I’ve seen a lot of talk on here about pride and toughness and “want to.” For sure, those are key ingredients. But what’s most critical – and I think lacking – from us is discipline to a set of consistent defensive principles. I’ll try to be specific because my goal is not to rant.

Perimeter position
Our guards “over guard” the ball 45 feet from the basket. And they do so outside the context of a system that is trying to push the ball handler into a “trap zone”. We’re not really trying to trap. We just arrogantly think we can steal the ball way out there. The result is usually a high ball screen and ballhandler dribbling into the paint with a head of steam – setting off a scramble to recover. You want to know why Giffey was wide open? Look no further than this.

If we are not going to fully commit to a high-pressure, get-in-the-passing-lanes defense like VCU or the old Arkansas teams (which I don’t favor), then we need to back off and play solid, position perimeter defense with heals on the three point line. Watch Cincy. It’s the way they play and this position allows them to help more effectively.

Help Defense
There are two things at play here. The initial help and then the concept of “helping the helper.” We are slow on the first and really bad on the second. As mentioned before, part of it has to do with how stretched out we start a defensive possession. That leads to the slow part of the initial help.

The second part is an inconsistent recognition from the weakside wing to get all the way to the helpline to cover the open post player that is created when our post player has to help off on a perimeter drive. That inconsistency is what drives me crazy. Some our guys do it OK, some don’t. But it’s like we’ve got five guys on the floor and not all of them are playing by the same rules. I just don’t see how it’s not getting corrected in film sessions.

Guarding ball screens
This is the area that I think I see the most variance in how we execute. And that variance happens possession to possession, so it’s not a specific game plan issue. First, we overswitch creating awful mismatches. If we are going to be committed to playing three guards, we can’t be a switching team. We have to do a better job of fighting through screens. But if we are going to be fighting through screens, it means our post players have to hedge and recover consistently and efficiently. Right now, this process varies widely.

Last night, I watched as Pellom hedged so hard it looked like he was trying to trap the ball 35 feet from the basket. Then, a little later, Nichols’ hedge consisted of a half-hearted “show” with hands down and then a really slow recover. We have to play these the same way, with a strong show (not a trap) and then a quick recover. We also have to decide if we want to “down” ball screens near the sidelines. We started the season trying to do this and it has totally disappeared.

Defending the baseline
Honestly, I can’t even believe I’m typing this because it is so fundamental. We give up the baseline way, way too much. Which leads to a paint dish or an opposite corner three (Hello, Giffey). It happens most of the time on our right side of the floor because we are shading an offensive player’s right hand. Shading is great. But it shouldn’t be happening anywhere near the baseline. We have to force the offensive player toward the middle and toward help.

Sorry for the length of the post. I know some won't read it because it's long and seemingly critical. My intention is not to bash. I like Coach P and I think he can have a really great future here, but it will start with a little more focus on the defensive end of the floor. We have guys running around 100 miles per hour in scramble mode because we don’t walk onto the floor with five guys playing defense as one.

I almost wish he would look to hire a veteran guy like Terry Tippett, who is a fantastic defensive coach. But at the same time, he is toward the tail end of his career and is not looking to be a D1 head coach (or I assume, he isn't). I think it would fill in the gap we seem to have now on the staff.

Just a thought. Mostly for my therapeutic benefit, I'm sure.