NCAA Tournament Mailbag: Texas Tech's Defense, Isaac Haas, 1v1 Matchup and More
I plan on doing this after every round, just to give another way to recap. There were a lot of good question and things to get into, so I don’t want to waste a lot of time leading into it. As always you can find me @barstoolreags and submit questions that way. Let’s get right into it.
It’s obviously a major storyline within the game, but the problem is Haas wouldn’t have helped on the defensive side of the ball. Now, on offense? Yeah, that’s a different story. That was always one of the problems Purdue had this year – it would never have the best offensive and defensive lineup out there at the same time. Haarms was the defensive specialist while Haas was the offensive specialist. With Haas on the floor, Texas Tech would have ran way more high ball screens for Keenan Evans, forcing Haas to step up and defend on the perimeter. Now, going back to the offensive side. Tech did just an absolute unreal job of pressuring the Purdue guards. No one really stepped up outside of Carsen Edwards. So what does Haas have to do with this? One of the ways Purdue guards handled pressure was just throwing it into the post. Haas was a huge target and dumping the ball to him with pressure on the guards, he was able to go 1v1 in the post or the double came on a weird rotation, leading to an open three. I don’t think Purdue would have won the game though as Texas Tech is just a bad mathcup for them, but it’d be played at a completely different way.
That’s actually a great question because there are two different ways to look at this. You can’t really prep for West Virginia’s press because no one plays that style. It’s not like you have a practice squad that can go out there and mimic what West Virginia does, especially at the individual standpoint with Carter on the ball and Konate at the rim. However, you can see how they at least try and trap and press. You can come up with schemes to beat the press, similar to what we saw Nova do last night by flashing a guy to the free throw line and running touch passes to a streaking wing, or using Brunson in a post up type set to inbound the ball and clear. With Texas Tech you have to prepare for numerous types of defenses. You have to prepare for the pack line. You have to prepare for a press. You have to prepare for a blitz in the halfcourt. While I think the WVU defense is way more hectic, I’d rather have four days to prepare for that than one day for Tech’s defense.
I think he’s going to be there for quite some time. Yeah, he signed the extension but he also spent about a decade there under the Knights. However, he’s going to be a name that shows up for every blueblood program. It’s going to be the case for him and Chris Holtmann. When you look at the likes of Kentucky, Kansas and UNC – yes all of these jobs will open up at some point – those will likely be the two names you hear the most. But, as for the near future? I think he’s pretty set at Texas Tech for that. Red Raider fans should be excited though because Beard is absolutely one of the best tacticians in the game.
I think it’s Marvin Bagley vs Svi or whomever Kansas runs at the four against Duke. That’s going to be the fascinating thing to watch in that game. Duke can get away defensively against Kansas due to the 2-3 zone – though Kansas does have the ability to light it up. They don’t have to worry about Bagley/Carter guarding the perimeter. Who the hell is guarding Bagley defensively for Kansas? Will we see Self throw a junk defense out? He’s thrown a triangle-and-2 out against Kentucky in the past, could we see him do that with Azubuike on one of the bigs and someone on Allen?
First, you need to have a big guard. If you can limit how Brunson runs that inverted offense and takes advantage in the post or a backdown that helps. Second, you need to be able to score with them as well. You can score against this Villanova defense. If you get them into a sped up game like that, you have a shot. I agree though, they are somewhat matchup proof in the sense of they can find a way to attack you offensively. That’s what happens when you have 5 guys that can step out and shoot the ball. Ideally you force the ball out of Brunson’s hands early and force Booth or DiVincenzo to initiate the offense.
The 2014-15 Kentucky team would like a word.