I wonder if Juwan is forced to bench Smith in favor of an Eli-Chaunde-Wagner-Livers-Hunter lineup.
I don’t actually think Smith was that bad on defense because he moved his feet well and he was strong - he just didn’t have the elevation or wing-span to contest shots.
This is fun…
Putting smith on Stauskas would be fine. He did other things but freshman Stauskas wasn’t gonna terrorize a shorter defender
Even with tournament Mitch, we were still overwhelmed in the frontcourt against Louisville (they rebounded almost 50% of their misses against us). Most people remember the Burke “foul” as the real killer in the second half but forget about Chane Behanan grabbing like 5 offensive rebounds over two critical possessions down the stretch.
As much as I loved the 2013 team, there were some serious defensive flaws with that team. Also Morgan was essentially the third string big by the time the tournament rolled around so I don’t know why people are including him in this comparison as a key rotation piece.
Who Smith guards is the trouble spot for the 2021 team. You could tell him to basically stay on Stauskas at the 3 point line but that might be playing with fire even though freshman Stauskas outside of the Florida game was kind of a non-factor (to the point that a chunk of his minutes were going to LeVert and Spike in the final four).
Finally, this is all moot if we’re including saying Livers is injured in this scenario. If not, I give it to 2021.
Freshman Stauskas was still a 44% 3pt shooter and operated out of the pick and roll a little bit. He had 8-9 inches on Mike Smith and could rise up and shoot on him no problem. Even though he wasn’t the version that he would become as a sophomore when it was his team I think he still would’ve given Smith all kinds of problems.
Pick and roll defense is a 2 man game. The 2013 wasn’t going to spam Stauskas PnR to death even if he did do it some
Okay so a two man game with Stauskas and McGary vs Smith and Dickinson with 3 guys who can shoot spacing the floor…. Yikes.
People underestimate what Stauskas was his freshman season. He is often mistakenly regarded as a guy who just stood in the corner and shot 3s.
Are you telling me he was not just a shooter?
I didn’t say he was a stand in corner guy. Like I said, they would go to it but they’re not gonna build a game plan around it. The main offense is gonna be Trey PnR
Sure, the NPOY operating out of the pick and roll and a guy with an enormous mismatch who was extremely efficient as a secondary option. I like 2013 chances.
Not saying it’s a big mismatch and the series probably goes 6-7 games, but in the end I’d take the team with more shot makers and higher end talent. Thinking of it like an NBA playoff series, give me the best player on the court more times than not. Bonus if the best player on the court is also surrounded by 3 players who would later become first round NBA draft picks and a 4th who was a second rounder.
2019 would beat both teams
I can’t see it going well for 2021. Probably 5 games, 6 tops.
That’s a good reminder of how talented that 2013 team was, even if their defense stunk and offensive efficiency has come a long way since then:
Meanwhile, the 2021 team:
IIRC Stauskas became more JAS in conference play when the competition stiffened. He could be hounded with the ball in his hands, esp in OOB scenarios. His sophmore leap was just massive.
god, that game sucked
which game?
the very last one for that team
2019 would get wrecked by both teams.
The 2018-19 team remains fascinating to me. What a collection of talent (and personalities) that never fully clicked. And Belein’s last year. Would love a tell-all behind the scenes retrospective of that team one day.
Never fully clicked? They started 17-0. Beta a 1 seed and the reigning champ by like 50 combined points