The Zone

[xxxbobxxx]

Really bummed I missed the game last night. I had to teach and didn't have the patience to wait and watch replay. As I have been reading and digesting all that I can find, it brings a question to mind: Is my memory flawed or does this streak coincide with implementing the 2-3?

If so, it brings a few thoughts: 1. On a positive, CCC realized his system wasn't working, found and implemented a better one; 2. If he had done so earlier, or at least started to explore a zone earlier, we could be a bubble team. How many of those close losses might have turned around if we had thrown in some zone D. Hell, might have led to an even earlier commitment to the zone. (I would still like to see them keep the 1-3-1 in the arsenal for random change of pace - kinda teams that throw the occasional press.)

Spilt milk either way - team is looking good and the frosh are starting to really gel. I'm left with a positive taste that we have a coach willing to accept failure and implement change. Kudos to CCC

 

[Catreporter]

One thing I know. Kendrick Nunn would not have scored 25 points against a zone. On the other hand, man defense worked really well for the Cats last year.

 

[hdhntr1]

Yes it does coincide with the use of the zone. And on the one hand, it is great that Collins is willing to change if what they are doing is not working but on the other, he could be quicker in making the transition. That said, he has had a lot of new faces and it might take longer for the evaluation and implementation because of that. going forward,nice to have extra tools in the arsenal.

 

[JournCat]

Coach is a sophomore, too ... he's learning. The line between standing by your principles and being stubborn to the point of detrimental is a hard one to find. I'm just glad we're winning now!

 

[NJCat83588]

Hindsight is 20/20.

The problem was, NU wasn't losing because of defense. All those losses were close, until the MSU meltdown. So there wasn't really a compelling case for action for going zone. Add to that the fact that Collins claims he never coached a zone, and it doesn't seem like switching defense was the biggest need. The main problem during the losing streak was inability to score.

 

[xxxbobxxx]

Not to raise discourse again - but this is why I am still all in for BB and vocal and watching from afar re FB. Fitz, not a sophomore but also nowhere near legend status, refuses to accept failure and go a different direction. Whether it be player performance, coaching performance, recruiting approach, system choice, whatever - Fitz is loyal and stubborn beyond a fault. Worse, noone in the athletic department seems willing to challenge him, remind him of his youth and inexperience, and straighten him out. And that frustrates to the point of becoming unwilling to fully support that program.

Fitz and CCC both got there starts here, both are great stories. Love the humility in CCC to accept failure and refuse to give up. Fitz needs to find some humility beyond accepting the suck.

 

[Fitz51]

Originally posted by xyzbobxyz:
Not to raise discourse again - but this is why I am still all in for BB and vocal and watching from afar re FB. Fitz, not a sophomore but also nowhere near legend status, refuses to accept failure and go a different direction. Whether it be player performance, coaching performance, recruiting approach, system choice, whatever - Fitz is loyal and stubborn beyond a fault. Worse, noone in the athletic department seems willing to challenge him, remind him of his youth and inexperience, and straighten him out. And that frustrates to the point of becoming unwilling to fully support that program.

Fitz and CCC both got there starts here, both are great stories. Love the humility in CCC to accept failure and refuse to give up. Fitz needs to find some humility beyond accepting the suck.

A bit of overgeneralization here, but I pretty much agree with you - interested to hear other posters' take on this - maybe worth posting the question over on the FB Board?

 

[Deeringfish]

Originally posted by Fitz51:

Originally posted by xyzbobxyz:
Not to raise discourse again - but this is why I am still all in for BB and vocal and watching from afar re FB. Fitz, not a sophomore but also nowhere near legend status, refuses to accept failure and go a different direction. Whether it be player performance, coaching performance, recruiting approach, system choice, whatever - Fitz is loyal and stubborn beyond a fault. Worse, noone in the athletic department seems willing to challenge him, remind him of his youth and inexperience, and straighten him out. And that frustrates to the point of becoming unwilling to fully support that program.

Fitz and CCC both got there starts here, both are great stories. Love the humility in CCC to accept failure and refuse to give up. Fitz needs to find some humility beyond accepting the suck.

A bit of overgeneralization here, but I pretty much agree with you - interested to hear other posters' take on this - maybe worth posting the question over on the FB Board?

I agree in principle but one change in strategy doesn't make you brilliant or flexible. It could be desperate and lucky. If he had changed from the man and continued to fail we would be questioning his resolve.

 

[ricko6543211]

1) Just for accuracy purposes, we first broke out the zone against Wisconsin. Our D looked better in that game than the first time we played them but we couldn't score so they still beat us soundly. MSU diced our zone like a ripe tomato and we got blown out there. I think part of this is attributable to those teams being better than the last 4 that we've beaten, and part of it being that we were getting used to the different style of defensive play in the zone. Since then we've improved (but still far from invulnerable as we saw the first few mins vs PSU and the first half vs Indiana).

It's interesting that as the game has gone on, the zone has seemed to get more effective. I think against PSU CC made a conscious in-game adjustment in how we were rotating at the early timeout- to shade much more aggressively to the wings and leave the bigs alone to deal with penetration which was extremely successful. In Indiana I didn't see that much different schematically in the second half, we just seemed to rotate and close out on shooters much better, and when they did get good looks (rarely until the end-game chaos) they missed most of them.

2) I will actually disagree with the above posted - I think the reason we were losing early in conference season was because of our defense. Our offense has consistently been better than last season on an efficiency adjusted basis. Our offense has also ranked more highly than our defense throughout the year. Our adjusted tempo is still slow so the overall scoring numbers aren't particularly high (last I looked 3rd slowest in the conference after Wiscy and Mich), but don't let that fool you - aside from a couple ugly games we've been getting decent looks.

During the winning streak yes the offense has improved also (more players are moving better and making more open shots), but the defense has been the bigger shift I think. We've also been doing a surprisingly good job of fighting for and getting D boards out of the zone (with the notable exception of the MSU blowout where they destroyed us) - feels like there has been no notable reduction on our rebounding % with the switch which is surprising and impressive. Note that this is based on intuition from watching, not based on numbers.

 

[willycat]

Deering, I seem to remember that Collins also changed strategy last season, going from a hurry up offense to a much slower tempo. Like that he is willing to change things up on the fly and hope he also keeps the "man" and the 1-3-1 in his playbook.

 

[docrugby1]

The zone has allowed CC to use his roster more effectively. Lindsey, Taphorn and Skelly are getting more minutes . I think our defense has allowed us to use better offensive players who have some man to man deficiencies.

CC is maturing as a coach. He was driving square pegs into round holes before. On offense, we are also making some good entry passes that we were reluctant to make before

Indiana shot "lights out" in the first half, with many shots contested but we weathered the storm until they cooled off -we now are starting 4 possible scorers and bringing Law in off the bench

 

[CPVT]

Also can't hurt for all these young players to learn how to play at a college level and to build chemistry with their teammates. Excited for next year and every one after that.

 

[Sec_112]

You're not the only one w/ mixed emotions

I had the some of the same feelings, Bob.

I love the flexibility that we've seen in two years.

On the other hand, part of me is concerned how long it has taken CC to adapt in both years. A good coach needs to identify issues and make adjustments in the span of a game, not halfway through the season.

However, last year, CC was a rookie. This year he's working through several unexpected injuries and a bunch of freshmen whose games he'll understand better in the future.

But it's something in the back of my mind.

 

[CappyNU]

False, NU was absolutely losing due to defense. To wit:

@MSU: NU scores 1.10 PPP (6th best against MSU this year), gives up 1.20 PPP (20th best D effort against MSU)
Illinois: NU scores 1.09 PPP (6th best against Illinois this year), gives up 1.17 PPP (24th best D effort against Illinois)
OSU: NU scores 1.17 PPP (3rd best against OSU this year), gives up 1.20 PPP (17th best D effort against OSU)
MD: NU scores 1.04 PPP (8th best against MD this year), gives up 1.05 PPP (11th best D effort against MD)

The only game where offense cost us was @Michigan, where we scored .93 PPP (21st best against Michigan), while giving up 0.97 PPP (10th best D effort against Michigan)

In the Big 10 season, we've put together 8 offensive performances that are top-10 against opponents vs 4 on defense, as of today. Last year we had 2 on offense vs 11 on defense.

 

[hdhntr1]

This is the second time he has done it. He made a change last year that turned the season around as well.

 

[EvanstonCat]

Originally posted by hdhntr1:
This is the second time he has done it. He made a change last year that turned the season around as well.

I'm as big a fan of CCC as anyone and am impressed with the moves that have really impacted our outcomes, but I really would like for him to make any needed changes much earlier in the season so the season is TRULY turned around and we go dancing.

 

[Katatonic]

Originally posted by ricko654321:

2) I will actually disagree with the above posted - I think the reason we were losing early in conference season was because of our defense. Our offense has consistently been better than last season on an efficiency adjusted basis. Our offense has also ranked more highly than our defense throughout the year. Our adjusted tempo is still slow so the overall scoring numbers aren't particularly high (last I looked 3rd slowest in the conference after Wiscy and Mich), but don't let that fool you - aside from a couple ugly games we've been getting decent looks.

During the winning streak yes the offense has improved also (more players are moving better and making more open shots), but the defense has been the bigger shift I think. We've also been doing a surprisingly good job of fighting for and getting D boards out of the zone (with the notable exception of the MSU blowout where they destroyed us) - feels like there has been no notable reduction on our rebounding % with the switch which is surprising and impressive. Note that this is based on intuition from watching, not based on numbers.

Yes, while the O has struggled thru stretches, the D was an even greater problem; the 'Cats were giving opponents too many extra chances losing the TO battle and man wasn't taking advantage of Olah on the defensive end.

And the switch to the 2-3 has helped the O - not only in making Olah feel more comfortable (and less tired from getting switched onto guards) on the offensive end (not to mention less prone to foul trouble), but both Demps and Law seem to play more settled on O since the switch.

 

[Katatonic]

Re: You're not the only one w/ mixed emotions

Common sense would seem to dictate going to a 2-3 zone to make the best use of Olah in a B1G that is down on B1G caliber centers, but I'm willing to give CC a bit of a pass on this since he hadn't coached the 2-3 prior (tho, I do wonder why one of the assistants didn't bring it up w/ CC sooner) and he was probably trying to see if he could get the young team to recapture the magic of last season's man D as certain players gained experience.

Had more of an issue w/ the overly slow change last season in slowing down the tempo on O.

The 'Cats didn't have much depth last season w/ the starters getting the bulk of the minutes so having them play aggressive man D (which depleted energy) and play up-tempo O was just too much.

But CC is just starting off on his HC career and he's still learning; the impt. thing is that he is willing to try new things when things aren't working.

Also have to give CC a lot of credit in sticking to the 2-3 zone when things weren't looking so hot on the defensive end, not only for the IU game, but for the Minny game.



This post was edited on 2/28 2:16 AM by Katatonic