Discussing Duke's Defense

[weezie]

Hi,

I'm not sure there was anything to keep "under wraps". This was probably the most zone Duke has played in any one game this year but we've been practicing and selectively playing zone all season. Nobody should be caught off guard by this point in the season. Fortunately, most UVA players were and K kept that game from wearing us out before the big game on Saturday.

Best regards,
Jeffrey

After the game on the uva station K sounded pretty excited by the good zone. Kind of like he discovered a toy tucked under the Christmas tree way, way in the back,
And JPJ IS nice and all but they have to nip that loud, canned music
in the bud...starting to sound like another tiresome NBA arena.

[Lotus000]

After the game on the uva station K sounded pretty excited by the good zone. Kind of like he discovered a toy tucked under the Christmas tree way, way in the back,
And JPJ IS nice and all but they have to nip that loud, canned music
in the bud...starting to sound like another tiresome NBA arena.

That's a great analogy regarding the toy in the back...

Ralphie: "ooooooohhh!! It's a Zeppelin!!! Yaayyy!!!"

I'm loving the random 2-3 zone. Watch him rip out the 1-3-1 during the ACC tourney to really screw with somebody's head.

[dukie8]

i really liked this analysis of duke's d. my only quibble is that if the other team has a particularly quick pg (eg, lawson), then nelson tends to cover the pg and paulus moves over and covers someone else (usually the 2). when nelson moves out to cover the pg, the dribble penetration threat is weakened, but we lose a lot by having nelson, who often is our best rebounder, so far away from the basket.

[Jumbo]

Well, the interesting thing was that defense turned out to be the least of Duke's problems against UNC. The team made some excellent adjustments and I was pleased with what I saw.

[Saratoga2]

Your thoughts about our offensive transistion to defense when we have a man in each corner and say Paulus or another guard shoot from behind the arc are spot on. On a long rebound, it is either two or three on one, with the one being one of our smaller players.

You didn't mention is player fatigue or players in foul trouble impacting the defense.

When McClure came in near the end of the UNC game, he was fresh, intense and quick and made a couple of good defensive plays in a row. We had Thomas, Smith and Zoubek who are usually fresh and might have added defensive intensity at times during the game. Foul shooting ability has to be considered by coach K in end of game situations.

When we pick up early fouls on key players, they either have to sit or play loose defense to avoid picking up additional fouls. Singler is our key inside guy but he usually has two fouls well before the 1st half is drawing to a close. I think coach K does a good job of substituting for him, however, each sub has strengths and weaknesses. Zoubek played well in his 9 minutes last night but his lack of agility may make man to man difficult for him.