[rtbtParticipant]

Indiana’s defensive strategy was dumb! One thing guys learn by the time they get to high school is if your opponent has the edge in quickness, drop off of him and force him to beat you with long range jump shots. Apparently Indiana players never learned that lesson as they were right on top of the Kentucky players 20 feet from the basket.

 

And to no one’s surprise, Kentucky players repeatedly drove past their slower defenders as if they were standing still. Mind boggling! You’d think a college player and/or their coach would figure that out by halftime.

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

It was all about tempo…Speed up the tempo and hope that rattles them enough into some turnovers. Indianas only chance to beat kentucky was to force them into turnovers and the best way to do it is to speed up the tempo so they strain from playing to fast, which most young teams can be baited into, Kentucky is just good at it too.

If they sag off, Lamb, Miller, Jones, Wiljter, even teague will kill you. Kentucky is really fricken good. The real problem was that Kentucky simply didnt stop crashing the boards offensively and when they got a couple and 1s and putbacks, the game swung from even to clear Kentucky.

[rtbtParticipant]

The fast tempo hurt Indiana as they cannot run with Kentucky. From my perpsective, a fast tempo favored the Wildcats.

More importantly, Kentucky scored about 35 points on the foul line because they repeatedly drove around their defenders and went to the basket. Indiana was helpless and could do nothing but foul.

One thing I learned a long time ago, it’s better to let a guy fire up a long range jumper than to drive around you for a layup. That’s why I couldn’t understand why Indiana defenders insisted upon getting so close to Kentucky players 20 feet from the basket.

[DurantsWingspan]

There was nothing more they can do. This team is honestly like playing against a pro team with its athleticism. I thougt they played good. Attacked Davis and got him in foul trouble, shot great from deep. Kentucky is no slouch of a team from beyong the arc. As a matter of fact I think they are one of the best if not the best teams on the perimeter, not just because of their shooting ability (EVERY player they play can hit the 3 including Davis and Wiltjer is suberp along with Lamb and maybe Miller. Jones, MKG, and Teague are all pretty decent) but because of the way they pass the ball around. Every single player on the court can pass, shoot, dribble, and are highly athletic. This is quite possibly the most talented college team I saw ever win or lose the tournament. Not saying they are the best ever, but definitley the most talented. I think Indiana has a very good strategy and seem to be the only team able to get Davis in foul trouble. As you watch Baylor play them, it is obvious Indiana had a WAY better strategy than Baylor. It looks like another game of men v.s. boys out there, while Indiana along with Vandy,Florida, Carolina and maybe another team or 2 I cant think of, are the ONLY teams that make it look like a competitive game out there. I give props to Indiana. They don’t have NEAR the athleticism that Baylor does but they still didn’t let Kentuckys athleticism make it look like men v.s. boys out there like Baylor is letting it.

[DipoTimeParticipant]

 IU got Davis in foul trouble and caused turnovers their first meeting and they beat them. Why play the complete opposite defense the second time? I would pressure a bunch of freshmen players too especially when it already worked once. And it’s not IU’s fault that Kentucky hit 35-37 free throws, setting a new tourney record for % with 30 or more attempts. They just kept knocking them down. If they would have hit 72% like they averaged for the season then IU might have had a chance to win and you probably wouldn’t have dogged on their defense

[rtbtParticipant]

Obviously Kentucky is the most talented team in college basketball, by far. They’re an excellent outside shooting team but nothing’s worse than repeatedly giving up the lane to your opponent. When you allow your opponent to drive the lane, only bad things can happen to your defense.

And if you’re on offense, when you can easily drive the lane, as Kentucky did against Indiana,only good things happen.

As for today’s game against Baylor, they’re obviously in over their head. Baylor has about a dozen turnovers which led to numerous easy, wide open shots. And on offense, Baylor is completely lost. They lost their poise early in the half and have been pitiful since the 5 minute mark in the game.

[DurantsWingspan]

Every player Kentucky plays is capable of dropping 25 points. You can not sag off anyone. I am just saying that either way they played them, I don’t think they really had a chance. I think they played pretty good considering it was Kentucky. Srbadger is right, they made all those free throws. If they made a normal amount, it would have been a damned good game. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do.

[rtbtParticipant]

Hey srbadger, you made an excellent point about Kentucky’s insane foul shooting, but then you blew when you claimed they had a good strategy on defense. Are you serious? They gave up 102 points! Please tell me on what planet that indicates a good strategy.

Let’s assume Kentucky missed a more normal 8 or 9 additional foul shots, they still would have scored in the low 90’s. Once again, you can’t possibly be serious, claiming Indiana had a sound defensive plan.

 

[rtbtParticipant]

Let me point out where we agree and disagree.

We agree that:

• Indiana played a fantastic game on offense.
• Indiana played with lots of heart against far superior talent
• Kentucky can beat you both in the lane and from the outside
• It was a fun game to watch and Kentucky probably would have won no matter what Indiana did.
• Having said that,

Here is where we disagree:

There is nothing worse a team can do on defense than to give your opponent virtually free access to the lane. Once that happens, there’s nothing you can do except foul.

Maybe Kentucky would have hit their outside shots, but giving up the long range jumpers is always a better percentage play than giving your opponent virutally unlimited access to the rim.

[DurantsWingspan]

I can agree with you that could have possibly worked better. I just don’t think it would have made a difference that much due to Kentucky being able to hit their shots. I just think they still would have lost is all. Do you think they still played them pretty well offensively?

[rtbtParticipant]

Please read my post above your last one. We agree on almost everything.

Let me repeat, Kentucky is a far more talented team and they probably would have found a way to win no matter what Indiana tried. But giving up the lane play after play is a stupid strategy. At some point in time you have to try something else. And that something else is forcing Kentucky to beat you with long range jumpers.

Who knows if that would have worked because Kentucky is such a good outside shooting team? But what did they have to lose? Nothing’s worse than repeatedly allowing your opponent unlimited access to the rim.

[llperez]

"It was all about tempo…Speed up the tempo and hope that rattles them enough into some turnovers. Indianas only chance to beat kentucky was to force them into turnovers and the best way to do it is to speed up the tempo so they strain from playing to fast, which most young teams can be baited into, Kentucky is just good at it too."

Im not a coach, but to me from a fans perspective, this seems like the worst advice possible. When a less ahtletic/skilled team plays a more athletic/skilled team, you dont speed up the game and increase the tempo. You slow that game way down, get back on defense over crashing the offensive boards, use the shot clock on offense and try and play solid team defense as opposed to getting up on your man and taking risks. Many teams actually stay in games this way vs superior competition.

[rtbtParticipant]

I have no problem with speeding up the game, I’m only talking about one phase of their defense which failed Indiana all game long. It was obvious to me early on that trying to guard Kentucky’s players 20 feet from the basket wasn’t working and was a seriously flawed strategy. Kentucky repeatedly took advantage by driving to lane and either making an easy shot or getting fouled.

I don’t care what anyone’s philosophy is, if something hasn’t worked for 20 or 25 minutes straight, it’s time to try something else on defense. As I repeated many times in this thread, no team can afford to repeatedly give their opponent easy access to the rim.

Indiana could have still played a fast tempo while forcing Kentucky to beat them with long range jumpers. Nobody misses layups on a regular basis unless you keep fouling and that wasn’t working.

Having said that, Indiana made a supreme effort against a far superior team. But their only chance to win was forcing Kentucky to make long range jumpers.

[llperez]

i didnt watch the game rtbt and i dont know what indiana’s strenghts/weaknesses are or how they should have played defense. Ill take your word for it that they should have switched it up and tried something new. But in general, less athletic/skilled teams are better off slowing the pace of the game and making it ugly as opposed to speeding it up. Just my two cents.

[rtbtParticipant]

LL, with one exception, Indiana played an incredible game against a vastly superior team. And yes the fast pace favored Kentucky as they scored an incredible 102 points. But Indiana also did well on offense with that fast pace by scoring 88 points. Compare that with Baylor today who only scored 20 points versus Kentucky in the first half.

But yes, the entire point of this thread is one of the basic rules of basketball we learn very early. If your opponent has superior quickness, play off of him, don’t give up the lane, and force him to beat you with long range jumpers. It doesn’t get any more basic than that. It may not work if your opponent hits outside shots but it’s a far better option than giving up the rim again and again.

I give Indiana credit for trying to man up 20 feet from the basket but at some point in time you have to realize that’s not working and try a different strategy. Unfortunately for Indiana, they never made an adjustment by forcing Kentucky to beat them from the outside.

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

If the less athletic team slows it down, how are they going to score? If you speed the game up, hopefully get some points in transition, get your team in a rythm, force turnovers, hopefully keep the opposition out of sync then you have to try it. Teams have tried taking the air out of the ball against Kentucky, they have the best defensive team in the country, you dont beat them in a half court game.

They are however a team built on Freshmen and Sophmore…typically those players are easier to bait into a fast paced game where maybe decisions will become errant, shot selection may get a little worse, and defense may suffer. Unfortunately Kentucky was just better at that style of game. But Indiana was not going to win an "ugly" game because Kentucky was going to own the boards, and not allow easy shots in the halfcourt.

[Author]

Posts