Let me put this win into perspective somewhat
Western Carolina University went to UNCA and won by 15.
Then, Western Carolina went to Xavier and lost by 30.
UNCA is awful and the fact that we only beat them by 8 is a complete embarrassment. I listened to the game on UNCA radio here in western north carolina and even the announcers kept saying that they were shocked that UNCA was in the game and that they thought Charlotte was a better team than this.
Charlotte pitched in a terrible effort defensively. Offensively we had our way with UNCA for most of the night. Defensively we gave them too many good looks. Way too many. We’ll have to tighten down for Davidson.
However Xavier isn’t 30 points better than us. Looking at things into perspective. Georgia spanked Auburn which beat Florida therefore Georgia should be in the National title game. Right?
Well, the good news is we finally started making some shots. The bad news is we are one of the worst defensive teams I have ever seen. I think we are capable of playing good basketball… unfortunately, we can not do it for more than about 2 minutes at a time.
We never play defense. It’s a disturbing truth about Lutz program. I don’t what the deal is.
Do we not emphasize it or can we not teach it? Either way, it’s unacceptable.
[QUOTE=hootie;203432]We never play defense. It’s a disturbing truth about Lutz program. I don’t what the deal is.
Do we not emphasize it or can we not teach it? Either way, it’s unacceptable.[/QUOTE]
I agree. Lutz should scrap his whole defensive philosophy and start from scratch. He has occasionally had some good defensive players, but he has never been able to put together a good defensive team. It shouldn’t be that difficult. Most coaches recruit players that can score and teach them defense. All we need is a solid man to man and a 2-3 zone… get rid of the other crap.
He has occasionally had some good defensive players, but he has never been able to put together a good defensive team.
And those handful of good defensive players were good defensive players before they got here. They weren’t coached that way once putting on a Niner jersey. Lutz’s ability to coach defense leaves little to be desired so we just have to start recruiting more guys that play better defense instead of going after guys who are 3-point specialists (or liabilities at times). Like with virtually any sport, you can be competitive if you play solid defense. You don’t need to score 80 points a night to win games when you keep your opponent from scoring 65.
Oh well. Doesn’t look like we’re going to turn into a defensive machine any time soon so we’ll just have to live with the occasional solid performance and then cope with crappy defense the other 95% of the time.
[QUOTE=Max Power;203436]All we need is a solid man to man and a 2-3 zone… get rid of the other crap.[/QUOTE]
I agree. We always seem to be in some sort of 23-man defense that ALWAYS leaves one shooter on the other side of the court open. Every team has figured it out and it is killing us! Even UNCA got it to work a few times…
Except for Smithson, we did better defending the 3 than usual. That kid just flat lit us up. Inside, outside, it didn’t seem to matter. He left Carlos in the dust. Garland made two Plavich-like threes from the logo. Before you say “we still should have guarded him”, be sure you weren’t one of the ones who used to chastize Demon and Brendan for taking those shots when they were open out there. UNCA had some open 3’s, but most were guarded or were taken from Plavich land. They made 4 with a defender all over them. There was no comparision to the open looks North Texas got.
I was more concerned with our inability to handle their token press at the end of the game. We were up by 19 and pulling away until they began pressing, and quickly cut it to 10. If we had not made our free throws it could have gotten really scary. Against a team with more height and more quickness we are going to be in trouble if that team presses us and we handle it like we did Monday.
Except for Smithson, we did better defending the 3 than usual. That kid just flat lit us up. Inside, outside, it didn't seem to matter. He left Carlos in the dust. Garland made two Plavich-like threes from the logo. Before you say "we still should have guarded him", be sure you weren't one of the ones who used to chastize Demon and Brendan for taking those shots when they were open out there. UNCA had some open 3's, but most were guarded or were taken from Plavich land. They made 4 with a defender all over them. There was no comparision to the open looks North Texas got.
But the defense was still lacking. UNCA’s PG was going high glass all night. The post position was just too slow rotating to effectively alter the shot. And there are gaps in the zone when it seems the guys want to rotate players to defend towards the wings when UNCA’s players would cross each other.
As for the man, alot of the players will fall behind from keeping up with a UNCA player. Instead of shortening the trip to the basket to try to prevent going inside, the players seem to just trail the UNCA player. I was that out of Dewhurst once that was just ugly.
I was more concerned with our inability to handle their token press at the end of the game. We were up by 19 and pulling away until they began pressing, and quickly cut it to 10. If we had not made our free throws it could have gotten really scary. Against a team with more height and more quickness we are going to be in trouble if that team presses us and we handle it like we did Monday.
It looked like the team was mad (b/c they were playing so bad against the press) and just gave up knowing that they had won.
What bothered me the most (again) is that DA was taking untimely quick 3’s. There must have been 3 times in the second half where the lead could have been ballooned, but DA qould take a quick 3 which lead to quick points on the other end. DA seems to be trying to showcase a long shot that absolutely stinks in crucial moments. I hate to say it, but I wish he was a 6th man. Ian and him are just sinks when it comes to ball rotation.