I've got to think Texas is probably one of the easiest teams in the country to plan a defense against. OK, I'm sure this has already been discussed ad infinitum, but I haven't been doing it so here goes:
I guess what I am suggesting is closest to a 2-3 zone, but it would emphasize doubling Abrams on the outside and Pittman on the inside. Damion James is the only other player you even need a hand in the face when jump shooting, so all defenders that don't have a current responsibility of denying Pittman the ball sag in the lane and block penetration or inside passing.
You deny Pittman the ball by fronting him, and you are also quick to come with the double behind him to prevent passes coming over the top.
At the top you dog Abrams and come from behind screens with another player to always maintain a hand in his face. You let Mason and Balbay dribble around just denying penetration.
With this defense you can always have 3 or 4 players sagging into the lane to clog up everying.
On offense, you get play up tempo and launch 3's whenever you have a good shot. If you can make even a few 3's it spells victory over Texas, because we can't score enough to overcome it. With the up tempo play you also try to get Pittman tired, because once he is tired, his offense weakens quite a bit, and he is prone to foul on defense.
This team would be completely transformed if we had one more GOOD outside shooter.
Barnes has done a fantastic job at Texas, no question. That is not to say there is not plenty of room for improvement. I think it is easier to teach a good shooter defense than it is to take a bad shooter and try to make him an offensive threat. Hopefully, we will start to occasionally recruit someone that has a knock down jumper for a change. We need at least 2 people capable of shooting a jump shot at a time, Rick!
I guess what I am suggesting is closest to a 2-3 zone, but it would emphasize doubling Abrams on the outside and Pittman on the inside. Damion James is the only other player you even need a hand in the face when jump shooting, so all defenders that don't have a current responsibility of denying Pittman the ball sag in the lane and block penetration or inside passing.
You deny Pittman the ball by fronting him, and you are also quick to come with the double behind him to prevent passes coming over the top.
At the top you dog Abrams and come from behind screens with another player to always maintain a hand in his face. You let Mason and Balbay dribble around just denying penetration.
With this defense you can always have 3 or 4 players sagging into the lane to clog up everying.
On offense, you get play up tempo and launch 3's whenever you have a good shot. If you can make even a few 3's it spells victory over Texas, because we can't score enough to overcome it. With the up tempo play you also try to get Pittman tired, because once he is tired, his offense weakens quite a bit, and he is prone to foul on defense.
This team would be completely transformed if we had one more GOOD outside shooter.
Barnes has done a fantastic job at Texas, no question. That is not to say there is not plenty of room for improvement. I think it is easier to teach a good shooter defense than it is to take a bad shooter and try to make him an offensive threat. Hopefully, we will start to occasionally recruit someone that has a knock down jumper for a change. We need at least 2 people capable of shooting a jump shot at a time, Rick!
