NIT Round 2: Tennessee and MTSU

Stokes never helped on defense when they would drive to the rim. It happened time after time after time. He just stood there like a statue watching them lay it in.

 

He mastered that skill during the Ole Miss game.

 

It wasn't Stokes fault at all on those drives.

 

It's a useless game over Spring Break. When else would they mail it in?

 

It wasn't? I will admit we were getting beat off the dribble but he really didn't help when he easily could have three times in a row down the stretch. Really not sure why a seeing person would argue this.

 

You simply don't understand man to man defense principles. Golden was not forcing the man to his help. The man was breaking down golden from the top of the key, which gives Stonea two options: 1) leave his man who will be totally uncontested for a dish off or a putback; or 2) play in between and hope the guy blows the layup, which is what he did and really all he could do.

 

Cuonzo's first major blemish imho.

 

Cuonzo didn't shoot 20% and have 6 TO's like the combination of McBee/McRae/Tatum and Richardson did.

Cuonzo didn't have anyone to play PG when Golden got injured with 5 to play.

This has to fall on the players.

 

Every man defense I've ever played in had help defense concepts. Admittedly, I played in the [penis] Bennett Pack Line defense in high school where that's the primary focus, but the idea remains in most systems of "help and recover". If Golden is playing defense on an island, then it's a bad defensive system and I doubt that's what's going on.

 

Stokes has never been adept to help defense. A skill, I would doubt, he'd learn in the past week.

 

No, but coaches can call timeouts to manufacture points in tight ball games. It's not a matter of blowing a close lay-up. We're talking continued outside jumpers while a future professional hangs on the lower block. They put in two more buckets or free throws in the last 7:31 and they win it going away.

 

You've got it right, Unimane. But as an on-ball defender, you force your player to the help. That's what Golden was not doing. He was allowing the player to break him down from the top of the key away from his help, which leaves the defense unable to rotate, and essentially we're just [uck fay]ed if that happens.

 

If someone would've offered you a 19-15 season and a loss in the second round of the NIT - at home, no less - in the day that Scottie and Tobias announced, you would've been a fool to have turned it down. A fool.

And you would have been singing Cuonzo's praises for having such an unexpectesly solid first season.

Despite its egregious and innumerous deficiencies at most every position, this team showed vast improvement over the course of the season, and there is little reason to believe that Cuonzo won't continue and accelerate this trajectory next season, and beyond.

I have no damn clue as to how to push someone to the help on defense, but I do know that Cuonzo has thus far made a believer out of me, and I'm infinitely more hopeful of our hoops futures than any other sport at the moment, bar none. And that is not lost on me, despite a stinging loss which we likely could've avoided, but didn't. Nor should it be on anyone else, either, IMO, JMHO.

 

And for the record - just to be absolutely clear, leaving no confusion - I would take any of your schleps to the hole, all day, every day.

Law. Indy. BPV. Hat. JT5. GoodT. And anyone else who would be stupid enough to square up on me.

You'd all be like an Alabama coed on final Jeopardy - unable to even comprehend, much less to answer the question I'm posing.

And it wouldn't matter a good hard damn if any of you had MJ as help, with Russel at the 5 - you'd count that shit every damn time.

Please believe that.

 

I feel like Tenny D just called us negavols. Permabans coming, I fear.

 

not sure what you're talking about. don't have time to read through it. I'm gonna go ahead and say game on.

 

Gentleman, I'm afraid that TOS and TOOS have gone full retard after the loss tonight, and once you go full retard, you never go back.