Saratoga2
04-03-2018, 09:11 AM
I would like to state my appreciation for the work of the moderators and the generally high quality of posts on the various threads throughout the season. It has been quite a ride.
UVA was the deserved ACC champion and Villanova took the tourney. Both are deserving programs and are very well coached. Hats off to them and perhaps we can learn from them and some of the takeaways after they displayed their quality.
I had hgh hopes for Duke this year. With a great recruiting class and Grayson returning, we looked like a team with final four possibilities. Getting a front court of Bagley and Carter was a real coup and with Bolden back who might start, we had an imposing front court and with Delaurier as an athletic defender the depth was better than I have seen in years. White and Vrank gave us even more incredible depth.
The back court looked strong with Grayson leading a top quality PG in Duval and Trent as a SG/Wing. Depth in the back court looked questionable with O'Connell and Goldwire the subs. We had to hope that we would be largely free of injury this season.
Another concern was the OAD aspect of the team being inexperienced and going into a league where the speede, physicality and size would be different than some of the kids had previously experienced.
Well, we were fortunate to avoid catostrophic injuries and only susstained an undiswclosed injury to Bagley, a few rolled ankles and wrist sprains along with an occasional cold. Pretty lucky in that regard.
The lack of experience showed up more with Duke turning the ball over on ill advised passes and questionable shots. That had to be expected with young kids but even Grayson was guilty of that kind of miscue, though less frequently. It was on the defensive side where the inexperience was mostly felt. The team was just unable to get Duke's MTM principled defense down well enough to use it effectively and coach K finally went to a zone. That worked well, however the open space in the zone was used against us as we were slow to react by having a guy drop down to cover the man in the top of the key area. Once we did, the zone improved. Also, others may not agree, but we did not cover the corner 3 that well and several teams hurt us from there including Kansas who alsoo used a screener to open the corner even more.
I thought throughout the year we had a habit of coming out flat in the second half and not scoring. That put us in the posiition of having to mount a furious comeback, which we weren't always able to do as our end of game efforts appeared to be not intelligent. Too many close losses.
We did make the Great 8 and that was an accomplishment but it would have been interesting to see us against Villanova. They were the cream of the crop this season and while we might have given them more trouble than Kansas, they looked like the team of destiny.
Could we learn from Virginia or Villanova?
Virginia used the pack line defense very effectively this year. The defense is easier to learn than the Duke MTM version but you need the right players to make it work. It's hard to penetrate and they send a defender up tight on the man with the ball and help off on him, switching as the ball moves. They have an advantage on defensive rebounds but tend toget back quickly to set up their defense and that reduces their offensive rebounds. On offense they looped underneath and around double screens to put their 3 point shooters in a position to make 3's. They had that talent and it was enough to win the ACC and may well be again.
Villanova was an experienced team with Brunson and Divencenzo being tough guys to defend and smart players. They did use a freshman big who is 6'9" but strong and athletic. They used full MTM and switched on every play, even though they often wound up with a smaller player onn a big. It worked for them as their defense was solid and they seemed to be quick to box out and quick to the rebounds. One of their big strengths is that all their starters are capable of hitting an open three and their guards don't pick up their dribble and are looking for the open man for a three. Michigan last night was a premier defensive team, yet Villanova still hit a bunch of threes and got to or around the basket enough to beat them by nearly 20. i had the feeling it could have been more if they had chosen to keep the pressure on. My view is that they continue to develop young players who will fit the system next year and they will be strong again. Three freshmen played for them and all three could play.
Don't know what we can learn from that with our OADs coming again. Maybe some of our starting players will return but if not, we need to be developing O'Connell and DeLaurier and possibly Goldwire to be more effective role players and somehow work with the youngsters on the defensive principles early. Will we have good 3 point shooting? Don't know on that one, but se will have a great deal of talent again. Hope coach K can mold them into a final 4 quality team.
UVA was the deserved ACC champion and Villanova took the tourney. Both are deserving programs and are very well coached. Hats off to them and perhaps we can learn from them and some of the takeaways after they displayed their quality.
I had hgh hopes for Duke this year. With a great recruiting class and Grayson returning, we looked like a team with final four possibilities. Getting a front court of Bagley and Carter was a real coup and with Bolden back who might start, we had an imposing front court and with Delaurier as an athletic defender the depth was better than I have seen in years. White and Vrank gave us even more incredible depth.
The back court looked strong with Grayson leading a top quality PG in Duval and Trent as a SG/Wing. Depth in the back court looked questionable with O'Connell and Goldwire the subs. We had to hope that we would be largely free of injury this season.
Another concern was the OAD aspect of the team being inexperienced and going into a league where the speede, physicality and size would be different than some of the kids had previously experienced.
Well, we were fortunate to avoid catostrophic injuries and only susstained an undiswclosed injury to Bagley, a few rolled ankles and wrist sprains along with an occasional cold. Pretty lucky in that regard.
The lack of experience showed up more with Duke turning the ball over on ill advised passes and questionable shots. That had to be expected with young kids but even Grayson was guilty of that kind of miscue, though less frequently. It was on the defensive side where the inexperience was mostly felt. The team was just unable to get Duke's MTM principled defense down well enough to use it effectively and coach K finally went to a zone. That worked well, however the open space in the zone was used against us as we were slow to react by having a guy drop down to cover the man in the top of the key area. Once we did, the zone improved. Also, others may not agree, but we did not cover the corner 3 that well and several teams hurt us from there including Kansas who alsoo used a screener to open the corner even more.
I thought throughout the year we had a habit of coming out flat in the second half and not scoring. That put us in the posiition of having to mount a furious comeback, which we weren't always able to do as our end of game efforts appeared to be not intelligent. Too many close losses.
We did make the Great 8 and that was an accomplishment but it would have been interesting to see us against Villanova. They were the cream of the crop this season and while we might have given them more trouble than Kansas, they looked like the team of destiny.
Could we learn from Virginia or Villanova?
Virginia used the pack line defense very effectively this year. The defense is easier to learn than the Duke MTM version but you need the right players to make it work. It's hard to penetrate and they send a defender up tight on the man with the ball and help off on him, switching as the ball moves. They have an advantage on defensive rebounds but tend toget back quickly to set up their defense and that reduces their offensive rebounds. On offense they looped underneath and around double screens to put their 3 point shooters in a position to make 3's. They had that talent and it was enough to win the ACC and may well be again.
Villanova was an experienced team with Brunson and Divencenzo being tough guys to defend and smart players. They did use a freshman big who is 6'9" but strong and athletic. They used full MTM and switched on every play, even though they often wound up with a smaller player onn a big. It worked for them as their defense was solid and they seemed to be quick to box out and quick to the rebounds. One of their big strengths is that all their starters are capable of hitting an open three and their guards don't pick up their dribble and are looking for the open man for a three. Michigan last night was a premier defensive team, yet Villanova still hit a bunch of threes and got to or around the basket enough to beat them by nearly 20. i had the feeling it could have been more if they had chosen to keep the pressure on. My view is that they continue to develop young players who will fit the system next year and they will be strong again. Three freshmen played for them and all three could play.
Don't know what we can learn from that with our OADs coming again. Maybe some of our starting players will return but if not, we need to be developing O'Connell and DeLaurier and possibly Goldwire to be more effective role players and somehow work with the youngsters on the defensive principles early. Will we have good 3 point shooting? Don't know on that one, but se will have a great deal of talent again. Hope coach K can mold them into a final 4 quality team.