HaydenHawk56
Well-Known Member
DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS: HOW IOWA'S DEFENSE FAILED AGAINST ILLINOIS - Black Heart Gold Pants
Very good read about Iowa's defense.
Very good read about Iowa's defense.
Skeets sitting the hot player is a call back to the Tom Davis era. I can recall Matt Bullard making three straight 3's on three tips down the court and the good Doctor giving him the hook. It used to make me crazy. (Cue another old iowa guy to tell how players sub themselves out in Dr Toms system). Which i rebut with "Nobody subs themselves out after three straight makes."
Skeets sitting the hot player is a call back to the Tom Davis era. I can recall Matt Bullard making three straight 3's on three tips down the court and the good Doctor giving him the hook. It used to make me crazy. (Cue another old iowa guy to tell how players sub themselves out in Dr Toms system). Which i rebut with "Nobody subs themselves out after three straight makes."
I've been criticizing White for his hedge toward what he anticipates to be the passing lane for a month. His swing and miss steal attempts have turned him into one of the worst baseline zone defenders I can recall -- frequently out of position / awkwardly sideways and there goes the baseline. His (and Uthoff on the other side and Woody up high-middle) are the most glaring but, as BHGP points out, it's pretty pervasive by everyone.
Thing is, it's REALLY been noticeable to me just watching live games. Imagine how noticeable it's become to the rest of the conference teams, who are breaking down film and scouting you for hours. It's no coincidence the defensive collapse is occurring during the second time through the B1G.
1) Hawks' defensive tendencies, especially in zone, are out there and exploited.
2) Hawks are playing more zone. (I guess to preserve energy or in hopes the other teams are also fatigued and won't hit as many perimeter shots?)
Another related point, somewhere in one of these threads, someone quoted Speraw saying the last 2 weeks, practice has been nothing but game prep and little work on fundamentals. Maybe that's part of it, though it's hard to imagine such an epic collapse on defense due to not being able to spend much time on it for a couple practices. I'd tend to go with the simple points I made -- your strategy / tendencies in zone defense are glaring, making your zone easy to attack and virtually ineffective but you continue to play more zone. Ya think?
I will agree on one aspect of Speraw's comment spending too much time on game prep. Bear with me on this.
I know it's just Dolph saying this as a lead-in but I've heard more about "This is Andrew Francis' "scout" ... or, "Kirk Speraw "had the scout" on this game." than any previous season. Maybe I'm over connecting the dots a bit, here, but, let's be honest, Dolph is expected to emphasize the highlights. Makes me wonder if it's a pride-point of the staff to the point where it's expected to be part of the s c r i p t?
My point, I still believe the Hawks are top 3 in this conference in terms of high-end talent and overall depth of talent. While I get the necessity to scout your opponent so you can exploit and attack their weaknesses, I wonder if it's as necessary, this late in the season, second time around, to the point where you've allowed your own house to self-destruct? Maybe too much worrying about the opponent and not enough on keeping the talent focused on doing what their capable of doing?
[/B]
John Wooden would agree here. In his books he talks about how he spent less time worrying about the opponent and more about making sure his team was focused to execute the things they wanted to do. Not that he did not scout, but he wanted his teams to excel at the things they do well in games.
Skeets sitting the hot player is a call back to the Tom Davis era. I can recall Matt Bullard making three straight 3's on three tips down the court and the good Doctor giving him the hook. It used to make me crazy. (Cue another old iowa guy to tell how players sub themselves out in Dr Toms system). Which i rebut with "Nobody subs themselves out after three straight makes."
Sure you aren't confusing Mr. Davis with Raveling? Raveling used to drive fans nuts by pulling guys just as they were getting on fiya.
Yeah, but what did John Wooden ever do?!?