rsvman
01-21-2021, 12:58 PM
What if the ACC had decided to do what some of the other conferences are doing to minimize travel this season, and had decided that, once Duke had made the trip to Pittsburgh, they would play Pittsburgh twice on back-to-back days, Tuesday night and Wednesday night.
In that scenario, what do you think Coach K would've done?
a) Used the exact same plan as for the first game, same starters, 3-2 zone pretty much throughout, etc? The thinking here would be that we were in the game, and if only a couple more of their shots had rolled out or ours had rolled in, or a few free throws went in, or a couple of calls went a different way, we would've won? Let's roll out the ball and do it again; unlikely Pitt could win a second game against this plan?
b) Switch up the plan by at least starting in the aggressive man-to-man, maybe starting with Wendell on Champaignie? The idea being to try to shut down their top scorer and not to fall into a deep hole right out of the gate?
c) Switch it up even further, by going aggressive man-to-man and adding in the trap press right from the start of the game? Idea being to use our athleticism to get a few quick baskets and maybe put THEM in a hole right off the bat?
d) Switch it up by using m2m, but in a less aggressive fashion, mostly running players off the three-point line but not overplaying the passing lanes? Idea being to keep them from getting good looks at easy 3s but also not to allow them blow-by drives into the lane?
e) Do something completely unexpected, like a so-called junk defense, with a box zone and Wendell m2m on Champaignie? (LOL. If K lives to be 100 and coaches the entire time he will never do something like this; way too Majerus for his taste!)
If anybody finds this interesting, feel free to post your thoughts. Mine are that he would likely go with plan a, but maybe throw in an aggressive m2m for about 15% of our possessions in a random fashion and occasionally throw in a trap press when they least expect it. What do you think?
In that scenario, what do you think Coach K would've done?
a) Used the exact same plan as for the first game, same starters, 3-2 zone pretty much throughout, etc? The thinking here would be that we were in the game, and if only a couple more of their shots had rolled out or ours had rolled in, or a few free throws went in, or a couple of calls went a different way, we would've won? Let's roll out the ball and do it again; unlikely Pitt could win a second game against this plan?
b) Switch up the plan by at least starting in the aggressive man-to-man, maybe starting with Wendell on Champaignie? The idea being to try to shut down their top scorer and not to fall into a deep hole right out of the gate?
c) Switch it up even further, by going aggressive man-to-man and adding in the trap press right from the start of the game? Idea being to use our athleticism to get a few quick baskets and maybe put THEM in a hole right off the bat?
d) Switch it up by using m2m, but in a less aggressive fashion, mostly running players off the three-point line but not overplaying the passing lanes? Idea being to keep them from getting good looks at easy 3s but also not to allow them blow-by drives into the lane?
e) Do something completely unexpected, like a so-called junk defense, with a box zone and Wendell m2m on Champaignie? (LOL. If K lives to be 100 and coaches the entire time he will never do something like this; way too Majerus for his taste!)
If anybody finds this interesting, feel free to post your thoughts. Mine are that he would likely go with plan a, but maybe throw in an aggressive m2m for about 15% of our possessions in a random fashion and occasionally throw in a trap press when they least expect it. What do you think?