I Really Wish...

[hatvol96]

Bruce would use the upcoming break to look at some film of John Chaney's teams at Temple and Jim Boeheim's championship team at Syracuse. I honestly believe the best option for this team is to become a halfcourt zone defensive team. Sure, throw the press as a changeup, but don't expect this team to live off of turnovers. I just can't see this team becoming an effective man to man defensive team, either. Being a staunch member of the Church of Bob Knight, I feel a bit queasy calling for the use of zones. However, you have to play to your personnel occasionally.

[dickens821]

Well I'm glad that he's willing to throw a zone out there when one is needed. Growing as a coach is just as important to success as players maturing is.

[TennesseeFan07]

I'd love to see more zone.

[TheVol]

The press is not working this year. We get the occasional turnover but more often are out of position when the ball is over half court. With the length of this team, zone should be effective. It also seems half the time we score, our players are so busy celebrating that they are not setting up the inbound pressure that has been so effective in the past.

[adidasorange]

As Bruce put it tonight in his postgame, the press is less about turnovers this year...but it's still an effective tool in wearing the opponent down with our depth.

He pointed out that Belmont's top scorer missed several FTs down the stretch that he would have hit easily otherwise.

Of course, then again...so did we.

[BigPapaVol]

I'm really afraid of our rebounding in long stretches of zone.

[TennNC]

Rick Majerus used it very effectively to beat Arizona and almost upset Kentucky in the Final Four. The common thread between that Utah team and this UT team is length, especially when you have a lineup of Chism, Tyler, Prince, and either Hopson, Tatum or Woolridge.

[BigPapaVol]

Originally Posted by TennNC

Rick Majerus used it very effectively to beat Arizona and almost upset Kentucky in the Final Four. The common thread between that Utah team and this UT team is length, especially when you have a lineup of Chism, Tyler, Prince, and either Hopson, Tatum or Woolridge.

Boeheim and Cheney have both done the matchup well for quite some time. Active zones can be tough to deal with because there isn't a good way to free men up against them.

[CALISKING]

Originally Posted by hatvol96

Bruce would use the upcoming break to look at some film of John Chaney's teams at Temple and Jim Boeheim's championship team at Syracuse. I honestly believe the best option for this team is to become a halfcourt zone defensive team. Sure, throw the press as a changeup, but don't expect this team to live off of turnovers. I just can't see this team becoming an effective man to man defensive team, either. Being a staunch member of the Church of Bob Knight, I feel a bit queasy calling for the use of zones. However, you have to play to your personnel occasionally.

Can you send those videos to Calipari also? Wait, he has video from last night.

Vols and Tigers are similar, long and athletic. Zone defense would be suffocating and would cut down on drives in paint.

[Cartervol]

Good point, with their length it could flustrate teams into having to hit those outside shots.

[utfantilidie]

He needs to bring about some kind of change or we are about to get waxed looking at our schedule coming up.

[UTLCA]

Originally Posted by adidasorange

As Bruce put it tonight in his postgame, the press is less about turnovers this year...but it's still an effective tool in wearing the opponent down with our depth.

He pointed out that Belmont's top scorer missed several FTs down the stretch that he would have hit easily otherwise.

Of course, then again...so did we.

While you do make a good point about wearing people down, Renfroe was a 68% FT shooter and had hit 11-12 prior to the last 7.8 seconds so in fairness, he was due to miss some.

[DowntownVol]

This is the quickest, most athletic team Bruce has put on the floor during his tenure - it's rather mystifying to me as to why the press has been so ineffective this year.

I'm starting to think, in terms of general defensive chaos, that JaJuan Smith was much more the straw that stirred the drink than I initially thought.

[UTLCA]

I'm afraid we would get beat by the 3 if we started going to zone primarily. Gonzaga and Temple killed us from outside, and those were our two losses. I know those were two lethal teams from three but if we were to do it, we'd have to pick our spots, like say against a team like Memphis.

[BigPapaVol]

Originally Posted by DowntownVol

This is the quickest, most athletic team Bruce has put on the floor during his tenure - it's rather mystifying to me as to why the press has been so ineffective this year.

I'm starting to think, in terms of general defensive chaos, that JaJuan Smith was much more the straw that stirred the drink than I initially thought.

We're pressing entirely differently this season for several reasons