Is this the worse defensive team ever?

[CarolinaSpider]

Poor match ups, poor zone shifts, poor tactical effort(no foot movement), poor rebounding, so
the list goes on. What happened to Trey? He has gone from a tough defender, to a fouler, and
his foot speed has gotten slower this year. Besides Kwan, TJ may the next best and that is not a
good thing.

Now I am ready to get rid of our seniors and move on, to a hopefully quicker, better rebounding bunch.
We have complained about CM not switching defenses, but honestly can these guys play any defense? Someone tell me what defense can they play? I now think this group is incapable of playing any D! Worse Group of Spider defenders I can remember in many years and I cannot fully blame the coaching staff.

 

[Eight Legger]

They are truly awful, I agree. I will blame the coaching staff, though, because a) they recruited all of them and b) they've been working with most of them for 3 years or more.

 

[97spiderfan]

Yes it is. And our supposed best defenders are the worst offenders.

 

[Not-A-Homer]

Poor match ups, poor zone shifts, poor tactical effort(no foot movement), poor rebounding, so
the list goes on. What happened to Trey? He has gone from a tough defender, to a fouler, and
his foot speed has gotten slower this year. Besides Kwan, TJ may the next best and that is not a
good thing.

Now I am ready to get rid of our seniors and move on, to a hopefully quicker, better rebounding bunch.
We have complained about CM not switching defenses, but honestly can these guys play any defense? Someone tell me what defense can they play? I now think this group is incapable of playing any D! Worse Group of Spider defenders I can remember in many years and I cannot fully blame the coaching staff.

Yes.

 

[Spider B]

This D is pitiful. This team has to play zone. We can't stay in front of anyone.

 

[Eight Legger]

When we did play zone tonight, it was a 2-3 zone. For a couple minutes at most. Not even the 3-2 that we seemed to have some limited success with.

 

[urfan1]

we played 3-2 early, that is when they were burning us most on the blocks play qorled something 8 out of 9 times before we switched D

 

[Eight Legger]

Must have missed that while I was vomiting.

 

[Spider B]

Yes, this is the worst defensive team I can remember us having. Couple that with horrific rebounding, it's clear to see why we are 14-12. The defense being so bad is shocking, because normally Mooney's teams play D.

 

[SpiderK]

I saw better defense in the NBA All Star game. The Generals team. that play the Globe Trotters, plays better defense than the Spiders.

 

[Eight Legger]

Suddenly I realize why we played Longwood, Presbyterian and Bethune Cookman....we'd be under .500 without them.

 

[spiders13]

We are missing Alonzo much more than we like to admit

 

[Eight Legger]

We are missing Alonzo much more than we like to admit

He also won't be playing for us next year, so I guess we're screwed again.

 

[64Spider]

True story.
I went to see my grandson's basketball game tonight instead of watching UR. He is 12 as are his teammates. I was sitting there thinking to myself "these kids are playing great defense, maybe UR should come watch how it's done".
At that point the lady behind me asked if I was a UR grad because she saw the spider on my jacket. I said yes ,why do you ask? Her answer was l'm sorry but they are not having a good night.

 

[SpiderK]

He also won't be playing for us next year, so I guess we're screwed again.

Obviously the other seniors got used to Alonzo erasing their mistakes. This year really exposed them. DT did play about 5 minutes tonight before disappearing. TD was a disaster, and TA just never showed up.

 

[SpiderK]

VDU had a better team and coach last year and we let them score 55 points at Costco. This year we let them score 87. Pathetic.

 

[CarolinaSpider]

This D is pitiful. This team has to play zone. We can't stay in front of anyone.

Tell me what freaking zone they can play? They seem to be only good playing the 5 seat bench zone!

 

[Spider B]

Carolina, thought we had a tough time keeping their guards in front of us. Think more 3-2 may have prevented some of the penetration.

 

[SpiderK]

Well our interior defense is terrible, and our perimeter defense really sucks. So where do start??

 

[CarolinaSpider]

Carolina, thought we had a tough time keeping their guards in front of us. Think more 3-2 may have prevented some of the penetration.

B they tried 3-2 some with Trey at point but kept putting Tillman in open middle while our bottom two defenders were occupied. Tarrant's 3-2 would have point shift back into the paint when ball went to wing. There was no shifting and ball went easily into middle of zone. They just did not know where to go, looked confused majority of the time.

 

[SpiderK]

Looked like the idea was to guard Mo, Lewis, and Johnson and make Burgess and Tillman beat us. They beat us.

 

[SpiderK]

Several of you guys have mentioned that defense is defending the guy in front of you. Keeping the guy in front of you. Keeping your hands up in front of the guy in front of you. Denying the guy in front of you passing lanes. Keeping a hand in the face of the guy in front of you. Denying the guy in front of you the ball. Harassing the guy in front of you.
These poor kids have no idea where the hell the guy that is supposed to be in front of them is. They are usually chasing them or worse just letting them go and hope someone else takes care of it. We have let some bad and mediocre teams beat us because our coaches and players have not come together and created some form of defense this group of kids can actually play. There is no excuse in it.

 

[Eight Legger]

Another night, another team going apesh!t on us from three. Where have I seen this movie before?

 

[SpiderK]

Another night, another team going apesh!t on us from three. Where have I seen this movie before?

How do we end up playing the Golden State Warriors every night?

 

[MolivaManiac]

Yes, we are unbelievably awful on D. But what's going to make it better next year? That's the most depressing part.

 

[CarolinaSpider]

Yes, we are unbelievably awful on D. But what's going to make it better next year? That's the most depressing part.

Mo, if a team has multiple shooters and a strong low post presence, we are sunk because we
are not a physical team to handle rebounding or blocking out. Covering outside shooters we are short or too
slow to shift. Overall we are a soft, finesse team that lacks the multiple shooters of Davidson or VCU and we are not physical enough to dominate on boards like GW or Dayton. We need to develop a competitive identity that most likely would pattern Davidson which I believe CMs system is made to be close to.

The bad news is we rebuild again for next couple of years. What the heck happened with such a promising team. We will be scratching our heads on this one for a long time.

 

[Spider B]

I say keep the offense the same next year and really work hard on different defensive schemes that may better fit the players we have. Of course, multiple times last night we successfully stopped RPI's first shot only to allow them a second chance by failing to rebound. Rebounding is about positioning and blocking out. I think many of our rebounding woes could be solved by simply teaching and emphasizing blocking out. Also wouldn't hurt to put our tallest player out there. Didn't CM say he would be ready to play big minuets and contribute next year?

 

[SpiderRick]

So many threes, so many rebounds. We must have been playing a 0-5-0 zone.

 

[Spider B]

We also need a new attitude. We need guys who refuse to lose and play with a chip on their shoulder. I think some are right when they point out we may lack some senior leadership.

 

[I-M-UR]

We are missing Alonzo much more than we like to admit

That is a small part of it. Opponents have figured out have to take advantage of the switching man to man (use it to create mismatches) CM obviously doesn't know how to coach anything else or the players are complete idiots. My guess is the former. Half the time I don't think the players knew whether they were in a zone or man.

 

[SpiderK]

This team couldn't stop the two Sweet Frog mascots from scoring 20 a piece. The Papa Johns pizza mascot and the Spinners would out rebound this team.

 

[fan2011]

This is statistically the worst defensive team Mooney has had since the rebuilding years. Here is a look at what our average defense has been since the rebuilding years, and where we would rank compared to the rest of D1 this year (if we had our average defense):

Turnover Percentage: 21.6% (23rd in the country)
Defensive Rebounding Percentage: 65.3% (328th in the country)
Free Throw Rate: 38.3 (203rd)
2FG% Defense: 46.9% (111th)
3FG% Defense: 31.8% (50th)

Here is what we are doing on defense this year:
Turnover Percentage: 17.8% (199th in the country)
Defensive Rebounding Percentage: 68.3% (260th in the country)
Free Throw Rate: 34.7 (125th)
2FG% Defense: 49.4% (199th)
3FG% Defense: 36.1% (261st)

So here is how many ranks different we are this year on defense compared to our average defense:

Turnover Percentage: -176
Defensive Rebounding Percentage: +68
Free Throw Rate: +78
2FG% Defense: -88
3FG% Defense: -211

In conclusion, we are actually better at defensive rebounding and fouling compared to previous years. However, we are not forcing nearly as many turnovers, our 2FG defense is a lot worse, and our 3FG defense has taken an incredible dive dropping nearly 211 places below our average. The most amazing thing is that last year we were 16th best in the country in 3FG defense, and now we are 261st. Fun fact: if we had held VCU last night to the 3FG% we average last year, and everything else played out the same way, we would have won the game. We would actually have 6 more wins if we held teams to 30% from the 3 like last year.

My suggestion, completely tongue in cheek: foul more often and rebound less.

 

[SpiderK]

Better at 3pt defense with a 5'6" guard than a 6'5" guard. Tells you a lot.

 

[SouthJerseySpiderFan]

Unfortunately the defensive rebounding still sucks, just slightly less. MW is the only guy I have seen who extended his arms out in feeling for the defender in probably attempting to box out. Also him and KF seem like the only players who aren't afraid to go for an offensive board. They haven't been coached down like the others I guess. And all those ifs, ifs, ifs, ...... the fact is this team has underachieved and it's not a fun one.

 

[SpiderK]

[QUOTE="fan2011, post: 123770, member: 732"}
In conclusion, we are actually better at defensive rebounding .

Unfortunately it still sucks, just slightly less. MW is the only guy I have seen who extended his arms out in feeling for the defender in probably attempting to box out. Also him and KF seem like the only players who aren't afraid to go for an offensive board. They haven't been coached down like the others I guess. And all those ifs, ifs, ifs, ...... the fact is this team has underachieved and it's not a fun one.[/QUOTE]
Yes we went from extinct rebounding to Endangered Species rebounding.

 

[fan2011]

Unfortunately it still sucks, just slightly less. MW is the only guy I have seen who extended his arms out in feeling for the defender in probably attempting to box out. Also him and KF seem like the only players who aren't afraid to go for an offensive board. They haven't been coached down like the others I guess. And all those ifs, ifs, ifs, ...... the fact is this team has underachieved and it's not a fun one.

Here are the offensive and defensive rebounding percentages for everyone on our team:

TA: 8.7% (top 15% in the country) and 19.5% (top 10% in the country), by far the best rebounder on the team.
DT: 3.1% and 16.6%
Cline: 4.9% and 14.6%
Wood: 5.6% and 13.5%
Fore: 5.2% and 12.9% (very good for a 6'0 player)
TD: 2.6% and 11.6% (lowest numbers of his career)
SDJ: 1.5% and 6.2%
JJ: 3.3% and 6.1%
JP: 2.4% and 3.3%

 

[fan2011]

Better at 3pt defense with a 5'6" guard than a 6'5" guard. Tells you a lot.

Yeah, K0 was a really good defender.

 

[SpiderK]

Surprised the offensive rebounding is even that high, considering there is no one on our side of the court including the shooter once our shot is released.

 

[SpiderK]

Yeah, K0 was a really good defender.

Yes, very good. Always using his hands.

 

[64Spider]

KO was a tenacious defender. Even on the tallest guys he would stay in front and pester the hell out of them. Kinda small dog big dog battle. It always amazed me how often the big guys would pass off or fail to shot when they had such an obvious advantage. I know he was taken many times but never without a fight.