Who said it?

Youā€™ll never guess it. :unsure: :biggrin:

[COLOR=DarkGreen][B]ā€œAs a coach, youā€™re never satisfied. Weā€™ve just got to work on defense and continue to get to better. Whether weā€™re up, down, whether weā€™re scoring or struggling to score in that part of the game, our defense needs to become our identity[/B][/COLOR].ā€

Our very own, Coach Bobby Lutz after the UNCA game. :wow:

[URL=http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/colleges/university_of_north_carolina_charlotte/16165929.htm]Observer - UNCA game story[/URL]

Now, if only the players will make it happenā€¦

Its actually really nice to hear that heā€™s actually concerned about playing defense, so perhaps weā€™ll see a greater emphasis on it during practicesā€¦

I like how he is willing to come out and acknowledge our problems and what needs to be done to correct themā€¦ unlike some higher ups at our schoolā€¦

Bobby for Chancellor!!

Why is it of any surprise that he would state the obvious, which weā€™ve all known since day one or even for years for that matter? We need to work on defense. Big shocker there. Unfortunately, Iā€™ve heard Bobby say the same thing in seasons past and yet here we are struggling again. Itā€™s easy to acknowledge the problem but the trick is to fix it. Hopefully this year will be different but canā€™t say thereā€™s a reason to believe it will be. Weā€™ll seeā€¦

[QUOTE=jcl49er;203650]Why is it of any surprise that he would state the obvious, which weā€™ve all known since day one or even for years for that matter? We need to work on defense. Big shocker there. Unfortunately, Iā€™ve heard Bobby say the same thing in seasons past and yet here we are struggling again. Itā€™s easy to acknowledge the problem but the trick is to fix it. Hopefully this year will be different but canā€™t say thereā€™s a reason to believe it will be. Weā€™ll seeā€¦[/QUOTE]

Ditto. Our ā€˜Dā€™ has been atrocious for years. The players change. Our coach stays the same. Our D remains miserable.

I hate watching St. Louis play that slow down style, grind it out with D style you are regulated to when you have inferior athletes, but, Iā€™ll say this about them and teams like Davidson, etc. At least I respect their fundamentals and that they know how to play bball. Iā€™ve never really accused our team(s) of any of that. Especially lately.

[QUOTE=LeftyNiner;203639]Youā€™ll never guess it. :unsure: :biggrin:

[COLOR=DarkGreen][B]ā€œAs a coach, youā€™re never satisfied. Weā€™ve just got to work on defense and continue to get to better. Whether weā€™re up, down, whether weā€™re scoring or struggling to score in that part of the game, our defense needs to become our identity[/B][/COLOR].ā€

Our very own, Coach Bobby Lutz after the UNCA game. :wow:

[URL=http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/colleges/university_of_north_carolina_charlotte/16165929.htm]Observer - UNCA game story[/URL][/QUOTE]

PUKE

[QUOTE=Iron9er;203666]Ditto. Our ā€˜Dā€™ has been atrocious for years. The players change. Our coach stays the same. Our D remains miserable.

I hate watching St. Louis play that slow down style, grind it out with D style you are regulated to when you have inferior athletes, but, Iā€™ll say this about them and teams like Davidson, etc. At least I respect their fundamentals and that they know how to play bball. Iā€™ve never really accused our team(s) of any of that. Especially lately.[/QUOTE]
Fundamentalsā€¦What a conceptā€¦

[QUOTE=jcl49er;203650]Why is it of any surprise that he would state the obvious, which weā€™ve all known since day one or even for years for that matter? We need to work on defense. Big shocker there. Unfortunately, Iā€™ve heard Bobby say the same thing in seasons past and yet here we are struggling again. Itā€™s easy to acknowledge the problem but the trick is to fix it. Hopefully this year will be different but canā€™t say thereā€™s a reason to believe it will be. Weā€™ll seeā€¦[/QUOTE]

Have you ever heard him say defense needs to become our identity??? I know I havenā€™t and I read and listen to just about everything out there. People here make it sound like he doesnā€™t value or work on defense. Maybe weā€™ll start seeing it work on the court.

Something interesting from Lutz Live. Lutz is on the NCAA rules committee. He was talking about NCAA rule changes and officiating. He said refs are instructed to call it closer, clean up the physical play, that refs should dictate play early in a game. He said players end up dictating the officiating because refs will stop calling fouls.

He said a strategy of 9 to 10 guy rotation where you play aggressive, push the limit with fouling (like Mike Anderson did at UAB and now Missouri) may be the way to go. You have fouls to give and the refs eventually let them play giving the advantage to the more physical team.

My take, since we donā€™t land the elite players, we either have to go more fundamental or turn up the intensity with more athletic guys. It makes up for talent deficiencies the same was the three-pointer does.

[QUOTE=LeftyNiner;203695]Something interesting from Lutz Live. Lutz is on the NCAA rules committee. He was talking about NCAA rule changes and officiating. He said refs are instructed to call it closer, clean up the physical play, that refs should dictate play early in a game. He said players end up dictating the officiating because refs will stop calling fouls.

He said a strategy of 9 to 10 guy rotation where you play aggressive, push the limit with fouling (like Mike Anderson did at UAB and now Missouri) may be the way to go. You have fouls to give and the refs eventually let them play giving the advantage to the more physical team.

My take, since we donā€™t land the elite players, we either have to go more fundamental or turn up the intensity with more athletic guys. It makes up for talent deficiencies the same was the three-pointer does.[/QUOTE]

I do not care at this point just make up your mind, set a direction, develop an identity and just do it. I think Lutz is too smart for his own good sometimes. He is always analyzing and changing things as they come along. He has been at the helm too long to be trying to find a defensive identity at this point.

He said a strategy of 9 to 10 guy rotation where you play aggressive, push the limit with fouling (like Mike Anderson did at UAB and now Missouri) may be the way to go. You have fouls to give and the refs eventually let them play giving the advantage to the more physical team.

My take, since we donā€™t land the elite players, we either have to go more fundamental or turn up the intensity with more athletic guys. It makes up for talent deficiencies the same was the three-pointer does.

I heard this and it actually made me very excited. I would love to watch ā€œ40 Minutes of Hellā€ basketball. Maybe that is what we are trying to do, we canā€™t get 6-9 to 7 foot Centers on a consistant basis, we canā€™t land solid point guards, we have a hard time getting 4star recruits, we should play mike anderson everyone is 6-3 to 6-8, and we just run and play SOLID DEFENSE.

I would be rejuvanated as a Lutz fan if we hold Davidson to under 55 and we score more than 65 at the same time.

Have you ever heard him say defense needs to become our identity??? I know I haven't and I read and listen to just about everything out there. People here make it sound like he doesn't value or work on defense. Maybe we'll start seeing it work on the court.

No Lefty, people here and the majority of them at that, just realize that Lutz sounds like a scene out of Groundhog Day when commenting on our weaknesses. But the problem is that despite addressing them, theyā€™re never fixed. A blind man can see we suck at defense and need to make it a priority. No one here has suggested Bobby doesnā€™t value defense. Weā€™ve just suggested that he has no clue how to effectively coach it. Letā€™s face it, weā€™re not talking about a one-year issue. This has plagued us as long as I can remember. As it has been said, weā€™ve always had at least one good, lock-down defender but since when have we had a full squad of defensive studs under Lutz? If that hasnā€™t changed by now, itā€™s not going to. Lutz will continue to recruit run-and-gun 3-point shooters in hopes of compensating our weak defense with hot hands and athleticism. Well, thatā€™s all good and well but thereā€™s rarely any consistency to it, whereas good defenders are always good defenders.

[QUOTE=LeftyNiner;203693]Have you ever heard him say defense needs to become our identity??? I know I havenā€™t and I read and listen to just about everything out there. People here make it sound like he doesnā€™t value or work on defense. Maybe weā€™ll start seeing it work on the court.[/QUOTE]

Not sure if he values it or works on it, I canā€™t comment on that, Iā€™m not at the practices. What I do know, is that in the 8 seasons of watching his teams play, I can only remember 1 good defensive team (his 1st year). Galen, Kelvin, etc. Which makes me think that those players learned D from Watkins, not Lutz. So whether he cares about D, I dont knowā€¦but I sure can say that he canā€™t teach it.

I wanted to add some credit: the team in Cam and Jobeyā€™s senior year was an average defensive team. Iā€™ll give him that.

Defense isnā€™t something that you can just develop. You can be faster, quicker, better on your feet, but you really never know where the guy you are guarding is wanting to go, you can just assume. You assume and then if you lose you have to use your talents to make up for that.

Where we lack is a solid mold of a team. Lets look at our starters:
PG - 1st year guy that will get one more year to mold into a team defensive scheme that knows who else is on the floor with him
SG - 3rd year guy, probably our best on the ball defender that isnā€™t an offensive liability.
SF - 2nd year guy, plays good D, gets good rebounds. However, this is his second year with the team
PF - 2nd year guy, that didnā€™t play with the team last year, its also his last year.
C - 2nd year guy, He is 6-8, 250 lbs. Doesnā€™t scare anyone downlow from a shot blocking standpoint, and doesnā€™t provide a cushion for our permieter defenders to not stay out on the perimeter.

I have never been a fan of JUCO recruits, but i understand they are needed to fill gaps. The problem is when you sign two a year, you just recruit another gap to fill.

Junk defenses work in Division II.

[QUOTE=LeftyNiner;203639]Youā€™ll never guess it. :unsure: :biggrin:

[COLOR=DarkGreen][B]" our defense needs to become our identity[/B][/COLOR]."

Our very own, Coach Bobby Lutz after the UNCA game. :wow:

[URL=http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/colleges/university_of_north_carolina_charlotte/16165929.htm]Observer - UNCA game story[/URL][/QUOTE]

Unfortunately, our defense has been our identity for too long.

[QUOTE=49or bust;203644]I like how he is willing to come out and acknowledge our problems and what needs to be done to correct themā€¦ unlike some higher ups at our schoolā€¦

Bobby for Chancellor!![/QUOTE]

I can see it nowā€¦ Bobby will install basketball hoops in all classrooms so we can ONLY practice jacking up 3ā€™s and taking bad shotsā€¦ oh yeahā€¦ and not working on defense.

Yep, from what I saw tonight, Lutz definitely made defense our identity. The problem is that the identity is a lack thereof.

This may be the worse defensive Niner team Iā€™ve ever seen since becoming a fan in 1991. And I see us getting worse every game with no signs of improvement. Weā€™ll be incredibly lucky to win 10 games.