WSU BASKETBALL: This Team Has A Long Way To Go, Via Cougar Sports Weekly
by Jeff Nusser on Jan 30, 2012 11:30 AM PST
in 2011-2012 WSU Basketball News
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PrintAt the halfway point of the basketball season, the standings suggest the Cougs are just a game or two away from being in the upper half of the conference -- sitting at 3-6, they're just two behind fifth place Arizona, UCLA and Stanford. Darn you, losses to Utah and Arizona State!
However, there's a growing pile of evidence to suggest that those two losses actually were an accurate reflection of this team's level of play and not some kind of fluke occurrence. Are ASU and Utah better than WSU on a neutral floor? Probably not. But on the road ... yeah, WSU isn't enough better to overcome that against even the worst teams in the conference.
To what do I owe this conclusion? An analysis of the efficiency margin of each team in the conference in today's Cougar Sports Weekly, something that does not flatter WSU. After some analysis of why the defense is so bad, it led me to an outside-the-box conclusion:
The question then becomes whether it's reasonable to expect the defense to improve much over the rest of the season. Honestly, I'm not sure. If coaching really is part of this, then Bone could just decide to go crazy emphasizing defense. He also could make some personnel tweaks, giving more minutes to guys such as DJ Shelton and Dexter Kernich-Drew. Shelton screws up -- a lot -- in terms of being where he's supposed to be, but he's tall and athletic and does alter shots. And Kernich-Drew is long and active.
However, instead of focusing on the defense -- really, how much defense can you teach in a short amount of time? -- I wonder if the best solution might not just be to go with extra offense. I'm thinking, in particular, of drastically reducing the role of Marcus Capers, whose value as a defender is probably overstated by most fans anyway.
If the defense is horrible with him in there for 30 minutes a night, and he's not giving you anything offensively, why not replace him with someone who could potentially at least score? How much worse can the defense get, really?
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Agreed
It seems that we have a ton of offensive ability but lack the shut down ability to play defense. The ASU game showed that we could score, and throw an easy pass away, and play defense like we more or less hope they miss with each shot. With that mindset, why not let Brock hit open 3’s, or dish to Reggie to open things in the lane. ASU was doing that to a large degree, drive in and dish out to open man behind the arc. It’s not too complicated to follow. With Capers out, this could provide 4 open looks.
Agreed on Shelton, especially in games when we are getting abused inside.
Regarding Capers though, while I agree that the defense couldn’t get much worse I guess I don’t know who would take his minutes besides DKD, especially with Faisal out (assuming he is out). Perhaps it would lead to a small increase in minutes from Lacy, but other than that I’m not sure.
"Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them. And we shut them down because we can!" | Herb Brooks
I agree with this, with maybe a Pride of Ephrata sighting as well.
Although I have no clue as to his game since I’ve only seen him play maybe five minutes all year.
Capers and Cougs in general are overrated
Been watching Coug B-ball for decades, honestly don’t see why Capers is on the floor. He seems like a great, hard working kid but he brings so little to the floor. Teams can absolutely forget him offensively, and we don’t have near enough offense power from the other four to have 5 guarding 4 cougs. We’ve had limited offense roles players in the past, somethign that describes the rest of team this year with the exception Aden and Motum. Capers has no shot, limited ball skills, and although he leaps great every once in a while he doesn’t have the hops to battle for rebounds like you’s expect from a long, leaping guard.
This team in general makes a ton of passing mistakes, defensive lapses, doesn’t shoot free throws very well, and doesn’t seem well coached. I think the article is right, we’ve seen this team is not very good and will finish near the bottom of the PAC12. Hopefully we get some offense from next years recruits to go with Motum and Moore/Lacy learn to play smarter.
Why don't teams use a Half-Court trap?
It’s seem effective when it’s properly used.
by luciuswolfey_96 on Jan 30, 2012 8:32 PM PST reply actions
*seems
I need to check before I post.
by luciuswolfey_96 on Jan 30, 2012 8:33 PM PST up reply actions
It can be effective occasionally, but really only in spots
It leaves so many holes, that if you do it too much, teams will inevitably find them. Take note of OSU’s defense the past few years, which relied on that 1-3-1 trapping zone. They got a lot of steals, but gave up a ton of easy buckets, too.
Ok, thanks for the reminder of OSU.
I’ve always like it but wasn’t sure why teams didn’t use it. I see what you mean about it being effective occasionally.
by luciuswolfey_96 on Jan 30, 2012 8:51 PM PST up reply actions
Also
If you go with an agressive half court trapping defense it relies heavily on really good rotations. The holes will always exist and the real premise is that you rotate quickly enough to make the open player the farthest player from the ball. The defenders not in the trap also have to communicate cutters and have tremendous court sense.
Rotations, communication, and court sense seem to be the biggest issues with our defense (rotations are a big reason our man to man struggles, we don’t have good help). Some of this is mitigated by Aden being out, his help side rotations were really bad, but it’s a general problem with this team.
The reality is that bad defensive teams are best served sitting in the most basic defenses (man or basic zones) because anything else, while it might create occassional steals, also relies heavily on players being really sound in defensive principles.
by 02Coug on Jan 31, 2012 9:41 AM PST up reply actions 2 recs
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