(05-03-2020 07:14 PM)Lopes87 Wrote:  Not unless he is trying to become Press Virginia like Coach Huggins has done for some time now.

I watched one of Gillispie's Ranger JC games from 2018. His teams play a 3/4 court men-to-man defense. His team likes to hound the ball handler and over plays the passing lanes to his teammates. They also double team (and triple team) the ballhandler on dribble drives and high ball screens. Then quickly recover on the outlet pass to the open man. They use a lot of help defense; all with the intent of disrupting the offense and causing turnovers. In order to not get trapped, the offense must have good spacing. On offense, Gillispie swings the ball from side to side with his guards trying to find gaps in the defense; and with guards screening for each other above the arc. His Ranger team liked to drive hard to the basket.

I also watch some Dixie State games from this past season. Judkin's teams like to switch defenses on possessions; switching from a 2-3 zone, to a 1-3-1 zone, to a match zone, to a straight man-to-man at each change of possession. They also like early offense; pushing the ball to the rim or shooting the quick three. Finally, Dixie State uses a lot of motion in the half court; pick and rolls, weakside screens, and back screens usually feeding the ball to the big man rolling to the basket. One thing noticeable is Dixie State is not athletically on par with much of the WAC (mostly their big men), Judkin's team relies heavily on execution and shooting skill. They will struggle with quick athletic teams defensively. Athletically, Dixie State reminders me of the Stew Morrill coached Utah State teams of the past. Aggie fans will know what I mean.

On a different note, the Dixie State announcers will need to get a thicker skin. They seem to get quickly offended when opposing players show attitude or taunt their players on "in your face" plays. They would have been up in arms if a player like Trev Queen or Javon Levi played in their arena. Dixie State has a lot of choir boys on its team. This will be an interesting year in the WAC with the D1 dynamic for these two D2 schools; better athletes, better coaching, more player attitude, better refereeing. A lot of non-calls in D2. The game is called much tighter to the rules in D1.