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Where's the Deef?

This article highlights the fact that we ARE NOT a better team minus Fore and Buckingham.

My read on the Noah Yates quote “I went to Yale and even I can’t figure out the match up zone. I have no idea why we play it. Everybody on the team hates it. If we could communicate telepathically, then I guess it might work”
 
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Noah's comment is exactly what I expect to hear every year which is that the match-up zone is complicated and requires time for people to not only learn it but also that it's a struggle to execute it. It's not a good defense for a team full of fairly inexperienced players.
 
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UFA 2006 said:
This article highlights the fact that we ARE NOT a better team minus Fore and Buckingham.

My read on the Noah Yates quote “I went to Yale and even I can’t figure out the match up zone. I have no idea why we play it. Everybody on the team hates it. If we could communicate telepathically, then I guess it might work”
Click to expand...

Why would you say it highlights that? The article said we were last in A-10 FG defense last year. And, Noah's quote said nothing close to that.
 
Eight Legger said:
"Defensive problems may be related to the Spiders’ poor offensive starts, suggested UR coach Chris Mooney."

Or maybe our poor starts are due to our defense problems?
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Defense should be defense. It should not matter whether you have a good offensive start or not.
 
MrTbone said:
Noah's comment is exactly what I expect to hear every year which is that the match-up zone is complicated and requires time for people to not only learn it but also that it's a struggle to execute it. It's not a good defense for a team full of fairly inexperienced players.
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It should maybe take awhile to play it really really good, but it should not take long to at least be average or acceptable with it. Too many nights, we are below average with it. That should not happen so often.
 
We are the 295th best defensive team in the country out of 353 D1 teams, according to Kenpom.
 
MolivaManiac said:
We are the 295th best defensive team in the country out of 353 D1 teams, according to Kenpom.
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That is not even close to acceptable. And some of those below us are probably high scoring offensive teams that do not even care about defense.
 
VT4700 said:
Defense should be defense. It should not matter whether you have a good offensive start or not.
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My point is that we frequently are losing early in games... Because we give up a lot of easy points early in games.
 
The most frustrating thing to me is that we have been bad on defense for multiple seasons, yet we continue to play the same defense with similar (or worse) results.
 
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The problem is that both of our systems are difficult to learn, time-consuming to learn and require a core group of good players playing together for several years to master. This is not a recipe for consistent, sustained success in college basketball. If players were in school for seven years, it might be. They aren't. They are here for probably 2.5 years on average. We need new systems and a new coach.
 
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UFA 2006 said:
This article highlights the fact that we ARE NOT a better team minus Fore and Buckingham.

My read on the Noah Yates quote “I went to Yale and even I can’t figure out the match up zone. I have no idea why we play it. Everybody on the team hates it. If we could communicate telepathically, then I guess it might work”
Click to expand...
I played it in high school it's not that tough... Noah is smarter than that, and we don't have the quickness to keep up with a lot of teams in a straight up man to man.
 
Fake news, Noah Yates didn't come close to being quoted in the newspaper article as what was claimed he said on this message board.
 
VT4700 said:
It should maybe take awhile to play it really really good, but it should not take long to at least be average or acceptable with it. Too many nights, we are below average with it. That should not happen so often.
Click to expand...
I'm not personally experienced in it to know how long it should take. I only know what it seems to take, and that is that it seems to take anywhere from half a season to one and a half seasons for guys to be decent at it. Then you have someone like Grant who has been playing it for over a year and a half and learned it a year before that, and he seems to struggle with executing it (he doesn't look lost at least).

I think you're highlighting the problem, which is that we're not even really marginal at it. Sort of raises the question for why would you keep running it.
 
The poster did say it was their take on the quote. So, there's that.

Here's the actual quote: “We’ve just got to do a better job in our matchup zone that we [play] and just be able to communicate a little bit better,” Richmond forward Noah Yates said.
 
Yates is a team member and has to make his public comments palatable to the coach. To say what he really "thinks" he would have to make up a name and post on the message board.
 
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There were two plays during the Davidson game that encapsulate, for me, why having this defense is sooooo risky.

First play: last play of the first half. Frampton is spotted in the corner, with Cayo kind of close enough to guard him. As Davidson advances the ball up the same sideline, Cayo leaks forward ever so slightly to be closer to help on dribble penetration. Of course, this creates way too much space for Frampton, who promptly drains a three pointer, to extend the lead from 7 to 10. Dagger.

Second play: early on in the second half, Cayo is guarding Brajkovic on the right block and Golden appears to be responsible for Frampton coming from the left corner to the right corner. Brajkovic gets the ball, and Golden comes over either to double him or to shift with Cayo so that Cayo picks up Frampton heading to the corner. They either miscommunicate the switch, or they actually do double Brajkovic on purpose (using the guy who is supposed to be covering the guy who nearly broke Steph Curry's school record for threes in a game), but it results in Frampton with a wide open three in the corner. Of course it's good.

I don't know if these plays are bad design, or bad decision-making on Cayo and Golden, or both, but it is f&cking ridiculous to leave one of the top shooters in the conference wide open in the corner at any time. He didn't display any ability to drive the ball or do anything other than catch and shoot. Stick a dude in his face and don't leave him. Don't switch, don't rely on 100% perfect communication, don't help off of him to protect against Carter Collins driving to the basket. Just f&cking cover him.

It was the same against Matt Mobley and Bonnies in last year's tourney game. And countless games before that. The matchup requires 100% perfection in communication and focus, or else you are dead and leaving a shooter wide ass open, and the only defense is a scrambling flying dutchman and/or the "Julius" (fouling a three-point shooter).

With our personnel, we would be way, way, way better on defense if we would just play a straight man to man.
 
kneepadmckinney said:
The matchup requires 100% perfection in communication and focus, or else you are dead and leaving a shooter wide ass open, and the only defense is a scrambling flying dutchman and/or the "Julius" (fouling a three-point shooter).
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Classic. Thanks for the laugh kneepad.
 
We are inexperienced at this point in time. And we simply do not have enough players. Right now - we have 3 solid A10 players in Golden, Gilyard, and Sherod. But Sherod is hurt. Cayo is a good role player, a guy who with this three healthy - is the perfect compliment. Tell him to rebound, defend, and slash to the basket. He could get 8-12 points a night just doing that - as he has shown. Wojcik looks like he might be good in the future, but his time is a year or two away. He is being asked to be a starter and scorer where on any good team, he should be a guy providing some shooting off the bench for 10-15 minutes a night. Instead he is being asked to play 30 minutes a night. The good news with this is that this should accelerate his growth and hopefully next year it pays dividends, because we all know when guys don't play in games and we rely on practice for them to develop - that will not happen. After that - not sure we have another A10 player on the roster other than maybe Blake Francis.

SO assuming everyone returns next year (no transfers) and Sherod comes back fine from the injury - our core team is Gilyard, Golden, Sherod, Cayo, Wojcik, and Francis. Problem with this - very small and no depth. We will surely post on this board how the incoming frosh will fill this depth void and some of them will start and provide a spark right away, but this rarely happens. But I think we have enough talent coming back next year to win 16-18 games (depending on the SOS).
 
SpiderTrap said:
We are inexperienced at this point in time. And we simply do not have enough players. Right now - we have 3 solid A10 players in Golden, Gilyard, and Sherod. But Sherod is hurt. Cayo is a good role player, a guy who with this three healthy - is the perfect compliment. Tell him to rebound, defend, and slash to the basket. He could get 8-12 points a night just doing that - as he has shown. Wojcik looks like he might be good in the future, but his time is a year or two away. He is being asked to be a starter and scorer where on any good team, he should be a guy providing some shooting off the bench for 10-15 minutes a night. Instead he is being asked to play 30 minutes a night. The good news with this is that this should accelerate his growth and hopefully next year it pays dividends, because we all know when guys don't play in games and we rely on practice for them to develop - that will not happen. After that - not sure we have another A10 player on the roster other than maybe Blake Francis.

SO assuming everyone returns next year (no transfers) and Sherod comes back fine from the injury - our core team is Gilyard, Golden, Sherod, Cayo, Wojcik, and Francis. Problem with this - very small and no depth. We will surely post on this board how the incoming frosh will fill this depth void and some of them will start and provide a spark right away, but this rarely happens. But I think we have enough talent coming back next year to win 16-18 games (depending on the SOS).
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I’d throw Gustavsson into that mix. He is athletic, tall for a comboguard and looks like he can actually defend well 1v1. Like Wojcik, tough to be starting as a first year guy.
 
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Mooney has already stated that we will play a premiere OOC schedule for an A10 team next year because of the highly talented team he will be returning.
 
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Eight Legger said:
The problem is that both of our systems are difficult to learn, time-consuming to learn and require a core group of good players playing together for several years to master. This is not a recipe for consistent, sustained success in college basketball. If players were in school for seven years, it might be. They aren't. They are here for probably 2.5 years on average. We need new systems and a new coach.
Click to expand...
Every team we play knows our defense quite well.
 
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MolivaManiac said:
Mooney has already stated that we will play a premiere OOC schedule for an A10 team next year because of the highly talented team he will be returning.
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Yes he has. I can't wait to see him transform a 12-win team against a 275+ SOS into a 24-win NCAA team against a top-50 schedule. It will be a truly amazing turaround.
 
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SpiderTrap said:
SO assuming everyone returns next year (no transfers) and Sherod comes back fine from the injury - our core team is Gilyard, Golden, Sherod, Cayo, Wojcik, and Francis. Problem with this - very small and no depth. We will surely post on this board how the incoming frosh will fill this depth void and some of them will start and provide a spark right away, but this rarely happens. But I think we have enough talent coming back next year to win 16-18 games (depending on the SOS).
Click to expand...

Yep, where I see next year team as well if Mooney is back. No way, we are going to play a Top 50 OOC schedule as Mooney said and win more than that. We are going to be an NIT bubble team next year.
 
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SpiderTrap said:
Right now - we have 3 solid A10 players in Golden, Gilyard, and Sherod. But Sherod is hurt. Cayo is a good role player, a guy who with this three healthy - is the perfect compliment.
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early in the year it was "when teams get film on Cayo and take away the drive ...".
well, they clearly can't. he gets to the rim. he's 12.5 ppg and 63% from the floor. he's a very solid A10 player.

the freshmen aren't "day 1" A10 players, but there's talent.
 
spiderman said:
early in the year it was "when teams get film on Cayo and take away the drive ...".
well, they clearly can't. he gets to the rim. he's 12.5 ppg and 63% from the floor. he's a very solid A10 player.

the freshmen aren't "day 1" A10 players, but there's talent.
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Agree on Cayo. Clearly an A-10 player. I was wrong about him last year and admit.

Was not wrong on Scheider, Ford, Tomas in that class. Won't be wrong on Grace, Woj on this class either. Sal has some potential if his body develops but given his minutes this year, we can all see what Mooney thinks of him. Andre, I am probably most up in the air about. He has some athleticism, length, and fearlessness that could translate. Way too many mistake prone, that could clear up as he matures though.
 
Gustavsson was on the SSL show on Monday and indicated that he was not getting a lot of the early teaching from the coaches due to language barriers and due to fundamental style differences in how Euros play ball, particularly in light of the 24 second shot clock used in FIBA.

I'm pretty sure his game will translate after this season. But he more than most of the guys is going to have to unlearn some of what he was taught and learn something new. We can debate the merit of that of course, but I think that's the situation.
 
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Sal should be playing more. We have nothing to lose. I feel confident he will give us at least what Julius does but he has way more upside. Play the kid. I like Andre. I could see him at the top of a 1-3-1 playing the Dobbins roll. I think Grace can contribute but in limited minutes. He’s a back up/roll player in the A10. Woj is also a backup. He can’t create his own shot and isn’t athletic enough to be a starter in the A10. He’s a 5 to 8 min per game guy. Ideally we would bring in more talented players in future classes to take both of their mins, but CM hasn’t shown the ability to do this or the willingness to play younger, more talented players over experienced, less taIented players. I agree Cayo is a player. If he can develop a mid range jumper this off season he will be tough to guard.
 
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Spider B said:
Sal should be playing more. We have nothing to lose. I feel confident he will give us at least what Julius does but he has way more upside. Play the kid. I like Andre. I could see him at the top of a 1-3-1 playing the Dobbins roll. I think Grace can contribute but in limited minutes. He’s a back up/roll player in the A10. Woj is also a backup. He can’t create his own shot and isn’t athletic enough to be a starter in the A10. He’s a 5 to 8 min per game guy. Ideally we would bring in more talented players in future classes to take both of their mins, but CM hasn’t shown the ability to do this or the willingness to play younger, more talented players over experienced, less taIented players. I agree Cayo is a player. If he can develop a mid range jumper this off season he will be tough to guard.
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Tough to figure out where you get Sal minutes. I wouldn't pull Cayo for Sal, and the other options are to pull bench minutes from JJ, or minutes from Gustavsson/Wojcik. I think you might be underselling Wojcik. Kid can definitely shoot. Agree he hasn't shown much in terms of getting in the lane but I expect he's roleplaying. His D looks acceptable if unspectacular. I'm ok with unspectacular for a freshman, just not bad.
 
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Andre (keep the fight) gives us length and athleticism we need on defense.

I know nothing about Blake's ability on defense, but we have a match-up zone issue if he's starting next year at 6-0/165 alongside 5-9/160 at the guard spots. That's not ideal if we play a defense that is supposed to switch on everything.
 
MrTbone said:
Tough to figure out where you get Sal minutes. I wouldn't pull Cayo for Sal, and the other options are to pull bench minutes from JJ, or minutes from Gustavsson/Wojcik. I think you might be underselling Wojcik. Kid can definitely shoot. Agree he hasn't shown much in terms of getting in the lane but I expect he's roleplaying. His D looks acceptable if unspectacular. I'm ok with unspectacular for a freshman, just not bad.
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Where do you get Sal's minutes? How many minutes does Yates get per game, how about all of them. Yates is the epitome of a Mooney players, plays a whole lot of empty minutes, but doesn't make any obvious mistakes out there and so he plays over somewhat like Sal, who has actually has basketball potential but needs seasoning and will make mistakes as he grows.
 
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Spider B said:
Sal should be playing more. We have nothing to lose. I feel confident he will give us at least what Julius does but he has way more upside. Play the kid. I like Andre. I could see him at the top of a 1-3-1 playing the Dobbins roll. I think Grace can contribute but in limited minutes. He’s a back up/roll player in the A10. Woj is also a backup. He can’t create his own shot and isn’t athletic enough to be a starter in the A10. He’s a 5 to 8 min per game guy. Ideally we would bring in more talented players in future classes to take both of their mins, but CM hasn’t shown the ability to do this or the willingness to play younger, more talented players over experienced, less taIented players. I agree Cayo is a player. If he can develop a mid range jumper this off season he will be tough to guard.
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Thanks B. Agree of Woj. Expect pushback on that take because Woj has started and has had a couple good games of hitting the 3 ball against some Quad 4 teams.

But you are dead on. He can't create his own shot, isn't very athletic, and is simply a spot up jump shooter, who unfortunately is not making a high percentage of those shots either. I like his grit/toughness but just not enough talent to be anything more than an A-10 bench player the next couple of years. Of course, he starts and plays 30 minutes for Mooney.
 
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