Students of the Game: Break Down How White Ended Up on Avila on Crucial Possession!

[mojo-spider]

as has been mentioned in several threads already when the game was on the line the Spiders somehow ended up with B. Artis White trying to guard Robbie Avila's drive to the basket. The bucket gave the Billikens a 57-56 lead with :47 seconds remaining, Richmond never regained the lead...

White on Avila has to have been mistake by someone...what should have happened to prevent, or better contest the drive?

Go Spiders!

 

[SpiderGuy]

“Mistake by someone”

Maybe CM can guest in this forum and educate us on that strategy.

 

[ur2K]

It happened all second half. We switched on all screens - even soft ones like the one Avila set here. The new SLU coach played Mooney like a fiddle. We don’t have the athletes to play this defense, but here we are.

 

[SpiderGuy]

It happened all second half. We switched on all screens - even soft ones like the one Avila set here. The new SLU coach played Mooney like a fiddle. We don’t have the athletes to play this defense, but here we are.

And right there is the problem. CM doesn’t play to his athletes’ skills and sizes. He plays to his system foreverrrrrrr.

 

[GKiller]

It happened all second half. We switched on all screens - even soft ones like the one Avila set here. The new SLU coach played Mooney like a fiddle. We don’t have the athletes to play this defense, but here we are.

Soft screen is generous

 

[Spiders4ever]

“Mistake by someone”

Maybe CM can guest in this forum and educate us on that strategy.

4700?

 

[8legs1dream]

4700?

I have a feeling we have seen the last of bunker boy for this season.

 

[spider23]

This has been happening FOREVER. I pointed this out to one of our assistants at a Fordham game eons ago and he got very defensive 😳

 

[97spiderfan]

All game long, SLU would do a simple switch to get Avila on either Tyne or White. And it worked every time. Zero adjustment by Mooney. Avila had the easiest bucket to take the lead after the game.

As someone else said SLU must have been laughing there asses off on the plane home about that

 

[gcarter52]

I’m still scratching my head!

 

[Spiders4ever]

Mooney " This is what happens when the players don't listen to the coach"

Hmm. New one for me.

 

[CarolinaSpider]

Ok first mistake, AP did not aggressively hedge screen to force guard to hesitate
and White went under screen which allowed switch.

Second and what stood out more to me, was that Beagle offered no support for White and trusting that Dusan,
behind him would step in and cover any rebound and pass.

It was a freaking comedy of errors!

 

[PhillySpider]

Our system of switching all screens (even those that are as soft as that one) basically allows opponents to get any matchups they want. Just clear out everyone except the two guys you'd like to attack and run a screen to force the switch into the matchup you want and then keep the floor spread away from your favorable match up and go to work! Given our size issues at guard, we might go the opposite directions and try to hard hedge and fight over the top of all screens and not switch but our problem there is a lack of athleticism that it takes to be successful at that. Not sure there is a real good answer - - we are talent challenged as well as coaching challenged.

 

[Eight Legger]

At a minimum, you'd think someone would have said "Hey, maybe don't switch on Avila!"

 

[spiderman]

that was barely a "screen". two ships passing in the night shouldn't require a switch.
I'm all for switching on screens as necessary, but in general never switch guard on big.

 

[SpiderTrap]

Softest screen of all time, no switch was needed.

BUT - even with that mistake. Once they saw Avilia with the ball on top of the key and just backing him down, a double team should have came. SLU had right idea - everyone spread out - so it would have been a mad scramble of help - but at least make Avilia kick it out, and make them make the extra pass and hit a 3 pointer instead of back down layup.

 

[PhillySpider]

Softest screen of all time, no switch was needed.

BUT - even with that mistake. Once they saw Avilia with the ball on top of the key and just backing him down, a double team should have came. SLU had right idea - everyone spread out - so it would have been a mad scramble of help - but at least make Avilia kick it out, and make them make the extra pass and hit a 3 pointer instead of back down layup.

I agree with this. Our coach does not.

As a general rule, you have to have a single philosophy on switching. It doesn't really work to say "switch everything except don't switch guard to big" or don't switch player X etc. The "exception" routine requires an awful lot of your players in the heat of the game as far as identifying all the players involved and whether the exception applies etc. Its also very hard to practice and replicate all the screening action a particular team might have (and that your team doesn't have the same stuff and thus isn't familiar). Thus the singular philosophy. That, for us, means switching all screens - - and all means all - - even that "ships passing" screen. I don't think we have the personal to be switching every screen and would be better fighting over all of them but that's another story. If your a switch team, you switch 'em all.

The real point here though is the reaction to the switch and the spread out floor. And that reaction was, as noted, no one came to help while their all-american candidate big man backed down a guy a foot shorter. That can't be an actual philosophy. As noted, somebody has to come and force a things besides the back down lay-up. We should know that and i suspect the issue was everyone thought it was someone else who should double, but not themselves. That needs to be cleaned up. But I am not too confident. We generally look pretty lost on defense!

 

[CarolinaSpider]

I really would have liked AP, Nescovic, Tanner, Roch and White as a lineup in that
game as I think it would have created matchup issues for SLU.

 

[spiderman]

As a general rule, you have to have a single philosophy on switching. It doesn't really work to say "switch everything except don't switch guard to big" or don't switch player X etc.

there are definitely teams that switch certain screens and not all. it's communication. screener's man makes the call.