Coaches...how can IU play better defense? Please read and please answer.

[IUfanINsandiego]

Look, for all my negativity towards CTC, I'm trying to stay positive. This team can really be fun to watch. I like watching them fly up the court...and when they move the ball from side to side, limit turnovers, and knock down the threes, it's like...WOW, this is how basketball should be played! But when we are stifled by teams like MIchigan State, you think...we just CAN'T win in the B1G against teams like Michigan State or Purdue (Big bodies, aggressive, physical) playing small ball. But we don't have a choice...sooo, how can we improve the defense??

Shouldn't Troy Williams be a defensive stud? I mean, if we are going to compare him to Scottie Pippen and Shawn Marion and whoever else, then Troy simply HAS to defend better. Shouldn't JBJ be a defensive nightmare for opposing guards? He's 6'3" and athletic (if you don't think so, watch his head on a breakaway dunk...it's not far from the rim) so why isn't he "getting into" opposing guards and making the miserable. Yogi can really get after guys...we saw him do it last year against Stauskas. Stan should be able to make opposing guards miserable. Now, I will give you that our "big" men are simply overmatched inside and do the best they can, but why can't our guards give the opposing team "40 minutes of hell?" Is it simply not enough effort? We need JUNKYARD DOGS and PIT BULLS out there! We need tough SOB's! Do we need a defensive coach or a motivational speaker or what!!????

Is there a real answer from a coach's perspective??

 

[BigNutsIUFan]

I'm not a coach but I was a defensive specialist

In high school. Part of it is strategy and part of it is effort in moving your feet on drives and help side defense. Of course strategy could change depending on the personnel. If the team is full of shooters than you have to close out on your man and guard them closely. If they are not great shooters or they haven't shown they can hit then u sag off and stop the drive. With purdue they should have majorly sagged and made them shoot outside. Purdue was able drive in the lane at will. I think they should be spending most of their time on defensive drills going over a defense game plan and even breaking down tape of all their miscues on defense. I thought our D on Rutgers was great the last 6 minutes. We need that effort for 40 minutes though
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[BigNutsIUFan]

Stop dribble penetration and play good position

Defense would solve a lot of our problems. For some reason I just don't think it's that easy though. I think Crean or even Yogi needs to get into these guys faces and start demanding them to play better defense
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Hoosier North]

Re: Stop dribble penetration and play good position

You can't just make somebody play better defense, just like you can't just make someone a better shooter. There is no excuse for players reaching instead of moving their feet to get position. It's obvious most of these players have not been taught to play D. Intensity is a must, but you have to learn how to read your opponent, understand ball, basket, angles, etc. Our kids are not being taught the game and it's because most coaches I see at the lower levels don't know the game let alone how to teach it. I'm a 30 year science teacher and ex varsity girls and boys basketball coach. I see the same thing in the science class, our kids are being "taught" by teachers, coaches that have no real knowledge of the subject.

 

[IUBBALLAWOL]

Anyone can play defense. It is all about effort and desire. TC has never shown a desire himself to hold guys accountable for lazy lack of effort defense. As long as it is tolerated from the top down it won't change. This team can not wait to attack the rim and shoot threes on offense and simply have not shown the desire to play both ends of the floor. The only exception is Yogi. His effort is just way ahead of the rest of the team so far. JBJr,Williams and Johnson need to show the same effort Yogi does or ride the bench. Fife and Coverdale were great defenders and were no where near the athletic specimens these current guys are. IT IS ALL ABOUT EFFORT.

 

[IULDY]

Get the coaches who can/will motivate the team 4 every game the way RMK use to....

 

[IU Scott]

Put more pressure on the ball

Need to make it harder for the teams to get into there offense an do this my applying more on the ball pressure and picking up the ball at half court. i would also like to see use more of the full court press but the one time we did that against Rutgers we were burned by it.

 

[IUfanINsandiego]

Great perspective.

I wish more people had chimed in, but maybe there aren't many real experts on this board.

 

[Hoosier North]

Re: Great perspective.

Ha, I'm sure not an expert, just experienced and opinionated .

 

[iubhounds]

"Reaching instead of moving their feet"

I wonder if "reaching" on D is from emphasizing DEFLECTIONS in stats and talked about in interviews....you can make a deflection with your hands by reaching but almost impossible by moving your feet on D.

I wonder if Yogi's kick on D yesterday was counted as a deflection.

 

[Al Bino]

Sounds good but we can't stop dribble penetration the way it is.

Wouldn't picking up at half court just magnify the problem.

In regards to the press, no thanks, to be good it takes dedication to teaching it, learning it and applying it.

 

[fromtheburchs]

From my POV, the reason IU can not stop penetration is because...

The offensive player with e ball get a full head of steaming at the defender. putting the defender on his heels and back pedaling. To stop penetration you have to get up into them to slow them down.

 

[St_Henry_Buckeye]

Crean apparently does not value good defense

That or he just is not capable of demanding his players play it. It is not rocket science and other coaches seem to be able to stress it. Why Crean cannot or does not is beyond me.

 

[legsdiamond]

Make better decisions in transition offense. And half court offense, too

I haven't seen that many games this year, but three that i've seen were Georgetown, Michigan State, and Purdue. All three are prime examples of Indiana making poor decisions in transition offense, not getting things going toward the rim and working inside out off of reversal, and when nothing is there, then getting set up, slowed down, screening (does IU screen?) and working to get a good shot, perhaps one where they can exploit a match-up advantage. Which is yet another thing IU does not do on offense.

IU takes FAR too many off-balance shots, rushed shots, quick threes, and lacks patience and discipline. As a result, teams like Georgetown and Purdue, who don't emphasize transition offense nearly to the degree that Indiana does, they then FEAST on only having to get back in transition and stop the dribble drive, get long rebounds and can flow in to a quicker tempo and work out of transition better than IU does generally speaking from simply being more disciplined in their approach to it.

Many of IU's defensive issues come from poor transition defense. Which flows from bad decision making in transition offense.

 

[VanPastorMan]

We need to have help defense down low. With our guards who are fast, they

should be able to help out on bigs and still get back to their man up top. In fact I don't think we need to play zone if we can just have some fundamental principles of help defense.

 

[Hoosier North]

Re: "Reaching instead of moving their feet"

"Reaching" as in reaching into your man to stop movement. Of course you reach for deflections, I didn't think that needed an explanation, but!