BE PREPARED (rule changes and increased foul calls)

[Dwayne From Minden]

Two things -

Increase in quality of teams we are playing and life without Heem -

In the grand scheme of things that's still a top 1/3 defense in the nation

And in a lot of those games officiating has been dreadful and we were in foul trouble a lot of the game and couldn't be as aggressive with the pressure

[Dawg06]

Two things -

Increase in quality of teams we are playing and life without Heem -

In the grand scheme of things that's still a top 1/3 defense in the nation

And in a lot of those games officiating has been dreadful and we were in foul trouble a lot of the game and couldn't be as aggressive with the pressure

I don't think you can chalk it up to an increase in quality of teams. Southern Miss and UTEP just about had their best offensive games of the season against us. 21 teams did a better job than us defensively against UTEP, and 17 teams did a better job than us defensively against Southern Miss. Also, UTSA, Marshall, and North Texas are bad teams.

You can probably attribute it to life without Heem and/or tired legs. Hopefully this week will rest any tired legs, and hopefully Heem will be back soon. Maybe we have a giant target on our backs now, and teams are playing up to us. Maybe our recent opponents have simply gotten lucky against us, or maybe we caught them at the wrong time. Maybe opposing coaches have "figured us out." Idk.

But one thing's for sure, if we don't get back to playing the defense we did pre-Southern Miss, we won't be dancing come March.

[HoDo-Tech70]

As the season has progressed the teams we've faced are getting better prepared to play us. Our win at Oklahoma put us higher on their list as a team to beat. Their preparation is primarily concerned with beating our defensive pressure. For the most part, the teams we've played have been doing a much better job beating our pressure than some of the earlier teams we faced. This could be a part of the reason for the decline in defensive efficiency.

[Dirtydawg]

Teams that played better defense than us against Southern Miss...
- Rhode Island, Charlotte, South Alabama, DePaul, Morehead State, Tulsa, Georgia State, Western Kentucky, Drexel, North Dakota State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Houston Baptist, North Texas, Marshall, Jackson State, East Carolina, Louisville

We played great defense vs. Charlotte but struggled offensively.

Teams that played better defense than us against Marshall... (No Kyser)
- Morehead State, Penn State, Southern Miss, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Florida Atlantic, South Carolina, North Texas, UTEP, Akron, Tulsa

Teams that played better defense than us against UTEP...
- Loyola-New Orleans, Colorado State, Northwestern State, Old Dominion, Washington State, Tennessee, New Orleans, Rice, Sacramento State, New Mexico State x2, Montana State, Charlotte, Marshall, UAB, West Alabama, Western Illinois, Middle Tennessee, Kansas, Denver, Iowa

Teams that played better defense than us against UTSA...
- Houston, UAB, Old Dominion, UTEP, Middle Tennessee, Texas-Pan American, Arkansas, Texas Tech, Northern Arizona

We played great defense vs. Tulsa but really struggled offensively.

Teams that played better defense than us against North Texas...
- Charlotte, Idaho, Wayland Baptist, Southeastern Louisiana, Central Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Columbia, Rice, Middle Tennessee, Tulane, Northwood-Texas, Southern Miss, Portland, Tulsa, Stephen F. Austin, BYU

That's not the same defense we had been playing pre-Southern Miss (except for Saint Mary's and ULL).

How many of those teams achieved better results than us in the earlier part of the season or at least in the first half of the season? For example, it took UTEP a little (admittedly very little) while to adjust to having kicked off several players, and it stands to reason that teams change and progress differently as the season goes. I wonder how many of those defensive results would be the same now as they were when first played. For example, I suspect we'd have a much different outcome against ULL had we played them nearly a month later.

[Dirtydawg]

As the season has progressed the teams we've faced are getting better prepared to play us. Our win at Oklahoma put us higher on their list as a team to beat. Their preparation is primarily concerned with beating our defensive pressure. For the most part, the teams we've played have been doing a much better job beating our pressure than some of the earlier teams we faced. This could be a part of the reason for the decline in defensive efficiency.

I think you're exactly correct.

[Dirtydawg]

What was Heem's shot percentage before he went out?

[theprofessor]

That's gotta be it. I expected the opposite with the loss of Appleby (struggling offense with no drop off in defense). Instead, we've improved offensively and have seen a big drop off in our defense. I guess I underestimated Appleby's defense.

Yes. And overestimated his offense. Heem is a scorer, but he's not extremely efficient. He's always been a high-volume shooter. I'm not surprised our offensive efficiency went up without him (I'm not arguing we are better offensively or a better team without him).

[skilldawg]

Just about every time we struggle much on defense, Kyser is absent from the game, due to the suspension or from foul trouble.

He has gotten in foul trouble matched up against bigger players but his man usually doesn't hurt us much.

It is his absence on the back line of the defense that kills us when the ball handlers get penetration.

If he goes out our scheme goes to crap or we are playing against our nature

[Dirtydawg]

That's gotta be it. I expected the opposite with the loss of Appleby (struggling offense with no drop off in defense). Instead, we've improved offensively and have seen a big drop off in our defense. I guess I underestimated Appleby's defense.

Yes. And overestimated his offense. Heem is a scorer, but he's not extremely efficient. He's always been a high-volume shooter. I'm not surprised our offensive efficiency went up without him (I'm not arguing we are better offensively or a better team without him).

I rarely find myself in agreement with you, but we, apparently, were 2 of, probably, a handful of people who didn't think we'd suffer offensively without Heem, hence my question about his shooting percentage. I didn't say anything earlier because I was still pouting, but I think I might have said as much to boxer. I do admit to not having considered his defensive contribution. Of course, I also predicted Alex to take Heem's place and it appeared as though that was going to be the case with JJ filling Alex's role, and I think Alex was on track to do so until he got nearly blanked out the other night. If I'm not mistaken, his points average seemed to be around Heem's until then but I noticed his shot attempts had decreased as well.

[Dawg06]

How many of those teams achieved better results than us in the earlier part of the season or at least in the first half of the season? For example, it took UTEP a little (admittedly very little) while to adjust to having kicked off several players, and it stands to reason that teams change and progress differently as the season goes. I wonder how many of those defensive results would be the same now as they were when first played. For example, I suspect we'd have a much different outcome against ULL had we played them nearly a month later.

I think ULL can be explained by tired legs. If you look at all our games after our opener against Saint Mary's until Southern Miss, our three worst games defensively from our opponents' perspectives were UIC, Jackson State, and ULL. Those were games #2, #4, and #5 of the 5 games in 10 days stretch with the last game against ULL being by far the worst. That's likely due to fatigue.

When you look at UTEP, they've really been playing consistently strong all season except for the one horrible loss to UNO. Early in the season UTEP's SOS was really strong (1-2 vs. Top 25 plus 2 losses to very good NMSU team), and they've been on a roll ever since the UNO hiccup.

[Dirtydawg]

I think ULL can be explained by tired legs. If you look at all our games after our opener against Saint Mary's until Southern Miss, our three worst games defensively from our opponents' perspectives were UIC, Jackson State, and ULL. Those were games #2, #4, and #5 of the 5 games in 10 days stretch with the last game against ULL being by far the worst. That's likely tired legs.

When you look at UTEP, they've really been playing consistently strong all season except for the one horrible loss to UNO. Early in the season UTEP's SOS was really strong (1-2 vs. Top 25 plus 2 losses to very good NMSU team), and they've been on a roll ever since the UNO hiccup.

Yeah. I think it was a general consensus that our loss to ULL was due to the tourney so soon before it which is my point. It's hard to compare early season stats to late season as teams progress differently, etc... I think we all agree, though, that whatever might be the case, we better figure it out soon.

[boxerdog]

I rarely find myself in agreement with you, but we, apparently, were 2 of, probably, a handful of people who didn't think we'd suffer offensively without Heem, hence my question about his shooting percentage. I didn't say anything earlier because I was still pouting, but I think I might have said as much to boxer. I do admit to not having considered his defensive contribution. Of course, I also predicted Alex to take Heem's place and it appeared as though that was going to be the case with JJ filling Alex's role, and I think Alex was on track to do so until he got nearly blanked out the other night. If I'm not mistaken, his points average seemed to be around Heem's until then but I noticed his shot attempts had decreased as well.

I do think we've suffered offensively with Raheem out simply because he's one of our best players in creating his own shot. While I agree that Alex has stepped up his game to a degree, I don't think he's filled Heem's role. Alex already had a role on the team, he's simply expanded it somewhat. JJ is the guy who's stepped into the void, imo. I'd prefer our scoring burden be distributed more evenly, and I did think too much of it was on Raheem. That's why I think we actually increased our ceiling by losing him for a while. We have to get him back to reach our ceiling though.

[Dirtydawg]

I do think we've suffered offensively with Raheem out simply because he's one of our best players in creating his own shot. While I agree that Alex has stepped up his game to a degree, I don't think he's filled Heem's role. Alex already had a role on the team, he's simply expanded it somewhat. JJ is the guy who's stepped into the void, imo. I'd prefer our scoring burden be distributed more evenly, and I did think too much of it was on Raheem. That's why I think we actually increased our ceiling by losing him for a while. We have to get him back to reach our ceiling though.

I think Heem put that burden on himself sort of like KD with the Thunder. Like King James said several weeks ago, it'd be nice to be able to shoot 35 shots or so in a game. That was Heem. I don't know of too many games that he shot south of 30 times. The first few games back, I thought I remembered seeing Alex doing the same, and then I quit looking at the stats. Although, I do have to say, I've noticed the last few games that Alex has seemed to reign in his shooting attempts. I remember wondering the other game if Coach or any teammates might have told him something about taking too many shots. If he hasn't taken Heem's role, I think it's because he plays differently than Heem and seems to play "in control" a little more. Anybody know a site that has our games and stats. I've got the time to look it up, and actually am interested to find out.

[PawDawg]

I do think we've suffered offensively with Raheem out simply because he's one of our best players in creating his own shot. While I agree that Alex has stepped up his game to a degree, I don't think he's filled Heem's role. Alex already had a role on the team, he's simply expanded it somewhat. JJ is the guy who's stepped into the void, imo. I'd prefer our scoring burden be distributed more evenly, and I did think too much of it was on Raheem. That's why I think we actually increased our ceiling by losing him for a while. We have to get him back to reach our ceiling though.

Hasn't Hamilton's production gone down w/out Appleby? I heard C.White say that teams are trying to take away the left handed shots that have been such a weapon. Makes sense that they can focus on him more w/out Appleby in there to worry about.

[Dirtydawg]

Hasn't Hamilton's production gone down w/out Appleby? I heard C.White say that teams are trying to take away the left handed shots that have been such a weapon. Makes sense that they can focus on him more w/out Appleby in there to worry about.

I'm going to research this when I get back from bringing Jed to the Dr. Give me a couple of hours.