Check this thread:
Adding in here that the womenās team has an NET of 67 currently which almost certainly means that this is the highest combined ranking for both basketball squads ever. Pretty cool. Nice to have finally seemed to hit a hire out of the park immediately with Loree Payne.
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Good call, Patty. We should talk about the ladies more often on this board. Maybe the years of dismal performance combined with a feeling of hopelessness about the future of the womenās basketball program (especially in light of some painful transfers out) has been just too much to bear.
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Critical that we win these games:
New Mexico 115
ASU 96
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We are currently listed as 2 pt favorites over the Lobos
Why does this make me feel so nervous?
Playing in The Pit at altitude aināt easyā¦..probably translates to 4 to 5 pts in the spread compared to a neutral site matchup.
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Despite dropping to 8-2, we are still garnering attention in Joe Lunardis Bracketology and currently projected at Next Four Out group. I think coming into the season we all would have signed up for an 8-2 start and bubble mentioning. Now we just need to start another win streak and stack more wins
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Agreed on the idea that weād take this on day 1.
I donāt love the margin or the vibe of the loss, but losing in the Pit is a forgivable sin, even for a tournament team. The path gets narrower, but the path was always going to be narrow.
Would really like to get this next oneā¦
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I think a split of ASU/NM was always a must. Looking forward to Saturday.
Sendek needs to have our best defender sticking to Odum like glue. He can singlehandedly dominate the game.
Odum is a major concern. None of our guards are elite, shut-down defenders. Knapper is OK and the simple choiceā¦.PG on PG.
But Hammond is probably our best defender with a decent combination of athleticism, length and lateral quickness but heās still not a shut-down guy, at least not yet. Downside of Hammond on Odum is Hammond has been our most consistent and prolific perimeter player IMO; making him chase Odum around all game is going to wear him down. Other downside is that puts the 6-0 Knapper (probably actually no taller than 5-11) on ASUās 6-4 shooting guard Bryce Ford.
This is yet another good opportunity to rotate defensive schemes throughout the game including running zone 1/2 the time to help on Odum drives and just give ASU different looks to deal with. But Iāve given up hope of Sendek actually employing zone or other creative defensive approachesā¦.about a 2% chance he actually does it.
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I agree. Diamond-and-one with Bukky guarding the rim, ideally protecting against drivers while avoiding unnecessary fouls by defending guys in front of him rather than from the side or behind. He doesnāt even need to actually block shots, just alter shots by forcing drivers to adjust their shots in ways that they donāt normally shoot. Diamond still helps with perimeter wing shooters. As you mentioned, we could rotate the one man defender to blanket Odum. Maybe Darlan would be best to take on half of that responsibility, as long as coaches get him to stay straight up instead of reach in. He only needs to defend Odum on the perimeter, let the interior zone D collapse if he penetrates. Or let him take the 2-pt mid-range jumper. As long as he isnāt draining threes. Also might not hurt to try to isolate Odum in offensive sets, try to get him into foul trouble. Iād love to see forced mismatches with some of our bigger guys.
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Agree Buckets. I just have very little confidence Sendek is willing to be creative on D; heās shown little evidence of it in his decade here. Itās like heās afraid or embarrassed to do or try somewhat unconventional approaches for fear deviating from conventional wisdom or violating the āpurityā of the game.
Some people refer to defensive schemes such as Diamond and 1 as a ājunk defenseā or gemmicksā¦..but itās usually coaches or old school purists who canāt figure out how to defeat it.
Finally, Darlan is a relevant mentionā¦.even in man-to-man schemes he could be a candidate to guard someone like Odum or other key guards you want to thwart in future games but it depends on who else is on the court and other matchups. His length allows him to lay off quicker guards buying him a step to react to drives while still being able to contest perimeter shots. But as noted, Darlan needs to learn to defend without slapping and reaching constantly. His length is off the charts and he can generate deflections, blocks and alter and challenge shots at a high level but he has to learn to be patient and disciplined and not try to generate a turnover every possession which leads to fouling excessively.
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Iāve always hated the term ājunk defenseā. Zone D, primarily 2-3, helped Boeheim get to 5 Final Fours, 3 final games and 1 national championship. If anything, most teams donāt practice offense against any type of zone defense, so just a change of pace can throw off a teamās rhythm.
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I love the diamond/one idea, especially with a rim protector like Bukky at the back end. Although Iām just a volunteer schlub middle school coach, it has proven effective against those advanced kids that populate many rosters. I much prefer playing man, but sometimes you need to adjust.
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It makes too much senseā¦..therefore unlikely to happen.
The link above is all of our games broken down by what Quad they are.
Below is the Net Rankings for each team in the WCC.
Last four columns are Quad 1, 2, 3, and 4. Xavier has dropped to a Quad 3 win. The good news is we have avoided a catastrophic loss. The bad news is we now only have one Quad 2 or better win (beating McNeese). McNeese is 45 in Net and we are 70 !?!
| 3 | Gonzaga | 11-1 | WCC | 1-0 | 4-1 | 6-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 4-1 | 1-0 | 2-0 | 4-0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | Saint Maryās (CA) | 8-2 | WCC | 1-0 | 2-2 | 5-0 | 1-0 | 25 | 0-2 | 3-0 | 2-0 | 3-0 |
| 70 | Santa Clara | 8-3 | WCC | 1-1 | 2-2 | 5-0 | 1-0 | 71 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 5-0 | 2-0 |
| 101 | Pacific | 6-4 | WCC | 2-4 | 2-0 | 2-0 | 2-0 | 101 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 1-0 | 5-0 |
| 103 | Seattle U | 7-2 | WCC | 2-0 | 1-1 | 4-1 | 2-0 | 106 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 2-1 | 4-1 |
| 120 | San Francisco | 6-5 | WCC | 0-2 | 3-2 | 3-1 | 1-0 | 121 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 3-0 | 3-1 |
| 157 | LMU (CA) | 6-4 | WCC | 2-0 | 1-1 | 3-3 | 1-0 | 158 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 3-1 | 3-1 |
| 176 | Washington St. | 3-8 | WCC | 0-3 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 1-0 | 174 | 0-2 | 0-4 | 1-2 | 2-0 |
| 197 | Oregon St. | 6-6 | WCC | 0-1 | 0-3 | 6-2 | 0-0 | 199 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2-3 | 4-1 |
| 213 | Portland | 5-5 | WCC | 0-3 | 0-0 | 5-2 | 2-0 | 215 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 4-0 |
| 257 | San Diego | 3-6 | WCC | 0-2 | 0-1 | 3-3 | 1-0 | 264 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 2-3 |
| 279 | Pepperdine | 2-8 | WCC | 1-3 | 0-1 | 1-4 | 2-0 | 271 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 2-3 |
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If itās helpful you can see all that directly from the source + a chart of how our rank has moved up and down each game. It also updates every day as far as Iām aware.
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Great link. Thank you.
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We can cancel this thread!
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