Yin O and Yang D
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I often found myself wishing that Kansas could play D like UVA this year.
And I think we all could see the writing on the wall regarding Bennett’s pace and style that he was not going 6 games, and had a good chance of losing to KY or AZ.
So, I find myself wondering why it seems so difficult for a great offensive team to be a great defensive team too… And for the purposes of this argument, when I say great offensive teams, I mean capable of 3 types of scoring: embracing the 3 ball, able to score in transition and in the post. When I say great defensive teams, I mean being able to get stops in half court sets, and while UVA did not seem great at it, able to apply pressure when needed (this point is worth noting that UVA could not do that, at least last night).
It is probably all of the following factors combined are the reason, but here’s my quick list:
- Lack of hours in the year to teach both O and D well
- Philosophical juxtaposition, quick, fast and loose on one end inevitably speeds up and loosens up players on the other. While grinding on one end, leads to grinding on the other.
- AAU and larger systemic binary approach to basketball: you’re either offensive minded or defensive minded, from cradle to college.
- Offensive teams rely on quick inbounds to keep flow going, and so giving up buckets. Defensive teams rely on having all 5 guys back, so don’t want variability on the offensive side.
- Elite recruits commit to O because their athleticism allows them to be more exceptional on O, less elite recruits commit to D because hard work can make them into elite defenders.
Interested in hearing everyone’s thoughts; do you take exception to some of these, can you expound on them, add more? Do you think a college team can be elite on D and O? Are we going to be that team and are we going 40-0 next year?
In seriousness, will we ever return to being a team that can play elite d in half court, and full court / jumping passing lanes? Regarding #5, I think Chalmers, Russ Rob and Sherron were elite athletes jumping passing lanes, and that’s where athleticism shows itself on D, jumping passing lanes, playing full court pressure and blocking shots. Can we get back to that next year? Will we try to? If we aren’t closing on 3 pt shooters well anyway, should we try to jump passing lanes now that we have top 20 recruits on the perimeter?
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2008 KU was elite on both ends.
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KU will be pretty good on both ends next year but I’ll wait to see what the final roster looks like. 3 point shooting could be a weakness or about average. Certainly won’t be up to the standards of the last couple teams.
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@approxinfinity I only watched the last 5 or so minutes of the UVA game, but it appeared the guards were just too quick for Virginia to trap and they penetrated at will.
It reminded me a bit of the UTEP upset of KU back when Jacque and Rex (pretty quick themselves) were out quicked by much smaller guards.
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You really hit it good. We see how much Self has shifted his scheme to fit the game and the players. It’s a sign of the times really.
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Other reasons: 6) Offensive skills are easier to quantify / show up in stat sheet. So being an O guy or a D guy is a personality test. )Do you seek personal recognition or want to contribute to a team with less individual accolades? 7) Basketball is one of the few sports where players are doing things that are diametrically opposed in the exact same timespace. Soccer has defensive and offensive players, so does soccer, baseball has innings…
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@Barney Wasn’t UTEP vs. Adonis?
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