Matchups against Kentucky
- Thread starter BigDan
- Start date
I don't know that you want to zone Kentucky. Vanderbilt frustrated them with man the majority of the game if I remember right. Take Royce's passing ability and spread it around to all 5 players on the floor and you have Kentucky. A zone will turn into lob city because Christopherson is a huge liability and you end up taking away Babb's defensive prowess. Christopherson gets beat off the dribble, help comes, backside collapses which turns into an easy oop to Davis or Jones.
If you watch Kentucky they actually miss a bunch of shots in transition but they take advantage of the D not being set to block out for rebounds by having their athletic big guys flying in for easy put backs. Boxing out is going to be critical in transition. Giving Kentucky cheap baskets is a recipe for disaster. Force them to run their halfcourt offense and make jumpers and you have a chance.
Booker will play a lot again and we'll see Scotty sitting a lot like last night. Kentucky guards the hell out of the ball, scoring will be at a premium for us. Hopefully they aren't hitting their deep ball and we can stay in it.
I like the Booker on Davis matchup. Booker seems to have a "bad" attitude when he gets on the court. He doesn't like to be the guy getting pushed around... he likes to be the guy doing the pushing. Anthony Davis better put on some pads and a helmet because I can see Booker taking the physicality to him.
Kentucky struggles at keeping their man in front of them on penetration because they overplay and they bank heavily on Davis to erase their defensive mistakes with blocked shots. Davis is super aggressive going for the ball.... make him commit and then dish. He isn't going to back off and will go for the block 100% of the time. Predictability is something Hoiberg can gameplan against. Davis is the most predictable defensive player in the country and ISU has to find a way to abuse him all night long.
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Booker needs to cut the physicality if he doesn't want to be in foul trouble against Davis. Booker plays defense only to try to block shots. That won't work against Davis and he'll end up fouling him if he doesn't just stay straight up on the floor. Booker also can't leave his guy to get ready to block a shot attempt because it'll be dumped behind him for an easy dunk.
If you stay straight up on the floor and he hits the shot over you tip your cap. You did what you could and he was better that possession. Can't really afford him to get in foul trouble if we want to have a chance.
If you stay straight up on the floor and he hits the shot over you tip your cap. You did what you could and he was better that possession. Can't really afford him to get in foul trouble if we want to have a chance.
I would agree, but the few times we tried zone against UConn, we played good defense and made them take tough shots, but they got offensive rebounds almost every time.
I don't think you want to try and match up with Kentucky. I think we die a slow death doing this. I think you want to try and create mis-matches on offense. What makes us unique is Royce with the ball and our shooters taking threes or our forwards cutting to the basket. I think we have to try to make them uncomfortable and hope we shoot the lights out.
I think you'll see us play zone off and on all day Saturday. Collapse the paint and force Kentucky to shoot their way out of it. They've seen a lot of zone this year, so it won't throw them off, so I expect a lot of changing schemes. I'd also expect to see more Booker and even Gibson than usual to keep throwing bodies at Davis and Jones. More length and fouls to give that way.
Zone exploits our biggest weaknesses and neutralizes our best defender. Babb is worthless in a zone. Christopherson will get picked on. Ejim is the only person who understands help rotations. That's a recipe for disaster, especially when it comes to find a bigger, longer, more athletic player to keep off the boards. It's a lot like the Baylor matchup. They were better at every position on the floor outside maybe Heslip but we beat them with positioning and playing solid man-to-man. They torched us in zone.
Offensively, as soon as a shot goes up, I'd retreat a minimum of 2 and maybe all 3 guards. Kentucky is defensible in half court sets but if you let them run they'll dunk/alley-oop you to death. Turn your two big men loose on the boards and tell them not to pick up any stupid fouls because Kentucky is bigger and longer. That and no layups...if you're headed to the rim dunk it aggressively or chances are the shot will be affected by the 'brow.
I think it's a mistake to compare Kentucky to Baylor just because they're both long and athletic teams. First, you can "hide" Scotty on Heslip some against Baylor. You can't do that against Kentucky, so the idea that you neutralize Babb in a zone seems incorrect. Also, Kentucky has a much better coach, I think we can all agree on that. I agree this ISU team doen't always rotate well, but I also don't think you will see ISU play zone for 40 minutes, or even rely on a 2-3 zone much. Vanderbilt has shown the gameplan for how to beat Kentucky. Play physical inside, rebound well and limit their runouts. Mix zone with man and shoot the ball well from beyond the arc. I don't think ISU needs to make 15 3's like some, but I do think we need to play great transition D, make free throws, and limit their advantage on the boards. But 15 3's would work too.