Starting lineup against Mich's trapping defense

[uihawk82]

The hawks played much better overall and loved seeing the big steals, hustle and big shots. A big win.

What concerned me, actually made me upset, is we had the starting lineup of 4 seniors and a junior on the floor when Mich started using the 1-3-1 trap zone or variant of that zone. What bothers me is the weak spots of that zone are down in the baseline corners and the players did not go there or get the ball there, until after about 8 empty, poor possessions and a timeout by Fran (a good use of a timeout).

A lineup that experienced should have been able to handle that defense and actually burn that defense.

Starting with Gesell and Clemmons, the two point guards needed to recognize this and put the team in the right positions. With Mich only having one defender down low Jok and uhtoff should be in the corners and Woody roaming across the lane.

but the hawks weathered the storm and iirc clemmons or gesell got a big steal and bucket and after the timeout Jok was positioned all alone in the corner for a big 3 ptr.

By the way, some of you might remember Steve Alford's team getting totally dominated by a Cincinnati 1-3-1 zone trap to start an NCAA game and Alford seemed to have no clue, the hawks on the floor didnt know what to do or change, and Alford wouldnt use a timeout.

I see this as Fran not practicing against a variety of defenses every now and then and the players at this level should know what to do.

 

[PCHawk]

Watching them completely fall apart for about 10 possessions in a row is more evidence that it's the players, not the coach. The terrible turnovers looked bad but even when they weren't turning it over, they were launching dangerous passes and fumbling the ball around like they have grease on their hands again.

I will say tho, all it takes to win close games like that is to make a couple plays down the stretch. They have rarely done that in their careers. But last night, just when it looked like we were going to have a week long discussion on how bad Fran is in close games, Gesell made a great steal for a basket and Clemmons hit a 3. Without those 2 plays, we almost certainly lose again. Instead the players put the game away and Fran gets no credit for a close win because we won by 10.

 

[PCHawk]

Also I remember a couple years ago, or maybe even last year, Northwestern ran that defense against us and we carved it up with baseline dunk after baseline dunk. That was early in the game tho. Last night it was crunch time so we were in meltdown mode and couldn't even get the ball to the 3 point line.

Those 2 made plays were just what the doctor ordered tho. I have been harping all week that it's too late for these seniors to win close games. I figured if it hadn't happened yet, it wasn't going to. This might be the game that gives them some confidence to win some close ones in the tourney.

 

[uihawk82]

Also I remember a couple years ago, or maybe even last year, Northwestern ran that defense against us and we carved it up with baseline dunk after baseline dunk. That was early in the game tho. Last night it was crunch time so we were in meltdown mode and couldn't even get the ball to the 3 point line.

Those 2 made plays were just what the doctor ordered tho. I have been harping all week that it's too late for these seniors to win close games. I figured if it hadn't happened yet, it wasn't going to. This might be the game that gives them some confidence to win some close ones in the tourney.

^^ Yep, get it to the baseline and you have a 3 on 1 against that defense. Other teams will see the tape so the hawks need to look at yesterday's bad performance against a trapping defense and look at good tape like the jNW game you mentioned.

 

[PCHawk]

^^ Yep, get it to the baseline and you have a 3 on 1 against that defense. Other teams will see the tape so the hawks need to look at yesterday's bad performance against a trapping defense and look at good tape like the jNW game you mentioned.

 

[PCHawk]

I wouldn't worry too much about how we did against that defense. I'm pretty sure it was more about it being late in the game so they started playing nervous more than the kind of defense it was.

 

[atomicblue224]

I saw that last night but I wasn't worried because I was looking at the "big picture". We'll have hopefully all the players healthy by the next game in BTT. The players well oiled as this team should able to play anytime in BTT. We'll be fine. Let's relax and enjoy this while we can.

 

[Casey388]

Also I remember a couple years ago, or maybe even last year, Northwestern ran that defense against us and we carved it up with baseline dunk after baseline dunk. That was early in the game tho. Last night it was crunch time so we were in meltdown mode and couldn't even get the ball to the 3 point line.

Those 2 made plays were just what the doctor ordered tho. I have been harping all week that it's too late for these seniors to win close games. I figured if it hadn't happened yet, it wasn't going to. This might be the game that gives them some confidence to win some close ones in the tourney.

That's was also due to having Aaron White. He was a master at running the baseline and getting lob opportunities. I think we have guys who could do that, just don't have e the timing that Aaron had.