Well when your team has been one of the worst defensive teams in power conference basketball the past couple of years, it might be time to start looking at what you're doing on that end of the court.
I think a head coach needs to be comfortable with his staff and not afraid to hire people smarter than you. You shouldn’t be afraid to hire a coach that can bring a different set of eyes or philosophy if it can help your team.
While I agree with your final points, I’m not sure the foundation you laid was sound. Sure as a manager, you need to be able to trust your employees and lean on their skills, but leadership has to decide the direction. So new input or not, I don’t know that you’re going to change JB at this point.
And BTW, those worst defensive teams were also some of the best offensive teams. I guess it comes down to preference. Would you rather be Louisville that plays a great pressing defense but can’t score OR let’s say Duke who can score on anyone but are actually a pretty poor defensive team?
Now that said, YES I do feel UM could be more aggressive defensively and on the boards. I like MattD, feel like that starts with better athletes on the floor. But, I do enjoy watching a well orchestrated offense, and most of the time, I get that from JB.
I guess my distinction to LS2’s post would be this - if you play an agressive defense that generates TOs it will most likely result in instant offense…transition buckets. All that to say, I think you may enjoy a well orchestrated half court offense as opposed to a good offense in general?
Well when your team has been one of the worst defensive teams in power conference basketball the past couple of years, it might be time to start looking at what you're doing on that end of the court.
I think a head coach needs to be comfortable with his staff and not afraid to hire people smarter than you. You shouldn’t be afraid to hire a coach that can bring a different set of eyes or philosophy if it can help your team.
While I agree with your final points, I’m not sure the foundation you laid was sound. Sure as a manager, you need to be able to trust your employees and lean on their skills, but leadership has to decide the direction. So new input or not, I don’t know that you’re going to change JB at this point.
And BTW, those worst defensive teams were also some of the best offensive teams. I guess it comes down to preference. Would you rather be Louisville that plays a great pressing defense but can’t score OR let’s say Duke who can score on anyone but are actually a pretty poor defensive team?
Now that said, YES I do feel UM could be more aggressive defensively and on the boards. I like MattD, feel like that starts with better athletes on the floor. But, I do enjoy watching a well orchestrated offense, and most of the time, I get that from JB.
I would agree with you that you’re aren’t likely to change Beilein and maybe that’s the biggest frustration. Yes the worst defensive teams were some of the best offensive teams but I might disagree with you on the Louisville model. I agree they have terrific athletes and quickness but Pitino has gotten them to play at a high level on both ends, especially when they have made some runs recently,not including this one but he still has them playing basketball. At the end of the day there are many styles you can play but it’s hard to survive if you’re very poor defensively.
Louisville
2015
74 offense 5 defense
2014
15 offense 4 defense
2013
4 offense 3 defense
2012
116 offense 1 defense
2011
55 offense 3 defense
2010
23 offense 98 defense
They certainly don’t run great offense but the last 5 years I don’t think it’s in dispute they’re a terrific defensive team. I guess I am surprised sometimes at how good a Beilein offense can be but how poor their defense can be. Like you said though some of it is athleticism, I have no doubt some of it is lack of size. This year they were running with Walton and Albrecht in the backcourt for much of it which is extremely undersized. Doyle is listed at 6’10 but he looks smaller than that, Bielfeldt listed as 6’8 I wouldn’t believe that either. The most true heights are probably Irvin, Levert.
Nope, I don’t share that distinction. I think a great transition offense is equally impressive, but what happens when you play a team that doesn’t let you run? Then what? If your entire offense is predicated on instant offense but that isn’t present what do you have left? What happens when you face a team like Michigan offensively that doesn’t turn the ball over? Can you score in the half court?
I think you need to be able to do both. That is unless you have a transcendentally great one on one player and you ware willing to put up with a lot of his forced shots. Or you take the Kentucky model and just through it at the rim and crash the boards. Both can be effective, it is just a preference thing.
As I referenced in response to LS2…I think most people here prefer the cosmetics of a half court offense as opposed to actual production. In terms of fluidity, UK’s offense certainly isn’t a thing of beauty, but they are #6 in the country according to Kenpom offensive efficiency. Would people here say UM had a better offense down the stretch in relation to UK? Point is, I don’t give a damn how it looks, as long as the offense produces points. Whether it comes in the half court or off transition buckets created off TOs makes no difference to me. Bottom line for me is that a great defense makes life a hell of a lot easier on offense because you can score against a defense in which you have a numbers advantage.
Kind of unrelated to this post, but I’d be interested in whether teams that run more often end up with better offenses (per possession). Might try to combine some Synergy numbers and KenPom numbers see how they work out.
Michigan had one of the best transition offenses in the country the last 2 yrs (not this year), but that efficiency was obviously driven by running selectively.
The idea that a good defense forces turnovers is another whole debate. For every over-aggressive Louisville or WVU defense there’s a Virginia or Arizona pack line defensive approach that doesn’t rely on forcing turnovers.
I’m not a rankings guy, but I am a natural talent (as opposed to development) guy, and there is some correlation to rankings/natural. That being said, this is a big part of the reason that I want a youth movement in the coaching staff.
Of the 80 starters on Sweet 16 teams, 42 were ranked as top 100 prospects by Scout coming out of HS. 2 others were 4 stars & 21 three stars.
I remember Saddi Washington out of Oakland was the third finalist and the one left out of the two vacancies when Beilein blew up the coaching staff in 2010. Would he be a replacement candidate for Meyer if he left? I’m not exactly sure what positions he coaches or what kind of recruiter he is though.
As I referenced in response to LS2............I think most people here prefer the cosmetics of a half court offense as opposed to actual production. In terms of fluidity, UK's offense certainly isn't a thing of beauty, but they are #6 in the country according to Kenpom offensive efficiency. Would people here say UM had a better offense down the stretch in relation to UK? Point is, I don't give a damn how it looks, as long as the offense produces points. Whether it comes in the half court or off transition buckets created off TOs makes no difference to me. Bottom line for me is that a great defense makes life a hell of a lot easier on offense because you can score against a defense in which you have a numbers advantage.
Agreed with your post. Often a great defense can lead to better offense and fastbreak opportunities. Wisconsin has found a way to be a great offensive basketball team but also be competent defensively.
As I referenced in response to LS2............I think most people here prefer the cosmetics of a half court offense as opposed to actual production. In terms of fluidity, UK's offense certainly isn't a thing of beauty, but they are #6 in the country according to Kenpom offensive efficiency. Would people here say UM had a better offense down the stretch in relation to UK? Point is, I don't give a damn how it looks, as long as the offense produces points. Whether it comes in the half court or off transition buckets created off TOs makes no difference to me. Bottom line for me is that a great defense makes life a hell of a lot easier on offense because you can score against a defense in which you have a numbers advantage.
Gotta say you cherry picked that one MattD. There are 5 top 10 defenses listed among the 40 top offenses according to KenPom, 7 in the Top 80. And if you discount the slow paced ‘pack line’ ones (UVa (O-25, D-2, Tempo-349) and Utah (O-16, D-7, Tempo-332) you’re down to 3. (I know Utah isn’t really a pack line D, but they are slow.) 2 of those remaining happen to be arguably the 2 longest and most athletic teams in the country, UK (O-6, D-1, T-223) (your example) and Arizona (O-7, D-3, T-89 ← at least they run). The remaining teams: Kansas (O-40, D-10, T-56) which is another big driven program that pushes the pace, (man, they would be insane this year if Embiid and Wiggins were there and healthy this year).
Last year, the numbers were the same 4 Top 10 defenses among the Top 40 offenses (Louisville, Florida, Virginia, UConn). If being a top D leads to so much offense, why the disparity. Two years ago, there were 5 in the Top 40. Interestingly though, Louisville was the #4 offense and #3 defense that year. They also won the tournament, beating the #1 offense and #48 defense. Now I know, someone’s gonna point to how these stats aren’t the right ones, but they were the basis for the original point.
I will concede though, that those 3 years of top 10 D’s that also happen to be Top 40 O’s also yielded 2 champions and the likely champ this year.
Wisconsin has found a way to be a great offensive basketball team but also be competent defensively.
“Wisconsin has found a way to keep their guys in college for four years” is the more accurate statement. I’d like to see what Beilein can do on D with real experience on his roster. It won’t ever be elite but I bet it would look a lot better.
Mercer Coach Bob Hoffman turned them down. Jeff Meyer has been following a bunch of Liberty-related accounts for the last few days.
Here’s the Liberty scoop: http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/coaching-search-update-5/
Based on multiple sources, there are 5 candidates heavily involved in the coaching search, all of which have interviewed for the opening. Here are what we are calling “The Final Five” (alphabetical order):
Chris Crutchfield, Oklahoma assistant coach
Bob Hoffman, Mercer head coach
Jeff Meyer, Michigan assistant coach
Brett Reed, Lehigh head coach
Scott Sutton, Oral Roberts head coach