A new wrinkle on D (basketball)
by TheCrestedHelm on Nov 23, 2009 11:03 AM CST
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Print[Bumped. Noticed this myself last night; TCH beat me to the punch. Interesting given the concerns about Green/Roe's height as our two top interior players. -KJ]
It's ridiculously early to be drawing any conclusions on the men's basketball team but I was just perusing our team-wide tempo free stats and Kenpom.com and we are currently 13th in the nation in block percentage. Izzo-coached teams are generally not shot-blocking teams - our tendency in the past has been to play good position D to force tough shots and then box out to get rebounds. This year we seem to have added a shot blocking dimension, and it will be interesting to see whether our rebounding percentages suffer as a result, or if we can do both at a high level (in which case we should be very effective on D).
Also, we're defending the 3 very well - opponents are only making 25% of their 3s against us. Plus the turnovers are under control. All good trends. Hope they continue.
This is a FanPost, written by a member of the TOC community. It does not represent the official positions of The Only Colors, Inc.--largely because we have no official positions.
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Starters?
It’ll be interesting to see whether the Green/Roe (call it the “caviar” line, haha!) solidifies as the key “game is on the line” line-up. I imagine it’ll have to. Nix can’t make a free throw, Sherman doesn’t appear to be ready, and Herzog has not stepped up and won the position.
I’ll be curious to see how they hold up against tall, athletic line-ups. Ed Davis was a rough match-up for Draymond Green in the final.
Roe and Green
I really like the Roe/Green lineup and I expect them to be the “game is on the line” line-up. I would even consider the Green/Morgan as the two bigs as a winning combo (that way you can have at least 3 of the Lucas, Lucious, Allen, Summers group). Nix/Herzog/Sherman are useful for either backup minutes (injuries, foul trouble) or if the other team has a big post player that is killing us. However, how many NBA quality post-players are there in college basketball – 10? In the Big 10, what big guy is going to be a problem for Roe or Green that would be less of a problem for Nix/Herzog/Sherman? Johnson at Purdue? Most of the big guys in the big ten that are any good are more perimeter oriented (Hummel, Mike Davis/Tisdale, Sims, etc.) which is a better matchup with Morgan/Roe/Green than Nix/Herzog/Sherman. Plus, Roe and Green are great rebounders and are much bigger contributors on offense than the others (what nickname was decided for the Nix/Herzog/Sherman group?)
I hate the idea of playing a big guy just so that we have a big guy on the floor. If Roe and Green are our best bigs (which they are), then they should play the most minutes (which they will) despite being below the optimum size for the position. We need to focus on forcing the other team to adapt to our lineup rather than the opposite. For example, Mike Tisdale would have to guard Morgan/Roe/Green and I would expect Webber would have to sub for Tisdale before the first TV timeout because the Morgan/Roe/Green would just dominate Tisdale. Whatever offense Tisdale would bring would be far less than the defensive liability he would be.
Looking forward to Friday!
Only problem with Morgan/Roe/Green vs. taller players on offense
is that they need to be able to knock down perimeter shots. Morgan can/will. The other two haven’t shown that ability yet.
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Nov 23, 2009 7:40 PM CST up reply actions
Three Bigs
I think the best nickname for the three bigs might be “The Park Bench” because at this point in the season I don’t see any of them making an appearance in “crunch time” unless there is foul trouble. Collectively, I think we are looking to get 15-20 minutes a game from them. My hunch is that Sherman and Nix will develop as the season progresses, and if Nix can transform himself into a 60% free throw shooter, he may earn some additional minutes.
I’d love to see us use our most athletic lineups and really push the pace. There are very few teams that will be able to keep up with our top seven.
I love it … “The Park Bench.” I think you are right, they will play 15-20 minutes per game (total) barring foul trouble or injuries. If we are truly committed to being an uptempo team, then Morgan, Green and Roe need to get the majority of 4/5 minutes. If Nix develops at least some offense, hits some free throws and becomes a beast on the defensive board, then perhaps he can play some significant minutes in the future. Sherman and Herzog will hopefully not play any crunch time minutes this season.
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