CMA's defense

[mizzouman]

The whole concept is to pressure the ball either one on one or trap with additional pressure on the 'obvious' outlet guy.  But while the other 3 guys are watching the ball, the offensive guys are moving.  That opens the floor for back door's, open 3's and offensive rebounding. 

The whole mindset is pressure to cause turnovers.  The other 3 guys on offense is not a priority.  That's why CMA teams will always get burned with the 3 and rebounding is bad.

I've seen this for 5 years at Mizzou.  It works very well against non-conf teams and in the NCAAT (when you get there).  But, not against conference coaches who see this every year. 

CMA builds his teams for the NCAAT run.  But, he's got to get there first.

[Ironhawg]

There were several occasions last night when the MSU shooter was completely alone on one side of the court for a wide open three, which they drilled.  Our defense is not working.  Our offense is not working.  I was fully in support of bringing Mike back to Arkansas, but the results on the court are way short of what I expected. 

[ifghog]

There were several occasions last night when the MSU shooter was completely alone on one side of the court for a wide open three, which they drilled.  Our defense is not working.  Our offense is not working.  I was fully in support of bringing Mike back to Arkansas, but the results on the court are way short of what I expected. 

^^^^This^^^^

[mizzouman]

There were several occasions last night when the MSU shooter was completely alone on one side of the court for a wide open three, which they drilled.  Our defense is not working.  Our offense is not working.  I was fully in support of bringing Mike back to Arkansas, but the results on the court are way short of what I expected. 

Because they are all watching the ball. 

[waphill]

The whole team just looks soft, and lazy. They don't really play hard at all.

[cardsNhogs]

Mike Anderson will not change anything he does. Coach Drew at Baylor has played a 1-1-3 zone all year and his team is #1 in the country. Point is good coaches will make changes.

[The_Iceman]

The whole team just looks soft, and lazy. They don't really play hard at all.

Yep.

Ben Howland coached circles around Mike Anderson. When his team was wearing down, Ben called a timeout a few seconds before the media TO. He got his ten almost 10 minutes of rest on the bench with only 30 seconds of game time passing.

You can't wear teams down anymore. Time to move on.

[waphill]

You can't wear teams down anymore. Time to move on.

There are WAY too many stoppages in play. Couple that with all the fouls, and you really only have to go hard for 30 seconds to a minute before getting a breather. Oliver Miller would've loved that pace of play!!

[Biggus Piggus]

You can wear teams down. Go watch West Virginia. Arkansas cannot play pressure defense. That is the problem. This is an awful defensive team. The players are lost. You watch, the next team MSU plays will shut them down. Our coach is broken.

[tophawg19]

the 40 minutes of hell died in the Ncaa rules committee's board room. the hand checking rules killed it . Also basket ball has changed in the last 10 years . even the 5's on most teams are good ball handlers . every team has 3 or 4 men on the floor who are capable of bringing the ball down so the press is no longer effective . trapping isn't any good when they can spread the ball around and spread you out in the process . to press and trap, you have to be physical and now that gets fouls called

[mizzouman]

The whole team just looks soft, and lazy. They don't really play hard at all.

Not sure about that.  It's the scheme.  Players are open because the defender is watching the ball hoping for a turnover based on a deflection.  They forget about who they should be guarding.

CMA puts a lot of emphasis on deflections.  If you aren't ready to grab it, he pulls you.  So, you cannot watch the ball and guard a guy at the same time.

[mizzouman]

Mike Anderson will not change anything he does. Coach Drew at Baylor has played a 1-1-3 zone all year and his team is #1 in the country. Point is good coaches will make changes.

This is true.  CMA will not change.

[ArkansasI]

You can wear teams down. Go watch West Virginia. Arkansas cannot play pressure defense. That is the problem. This is an awful defensive team. The players are lost. You watch, the next team MSU plays will shut them down. Our coach is broken.

Exactly.  And highly talented players can see this - which prevent Mike from attracting the players that will turn this around.

Mike has a limited recruiting base.  And it is shrinking every game.

[The_Iceman]

You can wear teams down. Go watch West Virginia. Arkansas cannot play pressure defense. That is the problem. This is an awful defensive team. The players are lost. You watch, the next team MSU plays will shut them down. Our coach is broken.

I guess your right. I think wearing teams down happens more in a half court setting than full court. Smart pressure defense is different than Mike's lazy gambling defense.

[code red]

I am sorry.  I see nothing positive going on with this basketball team.  When espn had a close up of our huddle, and all Mike can say is "we gotta rebound.".....really???  How bout telling them how?  Drawing something up?  That was a terrible effort coaching last night....again.

[yocdaddy]

You can wear teams down. Go watch West Virginia. Arkansas cannot play pressure defense. That is the problem. This is an awful defensive team. The players are lost. You watch, the next team MSU plays will shut them down. Our coach is broken.

I believe the style is less effective than it was in 90's and here's why.  Since the explosion of summer leagues and summer tournaments, more kids have been exposed to pressure basketball.  The high major kids have played against, handled the ball, and passed against pressure all of their lives.  Kids have much more game experience now than the 90's. 

West Virginia is effective at it because they do not always press and they have a tactician as their coach.  Playing that style isn't as simple as it used to be. 

The most concerning to me is that we have this "mantra" that we want to live by....The Fastest 40 minutes in basketball.  The problem is that we rank #76 in D1 in tempo.  We aren't even the Fastest 40 in our state, UCA plays at a faster pace.  Since we no longer play at such a frenetic pace, there is no need for our best players to get 25-28 minutes per game.  Last night, Kingsley played 29 minutes the most of any of our starters.  They had 4 starters get that many minutes or more.  So the other teams best players are on the floor more than ours, which used to help us.  Now that we don't really create that chaos, it is actually not a sound philosophy. 

I believe you can still play that way and be effective, but you have to commit to it, scheme for it, recruit for it, and time it correctly.

[razoredge178]

There were several occasions last night when the MSU shooter was completely alone on one side of the court for a wide open three, which they drilled.  Our defense is not working.  Our offense is not working.  I was fully in support of bringing Mike back to Arkansas, but the results on the court are way short of what I expected.

This team gives up so many premium looks it doesn't matter if we play a "poor" offensive team. I'm not even poor at making a bucket when I'm 10ft. clear of a defender.

[razoredge178]

I believe the style is less effective than it was in 90's and here's why.  Since the explosion of summer leagues and summer tournaments, more kids have been exposed to pressure basketball.  The high major kids have played against, handled the ball, and passed against pressure all of their lives.  Kids have much more game experience now than the 90's. 

Much more experience and much, much better athletes. These young men are all tremendously conditioned, nullifying the concept that we can just "wear down" our way to victories.

[hogsanity]

Much more experience and much, much better athletes. These young men are all tremendously conditioned, nullifying the concept that we can just "wear down" our way to victories.

also very few players are afraid of being pressed anymore. Back in the late 80's and through the mid-late 90's, you could see guys get the ball against the press and pretty much wet themselves they were so scared. Now, even a lot of 4's can handle the ball.

[HamIAm]

The whole team just looks soft, and lazy. They don't really play hard at all.

If you are getting beat while busting your butt and the only advice you can get from the coaching staff is play harder, well...

What's that mantra from executive circles, work smarter not harder.  Maybe it's time to play smarter (and hard)

[Breems]

You can wear teams down. Go watch West Virginia. Arkansas cannot play pressure defense. That is the problem. This is an awful defensive team. The players are lost. You watch, the next team MSU plays will shut them down. Our coach is broken.

Yep. West Virginia dismantled Baylor with their pressure defense.

It can work. Just not for us.

[Sow Lancelot]

This is an awful defensive team. The players are lost.

Two thumbs up.

[The_Iceman]

Yep. West Virginia dismantled Baylor with their pressure defense.

It can work. Just not for us.

I think you have to have a Bob Huggins or Nolan Richardson type coach to run that type of system. Someone who puts fear into his players and commands respect and your best effort. Mike is too nice. His teams reflect his character.

[Biggus Piggus]

I believe the style is less effective than it was in 90's and here's why.  Since the explosion of summer leagues and summer tournaments, more kids have been exposed to pressure basketball.  The high major kids have played against, handled the ball, and passed against pressure all of their lives.  Kids have much more game experience now than the 90's. 

The frequency of turnovers in college basketball has been declining since the 2006-07 season, but it dropped sharply beginning in 2013-14. For four seasons including this one, turnovers have been down by around 2 per game. That is on average.

Back in 2001-02, the best ballhandling teams turned it over on 16-18% of their possessions. Last season, the best teams were from below 14% to 15%. This season, Iowa State's approaching 13% with a number of others at 14-15%.

The benchmark used to be 20 turnovers. If you play 75 possessions per game, that would mean forcing turnovers on 27% of an opponent's possessions. It's hard to play 75 possessions anymore - with all the timeouts and walk-it-up halfcourt teams, it's hard to sustain fast tempo. And fewer turnovers also means fewer possessions.

Kentucky plays 75 possessions per game. They have some really fast players. Arkansas doesn't have speed and quickness like that. These players would fit better into a different style. As long as he has been at Arkansas, MA has recruited against his own style, for the most part. Weird.

[majp51]

You can wear teams down. Go watch West Virginia. Arkansas cannot play pressure defense. That is the problem. This is an awful defensive team. The players are lost. You watch, the next team MSU plays will shut them down. Our coach is broken.

Possibly a bad choice, MSU next plays A&M , who is having problems stopping anyone

[Biggus Piggus]

Possibly a bad choice, MSU next plays A&M , who is having problems stopping anyone

They lost at South Carolina because they were given only five free throw attempts in the whole game. The Aggies played good defense, got outscored by 11 at the line and lost by 11.

Funny how that does not work at Arkansas. Miss Stake outscored us 22-15 at the line. At our place.

[MountieDawg]

Slapping, grabbing, gambling on steaks and being out of position teams will always get more fouls than teams that just try to make you take a bad shot and stay between thei man and the basket... complaining about free throw discrepancies is crazy with MA's style.

[FineAsSwine]

I guess your right. I think wearing teams down happens more in a half court setting than full court. Smart pressure defense is different than Mike's lazy gambling defense.

Lots of energy expended on the court so, it's not laziness. It's improper rotations and late closeouts.