Some of us talked all offseason our worries about defense, most of which was drowned out in the, but "wow we are going to be so great offensively". After watching the first 2 games it is pretty apparent that the worries about defense are pretty justified. Utah State in particular diced up with a variety of good passes to open cutters, where our help defense was too slow, meanwhile, the Flying Dutchman was back in the house. I knew at halftime, we were screwed because we had an unbelievable first half shooting the ball and yet Utah State stuck right with us.
Here's the thing, offense can and will come and go, but if you play good hard nosed tough defense, that is a constant. It appears from the first two games, that we are really bad and/or confused on defense. I'm not sure why folks are shocked by this. This team both individually and collectively has not been good defensively for 4 years.
Some of us also talked in the offseason, how Sherod would be a huge defensive liability as a starting shooting guard and were drowned out by "but Sherod will open up the offense so much more with his shooting abilities. I'm not really sure how Mooney could justify at this point keeping Sherod in the starting line-up. It is pretty clear he is not 100%.
Lastly effort, hustle and intensity. Go back and watch that Utah State game, see their players diving on the floor, see them crashing the boards and grabbing rebounds while 3 of our players stand flat footed, watch their energy level throughout the game and how different it is from ours.
We lost because of defense and frankly hustle. That should concern us all because it wasn't because our "shots weren't falling" or they had an insane shooting night. Utah State won because they wanted it more. Period. That should be really embarrassing for a team with as much experience as ours. Will it be? I guess we shall see on Tuesday.
Here's the thing, offense can and will come and go, but if you play good hard nosed tough defense, that is a constant. It appears from the first two games, that we are really bad and/or confused on defense. I'm not sure why folks are shocked by this. This team both individually and collectively has not been good defensively for 4 years.
Some of us also talked in the offseason, how Sherod would be a huge defensive liability as a starting shooting guard and were drowned out by "but Sherod will open up the offense so much more with his shooting abilities. I'm not really sure how Mooney could justify at this point keeping Sherod in the starting line-up. It is pretty clear he is not 100%.
Lastly effort, hustle and intensity. Go back and watch that Utah State game, see their players diving on the floor, see them crashing the boards and grabbing rebounds while 3 of our players stand flat footed, watch their energy level throughout the game and how different it is from ours.
We lost because of defense and frankly hustle. That should concern us all because it wasn't because our "shots weren't falling" or they had an insane shooting night. Utah State won because they wanted it more. Period. That should be really embarrassing for a team with as much experience as ours. Will it be? I guess we shall see on Tuesday.
