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(11-22-2022 08:24 AM)skyblade Wrote:  I thought all of our starters played well and played Arizona even. But the backups aren't good enough. .

I noticed this too, particularly when Vik was out. Felt left Ezikpe and ody were thrown over top against far more than vik and were killed at the back of the press. The drop-off from vik to the other bigs felt particularly enormous against Arizona.

I'm not a down on Phinisee as you but he isn't going to get you much scoring.

(11-22-2022 08:04 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(11-22-2022 07:11 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Just looked at their schedule and Arizona gave up close to 80 points each to something called Utah Tech, Southern and Nichols at home.

I'm not exactly sure defense is something they care all that much about in Tucson.

Southern is their only opponent to hold them under 100 (95).

Part of it Arizona is playing faster then anyone in the country. They're number 1 in adjusted tempo.

But their defensive numbers aren't close to their offensive efficiency numbers right now.

Yep. People get so many possessions against them...AZ is going to win a lot of games giving up 80+ this season.

One thing I saw again last night was how badly DDJ struggles with taller guards.

They erased him for long stretches and just dared Nolley. They knew it's a coin toss about which Nolley you get. He was on from deep. Going to need a lot of that Nolley this year.

It blows my mind that the same team that could only manage 11 points in a half turns around in the very next game to score 63 in a half.

(11-22-2022 09:27 AM)namrag Wrote:  It blows my mind that the same team that could only manage 11 points in a half turns around in the very next game to score 63 in a half.

One played zone on defense the other played nothing

I posted this on the AAC board, but I think what helped Vik last night is Arizona played him straight up. He's still trying to figure things out in terms of where to go when teams collapse, or with recognition of the double team and where to kick. He really struggled to get comfortable with NKU's collapsing zone, for example. Arizona had the size and strength that they played him one on one straight up, once Vik understood that he got comfortable and went to work in his one v. one opportunities.

(11-22-2022 10:35 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(11-22-2022 09:27 AM)namrag Wrote:  It blows my mind that the same team that could only manage 11 points in a half turns around in the very next game to score 63 in a half.

One played zone on defense the other played nothing

The West Coast Defense.

(11-22-2022 10:56 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  I posted this on the AAC board, but I think what helped Vik last night is Arizona played him straight up. He's still trying to figure things out in terms of where to go when teams collapse, or with recognition of the double team and where to kick. He really struggled to get comfortable with NKU's collapsing zone, for example. Arizona had the size and strength that they played him one on one straight up, once Vik understood that he got comfortable and went to work in his one v. one opportunities.

I didn't stay up for the game last night but this is exactly what worries me about Vik. He's definitely improved but he had good moments early last year but when you played better teams that were able to double or swipe at him he was an easy turnover. Being able to use him against decent teams would be big for us. That said the other options aren't attractive either. I just worry about him having 5+ TOs against Xavier, Houston, etc

(11-22-2022 09:00 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(11-22-2022 08:24 AM)skyblade Wrote:  I thought all of our starters played well and played Arizona even. But the backups aren't good enough. .

I noticed this too, particularly when Vik was out. Felt left Ezikpe and ody were thrown over top against far more than vik and were killed at the back of the press. The drop-off from vik to the other bigs felt particularly enormous against Arizona.

I'm not a down on Phinisee as you but he isn't going to get you much scoring.

I think they felt they had to send more to the defensive boards with Vik in. Perhaps it helped that Vik created two offensive rebounds on the second? possession. If I remember correctly he didn't get credit for either (both went out of bounds off Arizona, so were official UC team rebounds). I think Arizona felt like he was enough of a threat on the offensive boards that they couldn't leak out as much.

With Kalu/Ody in, Arizona just had a player (generally Tubelis) leak out over and over. Basically saying, we don't think UC can get offensive rebounds against us even if we have one big on the other side of the court. And they were right.

(11-22-2022 10:35 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(11-22-2022 09:27 AM)namrag Wrote:  It blows my mind that the same team that could only manage 11 points in a half turns around in the very next game to score 63 in a half.

One played zone on defense the other played nothing

You’ve got a point there, judge!

What's your take on Wes seemingly wanting to run up tempo offense / defense. Defense in terms of pressing and forcing the issue versus falling back into zone. It's definitely more entertaining to watch, but can we win consistently with this approach? Our D has been shredded with this approach last two games.

(11-22-2022 04:27 PM)bcat1997 Wrote:  What's your take on Wes seemingly wanting to run up tempo offense / defense. Defense in terms of pressing and forcing the issue versus falling back into zone. It's definitely more entertaining to watch, but can we win consistently with this approach? Our D has been shredded with this approach last two games.

My thought is that we should slow it down to maximize the minutes our starters (especially Vik) can play without getting tired or in foul trouble. Press works well when you have depth, we don't. If Newman hadn't gotten injured and Ody or Kalu had panned out, things might be different. As it is our bench is too thin.

My other thought is that Wes is trying to advertise a certain style of play to recruits. If reality strays too far from his claims of what he wants to do, recruits may start to have doubts. So it's a balancing act of putting the best product on the court, but also putting the style he's telling recruits they are going to be playing in on the court.

(11-22-2022 04:27 PM)bcat1997 Wrote:  What's your take on Wes seemingly wanting to run up tempo offense / defense. Defense in terms of pressing and forcing the issue versus falling back into zone. It's definitely more entertaining to watch, but can we win consistently with this approach? Our D has been shredded with this approach last two games.

I think it makes sense with a team that has rim protection liabilities in the front court but length on the wing. But the rotations at the back have to improve dramatically and they need to be more disruptive with it. Watching its pretty clear they aren't comfortable with it yet. I'm willing to be patient and see what kind of progress they make with it.