The State of IU's Defense

[Stuhoo]

Change is good...when we used to suck. And I truly believe that on defense, to a certain extent, things have changed. My take on our nine rotation players:

 

Already 'plus defenders'

OG

Juwan

Rojo

 

Becoming plus defenders

TB 

Yogi

 

Holding steady, and good enough

Max

 

Not, or never will be, a plus defender

Nick

Collin

Troy

 

With Rojo playing more minutes in JBJ's absence, and OG and Juwan playing more minutes because they are playing really, really well...

Our defense is getting to be far better than a month ago.

[bleedhoosier]

Im in..

[Yogi'sBicep]

I say Collin can hold his own. Paired with Max.

[Miller'sTheMan]

Yeah I really don't think Collin is a poor defender, can hold his own like Max. The big difference is OG/Morgan are playing more minutes and guys like Yogi/TB who were negative defenders are starting to move up into the good/hold your own region. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

I love Hartman as a hardnosed team player but he just doesn't seem to have the lateral quickness to keep his man from driving around him.

[USMCHoosier]

I don't think RJ is a plus defender. He has his moments though. I also think Hartman is a good enough defender. The good and bad is that our best defenders may be our freshmen. Sad statement for the upper classmen but a real positive for the future.

[HoosierAloha]

I love Hartman as a hardnosed team player but he just doesn't seem to have the lateral quickness to keep his man from driving around him.

 

Hartman played good defense on Shields of Nebraska.  Yes, he got in foul trouble but Hartman forced bad shots and played good position defense on Shields.  Hartman seems to be the bailout foul guy for this team.

[jmsgws]

One game does not demonstrate a change to me.  If we can go three or four then I will believe it.  Yes the defense was much better last night, but the long term trend is something different. 

Sorry to put a drag on an otherwise positive post.  I just am not convinced the state of our defense is any different this morning than it was Tuesday morning.

[Uspshoosier]

One thing that defense performance did against wisky was move IU to 94th in defensive efficiency. Those numbers change daily so chances are it will be triple digits sometime soon ( some other notable numbers for defensive efficiency notre dame-196, butler-187, Purdue-1)

[triple]

One game does not demonstrate a change to me.  If we can go three or four then I will believe it.  Yes the defense was much better last night, but the long term trend is something different. 

Sorry to put a drag on an otherwise positive post.  I just am not convinced the state of our defense is any different this morning that it was Tuesday morning.

 

I concur.  I was certainly encouraged by our D last night within the context of the game. But that was not a typical game in terms of of pace...it's a lot easier to stay in front of a guy when he's intentionally not trying to drive on you.

[rebelhoosier848891]

I agree with your analysis Stuhoo except I would move Collin up with Max to the "holding steady and good enough" category. IMO Collin does a lot of little/good things on defense with smarts and effort that make up for his lack of quickness. I will say I am basing my analysis of Collin on his entire body of work, including last year where in my opinion he played a little better then he has so far this year.

 

So far--the freshmen are generally fundamentally solid on defense.

[GloryDays]

Hartman played good defense on Shields of Nebraska.  Yes, he got in foul trouble but Hartman forced bad shots and played good position defense on Shields.  Hartman seems to be the bailout foul guy for this team.

 It seems like Collin gets caught being the last line of defense,kind of like a hockey goalie at the net.

That's more times than not a result of the guards not stopping penetration or the other two bigs jumping the passing lanes and losing position.I think its more a lack of fundamental defensive principles than the last guy standing being a poor defender.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

It seems like Collin gets caught being the last line of defense,kind of like a hockey goalie at the net.
That's more times than not a result of the guards not stopping penetration or the other two bigs jumping the passing lanes and losing position.I think its more a lack of fundamental defensive principles than the last guy standing being a poor defender.

Troy Williams knee says hello.

[Str8Hoosiers]

By looking at this analysis we should have a really good defense and while maybe it looked that way this week I am not sure if that is the case. There is something to be said for TEAM defense... if every individual is good I guess that could mean a great team defense but as others have said if 1 person is out of position that really hampers the next guy.... I also still don't see the bad defense attributed to NZ3?

 

I just happened to look at Kenpom before coming here and was going to mention it somewhere, what a perfect place to mention it... we are now in the top 100 (90th) in defense, along with top 20 (17th) on offense, and KenPom has us rated as the 25th best team.

[MikeRoberts]

By looking at this analysis we should have a really good defense and while maybe it looked that way this week I am not sure if that is the case. There is something to be said for TEAM defense... if every individual is good I guess that could mean a great team defense but as others have said if 1 person is out of position that really hampers the next guy.... I also still don't see the bad defense attributed to NZ3?

I just happened to look at Kenpom before coming here and was going to mention it somewhere, what a perfect place to mention it... we are now in the top 100 (90th) in defense, along with top 20 (17th) on offense, and KenPom has us rated as the 25th best team.

JBJ and NZ are by far the two biggest defensive liabilities on the team

[biteoftheapple]

JBJ and NZ are by far the two biggest defensive liabilities on the team

This I agree. But without Z hitting shots he adds nothing. JBJ always demanded attention on offense, thus giving more open court possibilities.

[Str8Hoosiers]

JBJ and NZ are by far the two biggest defensive liabilities on the team

I agree with JBJ 100%.... I have watched every game and have re-watched many of them specifically looking at defensive sets... and I see NZ putting in effort and being in the right position... He does get beat on the dribble due to his lack of speed however he stays close, he doesn't just give up and watch them get all the way to the rim.

 

This I agree. But without Z hitting shots he adds nothing. JBJ always demanded attention on offense, thus giving more open court possibilities.

NZ gets a lot of attention, even after missing a lot of shots lately he is rarely ever left alone to spot up, the defensive player is obviously told not to help off of him. That is demanding attention and opening up the court even if his shots aren't falling.

[BGleas]

This is all about personnel IMO. When you have a lineup of Yogi, JBJ, RoJo, TW, Bryant, you have two BIG minus defenders in JBJ and Troy, then you have two average defenders in Yogi/Bryant, and one above average in RoJo. 

 

When you have two terrible defenders in a lineup of five it brings everyone else down at least a notch. With JBJ out, we've replaced his defense with Hartman (average) and OG/Morgan (appear to be above average), it changes the dynamic of everything. Now they really only have to cover to TW, and let's be real he's a bad defender, but JBJ is horrendous. Troy's gambles aren't as costly now, because everyone else is in position behind him. 

 

Take the names out of it, you just can't have two terrible defenders in the lineup, you can probably cover for one, but not two. It's a huge trickle down effect. 

[Alford Bailey]

 It seems like Collin gets caught being the last line of defense,kind of like a hockey goalie at the net.

That's more times than not a result of the guards not stopping penetration or the other two bigs jumping the passing lanes and losing position.I think its more a lack of fundamental defensive principles than the last guy standing being a poor defender.

Seems to be the only one who comes running when our guards and Troy yell HELP!

[hoosierpap]

Mike Miller @MikeMillerHT
Ferrell: "We're realizing how important it is for us to play defense."

 

Okay, definitely strange they're just realizing this now, but aside from that...good.