NC ST has not looked good against teams with a pulse since Johnson was suspended. Their defense against ND was atrocious. Keatts is determined to run his high pace, press defense, but I don't think he has the players to do it, especially without Johnson. They are giving up a ton of open shots both in close and from deep. once they got behind they really sort of abandoned any offense and started to play hero ball with the expected results of lots of bad shots leading to good opportunities for ND. Without Johnson their offense really doesn't have much flow. Guys like Yurtseven and Abu are not really designed to play high pressure D.
I think Keatts is going to be interesting to watch at NCST. He will recruit really well there. I do remember having a conversation with Hewitt about 3-4 yrs into his tenure where he mentioned that the biggest thing he learned was you couldn't press nearly as much in the ACC as he could when he was at Siena, especially in road ACC games. Most teams had good enough players to handle the press, especially on their home floor and it led to alot of good scoring opportunities for opponents. His system really relies on generating alot of offense through pressure defense. Teams that can handle it will put up big numbers.
Miami tried to press late and GT was able to score on its last 6 shot attempts because most of them were layups.
I agree, but Johnson's absence takes away from the roster quite a bit.Keatts actually has a relatively talented roster, just not one that is designed for a pressing, up and down game. To say his roster is less talented than most ACC teams is something of coach speak. i'd put the pure talent of that roster squarely in the middle of the league.
Tennessee has a darn good team and could very well be better than KentuckyPuke has all that talent & all those 1 & dones, but they can't be bothered to play any defense. See puke & uk today. Why I'm not crazy about 1 & dones. They r more about me than team to me. A lot of 1 & dones just don't seem to do that much for the teams they r on & can't be that good for chemistry.
Tennessee has a darn good team and could very well be better than Kentucky
UK is going to be a tough squad by next season,they're young and it's catching up with them this season.I know the outcome of that game tonight but i would still take UK over UT 8/10 times.
Unless most of them go pro.UK is going to be a tough squad by next season,they're young and it's catching up with them this season.
UK is one and done University and it may be biting them in the arse this season.Unless most of them go pro.
Hopefully it'll bite em next year too.UK is one and done University and it may be biting them in the arse this season.
Defense has indeed been an issue for Duke all season, but yesterday they were missing Marques Bolden and Grayson Allen played terribly. Duke doesn't have much quality depth, so if someone is having an off night, or is out for any reason, they are very beatable.Duke's defense is really not good. Can't see them getting anywhere near the Final Four unless that improves alot by March. They are currently #1 in offensive efficiency, but sub 100 in defensive efficiency.
Here are their scores against P5 opponents
Mi ST 88-81 W
TX 85-78 W
FL 87-84 W
Ind 91-81 W
BC 84-89 L
FSU 100-93 W
NCST 85-96 L
They won most of them, but they are close and their inability to play good defense is likely to bite them at some point in the tourney. Can't be giving up 86 ppg to legit competition and not expect to take some L's.