Little Help with a couple of things

L

longtimer

Well-Known Member
We seem to like to use our big men to double team a dribbler 20 feet from the basket? Seems like Woody gets 1/2 his fouls doing that and the other 1/2 the other teams center rolls to the basket for an easy one?

Fran and the players keep talking about leaving their man to help and thus giving up wide open 3s. I agree with their assessment. so why does it keep happening?

Gessel was great at driving against Purdue. I hope he doesn't get too carried away or Wisconsin will have a fiels day knocking them into the cheap seats like so many teams have done to him in previous games. Great to penetrate but better look to pull up for the short jumper or make the pass in most situations. Purdue did a horrendous job of getting beat off the dribble but you can bet the next couple of opponents wont
 
LT, it is a way for Iowa to stop the offensive rhythm of the opponent and burn some clock. Woody is actually exceptional at doing this. It does, at times, leave shooters open so that does need to be fixed. But Woody's defense, specifically, is very good. Let's also remember that Woody really hasn't played with foul trouble the past 2 seasons. The Purdon't game was sort of a one off. The officials weren't calling the game the same way at each end of the floor, in the paint. I can think of two calls that they missed where JU and GO were completely hacked under the basket but no foul. It is what it is.
 
Faster athletes would make it easier to recover and cover up shooters.

Trey Burke would make a world of difference, no slam on Gesell and Clemmons who I think are trying as hard as they can, but they are not a Burke.
 
Whenever that happens, Woody is "hedging", and forces the ball handler out a little farther, and allows the defense to almost play a zone sort of speak, the defense rotates over to get in the passing lanes....there was one time early in the game where Jok was late and a pass went into the paint for an easy lay-up, but for the most part, Woody hustles out and then back to get his man......And, yes, it's a gamble b/c it could leave a shooter open for a 3, but have the offense shoot a lower percent shot than not "hedge", and allow the dribbler to drive to the basket, or pass in the lane for a higher percent shot....

Woody will sometimes get his knees/lower body in the way instead of moving his legs, and therefore a foul will be called....
 
NEIChawk said:
Whenever that happens, Woody is "hedging", and forces the ball handler out a little farther, and allows the defense to almost play a zone sort of speak, the defense rotates over to get in the passing lanes....there was one time early in the game where Jok was late and a pass went into the paint for an easy lay-up, but for the most part, Woody hustles out and then back to get his man......And, yes, it's a gamble b/c it could leave a shooter open for a 3, but have the offense shoot a lower percent shot than not "hedge", and allow the dribbler to drive to the basket, or pass in the lane for a higher percent shot....

Woody will sometimes get his knees/lower body in the way instead of moving his legs, and therefore a foul will be called....
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This is pretty well said. Hedging is just part of Fran's philosphy. Some coaches do it and others don't. It's a gamble but normally a good one. It forces the offense to make quick precise passes to find the open man. It took 2 good quick passes to find their man rolling on the one Jok just about intercepted. Basically you pick your poison. Do you hedge and force the opposing team to make quick and precise passes, or do you allow them drive and take a higher percentage shot and or risk the defense collapsing and them finding an open guy cutting or on the perimeter.

I'd say unless you have guards that are clearly quicker than the guy they are guarding, hedging is probably the smart way to go.
 
We do it on almost every possession and sometimes multiple times per possession and only get burned a couple times a game. I would say it works pretty good.
 
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