he wasnt remotely close to using his screener properly.

 

[rucoe89]

If you're wondering why teams have gotten so many open 3 pointers on us this season, this clip is why:

View embedded media

Myles Johnson comes way out to hedge on the screen, which forces Caleb McConnell to slack off his guy to cut off the roll by Johnson's. This leaves McConnell's guy WIDE open for a three pointer. Bryant, Drexel, and now St. Bonaventure have all exploited this to great success. We survived Bryant because they only made 33% of theirs. Drexel hit 37% of theirs, we mainly survived that game on turnovers.

But as soon as the competition got tougher we got gashed. And yes 46% from 3 is an outlier performance but when we're consistently allowing attempts like this we're going to get lit up for a high percentage.

There's also no need for Johnson to be that far out... if the guy turns the corner then Harper is there to give the help D, with Baker ideally getting to Harper's man in the corner.

Other defensive lapses... certainly not comprehensive but these stood out to me.

View embedded media

View embedded media

View embedded media

In clip 1, Shaq Carter just completely loses his man and leaves him wide open for a 3. I don't think it was a miscommunication with Mulcahy because he doesn't follow Mulcahy's guy either, he just sits back in the paint near Yeboah's guy.

In clip 2, Jacob Young goes under a screen but still somehow gets completely beaten to the basket. As athletic as he is that should never happen.

And in clip 3 Harper is in no-man's-land on the screen. He doesn't come up hard enough to be hedging and he allows the easy pick-and-pop.

And two on offense:

View embedded media

View embedded media

Keep your eye on Mathis in the first clip and Baker in the second clip. Neither guy touches the ball or even moves for the entire offensive set. Offenses become a lot easier to guard when they don't need to worry about half the court. In the first clip the Bonnies are in zone, in the second clip they're in man. But in both clips we just give a defender a complete possession off. The zone never has to extend side to side. We score a bucket in the second one on a nice play by Young and Carter as the result of a screen and roll, but the overall lack of movement off the ball has been a problem in every game.

That is squarely on coaching staff. Not good.

 

[4theknights]

Getting down to SB 34-15 is quite telling and says alot about where we are defensively. Coach said that was on him. The next step is to see how we get better on both ends and learn from this game. If coach says it on him, he and staff needs to step up as well.

 

[kcg88]

Bump. Video 1 (Hedge 3). This has been the strategy all year long. When teams hit threes it goes terribly. When they don't it looks genius.

 

[RutgersMO]

Maybe,Rutgers should play zone defense like Syracuse and utilize their size at the guard positions.

Remember a couple years ago when the Hall iirc played zone, match up zone, man? Confusing...and they won.

I suggest that Rutgers mix it up. Playing a strict man to man allows the other team to get in a rhythm.

Also think we need to teach Doucre how to box out (that 2 point tip in at the end of the half was a killer).

And why wasn't Yeboah in the game along with Mathis, Caleb, Young & Myles (Geo...O / D switch)?

1 game: hope we bring it to Maryland!

MO

 

[BOCA93]

Remember a couple years ago when the Hall iirc played zone, match up zone, man? Confusing...and they won.

I suggest that Rutgers mix it up. Playing a strict man to man allows the other team to get in a rhythm.

Also think we need to teach Doucre how to box out (that 2 point tip in at the end of the half was a killer).

And why wasn't Yeboah in the game along with Mathis, Caleb, Young & Myles (Geo...O / D switch)?

1 game: hope we bring it to Maryland!

MO

I could be wrong but I think it was Harper that failed to box out Johns for the tip at the half

 

[Pancho1939]

I always think pikiell is joking when he says he gets emails after games from fans but after watching this I am starting to think people actually try and tell a head coach for the past 15 years whose entire success is built on defense and rebounding what he is doing wrong on defense. Bonkers

 

[richthedentist]

If you're wondering why teams have gotten so many open 3 pointers on us this season, this clip is why:

View embedded media

Myles Johnson comes way out to hedge on the screen, which forces Caleb McConnell to slack off his guy to cut off the roll by Johnson's. This leaves McConnell's guy WIDE open for a three pointer. Bryant, Drexel, and now St. Bonaventure have all exploited this to great success. We survived Bryant because they only made 33% of theirs. Drexel hit 37% of theirs, we mainly survived that game on turnovers.

But as soon as the competition got tougher we got gashed. And yes 46% from 3 is an outlier performance but when we're consistently allowing attempts like this we're going to get lit up for a high percentage.

There's also no need for Johnson to be that far out... if the guy turns the corner then Harper is there to give the help D, with Baker ideally getting to Harper's man in the corner.

Other defensive lapses... certainly not comprehensive but these stood out to me.

View embedded media

View embedded media

View embedded media

In clip 1, Shaq Carter just completely loses his man and leaves him wide open for a 3. I don't think it was a miscommunication with Mulcahy because he doesn't follow Mulcahy's guy either, he just sits back in the paint near Yeboah's guy.

In clip 2, Jacob Young goes under a screen but still somehow gets completely beaten to the basket. As athletic as he is that should never happen.

And in clip 3 Harper is in no-man's-land on the screen. He doesn't come up hard enough to be hedging and he allows the easy pick-and-pop.

And two on offense:

View embedded media

View embedded media

Keep your eye on Mathis in the first clip and Baker in the second clip. Neither guy touches the ball or even moves for the entire offensive set. Offenses become a lot easier to guard when they don't need to worry about half the court. In the first clip the Bonnies are in zone, in the second clip they're in man. But in both clips we just give a defender a complete possession off. The zone never has to extend side to side. We score a bucket in the second one on a nice play by Young and Carter as the result of a screen and roll, but the overall lack of movement off the ball has been a problem in every game.

Great analysis of the hedges been saying it all year but nothing has been done to correct this and also agree on offense we are so stagnant so many times where we just stand around and watch the guy with the ball and we set ABSOLUTELY NO off the ball screens

 

[richthedentist]

I could be wrong but I think it was Harper that failed to box out Johns for the tip at the half

You are right it was Harper

 

[ancienthooper]

Good thing we have all these Wooden’s out there. You can take a half dozen clips over the course of a season to illustrate any point you want to support.

Take a lap.

 

[Russ Wood]

In the Myles Johnson clip everyone did what they were supposed to do except No. 23.

Once the ball moved to the left side of the court and Caleb McConnell moved to the help line to defend against the roll man, No. 23 should have immediately moved into the gap between the two players on the right side of the court.

That is help defense 101: When the ball is on the opposite side of the floor you should either be on the help line or in the gap. No. 23 wasn't in either place. He was playing high school defense and just guarding his man.

In clip 2, Jacob Young goes under a screen and doesn't appear to be going hard. Also, the help defender was a step late coming over and tried to compensate by attempting to block the shot so it didn't look like he was doing absolutely nothing on the play.

In clip 3 I can't tell if Harper simply brain farted or if he thought they were switching on screens at that point in that game.

I wouldn't overreact. All of these plays are from one game, in mid November, that RU lost.

For the season I think RU is holding opponents to 31 percent three-point shooting which is quite good. In B1G conference only games I think RU's three-point defense is No. 3 in the conference. So they are doing well in this area of the game.

Will teams get still get open threes sometimes? Yup. It happens.

 

[kcg88]

Good thing we have all these Wooden’s out there. You can take a half dozen clips over the course of a season to illustrate any point you want to support.

Take a lap.

This is idiotic. The first video is what happened time after time against Michigan. It was relevant so I bumped it.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

If you're wondering why teams have gotten so many open 3 pointers on us this season, this clip is why:

View embedded media

Myles Johnson comes way out to hedge on the screen, which forces Caleb McConnell to slack off his guy to cut off the roll by Johnson's. This leaves McConnell's guy WIDE open for a three pointer. Bryant, Drexel, and now St. Bonaventure have all exploited this to great success. We survived Bryant because they only made 33% of theirs. Drexel hit 37% of theirs, we mainly survived that game on turnovers.

But as soon as the competition got tougher we got gashed. And yes 46% from 3 is an outlier performance but when we're consistently allowing attempts like this we're going to get lit up for a high percentage.

There's also no need for Johnson to be that far out... if the guy turns the corner then Harper is there to give the help D, with Baker ideally getting to Harper's man in the corner.

Other defensive lapses... certainly not comprehensive but these stood out to me.

View embedded media

View embedded media

View embedded media

In clip 1, Shaq Carter just completely loses his man and leaves him wide open for a 3. I don't think it was a miscommunication with Mulcahy because he doesn't follow Mulcahy's guy either, he just sits back in the paint near Yeboah's guy.

In clip 2, Jacob Young goes under a screen but still somehow gets completely beaten to the basket. As athletic as he is that should never happen.

And in clip 3 Harper is in no-man's-land on the screen. He doesn't come up hard enough to be hedging and he allows the easy pick-and-pop.

And two on offense:

View embedded media

View embedded media

Keep your eye on Mathis in the first clip and Baker in the second clip. Neither guy touches the ball or even moves for the entire offensive set. Offenses become a lot easier to guard when they don't need to worry about half the court. In the first clip the Bonnies are in zone, in the second clip they're in man. But in both clips we just give a defender a complete possession off. The zone never has to extend side to side. We score a bucket in the second one on a nice play by Young and Carter as the result of a screen and roll, but the overall lack of movement off the ball has been a problem in every game.

KCG

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