| 08 February 2010
Hello Followers.
Hope you all had a great superbowl weekend.
Some of you in comments today asked for our takes on Saturday's masterful 18 point victory over Arizona.
Because we aim to please, here are a few thoughts.
Read on.
Indeed, the myriad sets that we threw at Zona when they were in man to man was a site to behold--a true basketball lovers delight. And clearly, any team that wants to throw a man-to-man at us the rest of the way is going to face some serious problems.
Now onto a few takes and takeaways.
1) Line-up/Rotation pattern. A few weeks ago, I gave you all a line up that most of you hated. In the comments, I tried to emphasize that what I was getting at was a "structure." At the heart of that "structure" were a few simple premises: (1) Klay and Moore were suffering because of Marcus Capers' lack of a perimeter game; (2) We were getting killed at the 4 spot, in large part because we have been playing "3's" at the four position.
Well, on Saturday, we saw a heavy dose of Sutra's desired structure. Thanks to an Abe step throat, we saw Motum--who is a 4 even if in he's currently a finesse version of a finesse-laden Cowgill--playing the 4 spot along side Casto. Seems to me that worked pretty darn well for us.
Then, we also saw Xavier Thames play considerable minutes in lieu of Capers. Whether X played with Nik at the 4 or Brock at the 4, that group was an absolute nightmare to contain. Those who saw the game saw all of the countless baseline opportunities that were created when we had three guys on the perimeter that can both shoot and take the ball of the dribble (X, Klay, and Moore). When you add all of Bones' high picks and side screens to that mix, you had a pretty special offensive group on the floor.
1a) Minute Distribution. In my proposed lineup "structure", I encouraged Bone to rest Klay during the 15-10 minute mark of the second half. I had encouraged that change because I was concerned that our flatness during the 10-5 minute mark could be traced to two sources (a) Klay being out of the game for considerable portions of that stretch or (b) Klay being gassed during that stretch because he hadn't received a second half blow.
Well, on Saturday, Klay got a blow in that 15-10 minute left stretch. The result: we stayed pretty fresh from the 10-5 minute mark of the second half. Although we finished that 5 minute stretch -2, we came out of it in really good shape ( up 8--meaning no second half collapse).
And that was really key. Because in the last five minutes of the game, we went +10. Let me state that again: PLUS TEN. And yes, the line-up of Moore, Klay, X, Nik, and Casto at the end of the game was a part of the proposed "structure" I gave a few weeks back.
2) Casto, Casto, Casto. To be sure, Casto's play and leadership was something to behold on Saturday. But equally as important as his play were the conditions that enabled him to play that way. When guys are a threat on the perimeter, the defense has to extend. When it does and guys beat the other team off the dribble, the interior guys have to help. And when that happens, Casto has space to move around the basket. Obviously, Casto took advantage of that space in spades. In addition, he's added about 2 feet of arc to his free throws--which look suddenly soft. A VERY nice sign.
3) Defense. Longball foreshadowed the improved effort that we saw on Saturday in his post following the ASU game. Clearly, we improved our ability to play man with discipline on Saturday, and we also got much better at making our rotations when we were playing zone.
But, it is also important to point out how much our offense influences our defense. When teams zone against us--and when we are forced to take and miss long range shots--opposing teams get out in transition against us which really hinders our ability to get set. And when that happens, we pay--especially on the glass.
However, when we're making shots, our defense gets set and that really makes a difference in our effectiveness.
One new wrinkle that I really liked was the "42 defense" (e.g. the 2-2-1 zone press) that we showed on and off after making baskets. That defense, which falls back into a zone, is a nice disruptor and change from our base man-to-man set. We used that wrinkle well against the U when we were making shots--expect to see it a lot the rest of the way.
Moving Forward
As we saw with Charlie, it is awfully tempting to take one good performance and declare that a new savior has been born.
But if I'm Bone, I'm not playing Abe next weekend. Instead, I'm starting Nik and inserting Motum into the game when Nik needs a blow.
Toward the same end, while I would not take Capers out of the starting line-up, I'm replacing him with Thames as soon as I see the other team playing zone.
And this is the real lead folks: Our kids are ONE step away from becoming really dangerous. If our boys can figure out how to score against a 2-3 zone defense with any consistency, then we will become a real threat to win the conference tournament, if not the conference.
And just think, Klay still hasn't completely broken out of his slump.
If he does this weekend, the following week could be a real barn burner.
Have a great week.
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