Our Defense

[pnkranger]

offensively, I'm convinced we can score on anyone, but our defense has GOT to improve quickly. If we defend like we did today against Mercer, we'll get beat. We let UALR score 81 points (they scored 56 against Florida).

I know people are going to beat me up for this, but the bottom line is that UALR had wide open shooters every trip down the floor and penetrated at will.

I understand that the new rules make it harder, but it's not just that. We're getting beat, rotating slowly, hawking the ball (in a bad way). On one helter skelter play, one of UALR's guards got to the rim and did a ball fake and four Sooners went in the air to block it. The guard threw it out for a wide open baseline shot because we were all in the lane.

I know we CAN be good defensively. But right now we're just not.

 

[BigTime]

This team has to get significantly better on rotations and staying disciplined if we want to go dancing this year.

 

[Chaser728]

offensively, I'm convinced we can score on anyone, but our defense has GOT to improve quickly. If we defend like we did today against Mercer, we'll get beat. We let UALR score 81 points (they scored 56 against Florida).

I know people are going to beat me up for this, but the bottom line is that UALR had wide open shooters every trip down the floor and penetrated at will.

I understand that the new rules make it harder, but it's not just that. We're getting beat, rotating slowly, hawking the ball (in a bad way). On one helter skelter play, one of UALR's guards got to the rim and did a ball fake and four Sooners went in the air to block it. The guard threw it out for a wide open baseline shot because we were all in the lane.

I know we CAN be good defensively. But right now we're just not.

I'm in agreement that this team needs to get better on D, much better. Howeve, I do take issue with your evidence of Florida holding them to 56. That same Florida team was tied with UALR at halftime and only scored 86 by the end of the game. Just a thought. But overall I agree we need to get better.

 

[JBaker]

What defense?

 

[Swans]

What defense?

This!

 

[NickZepp]

Some of our defensive issues are just because we don't really have another good inside defender consistently. And the officiating changes to go more after hand checks. It goes against how our young defenders have been taught. But I think they'll come around. The offense is real sound right now which is key. Scoring will be up all over NCAA with the new rules which isn't a bad thing. BTW the last 2 points by UALR were complete junk. OU was trying to run out the clock and the game was over at that point.

 

[jerry]

What defense?

This!!

 

[WTSooner]

Our poor defense has nothing to do with the rule change. A lot of the same guys had a lot of the same problems last year.

And it's actually one of the biggest reasons I'm not a huge fan of pressure defense. It's much easier to get beat off the dribble. And that is what is happening, we get beat off the dribble, guys don't rotate/help correctly, and we don't have a shot blocker to clean up. We aren't going to develop a shock blocker this year, so the goal should be teaching the guards when/where to pressure, and how to recover once they get beat, or once the pressure doesn't turn the other team over.

Buddy is one of the worst. Watch him after a double team, or full court pressure. He is completely lost at where he should "recover" to, and is usually late getting into the proper spot. It's like he doesn't think ahead. Once he needs to retreat to his fan, he doesn't have an idea where that is, he literally has to turn around and find him, with no clue as to "about" where he is. Noticed that a lot in him the last 3 games or so. He wants to float too much, instead of getting back to his spot.

 

[MNsooner]

Pressure has a number of advantages. You may give up some easy shots, but if you are generating turnovers then it can be worth it. Turnovers lead to easy baskets and more shots. In my opinion, our athletic guards make pressure defense a good fit for this team. We don't have an inside anchor, so be a bit opportunistic, jump passing lanes and try to get some easy baskets. We are just a couple of athletic big men away from Billy Ball.

 

[AdaSooner]

Pressure has a number of advantages. You may give up some easy shots, but if you are generating turnovers then it can be worth it. Turnovers lead to easy baskets and more shots. In my opinion, our athletic guards make pressure defense a good fit for this team. We don't have an inside anchor, so be a bit opportunistic, jump passing lanes and try to get some easy baskets. We are just a couple of athletic big men away from Billy Ball.

^
This

I'm not pleased with our defense either, especially in defending the arc. We give up way too many easy shots on the perimeter by playing good defense for 20 to 25 seconds, only to leave a three point shooter unattended before the shot clock runs out.

That said, with our lack of size and a shot-blocking post on the interior, we don't have much choice. This team's best chance to win is to pressure our opponents into making mistakes that can be converted into easy buckets. I would like to see this team press more, not less.

While I agree that some of the points we're giving up off of the dribble penetration can be attributed to the rules changes, I don't agree that the new rules have anything whatsoever to do with leaving a three point shooter open. That's the result of a breakdown in our defense where at least one player gets caught out of position because he failed to rotate to the right spot fast enough to get a hand in someone's face.

 

[garyeb2]

Our poor defense has nothing to do with the rule change. A lot of the same guys had a lot of the same problems last year.

And it's actually one of the biggest reasons I'm not a huge fan of pressure defense. It's much easier to get beat off the dribble. And that is what is happening, we get beat off the dribble, guys don't rotate/help correctly, and we don't have a shot blocker to clean up. We aren't going to develop a shock blocker this year, so the goal should be teaching the guards when/where to pressure, and how to recover once they get beat, or once the pressure doesn't turn the other team over.

Buddy is one of the worst. Watch him after a double team, or full court pressure. He is completely lost at where he should "recover" to, and is usually late getting into the proper spot. It's like he doesn't think ahead. Once he needs to retreat to his fan, he doesn't have an idea where that is, he literally has to turn around and find him, with no clue as to "about" where he is. Noticed that a lot in him the last 3 games or so. He wants to float too much, instead of getting back to his spot.

You are bordering on the correct assessment. Buddy is the main offender. Time after time Kruger will stop play in the middle of a possession in practice and ask Buddy,"where is your man?". Buddy won't know.

But, there is more to it than that. Spangler, to a lessor degree, is playing the same kind of Ole defense that Blake did some. Right now, Ryan is just too valuable to foul out. Cam will still miss rotations some. He always has. Bennett is coming off a sit out year that followed a Jr. College career. The game is sometimes faster than he is anticipating.

Every college basketball team is getting beat off the dribble this season due to the rule changes. OU is beating their opponents and if the opponent has quick guards, we will get beat some. It is happening to everyone. The other thing is our increased offensive tempo. Because of it, we are having to defend more possessions.

There is a side to this that some aren't considering. In several of our games our opponents have gotten a key player or two in serious foul trouble. Not so much for OU. Maybe we are closer to the right balance than some think.

We are 5-1 coming off a 20 point win and will probably be favored in the next 8 games. Defense must not be all that bad. I'm pretty sure that Kruger would scoff at the idea of dumbing down his approach to defense going forward because some players don't have their assignments down yet. He has had to do that in the past because he didn't have the horses. Now he does. They just aren't getting the job done all the time yet.

 

[NickZepp]

If Bennett's role increases, and he gets better. That could help our D out a ton.

Sent from my galaxy s2

 

[AdaSooner]

I'm with Gary on this one.

Coach Kruger doesn't need to change a thing. Just continue to work on correcting our mistakes in practice and let the chips fall where they may. I like most of the things we're doing on defense, except the wide open threes I alluded to earlier. But, even that, is correctable.

Will we continue to give up an occasional open shot or drive down the lane? Sure. No team I have seen so far this season has been immune to giving up easy points.

 

[garyeb2]

If Bennett's role increases, and he gets better. That could help our D out a ton.

Sent from my galaxy s2

To be a really good team, we would need a rim protector in the game all the time. We don't have that now.

 

[slappy in OP]

I agree that Bennett may become big for us as a shot blocker down low. He seems to have a feel for that. He just needs to try to improve his offensive game enough to allow him to be on the court without hurting us too much on that end. If Bennett is in for Spangler, we lose the threat of any inside scoring from a big man. I do not recall both of them being on the court at the same time this year very often, so it may be one or the other.

I love the pressure we are putting on some teams. I really think it is our best option. Attempt to force some turnovers and it also MAY wear the other team down some if they do not have depth or are not in as good of shape as our team. If we are scoring efficiently, other teams will have the challenge to out score us.

 

[AdaSooner]

I love the pressure we are putting on some teams. I really think it is our best option. Attempt to force some turnovers and it also MAY wear the other team down some if they do not have depth or are not in as good of shape as our team. If we are scoring efficiently, other teams will have the challenge to out score us.

My point exactly!

Does anyone really believe we could have come from 18 down against a team like MSU if we had not pressed them full court? The Spartans may not want to admit it, but our pressure defense bothered them a lot. Even I was surprised that a veteran team would give up a big lead in the second half to a relatively young team with a freshman point guard and no size to speak of.

I'll repeat, press more, not less. I just wish this team was deeper so we could keep the pressure on for the entire game.

 

[pnkranger]

I definitely agree with gary...this is more about rotating and knowing assignments than scheme or strategy.

 

[WTSooner]

It is absolutely scheme/strategy. When you pressure guys like we do, you get beat more often then if you don't.

I'm not saying we should change, that isn't a decision I have enough info to make. But when you have a young team, full of guys that haven't really proven they can play good half court defense, AND you have them pressing and pressuring in the half court, you are going to get beat. It still shouldn't happen as much as it does. And not all of our problems are directly press/pressure related. Bad rotations, and simply losing their man still happens in just the half court, without any real dribble penetration.

I just wanted to point out that while there might be good things that come from pressure, giving up easy hoops is almost always the downside. And we won't be pressuring teams like KU or OSU all that much. They will make us pay if we do. You have to pick your spots against teams like that. Do it in short spurts. Obviously I have no issue pressing MSU late in a game we are losing. It's still too early to make any definitive conclusions. First, we will get better. Second, in a game like last night, you can't really tell much about how effective our press will be against Big 12 caliber teams. I just think that our players and our style of play is causing the issue, not really the new rule. The new rule seems to be resulting in more of the blow bys being turned into made baskets bc the big men aren't taking charges, but I don't think the new rule is resulting in more blow bys. If that makes sense. Or at least, not a sizable increase in those blow bys.

 

[originalsooner55]

You are bordering on the correct assessment. Buddy is the main offender. Time after time Kruger will stop play in the middle of a possession in practice and ask Buddy,"where is your man?". Buddy won't know.

But, there is more to it than that. Spangler, to a lessor degree, is playing the same kind of Ole defense that Blake did some. Right now, Ryan is just too valuable to foul out. Cam will still miss rotations some. He always has. Bennett is coming off a sit out year that followed a Jr. College career. The game is sometimes faster than he is anticipating.

Every college basketball team is getting beat off the dribble this season due to the rule changes. OU is beating their opponents and if the opponent has quick guards, we will get beat some. It is happening to everyone. The other thing is our increased offensive tempo. Because of it, we are having to defend more possessions.

There is a side to this that some aren't considering. In several of our games our opponents have gotten a key player or two in serious foul trouble. Not so much for OU. Maybe we are closer to the right balance than some think.

We are 5-1 coming off a 20 point win and will probably be favored in the next 8 games. Defense must not be all that bad. I'm pretty sure that Kruger would scoff at the idea of dumbing down his approach to defense going forward because some players don't have their assignments down yet. He has had to do that in the past because he didn't have the horses. Now he does. They just aren't getting the job done all the time yet.

I totally agree with Gary, and will add this. Our defense is not as bad as some think it is, we are a young team and with that there are going to be mistakes. The Michigan St. game, we had them rattled, even Izzo was to a certain degree. I think we have work to do, but our defense is not terrible. One thing I have noticed, and it may not be a correct observation, but it seems as though we play to the level of the opponent we are playing. Again, just my thoughts, and I agree we need to get better and I think LK will continue to have them prepared.

 

[pnkranger]

I totally agree with Gary, and will add this. Our defense is not as bad as some think it is, we are a young team and with that there are going to be mistakes. The Michigan St. game, we had them rattled, even Izzo was to a certain degree. I think we have work to do, but our defense is not terrible. One thing I have noticed, and it may not be a correct observation, but it seems as though we play to the level of the opponent we are playing. Again, just my thoughts, and I agree we need to get better and I think LK will continue to have them prepared.

From an efficiency perspective our defense is rated #114, that's the worst it's been since Jeff Capel's last year. There's a lot of season left, and we're a young team, but just laying the fact out there. We're not playing well on that side of the ball right now scheme or no scheme.