Can someone please explain the defense

[volrunner127]

I'm not going to pretend to know the specifics of what they're running but why do we never suffocate them on the 3 point line. Are we that afraid of getting blown by? I mean seriously that can't be how they're being told to defend. For one thing teams always light it up against us and I'd rather trade 2 point buckets than their 3 to our 2.

 

[UneducatedGuess]

I'm not going to pretend to know the specifics of what they're running but why do we never suffocate them on the 3 point line. Are we that afraid of getting blown by? I mean seriously that can't be how they're being told to defend. For one thing teams always light it up against us and I'd rather trade 2 point buckets than their 3 to our 2.

I’m not sure the plan, but the issue has less to do with laying off the shooter and more about collapsing in help defense. This is how and why we get into trouble. Heavy rotation gets us chasing.

This is a great strategy versus strong driving and teams that run a traditional half court set.

This is a bad strategy versus a team that only drives to kick the ball out to spot up shooters. Which is the Duke and Auburn style.

By and large our defense was fine. Not getting into offense because the passing lane is denied is the issue the puts you chasing on transition D.

 

[JoAllan]

I certainly don’t know a lot either but I’ll explain what I can.

Vs most teams Tennessee’s normal man D should work just fine. Now vs a team like Aub who lives by the 3 (and should not beat you in the paint) they certainly need to stretch that man out further. However with every team the players already know which players shoot the 3 a lot and which players hit the 3 more so over others and the man D should stretch accordingly..... tight man all the way up to and just a bit past the 3 line vs a player like Admiral and not as tight when a player like Alexander has the ball up high (unless he is screening, or handing it off, etc). They are also aware of the players who are good on the drive and have to loose/tight accordingly..... that is why Williams sometimes gets some free throw type 3’s.

 

[zjcvols]

Tennessee runs a hard hedge and recover defense with help towards the paint. So when a guy hedges the ball handler, the off ball defenders rotate to the paint to stop the drive, while the guy hedging waits for the guy who was screened to get back with his man. We do not double. We also tell guys to come over and help instead of stay at home on drives. There have been times we switch (usually when Grant is at center). But mostly we hedge and rotate with the intent to help.

It's specifically designed to stop shots inside the paint and force jump shots. In college, that's usually a good idea. Teams don't shoot as well as the NBA. And we are a pretty long team. So we can use our length to disrupt shots. Our biggest issue is playing teams that space and pass well, such as Auburn. It's a bad match up. Barnes does not like to change the defensive scheme. Two other issues with this. One is we are bad at closeouts. We run past the shooters and it leads to easier shots for the opposition. It's a big issue. One that isn't really a scheme issue, but execution issue. Two, we give up more rebounds because we are running hard to close out guys and rotating a lot. Also, we only have one player over 6'9 that plays, so we can be beaten with height on the boards.

 

[Volle]

Do you all think it's overdoing it, having the off-ball defender come out to momentarily pressure the ball by leaving his man, and then quickly have to run back to cover his man in the middle? It almost never results in a turnover, and seems like a big waste of energy.

 

[zjcvols]

Do you all think it's overdoing it, having the off-ball defender come out to momentarily pressure the ball by leaving his man, and then quickly have to run back to cover his man in the middle? It almost never results in a turnover, and seems like a big waste of energy.

Well the key isn't to force turnovers with that defense, it's to stop penetration from the ball handler. It's the common man to man defense in college basketball. It also creates tougher passes because the defender is getting back to his man. Tennessee does this more than teams that usually run this defense, they over help by design. Barnes has crafted this defense to not allow shots in the paint. And we are good at it. We are 16th in 2 point defense and 10th in block percentage. We actually allow an average 3 point percentage but teams get a lot of their points from 3 point line because we look to shut down inside the arc. Teams score 35% of their points against from 3 point land, the average is 32%.

 

[Jax_Vol]

We won't be playing Auburn anymore this year.

 

[TheBigOne10]

Well the key isn't to force turnovers with that defense, it's to stop penetration from the ball handler. It's the common man to man defense in college basketball. It also creates tougher passes because the defender is getting back to his man. Tennessee does this more than teams that usually run this defense, they over help by design. Barnes has crafted this defense to not allow shots in the paint. And we are good at it. We are 16th in 2 point defense and 10th in block percentage. We actually allow an average 3 point percentage but teams get a lot of their points from 3 point line because we look to shut down inside the arc. Teams score 35% of their points against from 3 point land, the average is 32%.

That’s good stuff right there, and 100% correct.

 

[volrunner127]

I'm sure the reasoning is legitimate given what their running but it's so frustrating to watch when it just looks like they give them a clear look at the basket every time.

 

[VeeOhElEsYes]

seems like most our trouble comes from switching off and one person not doing it correctly leaving someone wide open

 

[Catbone]

We won't be playing Auburn anymore this year.

Nova and Virginia are huge 3 point shooters

 

[Shaun1985]

Nova shoots as many 3's as Auburn.

But our defense wasn't that bad against Auburn until things got away from us. Turning the ball over and not having a half court offense was the issue. Auburn got confidence and kept drilling it. We didn't look like we wanted to be there.

 

[golfballs]

Nova and Virginia are huge 3 point shooters

Purdue also scores a large share of their points from 3

 

[Dougie_D]

They literally shot 40 3 pointers and they had more possessions then us because of our turnovers.
The turnovers was really what sealed the deal. We were tired

 

[1985Vols]

Purdue also scores a large share of their points from 3

Not to scare anyone but Colgate is an excellent 3 point shooting team. They are shooting almost 50% from 3 in their 11 game winning streak. Surely won't happen??

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Not to scare anyone but Colgate is an excellent 3 point shooting team. They are shooting almost 50% from 3 in their 11 game winning streak. Surely won't happen??

I admittedly haven’t watched Colgate, but typically we struggle against teams with quick guards who can beat us off the bounce and then have good ball movement and hit those 3’s. For example Samford shoots 37% from deep which is good for 57th in the country, in our game against us they were 7/23 from deep...they just didn’t possess the quickness or elite ball movement a team like Auburn has. Our initial 3pt defense isn’t that bad, it’s the help that is required and recoveries from the 3rd and 4th passes where we struggle, and Auburn does a fantastic job exposing that.

As I said I haven’t watched Colgate, but my guess is they don’t have the same type of guards.

 

[savannahfan]

I'm not going to pretend to know the specifics of what they're running but why do we never suffocate them on the 3 point line. Are we that afraid of getting blown by? I mean seriously that can't be how they're being told to defend. For one thing teams always light it up against us and I'd rather trade 2 point buckets than their 3 to our 2.

I stated this thought the other day in another thread. I wonder if we don't collapse to help keep our most dominate two and sometimes fair Alexander (the foul master) from getting into trouble. They always seem to be running toward a 3 point shot from inside and a step or two late getting there.

 

[calban]

Well the key isn't to force turnovers with that defense, it's to stop penetration from the ball handler. It's the common man to man defense in college basketball. It also creates tougher passes because the defender is getting back to his man. Tennessee does this more than teams that usually run this defense, they over help by design. Barnes has crafted this defense to not allow shots in the paint. And we are good at it. We are 16th in 2 point defense and 10th in block percentage. We actually allow an average 3 point percentage but teams get a lot of their points from 3 point line because we look to shut down inside the arc. Teams score 35% of their points against from 3 point land, the average is 32%.

Wish you did more of this stuff. You used to. Really good for some of us spectators that don't really know what's going on.

 

[1985Vols]

I admittedly haven’t watched Colgate, but typically we struggle against teams with quick guards who can beat us off the bounce and then have good ball movement and hit those 3’s. For example Samford shoots 37% from deep which is good for 57th in the country, in our game against us they were 7/23 from deep...they just didn’t possess the quickness or elite ball movement a team like Auburn has. Our initial 3pt defense isn’t that bad, it’s the help that is required and recoveries from the 3rd and 4th passes where we struggle, and Auburn does a fantastic job exposing that.

As I said I haven’t watched Colgate, but my guess is they don’t have the same type of guards.

I do not think their guards are as athletic as Auburn so hopefully our guards will be able to stay in front of them so they can't penetrate and dish out. I think they will use screens more so as long as we're playing good defense and hedging and switching we should be fine, unless they hit like 20 3's

 

[Volle]

Barnes has crafted this defense to not allow shots in the paint. And we are good at it. We are 16th in 2 point defense and 10th in block percentage. We actually allow an average 3 point percentage but teams get a lot of their points from 3 point line because we look to shut down inside the arc. Teams score 35% of their points against from 3 point land, the average is 32%.

Seems like this defense would work well against the "average" 3pt shooting team, but not against an "above-average" 3pt shooting team like Auburn who takes more 3pt shots and hits a higher average than other teams.