Let's talk some defense. I thought the team did a great job changing their MM looks throughout the game. The perimeter guys took good angles and the team really finished the possessions with solid rebounding. I like the way this group has improved on the defensive end.
Defense
- Thread starter Kramer
- Start date
The thing I am most happy to see so far this year is improvments and adjustments. Everyone seemed to be getting a little down on the team's fundamentals early, but really, the true gauge of a coach is how he takes what happens in games and works with them. How much better has this team gotten so far this year? No offense to the old staff, but we didn't see anywhere near this much in season improvement and there is still time for more. The previous years the only thing the team ever did was find its rythm and gain consistency. This year the players are truly becoming better, both individually and as a hunt. I do know that there is a lot of season left, but McDermott really impresses me. The next big challenge for him will be to see how the team will rebound from a big loss or win. Hopefully we find out the big win part soon.
Our defense is so much better than last year it isn't even funny. Kudos to GMac to making such improvement in the team.
I think we're still pretty vanilla on offense. Still a bit inconsistent, but getting better.
All in all we're in better shape than I thought we'd be at this point in the season, but I'm sure there will be some disappointment ahead sooner or later.
I think we're still pretty vanilla on offense. Still a bit inconsistent, but getting better.
All in all we're in better shape than I thought we'd be at this point in the season, but I'm sure there will be some disappointment ahead sooner or later.
Yeah, we probably don't have the firepower yet to beat the top teams in the conference but the solid defense we are moving toward will allow us opportunities to beat many of the others. The basics now appear to be instilled...I think the team can now start to to tweak some things and change looks more often.
That was the first game I've seen in person this year, and I was impressed with the on ball defense of Taylor, Dunson, Clark, Wesley and Jacobson.
I was shocked at how bad McIntosh was on the ball. He was flat beaten 3 or 4 times off the dribble. Each time McDermott had a talk with him too. I think we'll see less and less of Corey as the season goes on and Dodie and Brock progress, and especially next year with a new PG coming in unless he improves greatly on defense. I can handle his lack of offensive production, but he can't struggle on defense that much and keep playing.
I was shocked at how bad McIntosh was on the ball. He was flat beaten 3 or 4 times off the dribble. Each time McDermott had a talk with him too. I think we'll see less and less of Corey as the season goes on and Dodie and Brock progress, and especially next year with a new PG coming in unless he improves greatly on defense. I can handle his lack of offensive production, but he can't struggle on defense that much and keep playing.
Do you mean big as in a lot of points, or do you mean big as in disparity of talent/expectations (like beating a top 10 team)?
For the former, you can look at the big win over Lake Superior State (90 - 61). Our next game was a loss to UNI (57 - 70). Which could be considered a mildly big loss, and we went on to lose to Drake at Hilton (78 - 80). Drake could be considered a big loss from a disparity of talent/expecations viewpoint--where we went on to lose big at Iowa (59 - 77). After that big loss, we finally went on to beat Savannah State (70 - 59).
So it would be great to beat someone we're really not supposed to (Kansas!) and see how we handle that.
Larry E used to say, " It depends on who we play and where we play them." Regarding wins and losses. The games at UNI and Iowa fall into this group. The losses to Drake and Bradley are the only big ugly losses as far as I'm concerned.