On Ball Pressure

[BruinVol]

It seems to me that 6 games in our defensive play has under performed at least to my expectation. CM was described as a hard nosed kind of defensive coach.

Is our on ball defense as bad as I think it is? It seems that every opponent had gotten into the middle of the floor with relative ease thus allowing teams to shoot at a higher % than last year(44% to 42%). I know its only 6 games and that might not be enough data to compare but every game I find myself saying, "when they cool down we will be ok". At some point when every team shoots well you have to look in the mirror.

You guys with more X's and O's knowledge than me what do you think?
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[knowthevols]

It seems to me that 6 games in our defensive play has under performed at least to my expectation. CM was described as a hard nosed kind of defensive coach.

Is our on ball defense as bad as I think it is? It seems that every opponent had gotten into the middle of the floor with relative ease thus allowing teams to shoot at a higher % than last year(44% to 42%). I know its only 6 games and that might not be enough data to compare but every game I find myself saying, "when they cool down we will be ok". At some point when every team shoots well you have to look in the mirror.

You guys with more X's and O's knowledge than me what do you think?
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It seems that if our guards are as tall as the other teams post players we will win.

 

[knoxville's finest]

The bball team really doesn't have as much talent as everyone wants to think. Woolridge and Hall are disappointing. Very young team with little help from upperclassmen.

 

[calban]

Cam quotes after loss:
On rebounding late in the first half:
"That was one of the main points that coach put on the board: defensive rebounds. It's something that we try to drill in every practice, defensive rebounds, that wins ball games, not necessarily how many points you score. As we are seeing, in the three games we have lost that's been the common denominator, of why we are losing the games. We just haven't been defending as well."

On struggles in the low post:
"It was a combination of a couple of things. It might have been their defense, it might have been myself and (our) guards trying to force into them and not making sure they get the ball in the right spots. Getting good angles on the post feeds and the post players not getting the right angle, deep enough. It was a combination of both the guards and the bigs, we just have to do a better job of working together and feeding off each other. We have work well together - inside-out and outside in."

On facing Pitt on Saturday:
"It will be a very tough game with Pitt. They crash the boards very hard, so we better be ready. If we think (Oakland) crashed, we better we ready for Pittsburgh. I remember how they were last year. Practice is going to be nothing but defensive rebounding. We better be ready when they come after us."

 

[omghulkhands]

It seems to me that 6 games in our defensive play has under performed at least to my expectation. CM was described as a hard nosed kind of defensive coach.
Is our on ball defense as bad as I think it is? It seems that every opponent had gotten into the middle of the floor with relative ease thus allowing teams to shoot at a higher % than last year(44% to 42%). I know its only 6 games and that might not be enough data to compare but every game I find myself saying, "when they cool down we will be ok". At some point when every team shoots well you have to look in the mirror.

You guys with more X's and O's knowledge than me what do you think?
Posted via VolNation Mobile

I don't even understand where this came from. I think a couple high profile posters made this up and it was taken as gospel some time ago and was preached all across this board. Coach Martin's teams at MS were always better offensively than defensively statistically speaking, looks at their conference rankings


After 6 games what we see in actuality is:

-We run set plays effectively, we are shooting a good ft percentage and are getting to the line often. we take advantage of our opponents defensive weaknesses. up until last night we were passing the ball a million times better than last year.

-we have taken more bad shots in a 6 game span then I can ever remember watching UT. It is either by design (letting the players play....some refer to this as a players coach) or CM is grinding his teeth seething with rage when those shots are taken.

-defensively we look to be giving good effort, but we have failed to execute time and time again. We don't rotate properly, we especially look pitiful anytime we bring helpside defense. They just aren't playing good team defense and you can't argue that

JMO

 

[BruinVol]

I don't even understand where this came from. I think a couple high profile posters made this up and it was taken as gospel some time ago and was preached all across this board. Coach Martin's teams at MS were always better offensively than defensively statistically speaking, looks at their conference rankings


After 6 games what we see in actuality is:

-We run set plays effectively, we are shooting a good ft percentage and are getting to the line often. we take advantage of our opponents defensive weaknesses. up until last night we were passing the ball a million times better than last year.

-we have taken more bad shots in a 6 game span then I can ever remember watching UT. It is either by design (letting the players play....some refer to this as a players coach) or CM is grinding his teeth seething with rage when those shots are taken.

-defensively we look to be giving good effort, but we have failed to execute time and time again. We don't rotate properly, we especially look pitiful anytime we bring helpside defense. They just aren't playing good team defense and you can't argue that

JMO

It came from more than just posters on this site. Jay Bilas just last week tweeted how rough and hard nosed our practices were conducted. In no way was my post to downgrade CM. I just wanted to have more knowledgeable X's and O's guys comment if they thought there was a problem with our on ball pressure specifically when looking at our defense.
Posted via VolNation Mobile

 

[omghulkhands]

It came from more than just posters on this site. Jay Bilas just last week tweeted how rough and hard nosed our practices were conducted. In no way was my post to downgrade CM. I just wanted to have more knowledgeable X's and O's guys comment if they thought there was a problem with our on ball pressure specifically when looking at our defense.
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I am not saying anything about how rough or hard nosed a coach he is, I was just commenting on him being a defensive minded coach. Effort and toughness don't necessarily translate into good defense

 

[BruinVol]

I am not saying anything about how rough or hard nosed a coach he is, I was just commenting on him being a defensive minded coach. Effort and toughness don't necessarily translate into good defense

True but it usually means a big hemphasis on D and rebounding. Maybe CM is a hardnosed offensive guy. I havn't heard of that but maybe so!

 

[papatomany]

It came from more than just posters on this site. Jay Bilas just last week tweeted how rough and hard nosed our practices were conducted. In no way was my post to downgrade CM. I just wanted to have more knowledgeable X's and O's guys comment if they thought there was a problem with our on ball pressure specifically when looking at our defense.
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It came from Cuonzo. He's said on more than one occasion that if you don't play defense you don't play.

 

[BasketvolsFan]

Our defense has improved from last year. Last night was not one of our best defensive efforts, especially the first half.

 

[UTVOLSGURU]

It seems to me that if we lose to any more teams like freaking Oakland, Martin better pack his ****, PATHETIC

 

[BasketvolsFan]

It seems to me that if we lose to any more teams like freaking Oakland, Martin better pack his ****, PATHETIC

Bet you felt the same way last year when they beat us at home by almost the identical score.

 

[UTVOLSGURU]

Bet you felt the same way last year when they beat us at home by almost the identical score.

No I didnt, because in the back of my mind, I knew that Pearl's boys were headed to the NCAA Tourney, so it didn't really matter,just a goof loss. I feel this way now, because I know there is no way in hell this team is going to the NCAA's.

 

[BasketvolsFan]

No I didnt, because in the back of my mind, I knew that Pearl's boys were headed to the NCAA Tourney, so it didn't really matter,just a goof loss. I feel this way now, because I know there is no way in hell this team is going to the NCAA's.

Good to have you great basketball minds who already know the end result of this season after only 6 games. Too bad Pearl isn't still coaching somewhere so your love for his coaching could continue. Last season was so impressive, especially the tourney game against Michigan. Wonder how on earth a Pearl coached team could have lost by 30 to Michigan? That was an example of great coaching, along with his other losses to mid-major teams during the season.