Scoring down, or good defense.....

[WTSooner]

Not sure exactly what the reason is, the new rules, an emphasis on defense, pure chance, but there have been A LOT of low scoring games in the tournament this year.

For example, out of the 4 games to get us from eight teams down to four, here were the teams' point totals at the end of regulation:

52
62
54
54
60
54
75
72

Not sure I've ever seen a tournament with more final scores in the 50's. And that was the opposite affect that the new rule changes were suppose to have.

Just something I found interesting.

 

[campbest]

Not sure exactly what the reason is, the new rules, an emphasis on defense, pure chance, but there have been A LOT of low scoring games in the tournament this year.

For example, out of the 4 games to get us from eight teams down to four, here were the teams' point totals at the end of regulation:

52
62
54
54
60
54
75
72

Not sure I've ever seen a tournament with more final scores in the 50's. And that was the opposite affect that the new rule changes were suppose to have.

Just something I found interesting.

Not sure what explains this year, but feel like every tournament has decreased scoring than the regular season.

 

[TINY]

The refs are calling a different game than the regular season, IMO. Really pisses me off cuz OU was one of the better adapted teams to the new rules of the game, but the NCAA decides to just flip to script back to the rough and tumble days during the most important part of the season.

 

[campbest]

The refs are calling a different game than the regular season, IMO. Really pisses me off cuz OU was one of the better adapted teams to the new rules of the game, but the NCAA decides to just flip to script back to the rough and tumble days during the most important part of the season.

The general consensus among analysts (see the Gottlieb thread) is that they are calling too many. Not sure where the OU complaint comes from, how many 3's did we shoot? You're not going to get that many FT attempts shooting that many jumpers.

 

[cowboysooner]

Here is my take: It has taken coaches 20 years, but they are figuring out how to deal with the 3 point shot and 35 second clock.

First, you defend from end line to end line (not a "turn you over" press, just a "make you use 8 seconds to get it across half court" press). This gives you only 25-28 seconds to run a half court play.

Second, you play some version of the "pack line" defense, whereby you try and run out on shooters but otherwise "pack it in" so as to prevent dribble penetration with "help". The purpose of this is to turn you into a contested jump shooting team.

Third, on offense, you force teams to defend for 25 seconds and then run a play to get a shot.

In short, you get games where everyone is using the entire 35 seconds for a possession.

This is what it looks like to me anyway.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

...

Third, on offense, you force teams to defend for 25 seconds and then run a play to get a shot.

...

I think there is much truth here. Some of the more successful teams in the tournament (e.g., Wisconsin) deliberately play at a slow pace. Sure, they play good defense, but they slow it down on offense. They have played this way all season and they are good at it.

Big-10 teams were playing in three of the four Elite-8 games. As a whole, the Big-10 plays this style of basketball. Physical defense and deliberate offense. They make it hard for the opponent to successfully run-and-gun on them.

 

[campbest]

Second, you play some version of the "pack line" defense, whereby you try and run out on shooters but otherwise "pack it in" so as to prevent dribble penetration with "help". The purpose of this is to turn you into a contested jump shooting team.

Not a coincidence that the rise in analytics is going on while this scheme is being implemented.

 

[MercedeSooner]

The refs are calling a different game than the regular season, IMO. Really pisses me off cuz OU was one of the better adapted teams to the new rules of the game, but the NCAA decides to just flip to script back to the rough and tumble days during the most important part of the season.

They definitely are allowing more contact but I think it mostly has to do with how teams are dictating the play - if both teams are coming out of the gate playing physical D the refs can try and revert back ala the OSU/Zags game but at a certain point they have to go with the flow of the game correct ?

I think the problem is they have been extremely inconsistent because while teams are dictating the old style of play there are times when the refs are blowing their whistles at times which go against what they have allowed in the game to that point.

 

[thegreyghost]

that UCONN v. michigan St. game was tough to watch with all the free throws and commercials, but at least they had a live crowd