We have to be a defensive minded team moving forward. I'm sure Pastner knows this, and will make the necessary changes needed. I hope he does or we will continue to see early exits from the tournament.


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I agree, but got to get the players who want to play it. Defense is a personal desire. You can coach it to a point, but it's ultimately the players desire to play hard on that end

D up, D up, D up!

Yep, our defense killed us this year.

This was probably the weakest defensive tiget tear (especially around the rim) that I have seen in 12 years.

(03-24-2014 07:52 PM)21-17 Best Time I Ever Ha Wrote:  D up, D up, D up!

I love that. Reminds me so much of Finch...Our crowd wants to see defense.....we're going to need either Pastner to loosen the reigns (stop being so obsessive compulsive) and allow assistants that are capable to put their mark on this team. Or hire some assistants that can get it done....I sincerely hope that if he is truly candid about his desire to coach here, that he does what is necessary.... It's so hard watching a team play defense like that....

(03-24-2014 08:39 PM)tigertate Wrote:  This was probably the weakest defensive tiget tear (especially around the rim) that I have seen in 12 years.

Yep

Agreed with everyone here. Good posts.

We have to be a defensive team FIRST. Josh is already a good offensive coach. This is about D.

He is a smart man, he will adjust. I also suspect this is fixed thru recruiting on some levels as well. You need defensive minded players and strong defensive players in the post.

We need to keep Damien Wilson and hope that Big Dom stays and decided to grow up.

Those two aren't a must, but they sure would help make it easier.

I'm assuming everyone else (including Iverson) will return.

What I want in equal quantities are defense, consistency (at almost any level of play that falls in the "good" range), developing our bench, some really big guys, and good behavior and grades.

We made an A+ in the last one, and a D in the others. I want us to hire a strong defensive coach and possibly another coach to refine our X's and O's.

(03-24-2014 08:53 PM)21-17 Best Time I Ever Ha Wrote:  What I want in equal quantities are defense, consistency (at almost any level of play that falls in the "good" range), developing our bench, some really big guys, and good behavior and grades.

We made an A+ in the last one, and a D in the others. I want us to hire a strong defensive coach and possibly another coach to refine our X's and O's.

Agree with all of this. To me the best advantage for having another X's and O's is having a guy Josh can bounce ideas off of. Josh I think is good X's and O's guy but having someone to bounce ideas off of is helpful

(03-24-2014 08:53 PM)21-17 Best Time I Ever Ha Wrote:  What I want in equal quantities are defense, consistency (at almost any level of play that falls in the "good" range), developing our bench, some really big guys, and good behavior and grades.

We made an A+ in the last one, and a D in the others. I want us to hire a strong defensive coach and possibly another coach to refine our X's and O's.

Everyone keeps says "x and o's".

Its not about scheme to my eyes, its just about defensive fundamentals and mental approach/strength.

I think it may be more about recruiting the right guys. Cal suddenly looked like a defensive genius when the lauenberg boys arrived. Not so special before that.

I don't think you can have a team littered with Memphis city talent and play with good defense principles.

YEAH, I SAID IT.

As much as I love guys like Joe, CC, Tarik Black and Adonis Thomas, they just don't have defensive fundamentals. They don't even have the mindset for it. And they ALL were mentally weak on the floor.

The heart of our D this year was Geron, Dixon, Pellom and Shaq. None of them were from here.

Sprinkling in a few highly selected kids like Markel and Nichols is a better plan IMO. Then the out of town kids can set the tone. The Lawson kids plus Skal should be all we really take the next few years locally. Unless they see some strong fundamentals and talent in a kid who us under the radar.

The rest of the team should be led by highly selected non Memphis kids.

(03-24-2014 09:08 PM)Jedi Master Sipho-Dyas Wrote:  

(03-24-2014 08:53 PM)21-17 Best Time I Ever Ha Wrote:  What I want in equal quantities are defense, consistency (at almost any level of play that falls in the "good" range), developing our bench, some really big guys, and good behavior and grades.

We made an A+ in the last one, and a D in the others. I want us to hire a strong defensive coach and possibly another coach to refine our X's and O's.

Everyone keeps says "x and o's".

Its not about scheme to my eyes, its just about defensive fundamentals and mental approach/strength.

I think it may be more about recruiting the right guys. Cal suddenly looked like a defensive genius when the lauenberg boys arrived. Not so special before that.

I don't think you can have a team littered with Memphis city talent and play with good defense principles.

YEAH, I SAID IT.

As much as I love guys like Joe, CC, Tarik Black and Adonis Thomas, they just don't have defensive fundamentals. They don't even have the mindset for it. And they ALL were mentally weak on the floor.

The heart of our D this year was Geron, Dixon, Pellom and Shaq. None of them were from here.

Sprinkling in a few highly selected kids like Markel and Nichols is a better plan IMO. Then the out of town kids can set the tone. The Lawson kids plus Skal should be all we really take the next few years locally. Unless they see some strong fundamentals and talent in a kid who us under the radar.

The rest of the team should be led by highly selected non Memphis kids.

Sooooo if everyone in the world including you saw that defense was our issue and you have guys on the bench who by your definition should be much better defenders than the ones on the floor I wonder why they didn't play. They didn't play because Josh loves seeing the ball go through the basket. He puts a lot of emphasis on scoring and making shots.

Josh is essentially Roy Williams light...He will never win until he changes his mindset because it is unlikely Memphis will ever have the level of talent that UNC collects.

(03-25-2014 01:21 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  Sooooo if everyone in the world including you saw that defense was our issue and you have guys on the bench who by your definition should be much better defenders than the ones on the floor I wonder why they didn't play. They didn't play because Josh loves seeing the ball go through the basket. He puts a lot of emphasis on scoring and making shots.

Josh is essentially Roy Williams light...He will never win until he changes his mindset because it is unlikely Memphis will ever have the level of talent that UNC collects.

Uhhhhhhhhh, WHAT?

Who were these guys on the bench you claimed I said were better defenders? Dixon, Geron, Shaq and Pellom were all part of the regular rotation and they were the only names I gave as superior defenders. You are not making any sense here.

Also....

Almost every poster on the board has said Josh needs to focus more on the D and become a better defensive coach. Virtually the entire fan base already agrees on that point. You don't need to break out that argument every time someone suggests there are other improvements we can make along with the coach improving.

There is just no need to get so defensive and jump on everyone when they don't blame absolutely EVERYTHING on the coach alone. There are other issues to discuss as well. God knows the coaches shortcomings get PLENTY of focus and airtime here.

Relax a bit and let a wider variety of issues get debated besides JUST the coach.

After Stanford beat Kansas, Stanford's big man Stefan Nastic said,

“Defense is the biggest part of winning. Offense can be here and there, but your effort defensively, to help each other out, that's always gonna be there.”

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2014/mar/2...rpart-los/

I was embarrassed for pastner Sunday night when he was running the side line with his arms up. Is this what he thinks coaching defense is? My good friend from Dallas, who went with me to the smu blow out, said, "your coach looks like an idiot. He just needs to sit down." At one point in that game pastner was being laughed at by the students.

(03-24-2014 09:08 PM)Jedi Master Sipho-Dyas Wrote:  

(03-24-2014 08:53 PM)21-17 Best Time I Ever Ha Wrote:  What I want in equal quantities are defense, consistency (at almost any level of play that falls in the "good" range), developing our bench, some really big guys, and good behavior and grades.

We made an A+ in the last one, and a D in the others. I want us to hire a strong defensive coach and possibly another coach to refine our X's and O's.

Everyone keeps says "x and o's".

Its not about scheme to my eyes, its just about defensive fundamentals and mental approach/strength.

I think it may be more about recruiting the right guys. Cal suddenly looked like a defensive genius when the lauenberg boys arrived. Not so special before that.

I don't think you can have a team littered with Memphis city talent and play with good defense principles.

YEAH, I SAID IT.

As much as I love guys like Joe, CC, Tarik Black and Adonis Thomas, they just don't have defensive fundamentals. They don't even have the mindset for it. And they ALL were mentally weak on the floor.

The heart of our D this year was Geron, Dixon, Pellom and Shaq. None of them were from here.

Sprinkling in a few highly selected kids like Markel and Nichols is a better plan IMO. Then the out of town kids can set the tone. The Lawson kids plus Skal should be all we really take the next few years locally. Unless they see some strong fundamentals and talent in a kid who us under the radar.

The rest of the team should be led by highly selected non Memphis kids.

I agree that the majority of our defensive problems are simply effort on the players part. It seemed obvious that JJ and CC were content watching Dixon and Geron play defense for 40 minutes. All 4 liked to overplay passing lanes that led to easy opportunities for opposing teams guards. Shaq is content sliding over to help and trailing guards for his 2 blocks a game but has no real interest in stopping someone who is posting him up. I think Austin tried defensively, however, as a freshman he was often just too weak and too slow.

In saying that, I also believe some of it is our defensive scheme. For the life of me, I cannot understand our guards going over the top of every screen, no matter how far away from the goal the screen is. This ate us up all year long (really multiple years now). In general, we seem to have trouble getting around all screens, even off the ball ones. I believe Reggie Miller even mentioned at some point that all it was taking for Virginia to get open was one off the ball screen. Again, a lot of that is probably effort. IMO we have to stop the pseudo pressure D we run. We either need to press or fall back to a man to man. But stop with picking guys up at half court and trying to go over the top of every screen for ball pressure, all that really does is leads to red carpet driving lanes for good guards and layups or kickouts for wide open 3s.

(03-25-2014 06:57 AM)Tygrys Wrote:  

(03-24-2014 09:08 PM)Jedi Master Sipho-Dyas Wrote:  

(03-24-2014 08:53 PM)21-17 Best Time I Ever Ha Wrote:  What I want in equal quantities are defense, consistency (at almost any level of play that falls in the "good" range), developing our bench, some really big guys, and good behavior and grades.

We made an A+ in the last one, and a D in the others. I want us to hire a strong defensive coach and possibly another coach to refine our X's and O's.

Everyone keeps says "x and o's".

Its not about scheme to my eyes, its just about defensive fundamentals and mental approach/strength.

I think it may be more about recruiting the right guys. Cal suddenly looked like a defensive genius when the lauenberg boys arrived. Not so special before that.

I don't think you can have a team littered with Memphis city talent and play with good defense principles.

YEAH, I SAID IT.

As much as I love guys like Joe, CC, Tarik Black and Adonis Thomas, they just don't have defensive fundamentals. They don't even have the mindset for it. And they ALL were mentally weak on the floor.

The heart of our D this year was Geron, Dixon, Pellom and Shaq. None of them were from here.

Sprinkling in a few highly selected kids like Markel and Nichols is a better plan IMO. Then the out of town kids can set the tone. The Lawson kids plus Skal should be all we really take the next few years locally. Unless they see some strong fundamentals and talent in a kid who us under the radar.

The rest of the team should be led by highly selected non Memphis kids.

I agree that the majority of our defensive problems are simply effort on the players part. It seemed obvious that JJ and CC were content watching Dixon and Geron play defense for 40 minutes. All 4 liked to overplay passing lanes that led to easy opportunities for opposing teams guards. Shaq is content sliding over to help and trailing guards for his 2 blocks a game but has no real interest in stopping someone who is posting him up. I think Austin tried defensively, however, as a freshman he was often just too weak and too slow.

In saying that, I also believe some of it is our defensive scheme. For the life of me, I cannot understand our guards going over the top of every screen, no matter how far away from the goal the screen is. This ate us up all year long (really multiple years now). In general, we seem to have trouble getting around all screens, even off the ball ones. I believe Reggie Miller even mentioned at some point that all it was taking for Virginia to get open was one off the ball screen. Again, a lot of that is probably effort. IMO we have to stop the pseudo pressure D we run. We either need to press or fall back to a man to man. But stop with picking guys up at half court and trying to go over the top of every screen for ball pressure, all that really does is leads to red carpet driving lanes for good guards and layups or kickouts for wide open 3s.

We are going to find out over the next year or so with the changing of the guard so to speak.

Only a few select Memphis kids are going to be on the roster.

Should be interesting to see what develops.

A primary scorer would be nice also. We had no guard that commanded a double team. Defense should be better next year because we have bigger players. Let's be honest, neither of the four senior guards were really over 6'2 with Joe Jackson being under 6 feet, so we had a mismatch everygame.