Defense

[Hal Evans]

Watching the game today two things about this team bother me. I will start with the disclaimer that they were a little better at these today than the last three games:

1) This may be the worst defensive team coach K has had since his first year here.

2)Some of the players on this team are selfsh with the ball. Lacks team play of the past few years.

 

 

[UtahUteGuy]

I don’t know if I agree with you on the selfish point.  Larry K knows that he has more decent ballhandlers than ever before and he gives them some flexibility to create.  Unfortunately, this leads to a few additional turnovers, but let’s remember that we’re dealing with a pretty new team, and some of the ballhandlers are young.  Other than the several turnovers from a few illl-advised passes/drives, the passing was decent, especially in the interior.  They had 21 assists, and the assists were spread out among quite a few guys, a sign of an unselfish team.

I think perhaps the expectations of some of our fans have been slightly too high?  They have played to around what I had expected, a second tier PAC team.  This team hasn’t had a ton of time to gel together.  Now, next season will be a different story.  They only lose Bonam (and Bealer, which isn’t much of a loss), they will be able to train an entire year together and will,have the entire pre-season to gel.  I expect the pre-season next year to prepare them better to make a real run in the PAC.  Maybe this additional time together will help hem solve some of the defensive deficiencies that you have referenced.  I’m optimistic.

[Minnesota Ute]

I agree, passing/sharing the ball isn’t on my radar screen, their assist totals have been good but unfortunately their turnovers have also been high.  Other than Kuz and Rawson shooting 3s, I rarely am irritatated with shot selection.  We are getting a s**t pot of points in the paint, in fact we are somewhere in the top 10 in the nation in fg percentage from 2, and points on the interior per game, which to me is a sign of good passing and especially interior passing.

And I also don’t have a great concern about our defense, although our energy has been bad at times.  Perhaps the rest yesterday and today will get the team back refreshed and ready.  I’ve been saying for a while that I think this is a very very good team, so I hope Krystko is right and all they need is to push the reset button, because we NEED this game Thursday.

[BJA 13]

I would also add slow starts (including halftime)