[quote="mm52" post=404116][quote="Beast of the East" post=404112]What is becoming apparent to me is that highly successful or not, this season for our guys is going to be a 15 round knock down drag out affair. We will have to grind out wins one at a time with 40 minutes of high intensity, high effort play. When it appears that an improved BC team will give us all we can handle, our Big East season will not afford any letdowns.
That being said, get out the Tums, but this should be a somewhat satisfying season.[/quote]
Kind of responding to this assessment, I think that pressure defense does not work as well against the Big East teams for an entire game, as they have much better ball handlers and passers over the top. Hence, their half-court offense must improve immeasurably from last year's. Admittedly based on a small sample size of 2 games, I think the half-court should be better and able to hold its own against BE teams based on (1) Cole and Posh playing more under control than LJ and Dunn, and (2) Moore/Toro/Roberts being able to give a better inside presence than in year's past.[/quote]
Thanks or your assessment. I think that the CMA and Nolan Richardson style of play is to play high pressure defense all the time, which forces mistakes, bad shots, and turnovers - and then to push the ball up the court for better looks than in a half court offense. The plan is to exhaust more talented teams. No one likes to play with someone pressuring you for 94 feet, and tired players commit fouls. With a deep bench we shouldn't have too much fall off, whereas even better teams often have a rotation of only 7-8 players. Get into their 2nd five, and a talent discrepancy will shift to our favor.
