A Look At Texas

[michigancat]

He's done the same thing guarding wings.

And that was two games.

gray went for 23 points in one of those games, shooting 75%.

is that good defense?

If we hold Durant to 23 points, I'd call it decent.

[michigancat]

And wasn't everyone pissed that we ran the last play for Hoskins that game?

I can't remember.

[pufizzle]

Did anyone watch the UT Nova game??  I didn't get to see it but I'm pretty sure Durant had 12 points....with only a free throw coming in the second half.  Anyone know what defense they ran or if Durant was just having a bad shooting game??  You know that's the game Huggins will be disecting when going over film.

[WildGunman]

I agree with tmramrod91, Huggins needs to devote some practice time until then for Colon to work on his hook (not hookshot).  If Colon takes a swing at Durant before the game, perhaps in the parkinglot, does that avoid a second NCAA issue?

[coitus]

He's done the same thing guarding wings.

And that was two games.

gray went for 23 points in one of those games, shooting 75%.

is that good defense?

If we hold Durant to 23 points, I'd call it decent.

i know kevin durant, and taj gray is no kevin durant.

if we play the kind of defense that lets taj gray shoot 75% and go for 23, durant will put up a double nickel.

[turbowildcat]

What is Akeem, 6'6?  And Durant 6'8?  Akeem can guard him as much as guarding someone like Durant is possible.  The guy is just unstoppable.  As long as we force him to take those impossible shots that he only makes 1/3 of the time, we can win.  I think Akeem is the best guy to do that, despite being slightly shorter.  Keep Durant away from the basket and force him to take fallaways when he's taking the jumpshot.  Crash the boards hard.

I saw the huskers vs. Texas in person. Nebraska played a 3-2 zone, but what was amazing was that Durant was guarded by a guy 6'2'', Marcus Perry. Perry I would say had no shot of guarding him, therefore giving up 29 pts to Durant. It was truly a sight to laugh at, with times of Nebraska having the tallest man on the court at 6'4". But NU only allowed Texas to score 62 due to a tough zone.

[ksuno1stunner]

I say we shut down everybody else on the team.  Try and make one guy beat us instead of nine.

[kougar24]

Rusty, what advantage would putting Martin (poor post defender) on Durant have as opposed to Wright (one of the best defenders in the conference)?

Wright isn't asked to guard posts often, no, but it isn't like it's night and day from guarding a forward.

[cireksu]

several years ago in the nba semifinals I think it was san antonio that put a small guy on shaq to deny any entry pass and it worked, if shaq did get the ball someone came from the help side and hacked the crap out of him, totally took shaq out of the games when they did that, maybe we'll do that with akeem.

[michigancat]

Rusty, what advantage would putting Martin (poor post defender) on Durant have as opposed to Wright (one of the best defenders in the conference)?

Size, rebounding, and experience.  I'd rather have someone who's been average (I wouldn't call him poor) defending the post over someone who really hasn't been asked to do it before.  Plus, you can use Wright to lock down arguably the best shooter in the Big XII (something Martin can't do), while he probably won't do significantly better on Durant than Cartier.

I'm guessing it will start out like this:

Hoskins on Durant
Wright on Abrams
Stewart or Young on Augustin
Bennett on James
Harris on Mason


Just plan on not containing, not stopping Durant and shut everyone else down.

[kougar24]

Size, rebounding, and experience.

Martin, if he's a legit 6'8" (questionable) is only 2" taller than Wright, and still shorter than Durant. Wright is a better rebounder than Martin; in fact, Wright is statistically the best rebounder on the team. And experience? Do you really think the transition to post D would be tough on Wright? If he struggled down there, it would be because of being physically outmatched, not lack of experience. Besides, like I said before, Martin is a poor post defender. Poor. Plus, we would rather have Wright in foul trouble than Martin (though neither is preferable, of course).

[michigancat]

Size, rebounding, and experience.

Martin, if he's a legit 6'8" (questionable) is only 2" taller than Wright, and still shorter than Durant. Wright is a better rebounder than Martin; in fact, Wright is statistically the best rebounder on the team. And experience? Do you really think the transition to post D would be tough on Wright? If he struggled down there, it would be because of being physically outmatched, not lack of experience. Besides, like I said before, Martin is a poor post defender. Poor. Plus, we would rather have Wright in foul trouble than Martin (though neither is preferable, of course).

Way to ignore the bulk of my post.  They aren't playing a freaking game of one-on-one.  Even if Wright could hold Durant to slightly fewer points, I'd put Martin on Durant.



Look at UT's starters:

Durant: 6'9", 23.5 ppg
James: 6'7", 6.9 ppg
Mason: 6'2", 9.8 ppg, 43% 3FG
Abrams: 5'10", 16.5 ppg, 44% 3FG
Augustin: 5'10", 13.7 ppg, 46% 3FG


Assume a starting lineup of:

Bennett 7-3
Martin 6-8 (even though he won't start, you seem obsessed w/Martin vs. Wright)
Wright 6-6
Harris 6-5
Stewart 6-4

Let's say you put Wright (without a doubt our best perimeter defender) on Durant.  All of a sudden Martin is guarding a 6-2 guard shooting 43% from 3, and Stewart and Harris (our worst perimeter defender) are guarding smaller, quicker guards that can penetrate and shoot lights out from 3.

Hooray!  We held Durant to 22.  :banana:

Oh, wait, Augustin/Abrams shoot lights and combine for 35 out because we wasted our best perimeter player so we could slow down someone we had no chance of shutting down in the first place.


Now, let's say we put Hoskins/Martin on Durant.  Durant goes crazy and gets his 30, but Wright completely shuts down Abram and Young and Stewart harass and are able to limit Augustin somewhat.  Harris/Mason is a MUCH better matchup than Martin-Hoskins/Mason.

Basically, to summarize:

How the matchups, outside of Afellonnet, work out for us:


Durant: Wright > Martin

Mason: Martin <<< Harris

Abrams & Augustin: Stewart & Harris <<<<<<<<<< Wright & Stewart


I think we'll see Wright on the best guard.  He's shown he can really bother smaller, quicker guards.  Sometimes you have to pick your battles - just assume you're going to lose the battle with Durant either way and concentrate on taking advantage of your possible mismatch on the perimeter.

[pissclams]

Afellonnet died weeks ago.  Why won't you let it go and love Bennon?

[kougar24]

I disagree with you that Harris >>> Martin on perimeter D though. I don't think Martin's perimeter D is bad at all.

You are right about one thing: it's about picking your battles. I just think we maximize our effectiveness with Wright on Durant and Martin on the perimeter, keeping him out of foul trouble, thus allowing him to score on the other end. We aren't going to stop Tejas, but with Martin and Hoskins playing their game, they can't stop us either.

[michigancat]

I disagree with you that Harris >>> Martin on perimeter D though. I don't think Martin's perimeter D is bad at all.

His quicks are so bad he's a horrible post defender, so you put him on a guard.

Gotcha.


If you waste Wright on Durant, you're putting Harris on a 5-10 point guard.  Not pretty.

[ksu_FAN]

I think you start by putting Wright on Augustine to see if you can make it tough for UT to initiate their offense.  You take your chances initially with Hoskins on Durant, then rotate Martin in off the bench.  I like having a long defender who can move his feet on the PG b/c perhaps you can eliminate 3 to 5 assists, which in turn eliminates 6 to 10 points and maybe more if you can frustrate the offense.  The wild card is if Harris and Stewart can handle the other guys.  I can see the premise of making Durant work for his shots, but defend him as best you can with Hoskins and Martin and see if you can limit the rest of the guys as much as possible. 

I think the issue with Wright is he has not had to guard guys in the post much and I think if you get Durant posting him up on the low block he gets fouls early and often, then our best defender is on the bench on the road.   

[kougar24]

I disagree with you that Harris >>> Martin on perimeter D though. I don't think Martin's perimeter D is bad at all.

His quicks are so bad he's a horrible post defender, so you put him on a guard.

Gotcha.


If you waste Wright on Durant, you're putting Harris on a 5-10 point guard.  Not pretty.

Easier for help-side D to stop a guard driving than a post beating his guy around the block. Hey, I agree with you that there's no perfect answer. We just differ on which approach we think is best.

I can almost guarantee if Martin is on Durant, he will get into foul trouble and have to sit. Do you disagree with that?

[michigancat]

I disagree with you that Harris >>> Martin on perimeter D though. I don't think Martin's perimeter D is bad at all.

His quicks are so bad he's a horrible post defender, so you put him on a guard.

Gotcha.


If you waste Wright on Durant, you're putting Harris on a 5-10 point guard.  Not pretty.

Easier for help-side D to stop a guard driving than a post beating his guy around the block. Hey, I agree with you that there's no perfect answer. We just differ on which approach we think is best.

I can almost guarantee if Martin is on Durant, he will get into foul trouble and have to sit. Do you disagree with that?

Martin won't be on Durant until at least 5 minutes in, anyway (Hoskins will - you completely ignore Hoskins).  So, yes, I disagree.  I also don't think Wright would do any better for the reasons listed in FAN's post.

[kougar24]

I just didn't mention Hoskins because I knew you and I (like most people here) were in agreement that he'd be on Durant some of the time. And it'll only take 10 minutes or less for Martin to get into foul trouble.

I hope I'm wrong if Martin does end up on Durant.

[ksu_FAN]

Seriously koug, I think you're basing a lot of your opinions on Martin and his defense on last year.  He has only had a couple games where he was in foul trouble enough to miss a bunch of minutes, largely due to how Huggins is using him.  However, he is still asked to guard the opponents 4 most of the time when he is in the game.  He has not fouled out once this year. 

And frankly, Hoskins has been much more inconsistent and prone to foul out than Martin.  Hoskins has shown a better ability to get to the boards, but he also is prone to some lapses (see Baylor) and has fouled out 3 times.  Again, the way Huggins is using these two, and yes they often are guarding 4s still, they are much less prone to get into foul trouble even though they're asked to be more aggressive and defend to the perimeter.

Martin and Hoskins will get the main task with guarding Durant, though I wouldn't be surprised to see Wright on him for a few stretches. 

[kougar24]

Actually, rumor has it Hoskins was ill during the Baylor game. Not terribly relevant, but I'm just throwin' that out there.

Also, don't forget—when considering Martin's D and proneness to fouling—that Huggins sits players in the first half with 2 fouls, whereas Wooly waited for them to pick up their 3rd before pulling them. I'm not sure a "fouls per minute" analysis would be possible (or remotely worth the time), but I am indeed basing my opinions on Martin's D from this year, not last. We just seem to differ, that's all.

I guess I'm also not real worried about drive penetration from their guards, but rather the deep ball, which Martin is more than capable of guarding.

[michigancat]

I guess I'm also not real worried about drive penetration from their guards, but rather the deep ball, which Martin is more than capable of guarding.

Put Harris on Abrams or Augustin, and you'll see plenty of three's set up by dribble penetration.

[kougar24]

I guess I'm also not real worried about drive penetration from their guards, but rather the deep ball, which Martin is more than capable of guarding.

Put Harris on Abrams or Augustin, and you'll see plenty of three's set up by dribble penetration.

As opposed to?

[michigancat]

I guess I'm also not real worried about drive penetration from their guards, but rather the deep ball, which Martin is more than capable of guarding.

Put Harris on Abrams or Augustin, and you'll see plenty of three's set up by dribble penetration.

As opposed to?

Akeem Wright and Blake Young

[ksuno1stunner]

Size, rebounding, and experience.

Martin, if he's a legit 6'8" (questionable) is only 2" taller than Wright, and still shorter than Durant. Wright is a better rebounder than Martin; in fact, Wright is statistically the best rebounder on the team. And experience? Do you really think the transition to post D would be tough on Wright? If he struggled down there, it would be because of being physically outmatched, not lack of experience. Besides, like I said before, Martin is a poor post defender. Poor. Plus, we would rather have Wright in foul trouble than Martin (though neither is preferable, of course).

Way to ignore the bulk of my post.  They aren't playing a freaking game of one-on-one.  Even if Wright could hold Durant to slightly fewer points, I'd put Martin on Durant.



Look at UT's starters:

Durant: 6'9", 23.5 ppg
James: 6'7", 6.9 ppg
Mason: 6'2", 9.8 ppg, 43% 3FG
Abrams: 5'10", 16.5 ppg, 44% 3FG
Augustin: 5'10", 13.7 ppg, 46% 3FG


Assume a starting lineup of:

Bennett 7-3
Martin 6-8 (even though he won't start, you seem obsessed w/Martin vs. Wright)
Wright 6-6
Harris 6-5
Stewart 6-4

Let's say you put Wright (without a doubt our best perimeter defender) on Durant.  All of a sudden Martin is guarding a 6-2 guard shooting 43% from 3, and Stewart and Harris (our worst perimeter defender) are guarding smaller, quicker guards that can penetrate and shoot lights out from 3.

Hooray!  We held Durant to 22.  :banana:

Oh, wait, Augustin/Abrams shoot lights and combine for 35 out because we wasted our best perimeter player so we could slow down someone we had no chance of shutting down in the first place.


Now, let's say we put Hoskins/Martin on Durant.  Durant goes crazy and gets his 30, but Wright completely shuts down Abram and Young and Stewart harass and are able to limit Augustin somewhat.  Harris/Mason is a MUCH better matchup than Martin-Hoskins/Mason.

Basically, to summarize:

How the matchups, outside of Afellonnet, work out for us:


Durant: Wright > Martin

Mason: Martin <<< Harris

Abrams & Augustin: Stewart & Harris <<<<<<<<<< Wright & Stewart


I think we'll see Wright on the best guard.  He's shown he can really bother smaller, quicker guards.  Sometimes you have to pick your battles - just assume you're going to lose the battle with Durant either way and concentrate on taking advantage of your possible mismatch on the perimeter.

I say we shut down everybody else on the team.  Try and make one guy beat us instead of nine.

 

[Skycat]

I guess I'm also not real worried about drive penetration from their guards, but rather the deep ball, which Martin is more than capable of guarding.

Put Harris on Abrams or Augustin, and you'll see plenty of three's set up by dribble penetration.

Not worrying about Augustin penetrating would be a really bad mistake.

Really bad.

I think Rusty has got it right in this thread.

[kougar24]

If Augustin can't be stopped from shooting outside or penetrating, we're screwed anyway, and this entire conversation is moot.

[michigancat]

If Augustin can't be stopped from shooting outside or penetrating, we're screwed anyway, and this entire conversation is moot.

THAT'S WHY YOU PUT AKEEM WRIGHT ON HIM.

 

[sys]

i agree with "kougs" that wright can defend in the post.  but i agree with rusty and fan that you need to pick your battles, and wright is more valuable on the perimeter.  i can understand the rational of sticking him on augustin, but i´d like to see him on abrams.

abrams scares me, the thing with him is that he has incredible range and a quick release.  you need a really dedicated defender on him to get out on him at 25-26 feet.  i think wright has the mentality to do that, and with his length, could really bother him.  the only other guy i would feel good about on him would be young.  stewart likes to sag off too much, and i don´t trust harris to defend out that far, or to pick him up in transition.

[kougar24]

If Augustin can't be stopped from shooting outside or penetrating, we're screwed anyway, and this entire conversation is moot.

THAT'S WHY YOU PUT AKEEM WRIGHT ON HIM.

 

Martin on Durant -> Durant scores 35.