EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 12:37 pm
I sort of disagree. While I readily admit that strong guard play can doom not only our team but any good team.
The issue against TCU was not so much guard penetration because even when that happened they did not get off easy shots. It was second chance opportunities that kept killing us. TCU shot only 35% on 74 friggin shots. If you think about it they very rarely got easy/open looks and most of the shots were contested. That's all you can ask for. Just clean up the boards and the game looks a lot different.
Effort and good rebounding box out/positioning is what is needed.
Totally agree, as my post right above yours says. But I will say that guard penetration and O boards go hand in hand. It is not an easy thing for a guard to get good box out position off the PNR on a big when our big has to leave to help on D.
There was a lot of talk, even frustration, as to why Miller defenses didn't have a lot of blocked shots. It was a philosophy, as when a big leaves their feet on help D, offensive rebounds are a plague. It's different when it's big on big, but on a switch/help D, when the defensive big goes for the block, it's a runway for the offensive big unless the screened guard can both get through the traffic and get position before the shot.
We HAVE to be better at that. But it is much more difficult, and better perimeter D goes a long way to closing that O rebound hole. We can do things like crash to add help, but then we lose that leak that allows us to score on the break/secondary break/early offense. What is really hurting us is it isn't a big getting beat off the screen...it isn't like Koloko is up there with Lampkin in the TCU game, then hedging and scrambling to get back. Our best shot blocker is sitting low off Lampkin, and we are getting beat off the screen anyway, and Lampkin is getting that free run with no check. That might change if Houston has a big that screens and can shoot from 15 to 18 feet...I don't know that. IF that is the case, the screen defender has to be up in that mix and hedge.