Did anyone else notice this in the UNC game-Need for more "anticipatory" Ball-hawks

[40minutesofhellBlitzkrieg]

...did anyone else notice how our full-court press created a significant number of lazy, lob passes in UNC's backcourt?  A number of times, after our guys executed a trap as UNC was bringing the ball up the court, the "trapped/double-teamed" UNC player would lob out a predictable pass to a the closest teammate up ahead of him in the middle of the court, yet I don't remember a single time where any of our guys would swoop into the "passing lane" for the steal.  When you play a style like ours (which I love) aren't players taught to take chances and "anticipate" these "passes under pressure" (much like a Safety in football is supposed to read a QB's eyes and ball-hawk predictable passes)?  Yes, there is a risk involved, but let's be honest...it's not like UNC was getting easy lay-ups all night, so why weren't our guys just going full-scale "balls to the wall" by trying to pick off some of those passes when we were pressing?!  Am I the only one who noticed this last night?

[NorthDallas40]

Very noticeable to anyone not wearing big colored glasses

[40minutesofhellBlitzkrieg]

Very noticeable to anyone not wearing big colored glasses

So you noticed this as well, NorthDalls40? To what do you ascribe our failure to even come close to picking off some of those passes?  Do our guys just lack the ability to anticipate and attack them?  Were they not simply not athletic/fast enough to get there in time?  There has to be a reason...I never even saw a serious attempt at picking off any of UNC's lazy, predictable, lob passes while  were pressing them in the backcourt.  I find it hard to believe they weren't coached to anticipate and intercept these passes.

[passinghog]

This is why I laugh when people say we should have won more than 27 games this year. We didn't have great defensive personnel on this team. We had to play extremely hard on defense or else we'd get lit up. The games we didn't play as hard as we had to because of our defensive personnel limitations were the ones we gave up a boat load of points (except for last night). Ole Miss, LSU, Iowa State games come to mind...

[40minutesofhellBlitzkrieg]

This is why I laugh when people say we should have won more than 27 games this year. We didn't have great defensive personnel on this team. We had to play extremely hard on defense or else we'd get lit up. The games we didn't play as hard as we had to because of our defensive personnel limitations were the ones we gave up a boat load of points (except for last night). Ole Miss, LSU, Iowa State games come to mind...

ShowtimeHog, just to be clear, you agreed with the observation expressed in my initial post?

[passinghog]

ShowtimeHog, just to be clear, you agreed with the observation expressed in my initial post?

Yes, just trying to offer an explanation why we dnot get as many live ball turnovers.

[40minutesofhellBlitzkrieg]

Yes, just trying to offer an explanation why we dnot get as many live ball turnovers.

I understand, but wo uld you say that the PRIMARY issue with our current players is:  A-a lack of the ability to  anticipate and attack passes B-lack of athletic ability to actually "swoop" into the passing lanes in time  C-both A and B?!

[Danny J]

I understand, but wo uld you say that the PRIMARY issue with our current players is:  A-a lack of the ability to  anticipate and attack passes B-lack of athletic ability to actually "swoop" into the passing lanes in time  C-both A and B?!

The lack of our guards ability to make those defensive plays is the problem. We don't have one, not one guard who is a lock down defender. We are not that great on defense and haven't been for most of the season. We were terrible defensively for a lot of the year, started playing better after the Ole Miss loss for 4 or 5 games then reverted back for a few games. We struggle with teams like UNC, ISU, LSU, Ole Miss, etc...because we can't keep their guards in front of us. They all have one thing in common. Very good ball handling guards who can shoot. We don't have the guards to compete with that. We do get a bit of help next year in Whitt but we need a couple more like him.

[passinghog]

I understand, but wo uld you say that the PRIMARY issue with our current players is:  A-a lack of the ability to  anticipate and attack passes B-lack of athletic ability to actually "swoop" into the passing lanes in time  C-both A and B?!

Both. "A" can be coached to a certain extent, but if you're not confident in you're own athleticism, you won't go for as many as you should. Guys that are in the passing lanes a lot trust their body and trust their technique.

[40minutesofhellBlitzkrieg]

Both. "A" can be coached to a certain extent, but if you're not confident in you're own athleticism, you won't go for as many as you should. Guys that are in the passing lanes a lot trust their body and trust their technique.

well-said, Showtime. I agree.  I guess that it just frustrated the hell out of me and a trapped UNC player would toss up one of those lob passes in his own backcourt (or at midcourt), and there wasn't a single Hog in sight by the time the ball reached his heel teammate.