UK v. ND

[Jackrabbit Hog]

It's not that simple.  They aren't all 6'10"+ and in addition to getting screened or picked to create space, they can be shot over if they don't extend out to the shooters.  WCS is a very good defensive player, but the other UK bigs aren't necessarily great defensively....at least not consistently.  If UK had tried to pack it in against ND, ND would have shot much better from three than they did.

That's why ND's offense was so beautiful and efficient this season.  Pack it in on defense, and they had great outside shooters that would kill you with 3's.  Extend to challenge those 3's, and they ran backdoors, pick-and-rolls, and took advantage of the spacing. 

It sounds simple, but nobody executed it this year like ND.  And a big reason for that was their experience, continuity (bunch of upperclassmen) and unselfishness.

[hawginbigd1]

That's why ND's offense was so beautiful and efficient this season.  Pack it in on defense, and they had great outside shooters that would kill you with 3's.  Extend to challenge those 3's, and they ran backdoors, pick-and-rolls, and took advantage of the spacing. 

It sounds simple, but nobody executed it this year like ND.  And a big reason for that was their experience, continuity (bunch of upperclassmen) and unselfishness.

I don't mean exactly pack it in, i mean they should have played off of their man (True fact, much harder to be screened when you play off) or went to a match-up zone and made them shoot their way to a win or a loss. UK was grossly overmatched in speed and quickness, and ND took advantage of that all night which limited the advantage of UK's length on defense, Auguste certainly wouldn't have had all those boards and put backs.