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Originally Posted by david aka the TYZ
Agree 100 percent. I will say though that SMU was very good at getting into offense quick and passing the ball multiple times to not let our defense get set. Mainly in the first half. I think they tired out in the second half and did more one-on-one offense. SMU is kind of different because they dont play a normal offense and that hinders our defensive effectiveness. They basically play five long guards. As Mick said in the postgame, they didnt post up once. But to your point, game in game out, we simply are not playing defense like we're used to seeing. We aren't closing the passing lanes and forcing bad shots. And nobody on the bench outside of Nsoseme maybe knows who to cover on switches, etc. This makes it easy for teams to find open shooters and why we're seeing teams shoot high percentage threes against us. Our defense is geared toward making you settle for threes and hopefully contested ones. What we are seeing is teams getting open looks after open looks. Last night we didnt step into the shooters space and continued to let them step into threes. Guards cant worry about being driven on, that's why we have athletic big men in our system. Step into the guards and take away those shots, if they drive, trust the shot blockers behind you. Mick recruits his bigs purposefully to be shot blockers. It is frustrating watching all these games being close but what can you expect when your defense continues to give up 70 points a game. We're not designed to outgun teams. I know fans hate this about Cronin but it is what it is.
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Agreed, seems like a lot of it is lack of trust and wanting to do too much. It's normal this year to see our defenders cheating off a lights out 3-point shooter to try to help on a play when they have no business helping. Or being scared of being beat of the dribble, even though we've got very capable shot blockers shooters behind them.
Many of our players seem to think they need to do everything defensively. They aren't able to just play their role, do what they are supposed to and trust the players behind them to do what they are supposed to. But a bunch of individuals playing D quickly breaks down to give open shots. We need better team D. Not sure if it's communication, trust or just mental errors but the team D system breaks down way to often this year.