UCLA preview: Is trouble Bruin for Mustangs?

[gostangs]

I will add that there are teams that can score on us inside, but I doubt UCLA is one of those teams. I do think if you can get hot with two different guys on the 3 we can get in a spot where we cant keep up offensively.

Get ready for some big time D. It will be a grinder of a game. I think the line is correct and it will be pretty close - since UCLA has improved all year. we were hoping for an easier draw - regardless of what some commentators say (they are looking at overall record and not trend - the UCLA trend line is very dangerous).

[PonyFan32]

I think the best strategy people have employed on us is to shadow Nic Moore with your best/quickest defender and pack the paint against us. Force guys like Ryan and Ben Emelogu and even Sterling to shoot jumpers for us consistently, and it could be a long day for us.

On offense, you need to be able to hit a spot up 3 and pass the ball in the interior after a drive into the lane. We collapse well on D, but that does leave opportunities for another guy to sneak in for a dunk or lay up.

Looking forward to the challenge of winning against a quality brand name team in the tournament.

[smusic 00]

Sterling is taking more shots. We need that. Wish Manuel would drive and dish back out or slash a bit more.

[Pony_Law]

I think the best strategy people have employed on us is to shadow Nic Moore with your best/quickest defender and pack the paint against us. Force guys like Ryan and Ben Emelogu and even Sterling to shoot jumpers for us consistently, and it could be a long day for us.

On offense, you need to be able to hit a spot up 3 and pass the ball in the interior after a drive into the lane. We collapse well on D, but that does leave opportunities for another guy to sneak in for a dunk or lay up.

Looking forward to the challenge of winning against a quality brand name team in the tournament.

Nic showed during the AAC tournament that even when you limit his scoring he can still beat you with his passing. Only 1 team was successful employing this strategy against us all year (gonzaga didn't have to deal MK), and they are consistently a program that is one of the best defensively every year. Additionally, when you pack the pain and help on interior guys it allows your opponent to crash the offensive glass hard. Go inside constantly and UCLA will get into foul trouble and fold.

Another thing that doesn't get mentioned as often is our post players are all really good passers. I can't think of a team I have watched that have 4 guys with such good vision and passing down low. Passing and movement beats any kind of help defense consistently.

[Morris Code 11]

Scouting Report against SMU:

1. OFFENSE - We are one of the few collegiate programs where all 5 guys touch the ball, sometimes multiple times, on offense after a made basket, just about every time down the floor. We run an offensive set 10/10 times.There is no one on one, pick and roll basketball here. Everything is predicated on ball movement from high post to low, outside to in, and we usually get a good look. It is extremely efficient and well-coached, but the reason we are a 6 seed and not a 3, is because we lack the shooters to convert, and our bigs miss a lot of easy looks. What does this mean for UCLA? You have to stay focused the entire game on defense. You can't just start out playing high intensity and let it fade as we wear you down inside. It's a grind to defend us because it can get frustrating, especially because of how good of passers our big men are, which is one of our most overlooked strengths. Teams that are disciplined enough to guard for 40 minutes (CINCI), we can't beat. We also get out on the run on misses, and have sneaky athletes that can finish on the break. If this happens....you just can't let it happen. If we are getting easy transition dunks, this team takes over.

2. DEFENSE - We're going to let you beat us from 3, but you won't beat us inside. We have a couple of lazy, reactionary players that focus too much on helpside when the ball gets into the post, and are very late getting back out to jumpshooters. Whether this is how Larry coaches, or its poor hedging, we give up a ton of open looks. Thing is, we play the % game, so if you come out hot, chances are you will regress back to the mean in the collegiate level. Also, at the end of games, when legs are shot and nerves are high, you are continually baited to pull the trigger when %s are even lower. We have to be one of the longest teams in the country, so there is not a lot of room to roam free in the paint. If you can stay disciplined enough to keep the ball going inside play outside in, instead of the other way around, you can easily keep up with us in the half-court game. You are going to have to shoot well to beat us plain and simple, but it appears you have the ability to do it.

[ojaipony]

I'm starting to panic. Their strength is on the inside but they also have a great 3 pt shooter. AND they are peaking just at the right time.

We're going to need our "2nd wave of bigs" to come through big time and get their bigs in foul trouble and we'll have to play solid perimeter D.

[PonyPlayer4]

Wow they have ZERO bench. Not good for a tournament

Doesn't matter for us as we play them in the first game.

[Pony_Law]

Wow they have ZERO bench. Not good for a tournament

Doesn't matter for us as we play them in the first game.

Not good for them at all since they really only have 5 guys, we are not much deeper but it helps that we can rotate and protect them if foul trouble occures ucla can't do this. Additionally we get positive Impact for our bench guys and ucla largely do not.

[freqz]

So...with such a shallow bench do you try to run them down the court every possesion and wear them out or just continue to do the typical Larry Brown ball movement inside/draw fouls in the paint thing?

[smupony94]

@thejackwang 1h1 hour ago
Steve Alford on SMU: "They’re big, they’re strong, they’re physical. We’re really comparing them to Arizona."

[Bruin Steve]

So...with such a shallow bench do you try to run them down the court every possesion and wear them out or just continue to do the typical Larry Brown ball movement inside/draw fouls in the paint thing?

You'd be foolish to change your game plan...Do that and you'll likely lose...Teams are best doing whatever it is they've done all year to get there...

UCLA can run...actually prefers to...Norman Powell, with the ball in the open court is a thing of beauty. The Russell Westbrook comparisons are not unwarranted. Looney runs very well and has verty good "handles" for a big man...Actually, even Thomas Welsh is pretty fast up and down the court for a 7-footer...Remember, also, the Bruins start three guards...and the PF, Looney, actually played PG in high school...

And, it's not like Alford will only play five guys...ALL eight will play...It's just they know their roles...Someone comes out for a rest and it's not like the reserve is trying to play the other guy's game...It's why you see very little scoring from the bench...OTOH, if you look at the last win--against SC in the conference tournament, the bench finally came around and scored 20 points and 12 rebounds between the three of them...

If I were playing the Bruins, I would try to slow it down into a half court game and concentrate on denying the interior pass...Once Parker gets the ball near the basket, he's hard to stop.

[whitwiki]

So, you would play like SMU has all year

[mhBruin]

Scouting Report against SMU:

1. OFFENSE - We are one of the few collegiate programs where all 5 guys touch the ball, sometimes multiple times, on offense after a made basket, just about every time down the floor. We run an offensive set 10/10 times.There is no one on one, pick and roll basketball here. Everything is predicated on ball movement from high post to low, outside to in, and we usually get a good look. It is extremely efficient and well-coached, but the reason we are a 6 seed and not a 3, is because we lack the shooters to convert, and our bigs miss a lot of easy looks. What does this mean for UCLA? You have to stay focused the entire game on defense. You can't just start out playing high intensity and let it fade as we wear you down inside. It's a grind to defend us because it can get frustrating, especially because of how good of passers our big men are, which is one of our most overlooked strengths. Teams that are disciplined enough to guard for 40 minutes (CINCI), we can't beat. We also get out on the run on misses, and have sneaky athletes that can finish on the break. If this happens....you just can't let it happen. If we are getting easy transition dunks, this team takes over.

2. DEFENSE - We're going to let you beat us from 3, but you won't beat us inside. We have a couple of lazy, reactionary players that focus too much on helpside when the ball gets into the post, and are very late getting back out to jumpshooters. Whether this is how Larry coaches, or its poor hedging, we give up a ton of open looks. Thing is, we play the % game, so if you come out hot, chances are you will regress back to the mean in the collegiate level. Also, at the end of games, when legs are shot and nerves are high, you are continually baited to pull the trigger when %s are even lower. We have to be one of the longest teams in the country, so there is not a lot of room to roam free in the paint. If you can stay disciplined enough to keep the ball going inside play outside in, instead of the other way around, you can easily keep up with us in the half-court game. You are going to have to shoot well to beat us plain and simple, but it appears you have the ability to do it.

On defense, we will mix man and zone. Overall, our zone defense has been more effective, with Looney and his very long arms playing at the top of the zone. The problems with our man are that Bryce Alford is not a great man defender, and we can tend to lose focus. I worry that Moore will eat up our man defense if Bryce defends him.

We have generally been good at transition defense. Our biggest vulnerability is dribble drives, When we help we get out of position. But we won't be thrown by a slow pace. We were a fast team last season. This season we have become more patient.

On offense, we can definitely make the outside shot, but we do fall in love with it too much sometimes. As the season has gone on, we have gotten more patient and done more to work the ball inside.

That to me is the key. If we can get the ball inside to Parker, if you don't double, he will likely score. There will be two issue. 1) Can we get the ball inside? We telegraph the entry pass way too much. 2) What if you double the post? Parker is not very good at passing the ball out from the double team. (Few college centers are.

As for yourr length, we match up pretty well there. We are pretty long ourselves, particularly Looney.

I am impressed with your defense, but if you are willing to give us open 3's, we will take them. Everyone except for Tony Parker can hit them. In the conference tournament in Vegas, we didn't seem to be bothered by playing in a large, unfamiliar arena.

A real interesting matchup will we Powell against your shot-blockers. Arizona has some great ones, but Norman was very effective at getting to the rim against them.

BTW, I think we are both good rebounding teams, and I expect that to be a wash.

[Morris Code 11]

On defense, we will mix man and zone. Overall, our zone defense has been more effective, with Looney and his very long arms playing at the top of the zone. The problems with our man are that Bryce Alford is not a great man defender, and we can tend to lose focus. I worry that Moore will eat up our man defense if Bryce defends him.

We have generally been good at transition defense. Our biggest vulnerability is dribble drives, When we help we get out of position. But we won't be thrown by a slow pace. We were a fast team last season. This season we have become more patient.

On offense, we can definitely make the outside shot, but we do fall in love with it too much sometimes. As the season has gone on, we have gotten more patient and done more to work the ball inside.

That to me is the key. If we can get the ball inside to Parker, if you don't double, he will likely score. There will be two issue. 1) Can we get the ball inside? We telegraph the entry pass way too much. 2) What if you double the post? Parker is not very good at passing the ball out from the double team. (Few college centers are.

As for yourr length, we match up pretty well there. We are pretty long ourselves, particularly Looney.

I am impressed with your defense, but if you are willing to give us open 3's, we will take them. Everyone except for Tony Parker can hit them. In the conference tournament in Vegas, we didn't seem to be bothered by playing in a large, unfamiliar arena.

A real interesting matchup will we Powell against your shot-blockers. Arizona has some great ones, but Norman was very effective at getting to the rim against them.

BTW, I think we are both good rebounding teams, and I expect that to be a wash.

Good Stuff, thanks for that. I've been busy reading ESPN and CBS scouting reports that are very unfulfilling. I think its a great matchup TBH. We crash hard in the paint, so when Parker does get the ball it will be key for us to get out on the shooters. On the other hand, will your key players stay out of foul trouble trying to contain Moore dribble penetration and our skilled bigs. Will be fun.

[smusic 00]

http://www.bruinsnation.com/ucla_basket ... mus-season