Well, it really matters for most teams, but last night, yesterday I described last night's game as pivotal. Here's what was on the line:
1) A chance to sweep our second completed league series against a decent team - FAIL
2) A chance enter Saturday's game vs. UCONN as a top 4 team, with a national ranking and second place on the line - FAIL
3) A chance to serve notice that we had turned the corner and promise to be a serious March team - FAIL
Ordinary offensive teams without a superstar type player, without extreme height and athleticism, without a cast of great offensive players will run hot and cold on offense. That's pretty much a given. Some nights the diameter of the rim seems 3 feet wide (it's only 18 inches). Other nights it seems 12 inches wide (a basketball is 9.5" in diameter). Some nights you burn the opposition by burying threes, and when they jump out to guard the perimeter, and when they do, their interior defense gets sliced up. Other nights, hitting the rim from the perimeter seems like the goal, and every drive to the basket is forced. The story of an ordinary team. We are an ordinary offensive team.
However, ordinary offensive teams can be great defensive teams. Great defensive teams can bring it every single night. They hound the offensive team relentlessly. Sometimes from end to end, other times with different halfcourt looks - traps, zones, man, and various iterations of each, some hybrid. When the team has depth, they frustrate and grind down their opponents, wind down the clock, force turnovers and mistakes, and make them rush shots and force bad looks. Great defensive teams can bring that intensity EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF EVERY GAME. They are the team, regardless of size, or speed, or offensive capability, that no one wants to play. We are NOT a great defensive team at this point.
The important thing is, we CAN BE a great defensive team. Against Villanova, we shut them down in the second half continually, and eventually pulled away when our shots started falling.
What Coach Pitino teaches, and preaches, is that Defense First teams win consistently. Defense keeps you in games when your offense sputters. When you click on both ends, you either get blowout wins, or play top teams evenly. Often you can be ordinary on offense (or much worse), but still win games against better teams.
Our guys better decide very soon what they want to be. The NBA draft is quickly becoming a pipe dream, and even more to the point, so are our hopes to be a tourney team. Defense First - every night and every minute. Guys who want to play 25 minutes, and only getting 15, should be playing so hard on D, that they leave the court exhausted and needing a blow. Guys who are looking at stat sheets need look no further than W's and L's.
Aspire for greatness. In basketball, it starts with defense. Even the great Michael Jordan knew that.
1) A chance to sweep our second completed league series against a decent team - FAIL
2) A chance enter Saturday's game vs. UCONN as a top 4 team, with a national ranking and second place on the line - FAIL
3) A chance to serve notice that we had turned the corner and promise to be a serious March team - FAIL
Ordinary offensive teams without a superstar type player, without extreme height and athleticism, without a cast of great offensive players will run hot and cold on offense. That's pretty much a given. Some nights the diameter of the rim seems 3 feet wide (it's only 18 inches). Other nights it seems 12 inches wide (a basketball is 9.5" in diameter). Some nights you burn the opposition by burying threes, and when they jump out to guard the perimeter, and when they do, their interior defense gets sliced up. Other nights, hitting the rim from the perimeter seems like the goal, and every drive to the basket is forced. The story of an ordinary team. We are an ordinary offensive team.
However, ordinary offensive teams can be great defensive teams. Great defensive teams can bring it every single night. They hound the offensive team relentlessly. Sometimes from end to end, other times with different halfcourt looks - traps, zones, man, and various iterations of each, some hybrid. When the team has depth, they frustrate and grind down their opponents, wind down the clock, force turnovers and mistakes, and make them rush shots and force bad looks. Great defensive teams can bring that intensity EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF EVERY GAME. They are the team, regardless of size, or speed, or offensive capability, that no one wants to play. We are NOT a great defensive team at this point.
The important thing is, we CAN BE a great defensive team. Against Villanova, we shut them down in the second half continually, and eventually pulled away when our shots started falling.
What Coach Pitino teaches, and preaches, is that Defense First teams win consistently. Defense keeps you in games when your offense sputters. When you click on both ends, you either get blowout wins, or play top teams evenly. Often you can be ordinary on offense (or much worse), but still win games against better teams.
Our guys better decide very soon what they want to be. The NBA draft is quickly becoming a pipe dream, and even more to the point, so are our hopes to be a tourney team. Defense First - every night and every minute. Guys who want to play 25 minutes, and only getting 15, should be playing so hard on D, that they leave the court exhausted and needing a blow. Guys who are looking at stat sheets need look no further than W's and L's.
Aspire for greatness. In basketball, it starts with defense. Even the great Michael Jordan knew that.
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