The breakdowns on D are really disheartening. Did anyone catch the final drive by Rutgers when they took the lead by 1 with a drive 1v1 drive from the top of the key with Reid defending. Reid actually bodied up pretty well, but then it looked like martinelli stood his ground in the middle of the land and instead of sliding partially and putting his hands up to help contest the shot, it looked like he began to box out his man to position for a rebound. Sadly the Rutgers player got past Reid and had a largely uncontested layup for the lead with just a couple of seconds left in the game. Collins called the TO and just looked exasperated and signalled to martinelli - ”couldn’t you have provided some help D and put your hands straight up to contest?”
Needless to say, on every defensive possession there is probably a 1v1 breakdown by an NU player that leads to an aggregiously wide open shot by the opposing team. Seems like the team is already at a disadvantage with the 1v1 breakdowns that they can’t even begin to coach/employ solid team defense to make a difference. Just too sloppy to consistently overcome. I suppose that is both youth and chemistry with 8-9 new players and unfamiliar rotations (not to mention players being asked to play out of position)…
Not sure about tomorrow night, but it would be nice to return to the form and confidence that we played with at the thanksgiving tournament when we went up against a more experienced and bigger UVa squad.
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