Biggest loss until he comes back may be on the glass. Might need to go big with Samson at the 4.
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AJ out w/ broken finger
- Thread starter the Blades
- Start date
2-3 month healing time for that injury. Best case he is back mid December. We miss you AJ and wish you a speedy recovery!
Well maybe they won't need to be Samson big but with a 6-8 shooter at the 4....???
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We have heard lots of raves on Karaban, but whether he starts or not, I have to think they will need Johnson to play lots of minutes especially against bigger teams. I am not getting too caught up on who is starting and who isn't. because it's not going to matter. If someone is contributing they will play. Don't forget about Richie Springs either. He is a rebounder.
I like that DH is at least being open minded and not stubborn regarding playing zone D, which he hasn't been in the past. Can't have other teams pulling your true bigs away from the hoop.
“Coach talked about me and Donovan playing at the same time. I think it can be good,” Sanogo said. “I am definitely shooting this year. If my defender doesn’t come out, I’m shooting it because my shot is getting better.
“Donovan has stuff he still has to work on. He is a good player. He is going to be fine. He has potential. He has to work on defense. In the Big East, there are teams you have to be able to switch everything. Villanova and St. John’s don’t play with a big man, so you have to switch. I think he will be fine.”
“Donovan is such a skilled passer, even in the high post and key area, whether it is versus a zone or man-to-man that we are tinkering, especially with Andre’s injury, at playing more zone and trying to find a way to get them on the court together a little bit,” Hurley said. “Obviously, we really want to play Donovan.”
“Coach talked about me and Donovan playing at the same time. I think it can be good,” Sanogo said. “I am definitely shooting this year. If my defender doesn’t come out, I’m shooting it because my shot is getting better.
“Donovan has stuff he still has to work on. He is a good player. He is going to be fine. He has potential. He has to work on defense. In the Big East, there are teams you have to be able to switch everything. Villanova and St. John’s don’t play with a big man, so you have to switch. I think he will be fine.”
“Donovan is such a skilled passer, even in the high post and key area, whether it is versus a zone or man-to-man that we are tinkering, especially with Andre’s injury, at playing more zone and trying to find a way to get them on the court together a little bit,” Hurley said. “Obviously, we really want to play Donovan.”
The zone D is so that Clingan will not get killed on switches when they play him with Sanogo. I know in the past UConn has often been guilty of letting other teams dictate matchups. This was something that left everyone scratching their heads because the way to beat small ball teams is to use a size advantage to relentlessly pound the shit out of them on the boards, on both ends, and do not worry about matching up with them. You see other teams like UNC and Michigan State do that all the time. In the NCAA tourney they play dangerous small ball teams and beat them by crashing the boards and wearing them down over 40 minutes with size and depth. The small ball teams can only counteract that by shooting a very high % of 3s. And on rare occasions a team will make 15 or 16 3s but usually the legs get weary in the second half and the shooting goes cold if you play the size and the depth.
Many coaches will see 4 or 5 made 3s due to slow switching on defense or slow rotations, panic, and bring in the smaller and quicker defender. Sometimes, it is just a panic move, because you are banking on the other team continuing to make shots when you do those moves, and very often they do not. Sometimes you just need to ride it out, because size and rebounding is a war of attrition that does not show up necessarily on 3 or 4 possessions but it will over the course of a full game.
Many coaches will see 4 or 5 made 3s due to slow switching on defense or slow rotations, panic, and bring in the smaller and quicker defender. Sometimes, it is just a panic move, because you are banking on the other team continuing to make shots when you do those moves, and very often they do not. Sometimes you just need to ride it out, because size and rebounding is a war of attrition that does not show up necessarily on 3 or 4 possessions but it will over the course of a full game.
Other than that it helps when you don't have a bunch of quick guards to defend getting beat off the dribble. Uconn's entire stable of guards this year are on the longer bigger/type minus Diarra.
So when your playing Hawkins 6-5, Newton 6-5 with Alleyne 6-4 in the top of a zone, you have bunch of long defenders ( like Cuse plays) that won't have to worry about getting beat off the dribble and it neutralizes small ball teams penetration chances. And if opponents do get into the seam of the zone...then you have the Clingan's 7-2, Johnson 6-10 and the Sanogo's, etc under the basket for shot blocking, exactly where they're supposed to be.
On the other hand when you have that kind of guard group you are prone to having the small quick point guards attack the rim. Does anyone remember the game against Seton Hall last year in which Bryce Aiken and another kid just lit UConn up? It was really horrendous bad defense as far as keeping guys in front of them. And a lot of it was mid range jumpers and post ups. It is a concern with the guard group they have but we will need to see what kind of defenders some of these guys are. Diarra is the guy they can use for defense on attacking small quick point guards.
What I don't like about playing a lot of zone is that it can make you prone to 3s on the perimeter. It depends on how well the zone functions but it's not a great idea against some teams like Villanova or Creighton which can shoot from outside.
What I don't like about playing a lot of zone is that it can make you prone to 3s on the perimeter. It depends on how well the zone functions but it's not a great idea against some teams like Villanova or Creighton which can shoot from outside.
By the way, although it was many years ago, when Calhoun's UConn team won the NIT championship in 1988, that team played zone defense almost exclusively with very big guards (Tate George and Phil Gamble). That team started Lyman DePriest, Murray Williams and Cliff Robinson up front. Calhoun generally did not like playing zone defense and I do not remember the specific reasons why that team played almost all zone in the NIT Tournament. But I recall they played fantastic zone defense. In 44 years watching UConn it was the only time I recall them playing zone defense for a sustained number of games, and played it well. In that tournament UConn faced 2 teams with great little guards, BC with Dana Barros and Ohio State with Jay Burson. DePriest kind of shaded them so it was almost like a Box and One defense. I also recall UConn rebounding very well during that tournament. One other thing I recall is they had the late Jeff King come off the bench and play the best minutes of his UConn career.
My exact point...when you switch to zone and keep the shot blockers underneath, it allows for no midgets driving to the rim and if they do, they get swallowed up by the bigs and are useless. Kind of like when guys like Alterique would drive in under the hoops and do zip....
So that's back to my original point...small ball teams want to beat you off the dribble and take your bigs out to the 3 point line to open up the lane...Unfortunately DH has been to stubborn and would only play man to man in the past, playing right into that strategy. Zone is a penetration killer for small guards unless they want their shot knocked into the stands. Nice to hear he's finally willing to use zone D this year.
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