Defensive strategy for upcoming season

[Iufan2324]

Let's see if any of you could have been coaches. What would be your strategy for this upcoming season? In my thinking a full court press wouldn't work because we simply aren't deep enough. Thomas being a freshman would commit a lot more fouls. And we have about 10 rotation players MAYBE. And we won't have 10 during the big10 season. I would try just a grind it out half court pressure defense. Daring the other team to out shoot us. Who in the country would even come close to out shooting us? Excited to see your guys other views

[KelleyHoosh]

I'd like to start with a defense that moves its feet and puts its hands up

[Old Friend]

Let's see if any of you could have been coaches. What would be your strategy for this upcoming season? In my thinking a full court press wouldn't work because we simply aren't deep enough. Thomas being a freshman would commit a lot more fouls. And we have about 10 rotation players MAYBE. And we won't have 10 during the big10 season. I would try just a grind it out half court pressure defense. Daring the other team to out shoot us. Who in the country would even come close to out shooting us? Excited to see your guys other views

I don't think we have enough on-ball defenders capable of taking away penetration in the half court to make teams "out shoot" us, and we certainly don't have the depth in the front court to prevent teams from rebounding their misses on a relatively frequent basis (in a shooting contest with lots of long rebounds).  Our teams have been very mediocre (stat wise) relative to giving up offensive rebounds.

 

One advantage we do have is speed, and teams will have a difficult time matching up with that on a nightly basis, so I would bet we'll have more chances to play straight up man than we did even a year ago.  What I don't want to see is Crean making inner-possession changes..man, then zone, then man in the same possession.  That got us way out of position a year ago.

 

While I agree with the depth point, I still think we need to press when we can.  Williams' versatility helps us in that regard because he can play on the ball and use his length, or play back and utilize his anticipation and ability to handle the ball 94 feet.  I'd like to see Indiana get really good at either man or some zone (I like a 1-2-2 with fast, athletic teams), and I do not want to see them try something new every game.   I want Indiana to do what Indiana does well, not worry about what other teams do as much as we seem to.  We've got more weapons than most teams; so I think we need to make teams match US; which means less is more on the defensive end.   Whatever defense we rebound out of the best and whichever one takes away or cuts off penetration the best.   That's the one I want...and I don't have that answer because I haven't seen them yet; but that defense exists.   Crean just needs to stay with it.

[IU Bud]

Let's see if any of you could have been coaches. What would be your strategy for this upcoming season? In my thinking a full court press wouldn't work because we simply aren't deep enough. Thomas being a freshman would commit a lot more fouls. And we have about 10 rotation players MAYBE. And we won't have 10 during the big10 season. I would try just a grind it out half court pressure defense. Daring the other team to out shoot us. Who in the country would even come close to out shooting us? Excited to see your guys other views

We don't have to press. Half court traps are effective, but the way we played team defense last year doesn't give me a lot of hope we could trap and still defend.

We just need to be aggressive and stop reacting and start anticipating what the other team is doing. We were so unaware last year of what the other team was trying to do. Eastern Washington drove to the basket all night and Hanner hid behind their post player and watched. I was never so frustrated with a player.

[Bryan Medema]

In short, my strategy is to not allow the other team to score points very often. (If this suffices, stop reading and start liking).

 

I would love to see us get to the point of running a half-cour or 3/4 court press/trap scheme eventually, but, initially, I think that's just unrealistic. Part of the issue revolves around Bryant's inexperience (which will work itself out over the course the season) and the way we play offense.

 

To address the first part, to run an effective press/trap scheme we have to trade high pressure for the risk of interior penetration (or open shooters, but that's harder to remedy). If/When Bryant proves he can handle opponents getting free runs at the rim in an effective manner (notably by not fouling) we will be free to run higher pressure defenses.

 

The second issue revolves around the high risk of fatigue. One of the best measures for effective jump shooting is energy output/minutes played (someone did a study on this that I'll have to find). It makes tremendous sense- The more tired you are, the less likely you are to hit a jump shot. Our team's reliance on the outside shot could be severely handicapped by the energy exertion of a high-pressure defense. The hope would be that we efficiently cause turnovers and convert them into easy points on the other end. That said, I don't think it would be wise to do this until we can prove that Yogi/Troy/JBJ/Rojo can ALL effectively attack the basket and not rely on jump-shots to score points (this has the added bonus of drawing fouls and reducing our opponents ability to rest).

 

As the season progresses, I would like to see us transition towards a higher pressing defensive style, under the condition we have developed multiple means of scoring that play better into our inevitably exhausting style and we establish efficient rim protection by our various freshman (notably Bryant) and Biefeldt. To start the year I would at least like to see us play a high pressure man-to-man and start creeping up the start point as we edge closer to B1G play. Regardless, I think we have the opportunity to really improve on defense this year. 
 

[Brass Cannon]

Our strategy is going to depend on how much work our guys have done on their defense. JBJ for example.

[JSHoosier]

Thinking back to how atrocious we were on that end last year, start by taking it back to basketball 101 and "defense for dummies".  Start by drilling them with defensives stance and moving their feet and keeping their hands up and keeping their head on a swivel and "ball-you-man" until they're sick of it, then keep drilling them with it.

 

We were so far beyond atrocious on even basic defensive fundamentals that showed no improvement over the year that I can't even fathom getting more complex until these kids can execute these their sleep.  You know what, we should probably stick to staying awake this season since last season defense meant nap time.

[Ryno6284]

Will the shortened shot clock hurt or help our defense?  Maybe we should press, to burn a little extra clock, and try to keep them uncomfortable so they can't set up as much to burn us on easy buckets?

[biteoftheapple]

I do agree. But, over the years, CTC has not used a press, except specific occasions. So, I do not expect it to be utilized any more this season.

[ALASKA HOOSIER]

ughhhh. the weave

[rebelhoosier848891]

Good points. We will be able to outscore many teams this year---but DEFENSE will determine whether we are just very good--- or great.  I expect the freshman to sophomore jump and expect to see improved defense from RJ and JBJ---as well as from the rest of the team.  I hope TB stays healthy so he can get the defense down as that is going to be a key for him to help us ---and stay out of foul trouble.  I like what I am hearing about him wanting to learn his positioning and asking a lot of questions.  I hope Max and the coaches get him ready. If our guards are ready to make the defensive jump---I am all for picking the other teams up earlier and pressuring more.  Go Hoosiers!