this game doesn't even warrant its own thread but whatever....maybe someone cares to read and post their thoughts. i realize many of you probably didn't see the game so i'll take a second to provide a brief summary of the first half.
first a little backstory.....as you may recall, NU got clowned by the zone and full court pressure vs Samford. I mentioned that if i was coaching this team, i'd spend the entire next practice working on zone and press break. fast forward to today.....NU is up 26 to 8. Anyone care to guess what the catalyst was for the 16-0 run that PV went on? Simple. they switched from man to a 2/3 zone with full court pressure on made baskets. Thats it.
NU looked like a highschool JV team playing against the zone and trying to break the press. Multiple turnovers, a 10 second violation (yes seriously, a 10 second violation against a man to man full court press. no trap, no nothing, just full court pressure from a team with DIVII caliber athletes. You'd think a P5 DivI PG could dribble the ball up himself vs man pressure. well you'd be right...unfortunately for NU, Benny parker and Glynn watson, who were BOTH in the game at the time, were all they way down under PVs basket, while Jack McVeigh and CO tried to break the press. what in the....???
:banghead:
i'm glad NU won. but this is just getting downright silly. There are so many things happening each game that simply can't be excused at this level of basketball.....
watching NU against the 2/3 zone is maddening. i watched numerous possessions OVER and OVER, trying to understand what the pattern, or spacing was. I have no idea and clearly the players don't either. Jacobsen is 30 feet from the basket setting a ball screen against the top of the zone, for a guy dribbling the ball who has NO intention of using the screen. That happened multiple times. 2 guys flashing to the middle of the zone at the same time. No body on the block ball side, forcing the bottom outside defender in the zone to honor having to defend the block.....2 guys posting up, one right behind the other.....it just goes on and on. All I saw were 5 guys randomly shuffling around. I paid special attention to see if players would run to the same spots each time down the floor, as that can be an indicator that they at least know where they are supposed to start vs a 2/3 zone. Nope. sometimes Shields is at the free throw line. sometimes, he'd just run down to the corner and spot up for a 3. sometimes Aw3 would run to the block. Sometimes he'd be up at the top of the key. its just bizarre because there appears to be no rhyme or reason to it. I think they are supposed to just look for open spots maybe? its funny to watch when 2 guys see the same open spot, so they both go there...and then there is a quick push away from one of the players like he's saying "hey, i found this spot first...you go somewhere else..."
you'd like to take solace in the fact that NU won by 30. well, it wasn't because we figured out how to play vs the zone. it was because PV is so awful, that they literally gave NU 10 points with silly turnovers and bad shots that lead to fast break pts for NU.
PV was WINNING 34 to 33 with 17:33 left in the 2nd half. they piddled the game down their leg and once NU went up by 9 pts, they pretty much quit playing defense. it was a layup drill for NU after that.
I really don't mean to be all debbie downer....its just the more i watch this team, the more I have to question what in the world Tim Miles is doing during practice. If every team we play from here on out plays a 2/3 zone, NU will not win another game. its that simple.
first a little backstory.....as you may recall, NU got clowned by the zone and full court pressure vs Samford. I mentioned that if i was coaching this team, i'd spend the entire next practice working on zone and press break. fast forward to today.....NU is up 26 to 8. Anyone care to guess what the catalyst was for the 16-0 run that PV went on? Simple. they switched from man to a 2/3 zone with full court pressure on made baskets. Thats it.
NU looked like a highschool JV team playing against the zone and trying to break the press. Multiple turnovers, a 10 second violation (yes seriously, a 10 second violation against a man to man full court press. no trap, no nothing, just full court pressure from a team with DIVII caliber athletes. You'd think a P5 DivI PG could dribble the ball up himself vs man pressure. well you'd be right...unfortunately for NU, Benny parker and Glynn watson, who were BOTH in the game at the time, were all they way down under PVs basket, while Jack McVeigh and CO tried to break the press. what in the....???
:banghead:i'm glad NU won. but this is just getting downright silly. There are so many things happening each game that simply can't be excused at this level of basketball.....
watching NU against the 2/3 zone is maddening. i watched numerous possessions OVER and OVER, trying to understand what the pattern, or spacing was. I have no idea and clearly the players don't either. Jacobsen is 30 feet from the basket setting a ball screen against the top of the zone, for a guy dribbling the ball who has NO intention of using the screen. That happened multiple times. 2 guys flashing to the middle of the zone at the same time. No body on the block ball side, forcing the bottom outside defender in the zone to honor having to defend the block.....2 guys posting up, one right behind the other.....it just goes on and on. All I saw were 5 guys randomly shuffling around. I paid special attention to see if players would run to the same spots each time down the floor, as that can be an indicator that they at least know where they are supposed to start vs a 2/3 zone. Nope. sometimes Shields is at the free throw line. sometimes, he'd just run down to the corner and spot up for a 3. sometimes Aw3 would run to the block. Sometimes he'd be up at the top of the key. its just bizarre because there appears to be no rhyme or reason to it. I think they are supposed to just look for open spots maybe? its funny to watch when 2 guys see the same open spot, so they both go there...and then there is a quick push away from one of the players like he's saying "hey, i found this spot first...you go somewhere else..."
you'd like to take solace in the fact that NU won by 30. well, it wasn't because we figured out how to play vs the zone. it was because PV is so awful, that they literally gave NU 10 points with silly turnovers and bad shots that lead to fast break pts for NU.
PV was WINNING 34 to 33 with 17:33 left in the 2nd half. they piddled the game down their leg and once NU went up by 9 pts, they pretty much quit playing defense. it was a layup drill for NU after that.
I really don't mean to be all debbie downer....its just the more i watch this team, the more I have to question what in the world Tim Miles is doing during practice. If every team we play from here on out plays a 2/3 zone, NU will not win another game. its that simple.
