I think our defense is going to be god-rough ridin'-awful next year.
Even oscar's worst teams are decent defensively. I think.
Yeah, this year was his worst defense since S. Illinois.
Awful big 10 offense?
How can it be bad with a group built for defense?
Better big 12 offenses?
I dunno.
I'd guess going to the smaller line-up. He and Lowrey are probably going to have to adjust their philosophy on defense a bit.
Bread, it looks like last year Illinois played small too, is this correct? And was that the first time oscar did that there? Thanks.
To a certain extent yes. He gave up on Tyler Griffey at the four and used Joe Bertrand in the Shane role (Bertrand is more athletic, but a poorer shooter particularly last year). The difference is that he also had a 7-1, 230 lb lottery pick at center playing 32 mpg. The collective outside shooting on that team was just too damn bad to go four out. You put Leonard on this squad in place of Gip and oscar probably makes another NC game.
The two worst win-loss seasons oscar had at Illinois were when he had a player at the 4 (Brian Randle/Calvin Brock in 2007-08 and Bertrand/Griffey in 2011-12) that couldn't shoot well. Not coincidentally Calvin Brock was oscar's first foray at Illinois with the Shane role at the 4. Brock was 6-5 and couldn't shoot for crap, but was a tremendous athlete.
Other than the Brock and Bertrand scenarios, he stuck with a three guards/4/5 setup.