Tulsa style of play

[Tu Geo]

Should Tulsa play up tempo and press for most of the game.

We have a very deep bench and are very undersized in the American Conference.

I can't see them beating UCONN, SMU or Cincy and maybe even Memphis with a half court O.

My long time Tulsa sports friend pointed this out during the Iona game.

We played better at their game then they did.

I hope Frank considers this idea. We are very good in the up tempo, lots of speed and athleticism.

GO TU!!!!!

 

[lawpoke87]

Yes. We need easy baskets.

 

[TUTigerCane]

I would agree also. Our strength is our transition offense

 

[Gold*]

Radical idea: start Smitty at five and the Sequel at 4. Run run run. I think our offense gets better inside and we don't give up that many rebounds or points.

 

[cmullinsTU]

Radical idea: start Smitty at five and the Sequel at 4. Run run run. I think our offense gets better inside and we don't give up that many rebounds or points.

But Smitty isn't a true big man, let alone center!!!11111

 

[Gold*]

Neither is Dre.

 

[drboobay]

We do have depth which helps a lot if pressing much of the game. And quickness. And athleticism.

 

[Tulsa_]

Neither is Dre.

Swanny can run

 

[I.I.]

This board has been right about 95%of the time since the old AZ board years ago. I will put the basketball knowledge on this board against any other board. From the outbursts of Wojcik stubbornly not using a zone and never pressing to Haith starting a freshman who had never scored a point against a powerful South Carolina team......we have seen it all. And yes Wojcik did put our worst free throw shooter out there for to shoot the technicals..... All the big man recruitment bragging by the Manning coaching staff who never changed their KU profile picture on FB.

Nolan, Tubby, and Self were the only three coaches at TU to interject an aggressive pressing defense that many times extended full court. It is not a surprise to me or most of you that those were our most successful years.

 

[Tulsafanzz]

Here is the list of all of our players who I believe play better in a slower paced, half court game: Big E

Here is the list of our players who I believe excel at a fast paced, pressing, transition game : everyone else

 

[Gold*]

Swanny can run

I'm a big Swanny fan. He can't score. No touch. If you take away the dunk, it's ugly. Smitty is a better scorer. That's part of my logic.

 

[TU Sepp]

These kids are great athletes... Let them run the other team into the ground!

40 minutes of He!!...

He!! Yes...

 

[drboobay]

Ohio would have been a loss without the press. Indiana State too.

We may not have to use it for 40 minutes but Haith likes to rotate defenses anyway. Why not throw this into the mix throughout the game, especially when we are hitting a dry spell.

 

[Gold*]

We have the numbers to run and press all game. Especially if TK plays.

 

[TU_BLA]

We have the numbers to run and press all game. Especially if TK plays.

Unless Dre, Smith, or Swannegan get hurt and are lost for the season, TK is not going to be part of the equation this year. We've debated whether or not it's a smart move by Haith to RS TK vs. Brown...it's time to let that go and move on.

Yes, I agree we need to press for about 1/2 the game but right now I would take it if we would press the last 5 minutes of the 1st half and then the last 5 minutes of the game up or down. Until we get to SMU and UCONN, I'm not sure we face anyone who has the overall guard game to break it easily and make us pay for it consistently (which I think is part of the reason teams don't full out press us).

 

[Gold*]

I will say what I want to. Thx.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

I'm a big Swanny fan. He can't score. No touch. If you take away the dunk, it's ugly. Smitty is a better scorer. That's part of my logic.

Love Brandon's spin hook. It's become much more automatic this season.

He has the best FG% on the team thus far by a large margin. I think he's very smart about high percentage shots.

 

[Gold*]

He was not good in ORU game. I've watched every minute of every game this year. He's a nice player. He's averaging 5.6 a game. I don't believe fg% is an indicator of much.

Smitty starts but is seventh on the team in minutes. What we've been doing ain't working. Let's try something different.

 

[I.I.]

No team likes to be pressed. Kids don't have the fundamentals to make great passes over the press consistently against a zone press. Just 3 or 4 turnovers off the press will get you 6-8 easy points per game which will effect the outcome many times. Have to remember it is much more effective at home....This is why Nolan's home record was about 95% and his road record was much less.

 

[Li'l Eric Coley]

Here is the list of all of our players who I believe play better in a slower paced, half court game: Big E

Here is the list of our players who I believe excel at a fast paced, pressing, transition game : everyone else

lol

 

[Novocaine]

There's nothing more worthless than a half-hearted full court man to man.

A nice diamond zone press is always fun to watch.

 

[Tulsa_]

Even a moderate press that takes 8 seconds to get the ball across half court means an effective 22 sec shot clock...

 

[TUBballJunkie]

I'd say FG% is a key stat for your 4-5 players more than anyone else. They may not get prolific scoring opportunities but when they do, they need to connect on a high percentage. The anti-jumpers.

Interestingly enough Curtis is also way up there which I think is positively influenced by the same thing your bigs should be able to do...put back offensive rebounds successfully.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

Now I thought he'd have been more of a liability of turnovers but he's improved over the years on not losing as many good passes. He's a little worse than Dre when you factor in minutes played but quite a bit better at holding onto the ball than Smith.

Liability at the line this season though.

 

[astonmartin708]

Radical idea: start Smitty at five and the Sequel at 4. Run run run. I think our offense gets better inside and we don't give up that many rebounds or points.

Why don't you just start Rashad Ray at the 5?

 

[Gold*]

He isn't tall enough. Smitty can at least create some possibility of defending post.

 

[astonmartin708]

Unless Dre, Smith, or Swannegan get hurt and are lost for the season, TK is not going to be part of the equation this year. We've debated whether or not it's a smart move by Haith to RS TK vs. Brown...it's time to let that go and move on.

Yes, I agree we need to press for about 1/2 the game but right now I would take it if we would press the last 5 minutes of the 1st half and then the last 5 minutes of the game up or down. Until we get to SMU and UCONN, I'm not sure we face anyone who has the overall guard game to break it easily and make us pay for it consistently (which I think is part of the reason teams don't full out press us).

You also have to remember though, that EVERY team in the country put an emphasis on breaking the press this off season because of the changed shot clock rules...

Even when we've employed a 3/4 court press this season, it's been pretty relaxed... our turnovers all seem to come from us pressing the ball high up in the halfcourt, and poking it loose on drives. The place it really hurts us though, is when opposing shooters know how to use their screens well, and shoot every time our man (who is trying to get back to a good defending position) gets blown up by the screen and the shooter has a wide open 3.

The same thing happens when we go into our zone defense, but that's more due to the inefficiency of a zone against good screening along with good ball movement.

If we really want an efficient defense that can keep turning steals into easy point, we need to keep doing what we're doing, but focus on screen defense... knowing absolutely which shooters to go over the screen with... and maybe even start hedging a bit. (I don't remember seeing us hedge hardly at all this season)

Since we're playing small ball, our guards + Birt or Smith should be able to switch on every single screen if they need to. Make teams try to beat us inside, because we get tons of deflections, steals, fouls, etc. on opposing dribble drives and entry passes.

Basically, to make our pressing work, we really have to get back to having the quality perimeter defense that Manning really stressed.