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BlueDevil

College Bball Thread

By BlueDevil, in Indiana Men's Basketball

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BubbleKnuts    569

BubbleKnuts
Posted
44 minutes ago, Crimson and Cream said:

Hanner plays tomorrow night in his conference's championship game for a chance to go dancing. He really hasn't done any better than he did here. Still laughable when you think about those highlight videos from HS. 

Not as big a laugh as looking back on Jeremy Hollowell. What a gip.

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VeevlandBrowns    134

VeevlandBrowns
Posted

* I think MSU finally found a team that defends ball screens worse than the Spartans: Maryland.

I don't think Maryland is going to last too long in March. That's too big of a hole, their ball screen defense.

Maryland has some offensive juice, but I don't know that they can outscore their ills when it comes to ball screen defense.
 

* As for MSU, their ball screen defense isn't actually that bad. My opening sentence was just for effect.

Ward had some tough moments in ball screen defense vs Maryland. He got beat on a quick slip for a lay-up in the first half, and later did too much of an olé number all the way to the rim vs Trimble, rather than stopping him.

But Ward had a few occasions when he defended the ball screen well. He can do it for stretches. Just needs to stay locked in. And they need to stay on him. It's all constructive.


* Ellis gets two demerits in this game for being late in chasing Trimble around ball screens. Didn't recognize, didn't anticipate, was a half-step late in taking off with him and then became a full step late because he wasn't quick enough in trying to catch up. The second time he made this error, Trimble's 3-pointer gave Maryland its biggest lead at 43-35 with 13:00 left.


* Langford had his usual slumber in the first minute of the second half. Completely missed a switch with Bridges, and his man was left wide open for a 3-pointer. MSU was "switching four" throughout the game, meaning that Bridges was switching with anyone who screened him. That meant a point guard might have to guard a power forward for a few seconds. That meant if a three screened for a four, then Langford had to switch onto that four. He didn't do it. Justin Jackson nailed a 3-pointer. First possession of the second half. That was part of why Langford only played 15 minutes in this game - although it seemed like he played more than that. 

* MSU became more of a screen-roll team in this game, and with effectiveness. A few times, they did it from the right sideline, which was a change for MSU. MSU is usually a left side ball screen team. They did it from the right and created some offense over there (including a pick-and-pop action for Bridges which Bridges turned into a driving lay-up which tied the score at 5-5. And a quick-hitting screen-slip to Ward for a dunk which cut Maryland's lead to 58-55 with 4:30 left. And one time Winston ran it for a step-back 3-pointer to give MSU a 28-25 lead. There were a few other times, but those two stand out).

* There were more new wrinkles, or new layers off of standard plays. Moving some side ball screen to the right was one example. 

More of the offense went through Bridges in different ways in this game. 

* As for other new stuff, for the first time in ages, MSU didn't run a double down screen or stagger down screen for a wing shooter after winning the opening tip. Instead, MSU ran a sideline triangle play with a couple of back cuts. But the play didn't go anywhere because Ward didn't know where to go. That's why Ward was yanked :55 seconds into the game.

* As for other new wrinkles, Izzo mentioned they used Bridges as a decoy a couple of times. 

+ One of those plays came on the first possession of the second half. MSU showed a new look with Bridges and Ward setting up in the mid post, which was strange. Then Bridges ran out to the right wing to set a ball screen. While Bridges was running out there, Langford fed Ward in the post deep for a short hook shot. Defense wasn't expecting the entry pass to come at that moment. This was a change-of-rhythm to an offensive set and it worked great. 

+ The other time was after a time out, MSU set up a sideline triangle to the right, with Bridges running out there to form the triangle. While he was running out to form the triangle, boom, the entry pass went inside from Winston to Ward, deep for a point-blank lay-up. Maryland got caught watching the paint dry.

Good passing and structure for MSU in this game, and it netted a season-low in turnovers. MSU was less of a guard-shooting team than any time all year. But MSU's FG percentage inexplicably suffered. No player on the team shot above 50 percent in this game. 

* Overall, MSU did some slightly different things with their base high screen roll/replace rescreen/roll replace stuff. For instance, rather than rescreen/re-roll, they left Bridges out high a couple of times from the beginning. Rather than send him from block to the top as the replace man, he was already at the top, almost like a Draymond Green thing when Day Day used to play the four. Bridges made a 3-pointer and missed one with that structure. 

And MSU did more straight pick-and-pop stuff for Bridges. Just Isiah/Laimbeer pick-and-pop, quick-trigger 3. Bridges made a 3 that way, working the pick-and-pop with Ellis. 

I think MSU could find some smart simplicity with some of this stuff, especially as these players continue to get to know each other better. Winston and Ward are starting to get more of a feel for one another on those screen/rolls, either as a quick-hitter or an elongated read. Ward knows to keep working and twisting and showing his hands and if he comes open, Winston will find him.

Ellis played 36 minutes and looked for his shot less (only five attempts). McQuaid played 27 minutes and only had two shots. This resulted in more shots for Ward and Bridges, and more right-of-refusal for Bridges. This is MSU's best path, in my opinion.

* As well as MSU rebounded, they got beat on four or five expensive failed box-outs, allowing second-chance points. 

Ward and Bridges were beaten for a pair of back-to-back offensive put-backs early in the second half. 

Ellis was beaten for a colossal one at the end of the game. And Ellis was beaten for a range offensive rebound midway through the game. He looked and found his man but didn't go put a body on him and instead went to the rim, and the rebound bounced over his head and to his man.  

Come to think of it, I'm a little surprised that Langford didn't get more of Ellis' minutes in this game. Both had their errors.

HoosierAloha and ALASKA HOOSIER reacted to this

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Class of '66 Old Fart    84,914

Class of '66 Old Fart
Posted
2 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

No Indiana players on all B1G 1st or 2nd team.

In Believe it or not news, no Indiana players on all B1G defense team.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Surely you jest.  Playing an early April Fool on us Wayne?   It's sad, but an honest assessment of how badly our team played this year.

hsrtxp and WayneFleekHoosier reacted to this

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Brass Cannon    24,862

Brass Cannon
Posted
24 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

No Indiana players on all B1G 1st or 2nd team.

In Believe it or not news, no Indiana players on all B1G defense team.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Which is why Bryant needs to stay not good enough to make those teams but thinks he will get drafted please. 

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