What turned it around…

[charcat]

What almost lost the game? Trying to run out the clock, pushing the ball around the perimeter and then a single long shot many of which did not go in.

What won the game? The last minute and over time, working to get the ball inside to Young, or driving to the basket and forcing a foul or points. In the last 10 minutes we stopped cutting and forcing the ball inside. It is the classic “prevent defense” in football that often lets a team come back.

Even with a 20+ point lead you can’t stop going after it inside. If they press, make them pay for it and find the open guy underneath.

 

[techtim72]

What almost lost the game? Trying to run out the clock, pushing the ball around the perimeter and then a single long shot many of which did not go in.

What won the game? The last minute and over time, working to get the ball inside to Young, or driving to the basket and forcing a foul or points. In the last 10 minutes we stopped cutting and forcing the ball inside. It is the classic “prevent defense” in football that often lets a team come back.

Even with a 20+ point lead you can’t stop going after it inside. If they press, make them pay for it and find the open guy underneath.

Plus you have the luxury of a large lead which allows a team to trade 2 point baskets with 3 point baskets.

 

[TheC]

What almost lost the game? Trying to run out the clock, pushing the ball around the perimeter and then a single long shot many of which did not go in.

What won the game? The last minute and over time, working to get the ball inside to Young, or driving to the basket and forcing a foul or points. In the last 10 minutes we stopped cutting and forcing the ball inside. It is the classic “prevent defense” in football that often lets a team come back.

Even with a 20+ point lead you can’t stop going after it inside. If they press, make them pay for it and find the open guy underneath.

This turtle-like prevent mode has been a Collins' staple since he arrived. Even the Macintosh teams would do it and it drove me crazy as it always led to trouble. It gives opponents life. They seize all the energy and momentum. I can see doing that under 90 seconds, but not at 4 minutes or more. He has trained multiple generations of recruiting classes at NU to play scared now.

We are the perennial underdogs. We should always play like we have nothing to lose. The other teams should be the one feeling pressure late in games because they are expected to win, but we are the most timid team with a lead I've ever seen.

 

[Hungry Jack]

RU switched to a zone, and our guys stopped moving. Full stop. Worse, we held the ball up high, running down the clock, leaving us very little time to create even mid-range opportunities.

My understanding, after checking into a Holiday Inn last night and sleeping on it, is that zones can be beaten by reversing the ball, creating back door cuts, and generally MOVING THE BALL FASTER THAN THE ZONE CAN ADJUST.

Recall The White Shadow episode where the coach challenges Salami to a race down the court; Salami takes off on a sprint, and coach lets him get halfway down before he chucks the ball well ahead of him, demonstrating how a passed ball easily beats a human running. Maybe Collins should watch that.

 

[PurpleFaze]

What almost lost the game? Trying to run out the clock, pushing the ball around the perimeter and then a single long shot many of which did not go in.

What won the game? The last minute and over time, working to get the ball inside to Young, or driving to the basket and forcing a foul or points. In the last 10 minutes we stopped cutting and forcing the ball inside. It is the classic “prevent defense” in football that often lets a team come back.

Even with a 20+ point lead you can’t stop going after it inside. If they press, make them pay for it and find the open guy underneath.

What was really frustrating was multiple times we beat their pressure and then had the opportunity to attack the basket (several times with a numbers advantage) and instead we stopped and pulled it back out to run more clock and eventually get a piss poor shot

 

[TheC]

RU switched to a zone, and our guys stopped moving. Full stop. Worse, we held the ball up high, running down the clock, leaving us very little time to create even mid-range opportunities.

My understanding, after checking into a Holiday Inn last night and sleeping on it, is that zones can be beaten by reversing the ball, creating back door cuts, and generally MOVING THE BALL FASTER THAN THE ZONE CAN ADJUST.

Recall The White Shadow episode where the coach challenges Salami to a race down the court; Salami takes off on a sprint, and coach lets him get halfway down before he chucks the ball well ahead of him, demonstrating how a passed ball easily beats a human running. Maybe Collins should watch that.

It's basketball 101. I taught 7th graders this when I used to coach. You beat the zone by ball reversal - moving it quickly from one side of the court to the other and then finding holes in the middle to penetrate. It also helps to be able to hit an open jump shot now and again.

 

[willycat]

What almost lost the game? Trying to run out the clock, pushing the ball around the perimeter and then a single long shot many of which did not go in.

What won the game? The last minute and over time, working to get the ball inside to Young, or driving to the basket and forcing a foul or points. In the last 10 minutes we stopped cutting and forcing the ball inside. It is the classic “prevent defense” in football that often lets a team come back.

Even with a 20+ point lead you can’t stop going after it inside. If they press, make them pay for it and find the open guy underneath.

gee just how many points did Young score???

 

[GatoLouco]

gee just how many points did Young score???

8 in 12 minutes. By far the most per 40 of the team.

 

[CappyNU]

What was driving me insane was hearing Brian Butch continually point out over and over again how we were holding the ball too high and not doing what we needed to do to attack the zone. Honestly, I'm shocked that Collins actually did the right thing keeping Nance out of the game late for the most part given his issues in late-game execution recently. If Young wasn't in the game at the end, we would've lost in regulation.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

We were setting screens 30 feet from the basket and setting up closer to midcourt than the 3 point line.
When we took a shot 4 guys ran away from the basket.

You cannot play that way ever.

 

[pawildcat_rivals209725]

I see a lot of poor offense against zones. The key against a zone, as others have pointed out, is rapid ball movement. That ball should be zipping around the zone and running the zone team ragged. If it's a 2-3 zone and you have a competent big man, he should be set up in the middle so the offense can pivot around him.

The ball should hardly touch the court if you're playing against a zone. If you see a guard bouncing the ball around a lot it's usually a waste of time, especially with a 30-second clock.

A lot of this is a product of the three-point shot. In the old days, teams knew they had to aggressively attack a zone to get inside shots rather than settle for a lower percentage of two-point shots from outside. Nowadays, a lot of teams just seem to have 2-3 guys standing relatively stationary at the arc. They toss up three-pointers and call it a zone offense.

Another lost skill is setting a play for the final shot of a half. How many times now do you see the point guard bounce the ball around at the top of the key, run the clock down to under 5 seconds, and throw up some desperate double-clutch effort? Either that, or toss it to another guy for a 30-foot three-pointer attempt.

Back in the day, you could bet on a guy like Bobby Knight running something that would get an open look for Steve Alford or some other such jump-shooter.