Why do we defend the 3 so poorly?

[goldenboy]

I'm curious what others think about our poor defense on the perimeter. Is it the system Tubby coaches? A lack of ability on the part of the players? A lack of execution by the players? We get burned by good outside shooting teams and it sometimes looks like it's our own fault because we give them open looks.

 

[CentralGopher]

I voted for the D system but am not completely sure. It is something that has plagued the gophers for several years since before Tubby was here. Our guys do seem to get sucked in towards the paint easily leaving outside shooters more room to get a shot off but it may not necessarily be the result of Tubby's system.

 

[ShowinGoldyLove]

Our apparent strategy to have our guards automatically double the post(s) once they catch it on the block forces the guards to scramble when the ball is kicked back out.

Plus, our bigs aren't showing off of screens...doesn't give our guards enough time to catch up getting around the screens. But I'd say it's mainly the first part.

 

[Plinnius]

Here is a pretty good breakdown of Tubby's defense and its weakness.

 

[Monty519]

It's not necessarily doubling the post, but if you play it attentively, the guard will have ample time to get out to the shooter. The issue is communication and who gets who. When the ball is skipped over, or is fed into the post, the guards have to know who they're covering on the perimeter. If they both come out to protect the initial shooter, suddenly another guy is wide open. The system is definitely a problem if you have young guys running it I think. I think the more you play in it, the more tough it becomes. I think that was a factor in why when Al went down, our perimeter D suffered so badly. Plus the loss of Rodney. Those are two guys with the quicks to get out to those shooters quickly, plus they have some time spent in the system.

Usually on defense, you're going to be vulnerable to something. You can question whether in this age of the 3pt shot whether being vulnerable from deep is a good thing, and I'd completely understand that. But it's not like this team gives up loads of points on a regular basis, usually offensively is where we have issues, so I'm not worried about Tubby's defensive system really.

 

[jovs]

Here is a pretty good breakdown of Tubby's defense and its weakness.

Thats all fine and dandy, you need to adjust if the apposing team has a dead on shooter or someone that gets hot. You don't continue to leave him alone. Farakhan was hot from the start and kept them in the game. At some point you start to deny the ball to the shooter.

 

[tjgopher]

Just about the entire point of Tubby's ball-line defense is to force teams to take outside shots and prevent close-in shots. Therefore, it is no wonder we give up a lot of three point shots, the entire basic premise of the defensive philosophy is to force outside shot attempts.

 

[underground629]

Definitely a combination of most of them. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why we aren't contesting them like we should.

 

[gopherphan]

Yes the system leaves it open, why are we seeing a bad game vs VA? our two best perimeter defenders by far are riding the pine.

 

[sanowai]

Sometimes teams just get hot from deep. One of the main reasons we beat UNC was they were ice cold from the outside. No matter what defense you play through the course of a game teams will get some open shots from the outside. If they hit almost every single one of them like Viginia did you are probably going to lose the game.

 

[march madness]

combination

I think it should be no suprise that you mix the team not playing well on defense with Nolen injured and the scheme we run giving up three's.

Pre Tubby we were really weak at post defense so we had to get guard help and gave up three's. I'd like some adjustment on this. If you are feeding a walkon forward please dont double down and leave open an easy three. Is this that hard to figure out?

 

[The-Real-Truth]

I think it should be no suprise that you mix the team not playing well on defense with Nolen injured and the scheme we run giving up three's.

Pre Tubby we were really weak at post defense so we had to get guard help and gave up three's. I'd like some adjustment on this. If you are feeding a walkon forward please dont double down and leave open an easy three. Is this that hard to figure out?

One thing that I noticed was that players seemed tired. I have a feeling that they took it easy after that game at least on Tuesday??

 

[freshtrout]

Well against Virginia they were setting double screens to free up shooters that were taller than our defenders. Not having height out on the perimeter (Rodney) really hurt.

 

[cncmin]

Well against Virginia they were setting double screens to free up shooters that were taller than our defenders. Not having height out on the perimeter (Rodney) really hurt.

It's not just Virginia, though. Cornell already has hit most of their points (currently a 3-point Cornell lead) from 3. It's disgusting to watch.

 

[BballJones]

It drives me nuts that teams can continue to get their shooters open 3's, but we can't get Hoff a few more each game???????? Even if they are 24 footers, get him a few extra looks!

 

[corcoran1]

First, I don't think Tubby believes many teams can keep up that kind of shooting for an entire game, and normally he is right. Second, Nolen is the only naturally aggressive perimeter defensive player on that D. Heis also their quickest player by a lot. We will not be nearly as successful, until we figure out what other changes they want to make to make up for the fact he isn't there this month. Erratic as he was, Westbrook, was occasionally more aggressive on defense than any of these guys. None of the guys who are quick enough to actually improve the perimeter defense, are ready to score or lead on offense.(Chip and Maverick).
Virginia eventually broke down our interior defense in the second halfas well, and at that point the game was over.
We don't reallyhave a complete player at this point, they all have holes, and without Nolen they show a lot more.