ACC Discussion

LargeFO

LargeFO

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^ I totally remember that with Hewitt's stubborn pressing. When we went on the the road it usually became a nearly auto-L.
 
orientalnc

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You have understand the limitations of the athletes on your roster. When Hewitt had Jack and Elder & company that worked quite well. Without those great players the system fell apart too often.
 

YlJacket

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Anyone who likes defensive basketball should be watching UVA take down UNC. Classic example of defensive pressure (not pressing or overtly trapping) but just constant high level defensive pressure taking UNC way out of its game.
 

YlJacket

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RamblinRed said:
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.
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Keatts was in the paper today saying he doesn't have the talent that most ACC teams have. He has some pieces but not what he wants to run his system - but seems not to care.

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/nc-state/state-now/article192624144.html

In general it is really hard to consistently run an aggressive press if you are less talented than your opponent. It is really an AAU strategy for really athletic teams to dominate less athletic / talented teams. When they run into someone equally talented/athletic they normally back off into a 1-2-2 type of zone and look to run out of that. But they know they will get torched if they stay in a press against their peers - or against someone with more talent. So Keatts staying with this constant pressure without the horses is all about setting how he wants his program to be going forward.

IMHO Keatts is going to have to beat out Huggins for the type of really athletic/defensive oriented guards that it takes to run this type of system. Whether it can be effective in the ACC even if he gets them remains to be seen. As said above, Hewitt wanted to play this game and found he couldn't. Maybe Keatts can.
 

RamblinRed

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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.
 
orientalnc

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RamblinRed said:
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.
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I agree, but Johnson's absence takes away from the roster quite a bit.
 

lauraee

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Puke 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.
 
MikeJackets1967

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lauraee said:
Puke 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.
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Tennessee has a darn good team and could very well be better than Kentucky;)
 

RamblinRed

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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.
 
orientalnc

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RamblinRed said:
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.
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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.

I watched UVA yesterday. Their game with Duke should be very interesting. Allen complained that his teammates could not overcome State denying him the ball. I think the refs have a hard time getting ball against UVA's defense.
 
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