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(03-29-2017 12:35 PM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  

(03-29-2017 10:14 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  

(03-29-2017 10:03 AM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  

(03-29-2017 09:25 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  If Kah could get it together on the defensive end, that would be huge for next year.

Or if Jones could get it together then Kah likely could have played this past season. It is just crazy that they spent so much time over a period of several years recruiting this guy, then get him when both his size and offensive presence could have greatly benefited the team, only to glue him to the bench.

If Kah is that terrible of a man-to-man defender that Jones can't put him in the games, then put him in a zone which ODU should be mixing in a lot more than they do anyway. Either you recruit the kinds of players that can play your style or you adjust your style of play to fit your players. Otherwise you end up with square pegs and round holes. Another example of that is Brandon and Porter playing on the court together. Neither has shown themselves to be adequate (to Jones at least) at guarding out to the 3 point line so aside from just a few minor exceptions, only one can be on the court at a time.

Kah was completely clueless on defense last year. Im not sure who is at fault for that, but the guy didn't even know where to rotate...how would he be able to play zone?

It is really strange though. I don't understand how a guy can be in the system this long and not understand basic defensive fundamentals. I understand Haynes being lost at times, but those 2 seem to be the only ones that didn't get it.

I don't think that either of us has enough experience from watching practices or direct knowledge about Kah at this point to have developed such concrete opinions to say he is "clueless", "doesn't know where to rotate", and "doesn't understand basic defensive fundamentals". Even if it were true, it would say more about the coaching staff than it would about Kah since they knew what system they wanted to play and recruited someone that could not play it. An experienced coach should be able to adequately determine by close observations done while recruiting if a guy is defensively clueless, doesn't know where to rotate, or if he doesn't even understand basic defensive fundamentals. If the thought was to take on a project to teach them those things then I think it would be a lot more reasonable to take on a freshman than it would be to take on a junior.

To answer your question "how would he be able to play zone?" ... that's like saying that someone can't learn to speak Japanese very well so how could they possibly learn to speak English. The point is, while they are both languages, they aren't the same and like the differences between playing man-to-man and zone, it isn't far fetched to be much better suited for one over the other depending upon many factors. In man-to-man you are covering a person and in doing so you may well end up running all over the half court. In zone you are covering people only within the area of the court that you are assigned (basically speaking). Players both individually and collectively on the court together are frequently better to some extent at one over the other. We seldom get to witness those differences with our players since Jones is nearly always in man-to-man.

If you can't play man defense you sure the hell can't play zone. That's a well known fact.

You don't have to attend practices to know that Kah struggled defensively. Hell he fouled out in 10 or 12 minutes at WKU.

If you watched the games Kah played in you would see he was lost on defense.