Coaching philosophies - Tony Bennett vs Chris Mooney

[iSpider]

I caught much of the pregame hype and a fair part of the UVA/UNC game the other night. It seemed that Bennett plays a game very similar to ours in many respects. It was noted over and over again by the BB talking heads how different Bennett's BB philosophy was from that of Williams, emphasizing UVA's slowing things down by taking a shot only after several passes and running the clock down to 10 seconds or less.

UNC's game was painted as diametrically opposite that of UNC, living off of transition and taking the first open shot regardless of the time remaining on the shot clock, the sooner the better.

I watched the UVA/UNC only between time outs, halftime and after the end of the UR/Duquesne game which really gave me time to observe. I did not play high school BB since I was involved in two sports which conflicted with both the beginning and end of the BB season, but I had a brother a year older who was co-captain of our BB team, and so I picked up a little listening to him and watching most of his games. So please take it for what it is worth, but it seemed apparent to me that the analyses were “dead on balls accurate” (apologies to Mona Lisa Vito, My Cousin Vinny, 1992).

It also appeared to me that both UVA's offense and defense were similar to what CM's coaches. However, UVA pulled down several rebounds at both ends. Given that UVA has superior athletes to ours, Brogdon probably being the ACC player of the year as well as a future NBA star, would those of you who have a better understanding of the game, please explain to me the fundamental differences between Bennett's BB philosophy and that of CM, especially the differences which allow UVA to grab so many rebounds whereas we seem to struggle with rebounds year after year.

I am probably way off base, but it seemed to me that the differences may be as a result of the fact that UVA always had two of their bigger players in the low post rebounding, especially on offense, and counted on the remaining three to be effective, and they were, in stifling the transition game of UNC.

 

[fan2011]

I caught much of the pregame hype and a fair part of the UVA/UNC game the other night. It seemed that Bennett plays a game very similar to ours in many respects. It was noted over and over again by the BB talking heads how different Bennett's BB philosophy was from that of Williams, emphasizing UVA's slowing things down by taking a shot only after several passes and running the clock down to 10 seconds or less.

UNC's game was painted as diametrically opposite that of UNC, living off of transition and taking the first open shot regardless of the time remaining on the shot clock, the sooner the better.

I watched the UVA/UNC only between time outs, halftime and after the end of the UR/Duquesne game which really gave me time to observe. I did not play high school BB since I was involved in two sports which conflicted with both the beginning and end of the BB season, but I had a brother a year older who was co-captain of our BB team, and so I picked up a little listening to him and watching most of his games. So please take it for what it is worth, but it seemed apparent to me that the analyses were “dead on balls accurate” (apologies to Mona Lisa Vito, My Cousin Vinny, 1992).

It also appeared to me that both UVA's offense and defense were similar to what CM's coaches. However, UVA pulled down several rebounds at both ends. Given that UVA has superior athletes to ours, Brogdon probably being the ACC player of the year as well as a future NBA star, would those of you who have a better understanding of the game, please explain to me the fundamental differences between Bennett's BB philosophy and that of CM, especially the differences which allow UVA to grab so many rebounds whereas we seem to struggle with rebounds year after year.

I am probably way off base, but it seemed to me that it the differences may be as a result of the fact that UVA always had two of their bigger players in the low post rebounding, especially on offense, and counted on the remaining three to be effective, and they were, in stifling the transition game of UNC.

Mooney's man to man is focused on taking away the 3 (though it has largely been unsuccessful this year.) Our defenders extend out way to the 3pt line and beyond. They guard opponents closely pretty far away from the hoop. As a consequence our players are often out of position to rebound being further away from the hoop. Mooney's defense has traditionally held teams to taking only ~28% of their attempts from 3, which is in the top 10 lowest 3 point shooting rate. This year opponents take 33% of their shots from 3, which puts us at ~94th in the country.

The pack line defense, while still a man-to-man defense, is all about clogging the paint. It is a 'sagging' defense where the defenders stay closer to the basket generally. This gives them better position to make rebounds. This also forces other teams to take shots from further out in general, under Bennett their opponents take ~37% of their shots from 3 which is 250-300th in the country. This means the opponent's are often out of rebounding position.

On offense we forgo offensive rebounding in general to prevent transition baskets. We are #1 this year in preventing transition plays, and over Mooney's tenure have generally been a top 10 team in this regard. Virginia is ranked 5th in preventing transition plays this year, but they are a completely average team when it comes to offensive rebounding. Of course we are extremely below average when it comes to offensive rebounding. There could be some merit in players close to the basket trying to rebound since they are unlikely to be able to get back fast enough to prevent transition baskets anyway. This theory is backed up by the fact that there is no correlation between a team's offensive rebounding percentage and the rate at which their opponent's take shots in transition.

 

[URPike]

talent.

 

[iSpider]

Mooney's man to man is focused on taking away the 3 (though it has largely been unsuccessful this year.) Our defenders extend out way to the 3pt line and beyond. They guard opponents closely pretty far away from the hoop. As a consequence our players are often out of position to rebound being further away from the hoop. Mooney's defense has traditionally held teams to taking only ~28% of their attempts from 3, which is in the top 10 lowest 3 point shooting rate. This year opponents take 33% of their shots from 3, which puts us at ~94th in the country.

The pack line defense, while still a man-to-man defense, is all about clogging the paint. It is a 'sagging' defense where the defenders stay closer to the basket generally. This gives them better position to make rebounds. This also forces other teams to take shots from further out in general, under Bennett their opponent's take ~37% of their shots from 3 which is 250-300th in the country. This means the opponent's are often out of rebounding position.

On offense we forgo offensive rebounding in general to prevent transition baskets. We are #1 this year in preventing transition plays, and over Mooney's tenure have generally been a top 10 team in this regard. Virginia is ranked 5th in preventing transition plays this year, but they are a completely average team when it comes to offensive rebounding. Of course we are extremely below average when it comes to offensive rebounding. There could be some merit in players close to the basket trying to rebound since they are unlikely to be able to get back fast enough to prevent transition baskets anyway. This theory is backed up by the fact that there is no correlation between a team's offensive rebounding percentage and the rate at which their opponent's take shots in transition.

I have to ask. Are you the guy hired from Princeton to handle the team analytics?
BTW, thank you for the answer. It now makes perfect sense to me.

 

[fan2011]

I have to ask. Are you the guy hired from Princeton to handle the team analytics?
BTW, thank you for the answer. It now makes perfect sense to me.

Haha, no. Though I wouldn't mind having that job, depending on what sort of salary it comes with.

 

[spiderman]

very well summed up by 2011, but I'll add that our big men often play on the perimeter on offense. TJ's not going to offensively rebound when he's positioned 22' from the rim. and that's a great place for him with his skill set. not many opposing bigs can handle him outside, and he shoots over guards.

 

[WebSpinner]

charles is a vdu fan, that why you have his pic? been saying it all along and now think have had it right all along

 

[SpiderK]

LMAO!!! That's like comparing a Ferarri to a Pinto.

 

[Rivercup]

The big difference in UVA's defense vs UR's is this:

UVA plays straight man to man. On picks, the picked player goes over top of the pick and the pickers defensive man steps out to cut off the drive to the basket. The rest of the defense rotates around so that the picker is not unguarded. The only unguarded player is the player farthest from the ball. Then, the defender that stepped out goes back to his man and the defense rotates back to straight man to man. They do this on every pick and roll and it is quite effective.

UR plays a match-up zone whereby the defenders switch on every pick. The advantage is that pick and roll plays do not work at all. The disadvantage, as we have seen far too often this year, is that this leads to many mis-matches where we have a big guarding a small and vice versa. The other problem this year is that way too often our guards are getting beaten off of the dribble which leads either to lay-ups or a dish off for a dunk or a kick out to a wide open 3. Bad things happen when dribble penetration occurs.

While UVA's defense is really hard to play against, UR's in the past has been a nightmare for some teams. BUT, you have to keep the dribbler in front of you or the whole thing breaks down.

 

[Eight Legger]

UVA has the right kind of athletes to play its defense, too. We don't have the right kind to play that defense. (Or, apparently, to play ours.) Their guys are long and physical, so they can cover a lot of ground and fill gaps quickly if they get out of position a bit. And they are very difficult to move around inside.

 

[iSpider]

charles is a vdu fan, that why you have his pic? been saying it all along and now think have had it right all along

Would you mind adding me to list of the posters you ignore?

 

[SpiderK]

charles is a vdu fan, that why you have his pic? been saying it all along and now think have had it right all along

Well the Spiders did end Barkley's college career.

 

[I-M-UR]

very well summed up by 2011, but I'll add that our big men often play on the perimeter on offense. TJ's not going to offensively rebound when he's positioned 22' from the rim. and that's a great place for him with his skill set. not many opposing bigs can handle him outside, and he shoots over guards.

Frankly TJ has done better in the post than at the 3 point line.

On the other end It's the switching defense it leave our big men on the perimeter trying to guard their guards just like our SDJ and KF end up trying to stop their center in the post. Even Duq has figured that out.

 

[spiderman]

that switching defense also held Micah to 3 made baskets.