All you need to know about this game

[Biggus Piggus]

Arkansas's minutes distribution at Iowa State (as bad as feared):

37 Qualls (0-2 inside, scorched on D)
31 Portis (offense and rebounding mentality, no D)
26 Madden (5 assists, 4 TO, 0 steals, not a strong defender)
23 Bell (0-6 outside, let's not talk about D)
21 Watkins (the first defense-oriented player shows up on the list)
18 Harris (all-around effort guy)
16 Beard (quickest guard)
11 Williams (most active player in the press)
9 Kingsley (best low post defender)
6 Durham
2 Babb

Exactly as feared, MA would narrow the minutes distribution in favor of a group of players that cannot play defense together very well. ISU got sooooo many easy shots against this mess.

If you do not truly wear down the opponent with pressure and player rotations, they can play five guys 31-37 minutes without so much as a shrug. That is what happened. Iowa State didn't even need its bench. Had 26 bench minutes total. Arkansas had 65, less than 80% of normal.

It was as though Arkansas was worried most about rebounding -- 91% defensive rebounding, the few that ISU missed. You know that if the rebounding % is that high, the pressure is nonexistent. Arkansas was -3 in turnover margin. Complete failure of pressure defense, entirely because of the player rotations. Can't ask guys who hate playing D to press. They wanted Sportscenter highlights.

[TNhawgfan]

Great post Piggus. Our starting five does not gel together and we always get off to slow starts. They don't need the bulk of the minutes together

[TexArkHogFan]

We shot over 50 percent and outrebounded them.  I think most people are overlooking the fact we played a ranked team on the road in a very hostile environment.  Iowa State is a very good team.  I said when  I saw the schedule we would be lucky to run that gauntlet with no more than a couple of losses.  I like our chances of beating Clemson in their place and Dayton at home.  That would put us at only one loss going into SEC play.  That would be an excellent resume.  Basketball is not like football where one loss can kill you.  It's more about the entire season.  That loss will not hurt our entire body of work.  Of course, a win would have helped but I still believe we'll be there when all is said and done. 

[Pork Twain]

Arkansas's minutes distribution at Iowa State (as bad as feared):

37 Qualls (0-2 inside, scorched on D)
31 Portis (offense and rebounding mentality, no D)
26 Madden (5 assists, 4 TO, 0 steals, not a strong defender)
23 Bell (0-6 outside, let's not talk about D)
21 Watkins (the first defense-oriented player shows up on the list)
18 Harris (all-around effort guy)
16 Beard (quickest guard)
11 Williams (most active player in the press)
9 Kingsley (best low post defender)
6 Durham
2 Babb

Exactly as feared, MA would narrow the minutes distribution in favor of a group of players that cannot play defense together very well. ISU got sooooo many easy shots against this mess.

If you do not truly wear down the opponent with pressure and player rotations, they can play five guys 31-37 minutes without so much as a shrug. That is what happened. Iowa State didn't even need its bench. Had 26 bench minutes total. Arkansas had 65, less than 80% of normal.

It was as though Arkansas was worried most about rebounding -- 91% defensive rebounding, the few that ISU missed. You know that if the rebounding % is that high, the pressure is nonexistent. Arkansas was -3 in turnover margin. Complete failure of pressure defense, entirely because of the player rotations. Can't ask guys who hate playing D to press. They wanted Sportscenter highlights.

I really want to see a lot more Beard and a little more Watkins

[ArkansasI]

Arkansas's minutes distribution at Iowa State (as bad as feared):

37 Qualls (0-2 inside, scorched on D)
31 Portis (offense and rebounding mentality, no D)
26 Madden (5 assists, 4 TO, 0 steals, not a strong defender)
23 Bell (0-6 outside, let's not talk about D)
21 Watkins (the first defense-oriented player shows up on the list)
18 Harris (all-around effort guy)
16 Beard (quickest guard)
11 Williams (most active player in the press)
9 Kingsley (best low post defender)
6 Durham
2 Babb

Exactly as feared, MA would narrow the minutes distribution in favor of a group of players that cannot play defense together very well. ISU got sooooo many easy shots against this mess.

If you do not truly wear down the opponent with pressure and player rotations, they can play five guys 31-37 minutes without so much as a shrug. That is what happened. Iowa State didn't even need its bench. Had 26 bench minutes total. Arkansas had 65, less than 80% of normal.

It was as though Arkansas was worried most about rebounding -- 91% defensive rebounding, the few that ISU missed. You know that if the rebounding % is that high, the pressure is nonexistent. Arkansas was -3 in turnover margin. Complete failure of pressure defense, entirely because of the player rotations. Can't ask guys who hate playing D to press. They wanted Sportscenter highlights.

So why didn't Mike make the necessary adjustments?  Does he go to practice this afternoon and say, "Last night is what happens when you don't work on defense." and expect something different to occur?

This is NOT a young team we have.  It's time to show up for the party.  Every night.

[yocdaddy]

I agree with Biggus...our distribution of minutes is pretty odd sometimes.  I also noticed that some players refuse to make one extra pass for a better shot.  And, our defense is feast or famine, we don't have enough half-court defenders that can get stops when they need to.

Our best lineup rarely plays together.  I expected the loss at Iowa St, but I thought we were experienced enough to not get blown out.  Consider this, Iowa St. beat us as bad as we beat North Texas.  Meanwhile, LSU gets a great road win against a top 20 team.  Hope our tournament hopes don't come down to us against LSU, they are already ahead of us. 

[linkshog]

I've grown frustrated watching Madden play.  it almost comes across as he wants to try and do it by himself and forces bad shots and doesnt distribute the ball effectivly.  There were a few times i saw him look off an open pass to Beard to drive and throw up a bad contested shot.  I dont know if he doesnt trust the other players or what but he seemed to be killing the flow last night.  Also Babb needs a few more minutes.

[010HogFan]

I really want to see a lot more Beard and a little more Watkins

Watkins is an offensive stopper. Too much of a liability on that side of the ball to warrant more minutes.

[The Truth]

Great post, Biggus. The defense was terrible, and that's why the Hogs lost. In fairness, about the minutes: we were down by a ton of points before halftime (and before these minute distributions really took shape), and I can see why MA might have felt that our only chance to catch up was to keep the scorers in the game--a little like a football team that just starts throwing it on every down, in desperation.

[Pignominious]

Arkansas's minutes distribution at Iowa State (as bad as feared):

37 Qualls (0-2 inside, scorched on D)
31 Portis (offense and rebounding mentality, no D)
26 Madden (5 assists, 4 TO, 0 steals, not a strong defender)
23 Bell (0-6 outside, let's not talk about D)
21 Watkins (the first defense-oriented player shows up on the list)
18 Harris (all-around effort guy)
16 Beard (quickest guard)
11 Williams (most active player in the press)
9 Kingsley (best low post defender)
6 Durham
2 Babb

Exactly as feared, MA would narrow the minutes distribution in favor of a group of players that cannot play defense together very well. ISU got sooooo many easy shots against this mess.

If you do not truly wear down the opponent with pressure and player rotations, they can play five guys 31-37 minutes without so much as a shrug. That is what happened. Iowa State didn't even need its bench. Had 26 bench minutes total. Arkansas had 65, less than 80% of normal.

It was as though Arkansas was worried most about rebounding -- 91% defensive rebounding, the few that ISU missed. You know that if the rebounding % is that high, the pressure is nonexistent. Arkansas was -3 in turnover margin. Complete failure of pressure defense, entirely because of the player rotations. Can't ask guys who hate playing D to press. They wanted Sportscenter highlights.

Thanks for the breakdown. It's inexplicable. (To me anyway)

Why are guys like Bell, Portis, and Qualls (who have only played in MA's system) such poor defenders? None of those guys are severely lacking in athleticism. Qualls should be a holy terror in the press. He's not. He got a three drained right in his face late in the second half when ISU killed all possibility of a comeback.

There was a stretch from 16:00 to 10:00ish in the second half that it really looked like our depth and defense might be getting to them. Recall Kingsley's 3pt play, Harris getting some loose balls, Beard's three, etc. Watkins had a steal and we forced a time out on an in-bounds play. ISU responded with easy buckets inside.

What happened with Niang? I know he's a good player, but we made him look like a top five draft pick. I won't deny that he has NBA talent. But seriously, did we not scout? We clearly didn't have an answer.

In fairness, Jacorey Williams had four(!) fouls in the first half. He couldn't defend in the post.

Why are we giving up so many easy baskets inside? Recall that SMU scorched us inside in the second half. They actually made the game pretty competitive down the stretch because of it. ISU was obviously able to exploit this to a laughable extent last night: they shot 70% on 2pt field goals.

There's plenty of time to fix the problems as it's a long season with plenty of opportunities left. Also, sometimes teams get hot at home.

But this is a pattern: go on the road, shorten the bench, allow high shooting percentages, hope to outscore them, get the tempo dictated by the other team. MA sees this, why have there been no adequate responses?

Is this a personnel issue?

If I'm MA, I'm sitting Portis, Qualls, and Bell at the start of the Clemson game. Watkins, Beard, and Kingsley are in. I thought we lost the game in the first half at the 14:00 minute mark with the starters in the game (when score first got to double digit lead). Harris got dunked on and at that point it was evident what type of game it was going to be.

[linkshog]

I'm not bashing Madden.  I've only recently noticed this in his game.  He's still a leader on the team and will be critical to our success, but he's got to step up his defense and shot selection or he'll lose minutes to some of the younger players like Beard and Babb.

[rtr]

Biggus:  Thank you for having the courage to say it.  That was as poor of defense as I've seen.  There was lots of warning signs in the two previous wins at home.  We played matador defense then as well. 

[hogman99]

So why didn't Mike make the necessary adjustments?  Does he go to practice this afternoon and say, "Last night is what happens when you don't work on defense." and expect something different to occur?

This is NOT a young team we have.  It's time to show up for the party.  Every night.

That is a great question that we have been asking for years.  My take is he is too set in his pressure defense ways and will not or does not how to adjust.  Against most teams our defense will wear you down, but when you play a good fundamental team the result is what you saw last night.  My question is what do the 4-5 assistant coaches do help CMA make those adjustments.  All I see them do is sit and watch the game like the rest of us.

Before anyone says, "Yeah, but we beat Kentucky twice last year!"  Remember, they did not have any good pure shooters, so they missed a lot of open shots.  Good fundamental shooting teams will do this to us every time.  This is actually easy to fix, play between your man and the goal.  When we press out by the half court line, they beat us off the dribble and then it is a 5 on 4 situation.  Guess what the result of that will be? We scramble to recover and there are open shooters all over the court.  Jumpers knocked down and we are playing catch up the rest of the game against a team that is full of confidence.  Not a good way to try to comeback. 

I don't see anything changing since it has been this way since CMA took over.  We will get to the tourney, but won't make it out of the 2nd round if we can't figure out how to play defense against a good team.

[hobhog]

Not sure MA is very good at adjusting to situations. When he was "miked" in the huddle during the last game he never had game adjustments, but only asked for effort and energy. I never heard any Xs and Os being discussed during any of the times I heard him.

In all fairness it wasn't Nolan's strength either.

BTW- still waiting for "twin towers" experiment. Like to see more Portis & Kingsley combo.

Clemson should be a better result. Not panicking but disappointed wasn't closer game.

[hogfan10]

Biggus:  Thank you for having the courage to say it.  That was as poor of defense as I've seen.  There was lots of warning signs in the two previous wins at home.  We played matador defense then as well. 

Beard/Watson needs to run the point, Madden needs to play the 2, and Bell needs to sit.

[BRHogfan]

Thanks for the breakdown. It's inexplicable. (To me anyway)

Why are guys like Bell, Portis, and Qualls (who have only played in MA's system) such poor defenders? None of those guys are severely lacking in athleticism. Qualls should be a holy terror in the press. He's not. He got a three drained right in his face late in the second half when ISU killed all possibility of a comeback.

There was a stretch from 16:00 to 10:00ish in the second half that it really looked like our depth and defense might be getting to them. Recall Kingsley's 3pt play, Harris getting some loose balls, Beard's three, etc. Watkins had a steal and we forced a time out on an in-bounds play. ISU responded with easy buckets inside.

What happened with Niang? I know he's a good player, but we made him look like a top five draft pick. I won't deny that he has NBA talent. But seriously, did we not scout? We clearly didn't have an answer.

In fairness, Jacorey Williams had four(!) fouls in the first half. He couldn't defend in the post.

Why are we giving up so many easy baskets inside? Recall that SMU scorched us inside in the second half. They actually made the game pretty competitive down the stretch because of it. ISU was obviously able to exploit this to a laughable extent last night: they shot 70% on 2pt field goals.

There's plenty of time to fix the problems as it's a long season with plenty of opportunities left. Also, sometimes teams get hot at home.

But this is a pattern: go on the road, shorten the bench, allow high shooting percentages, hope to outscore them, get the tempo dictated by the other team. MA sees this, why have there been no adequate responses?

Is this a personnel issue?

If I'm MA, I'm sitting Portis, Qualls, and Bell at the start of the Clemson game. Watkins, Beard, and Kingsley are in. I thought we lost the game in the first half at the 14:00 minute mark with the starters in the game (when score first got to double digit lead). Harris got dunked on and at that point it was evident what type of game it was going to be.

I made a larger post about defensive approach as a separate topic.

Arkansas defense is a different brand from last season in the half court.  Last season's team switched on every screen, which resulted in some mismatches, but it was a simple system that didn't ask for a lot of thinking. 

What you saw yesterday was a two way fault in our defensive help.  On a screen, the screener momentarily becomes not worth guarding, so the man covering the screener helps on the ball during a pick and roll.  Once the defender who has screened has time to recover, the man covering the screener returns to cover him.  This has become 2nd nature to a lot of big men to close out on shooters and to rotate towards the rim as the screener tries to cut to the basket. 

The spacing was really good for ISU last night and the help defense on screens was spending too much time on the the ball and letting the screeners be open on the elbows.  When the ball went out to them, the help defense had to come from somewhere else leaving an open three point shooter or cutter to the basket with no more help defense left due to the great ISU spacing.

Additionally, when you have a guy like Georges Niang handling the ball, the pick and roll defense is reversed from it usually is which just puts that extra bit of doubt in the minds of Portis and Madden that they are doing the right thing.

The fouls were coming from late help defense coming to try and alter or block a shot when they were already beat to the rim.

Remember this defense is different from last year when the Hogs switched on every screen.

[Lard]

Arkansas's minutes distribution at Iowa State (as bad as feared):

37 Qualls (0-2 inside, scorched on D)
31 Portis (offense and rebounding mentality, no D)
26 Madden (5 assists, 4 TO, 0 steals, not a strong defender)
23 Bell (0-6 outside, let's not talk about D)
21 Watkins (the first defense-oriented player shows up on the list)
18 Harris (all-around effort guy)
16 Beard (quickest guard)
11 Williams (most active player in the press)
9 Kingsley (best low post defender)
6 Durham
2 Babb

Exactly as feared, MA would narrow the minutes distribution in favor of a group of players that cannot play defense together very well. ISU got sooooo many easy shots against this mess.

If you do not truly wear down the opponent with pressure and player rotations, they can play five guys 31-37 minutes without so much as a shrug. That is what happened. Iowa State didn't even need its bench. Had 26 bench minutes total. Arkansas had 65, less than 80% of normal.

It was as though Arkansas was worried most about rebounding -- 91% defensive rebounding, the few that ISU missed. You know that if the rebounding % is that high, the pressure is nonexistent. Arkansas was -3 in turnover margin. Complete failure of pressure defense, entirely because of the player rotations. Can't ask guys who hate playing D to press. They wanted Sportscenter highlights.

I think you're spot on.  This team does not play defense very well.  I think every player on Iowa St team last night had a dribble drive to the basket for a score. 

[BRHogfan]

That is a great question that we have been asking for years.  My take is he is too set in his pressure defense ways and will not or does not how to adjust.  Against most teams our defense will wear you down, but when you play a good fundamental team the result is what you saw last night.  My question is what do the 4-5 assistant coaches do help CMA make those adjustments.  All I see them do is sit and watch the game like the rest of us.

Before anyone says, "Yeah, but we beat Kentucky twice last year!"  Remember, they did not have any good pure shooters, so they missed a lot of open shots.  Good fundamental shooting teams will do this to us every time.  This is actually easy to fix, play between your man and the goal.  When we press out by the half court line, they beat us off the dribble and then it is a 5 on 4 situation.  Guess what the result of that will be? We scramble to recover and there are open shooters all over the court.  Jumpers knocked down and we are playing catch up the rest of the game against a team that is full of confidence.  Not a good way to try to comeback. 

I don't see anything changing since it has been this way since CMA took over.  We will get to the tourney, but won't make it out of the 2nd round if we can't figure out how to play defense against a good team.

CMA called a zone out of a timeout in the 1st half, and Hoiberg had his team ready to go to the alley oop immediately out of it. 

CMA didn't even use the press through the last ten minutes of the 1st half. 

He's trying different things and making adjustments.  It's hard to say it's X's and O's when your team isn't executing the game plant correctly and not making smart decisions with the ball on the offensive end.

[bigred223]

We shot over 50 percent and outrebounded them.  I think most people are overlooking the fact we played a ranked team on the road in a very hostile environment.  Iowa State is a very good team.  I said when  I saw the schedule we would be lucky to run that gauntlet with no more than a couple of losses.  I like our chances of beating Clemson in their place and Dayton at home.  That would put us at only one loss going into SEC play.  That would be an excellent resume.  Basketball is not like football where one loss can kill you.  It's more about the entire season.  That loss will not hurt our entire body of work.  Of course, a win would have helped but I still believe we'll be there when all is said and done.

I think you are spot on here. We made some very uncharacteristic turnovers that led to easy baskets in building that big lead. We looked like we were rushing things in the first half which led to turnovers and just poor possessions overall. When we moved the ball and got looks, we hit at an acceptable clip. We played much better in the second half, but it just wasn't going to happen after a 20 point half deficit.

As far as the minutes. It's unfortunate that Jacorey Williams got into foul trouble so quickly. He had some flow on offense, and a nice blocked shot early in the game. Kingsley playing only 8 minutes is just bonehead coaching. I love Mike, but what is he waiting for with Moses? The guy goes in there and battles inside. Had a nice dunk and a very nice and one in his limited time.

Side note: I thought Harris played very well last night. He only took jumpers late in the shot clock when he was wide open, and he did a great job taking it strong and finishing. People need to stop bashing the guy for every single mistake he makes.

[hogsanity]

Not sure MA is very good at adjusting to situations. When he was "miked" in the huddle during the last game he never had game adjustments, but only asked for effort and energy. I never heard any Xs and Os being discussed during any of the times I heard him.

In all fairness it wasn't Nolan's strength either.

BTW- still waiting for "twin towers" experiment. Like to see more Portis & Kingsley combo.

Clemson should be a better result. Not panicking but disappointed wasn't closer game.

I think, by now, it is clear that he either can not or will not change anything. When the D is not turning people over, and leaving good shooters open, REPEATEDLY, they hogs are in real danger of getting beaten by 15-20 pts, especially on the road.

I look for a much better performance against Clemson, because they are not nearly as good as ISU for one thing.

[Pork Twain]

Watkins is an offensive stopper. Too much of a liability on that side of the ball to warrant more minutes.

Clint McDaniel...

[bigred223]

I think you're spot on.  This team does not play defense very well.  I think every player on Iowa St team last night had a dribble drive to the basket for a score.

They are one of the better ball handling teams in college basketball. Their big guys are good dribblers. Niang was virtually unguardable last night. Even with hands in his face he couldn't miss.

[BRHogfan]

They are one of the better ball handling teams in college basketball. Their big guys are good dribblers. Niang was virtually unguardable last night. Even with hands in his face he couldn't miss.

Plus their spacing was REALLY good. 

If the help defense was coming, it was going to have to come SO early. 

[PORKULATOR]

They shot an unbelievably percentage for the game. Thats hard to beat no matter who your playing.

[bigred223]

Plus their spacing was REALLY good. 

If the help defense was coming, it was going to have to come SO early.

They moved the ball extremely well. We weren't shooting that bad, other than Bell who had his worst game, but we just had some inexplicable turnovers that led to a lot of these layups everyone is talking about.

[hogsanity]

Clint McDaniel...

Mc Daniel could shoot, and he had more speed than Watkins. Clint averaged 8 ppg for his career, and scored over 1000 pts. He made 125 3 point shots, and over 200 ft's. Watkins could play here for 10 years and would not reach those #'s.

[yodcw2003]

This disbursement of minutes is not representative of MA's system / philosophy. A split of 10-25 minutes among 8 - 10 guys is what I thought we should expect. That way you can pressure, pressure, pressure for 40 minutes.

Just my opinion, but it seems as if MA hit the panic button last night in the season's first spotlight game. In his 4th year he knows he HAS to get it done, so he played the starters regular starter minutes hoping they could carry the load. That doesn't support his philosophy to winning.

Also, in year 4 I'm not interested in hearing about how good the other team was. We should be that good too. Period.

[The_Iceman]

Our starting five does not gel together.

Been saying that since the first few games.

[The_Iceman]

Mc Daniel could shoot, and he had more speed than Watkins. Clint averaged 8 ppg for his career, and scored over 1000 pts. He made 125 3 point shots, and over 200 ft's. Watkins could play here for 10 years and would not reach those #'s.

Exactly. Watkins needs to work all offseason on hitting a 3-pt shot. If he can get to a 30% 3pt shooter, that would make a huge difference for us.

[Paul]

We are a terrible half court team.  These kids don't know basic fundamentals of basketball & our press is terrible.  So we'll get beaten by teams that are better coached.   

[cbhawg03]

Arkansas's minutes distribution at Iowa State (as bad as feared):

37 Qualls (0-2 inside, scorched on D)
31 Portis (offense and rebounding mentality, no D)
26 Madden (5 assists, 4 TO, 0 steals, not a strong defender)
23 Bell (0-6 outside, let's not talk about D)
21 Watkins (the first defense-oriented player shows up on the list)
18 Harris (all-around effort guy)
16 Beard (quickest guard)
11 Williams (most active player in the press)
9 Kingsley (best low post defender)
6 Durham
2 Babb

Exactly as feared, MA would narrow the minutes distribution in favor of a group of players that cannot play defense together very well. ISU got sooooo many easy shots against this mess.

If you do not truly wear down the opponent with pressure and player rotations, they can play five guys 31-37 minutes without so much as a shrug. That is what happened. Iowa State didn't even need its bench. Had 26 bench minutes total. Arkansas had 65, less than 80% of normal.

It was as though Arkansas was worried most about rebounding -- 91% defensive rebounding, the few that ISU missed. You know that if the rebounding % is that high, the pressure is nonexistent. Arkansas was -3 in turnover margin. Complete failure of pressure defense, entirely because of the player rotations. Can't ask guys who hate playing D to press. They wanted Sportscenter highlights.

So you want minutes distributed evenly? Granted there are some that need to play more and some that might need to play less. For instance, would like to see Babb and Beard play more, both seem to be able to shoot the ball very well. Beard for whatever reason wouldn't shoot early on in the game, but rather decided to drive into the bigs, which led to turnovers. Babb will just keep passing rather than shooting for whatever reason, maybe because he is on the court and doesn't want to come off because he is missing. Really don't know about Babb.

Then you have Watkins. I don't understand him getting the minutes he does, especially in games like last night. You are completely handicapped on offense. Yes, he does play good defense and will rebound well, but you can't play 5-4 on the offensive side of the court when you play good teams like Iowa St., simply will not get the job done. He can have all the minutes he wants, but if he is going to get them then he needs to be able to hit a jumper, until then just let him play very short runs before the tv timeout in order to give someone a breather.

[swinesation]

Nobody is going to beat a team at home that shoots 64% from the field and 53% from the 3 PT line. That's excellent.

[The_Iceman]

Bell needs to come off the bench and be a spark to our offense as a shooter. I never really liked the idea of him starting. I like the combo of your spark defensive guy (Watkins) and a spark offensive guy (Bell) in the second unit together, as the help cancel out the other's weaknesses.

I would rather see a rotation that goes like:

Madden / Durham or Babb
Beard / Bell
Qualls / Watkins
Jacorey / Harris
Portis / Kingsley

You add some more high energy defense to start with Williams and Beard. It also mixes in a newcomer (Beard) with the veteran starters. You add shooting to the bench with Bell. Babb and Durham can fight it out for Madden's backup. Harris and Kingsley I think will complement each other well on the bench.

[hogman99]

CMA called a zone out of a timeout in the 1st half, and Hoiberg had his team ready to go to the alley oop immediately out of it. 

CMA didn't even use the press through the last ten minutes of the 1st half. 

He's trying different things and making adjustments.  It's hard to say it's X's and O's when your team isn't executing the game plant correctly and not making smart decisions with the ball on the offensive end.

So Hoiberg was ready for an in game adjustment?  I agree, great coaching.

We did not press for the last 10 minutes of the 1st half?  Exactly, we were already 15 points behind at this time. We should have never pressed to begin with knowing all their players can handle the ball.  Pre-game prep should have told you that.

Team not executing because they were playing a style that was not going to work against team like Iowa St. 

As I said, this pressing style will work against most teams.  It is up to the coaching staff to determine before the game which ones it won't work for and then adjust to a style that will keep us in the game. Note: Teams that have many good ball handlers, bigs that can handle the ball and shoot and solid good fundamental shooters we need to play straight up fundamental defense. 

Also, put Kingsley at the low post and Portis at the high post and run the high low game.  This would relieve the pressure off Madden to think he has to create all the time and would also free up open jump shooters, since the defense would key on Portis.  Once that happens, we make open shots, Kingsley makes easy buckets and Portis will dominate when the defense has to respect our new found weapons.

[RazorPiggie]

Kingsley needs to be getting more minutes period. This dude was a top 50 recruit and was a top 3 center. A center that is very athletic and has a high motor. GET HIM IN THE GAME MORE.

This is the crap I do not understand. Dude needs to be averaging 20 mins a game and should have last year as well.

[Pignominious]

I made a larger post about defensive approach as a separate topic.

Arkansas defense is a different brand from last season in the half court.  Last season's team switched on every screen, which resulted in some mismatches, but it was a simple system that didn't ask for a lot of thinking. 

What you saw yesterday was a two way fault in our defensive help.  On a screen, the screener momentarily becomes not worth guarding, so the man covering the screener helps on the ball during a pick and roll.  Once the defender who has screened has time to recover, the man covering the screener returns to cover him.  This has become 2nd nature to a lot of big men to close out on shooters and to rotate towards the rim as the screener tries to cut to the basket. 

The spacing was really good for ISU last night and the help defense on screens was spending too much time on the the ball and letting the screeners be open on the elbows.  When the ball went out to them, the help defense had to come from somewhere else leaving an open three point shooter or cutter to the basket with no more help defense left due to the great ISU spacing.

Additionally, when you have a guy like Georges Niang handling the ball, the pick and roll defense is reversed from it usually is which just puts that extra bit of doubt in the minds of Portis and Madden that they are doing the right thing.

The fouls were coming from late help defense coming to try and alter or block a shot when they were already beat to the rim.

Remember this defense is different from last year when the Hogs switched on every screen.

Thanks for the insight. Appreciate someone who knows the game and can break it down.

[chiti66]

I've thought all along that Bell should come off the bench.  I feel that Beard, Durham, and Watkins can handle the point and Ky can slide over to the 2 spot. Qualls, Harris and BP.  But we have so much depth, we could go in a number of directions.  We need to start playing BP and MK together, and often.  Get Trey some minutes to get him ready for the SEC.  No reason that the entire bench shouldn't get a few minutes every game....we are that deep, IMHO.  COME ON CMA, love ya MAN, but lets GET IT!!!

[Biggus Piggus]

So why didn't Mike make the necessary adjustments?  Does he go to practice this afternoon and say, "Last night is what happens when you don't work on defense." and expect something different to occur?

This is NOT a young team we have.  It's time to show up for the party.  Every night.

MA has a tendency to favor veterans on the road, especially early in the season. If you put the veterans atop the pecking order on this roster, you're not going to get a good defensive team.

[Pork Twain]

Mc Daniel could shoot, and he had more speed than Watkins. Clint averaged 8 ppg for his career, and scored over 1000 pts. He made 125 3 point shots, and over 200 ft's. Watkins could play here for 10 years and would not reach those #'s.

I'll pretend that McDaniel was an offensive presence in year one (3.9 ppg) if you will pretend that a defensive stopper or high-energy player does not matter in this style (4.7 ppg).  I grew up watching those 90's Hogs live and I am not delusional about the player Clint started out as and turned into over time.

http://www.hogstats.com/log_ua.php?name=Clint%20McDaniel

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mcdancl01.html

[chiti66]

Bell needs to come off the bench and be a spark to our offense as a shooter. I never really liked the idea of him starting. I like the combo of your spark defensive guy (Watkins) and a spark offensive guy (Bell) in the second unit together, as the help cancel out the other's weaknesses.

I would rather see a rotation that goes like:

Madden / Durham or Babb
Beard / Bell
Qualls / Watkins
Jacorey / Harris
Portis / Kingsley

You add some more high energy defense to start with Williams and Beard. It also mixes in a newcomer (Beard) with the veteran starters. You add shooting to the bench with Bell. Babb and Durham can fight it out for Madden's backup. Harris and Kingsley I think will complement each other well on the bench.

I prefer Harris with Portis.  We need to balance it out...BP is not a banger, but Harris will give you the bizness.  Same with the 2nd unit, Jacorey works great with Moses.  GHG!!!

[Biggus Piggus]

CMA called a zone out of a timeout in the 1st half, and Hoiberg had his team ready to go to the alley oop immediately out of it. 

CMA didn't even use the press through the last ten minutes of the 1st half. 

He's trying different things and making adjustments.  It's hard to say it's X's and O's when your team isn't executing the game plant correctly and not making smart decisions with the ball on the offensive end.

The conversation gets confused because of the term "press" vs. "pressure." Pressure defense is not necessarily a full-court press, which isn't necessarily pressure defense depending on how you want to run a press. Arkansas needs effective halfcourt pressure defense as much as it needs to trap off the inbounds.

Two things:

1. If the opponent is not missing shots or making turnovers, usually that is death for Arkansas. The Hogs' offense even suffers. If the Hogs have to start possessions off inbounds plays, everything loses polish.
2. Doesn't it look like Hoiberg had scouted Arkansas inside out, while MA was blindsided? Scouting and specific game planning aren't really MA's style.

[Biggus Piggus]

Watkins is an offensive stopper. Too much of a liability on that side of the ball to warrant more minutes.

The mix of players in the rotations is critical for this team. Can't just throw any five out there. Some can't defend together, some can't score together. Some are too inside, some too outside. But that's basketball. MA is still looking for fixers he can insert for various situations.

[intelligence]

Ready the explanations! All hands on deck! We got our ass whipped. plain and simple. players didn't get up for the game (Bell, Qualls). ISU handled our press easily. they had 11 turnovers on the night. If we wanna try to explain it away, we could point to their 64% fg mark, but even then that could be blamed partially on their defense. they did hit many a tough shot where we played good defense, but there were plenty of times where they hit a shot wide open after making a defender look silly. We failed to wear them out and slow them down, and we had no answer other than that. all the eggs in one basket, and paid the price.

[chiti66]

So Hoiberg was ready for an in game adjustment?  I agree, great coaching.

We did not press for the last 10 minutes of the 1st half?  Exactly, we were already 15 points behind at this time. We should have never pressed to begin with knowing all their players can handle the ball.  Pre-game prep should have told you that.

Team not executing because they were playing a style that was not going to work against team like Iowa St. 

As I said, this pressing style will work against most teams.  It is up to the coaching staff to determine before the game which ones it won't work for and then adjust to a style that will keep us in the game. Note: Teams that have many good ball handlers, bigs that can handle the ball and shoot and solid good fundamental shooters we need to play straight up fundamental defense. 

Also, put Kingsley at the low post and Portis at the high post and run the high low game.  This would relieve the pressure off Madden to think he has to create all the time and would also free up open jump shooters, since the defense would key on Portis.  Once that happens, we make open shots, Kingsley makes easy buckets and Portis will dominate when the defense has to respect our new found weapons.

Nothing more to say!  We have the team to play any style.  Come on Mike!

[Biggus Piggus]

Been saying that since the first few games.

Yes you have. This was why, before the game yesterday, I expressed concern about the player rotations and likelihood MA would take away his team's greatest asset - depth - by relying too much on veteran starters who can't or won't defend much. Watching the previous home games, marginally talented opponents sometimes dissected our starting five, until MA started substituting.

Nolan favored experience too, but he also tried to ensure that the five on court were complementary. If MA doesn't use his depth enough, he is stuck with a couple of sets that have matchup problems. This early, a lot of the depth is green and not as useful on the road, by definition.

Regardless - The defensive performance of the top players remains subpar and might stay that way until MA brings in more players who have superior defensive talent. The fact he's relying on Watkins as his prime defensive sub says volumes.

[The_Iceman]

I prefer Harris with Portis.  We need to balance it out...BP is not a banger, but Harris will give you the bizness.  Same with the 2nd unit, Jacorey works great with Moses.  GHG!!!

Good point, I can see that as well.

[ArkansasI]

MA has a tendency to favor veterans on the road, especially early in the season. If you put the veterans atop the pecking order on this roster, you're not going to get a good defensive team.

But this is what kills me about Mike.  This is year 4 and these kids aren't defending?  That's part of the game - and a huge part of what made Nolan (and hopefully Mike) successful.

I didn't see the first half last night, so we can talk about how well Iowa State shot the ball.  But based upon the percentages that I have seen (and 52 points at the half), the problem is that ISU had many open and easy looks.

That's terrible.  Good defensive teams are in every game they play.  I can still hear Nolan bellow, "D-UP".  Where's the tenacity?  A $3M coach must demand more from his players.  This is coaching.

[wildturkey8]

Nolan's teams played much better half court defense than this.  His best teams were as tough as I've seen defensively. 

Sometimes it looks as if effort is somewhat lacking on the defensive end.

[Biggus Piggus]

Ready the explanations! All hands on deck! We got our ass whipped. plain and simple. players didn't get up for the game (Bell, Qualls). ISU handled our press easily. they had 11 turnovers on the night. If we wanna try to explain it away, we could point to their 64% fg mark, but even then that could be blamed partially on their defense. they did hit many a tough shot where we played good defense, but there were plenty of times where they hit a shot wide open after making a defender look silly. We failed to wear them out and slow them down, and we had no answer other than that. all the eggs in one basket, and paid the price.

No way that players didn't get up for the game. They were unprepared, disorganized, and unable to respond to an opponent's superior game plan. Iowa State knew all the weaknesses of all of Arkansas's prime time players. They knew how to ensure that most of our defenders were in no man's land over and over.

[Atlhogfan1]

ISU was as prepared to play the Hogs as any non conference team I have seen.  This is what you get in SEC play and why it is such a different season.  It wasn't just ISU identifying open shooters but they didn't miss physical mismatches inside - Bell, Qualls, Durham all were beaten by bigger and stronger players when they got switches and ISU didn't miss the mismatches.