Competitive Team

[Red Horse]

Just wanted to mention that EA Sports Midwest Team that SMU played has been highly competitive all year. They played Kansas tough before losing; they played A&M tough last night and barely lost; and they beat Arkansas in Fayetteville. Texas did beat them badly.

So - it was very good to be able to play all of
2nd string and new recruits for fairly long periods of time - to play without 3 of our contributing players - and still win the game.

Also - we have won two overtime games and pulled
away from the close games in the final five minutes. We were 6-0 in exhibition.

Don't get me wrong. We may not be get to the
NCAA dance nor even win the WAC - but with a few breaks anything might happen - but then I always get this way before the season starts. I still don't like the 1-3-1 zone except in surprise, trapping situations.

[bhop]

It's all about the defense, my friend, its all about the defense.

If we don't do a better job of defending the three this season, then we won't be going anywhere.

[Pony_Fan]

Amen, get rid of the 1-3-1 Dement...it doesn't work!!! You have gotten scorched for several years.

[Hoop Fan]

Maybe the trip to Canada really helped. SMU looked like a much improved overall team against EA, mainly due to Rack and the way Simpson played. Its amazing how much better a team looks with some semblance of an inside game to take the pressure off of the guards. I hope Rack can keep it up, because he definitely has shown something so far. As for the 1-3-1, I agree 100%. It should be used as a change of pace, not the main defense. Its way too easy to beat, especially the way we execute it.

[Pony_Fan]

How can he not see what we are? The wing on both sides are usually left wide open and our defense doesn't adjust to slide over in time. If a team has a good inside outside game, we are dead meat.

Bhop should say..hey coach... "did you see our Def at Lincoln"?

<small>[ 11-19-2003, 06:33 AM: Message edited by: Pony_Fan ]</small>

[EastStang]

Correct me if I'm wrong, because I many times am wrong, but didn't we improve last year AFTER we switched to the 1-3-1 trap from other defensive schemes?

[Red Horse]

The only time the 1-3-1 worked is when it was used as a trapping defense at mid-court. The
1-3-1 defense in the normal half court situation is what got us torched by every team in the league that had a 3pt shooter or two. As slow
As I am I can beat a 1-3-1 defense and get off
plenty of 3's.

[Waz]

The 1-3-1 that we play is not your basic 1-3-1. It is more like Dean Smith's 1-3-1 which he called a point zone. Sometimes our corners get covered, sometimes they don't. Sometimes our wings get covered, sometimes they don't. Sometimes the point is open, sometimes it isn't. In a regular 1-3-1, no trapping, the back man can run the corners, if he is a gazelle, or the wing splits the pass and takes the corner when the ball enters. With the point, it is a little of both and gives the players a few more rules to follow. We are not playing with the players that Smith had. Their wing span is probably 6 inches shorter and the speed and quickness a split second less. In a zone, that exposes any openings. The only continually successful zones, like Syracuse's 2-3, change constantly based on each opponnents strengths. Boheim has probably played that zone since he was the JV coach at SU and every coach in the US knows it is coming, but it always looks a little different and has different rotations. Unless we are trapping, ours seems pretty static.