---------------------- so I am seriously asking for some of the many folks who know far more than me about basketball to “splain” it a little for this Lucy.
Remember how it drove many, including me, crazy when Nolan followed Eddie and Nolan’s players, unlike Eddie’s, did not block out much. He believed that he would have the better athletes and he wanted them going after the ball, not preventing someone else from getting the rebound. Lenzie Howell, the 6-4 forward for Nolan’s final four team in 1990, was the best that I recall at this.
Time after time, this year, we spread our offense out, one player attacks the basket or puts up a shot, and we have no one crashing to the boards for an offensive rebound? Kamani, when he is playing, is the usual exception to this, but I never saw the Mitchells, Graham, Walsh, etc. going much for the offensive rebound. Then UConn or A&M or Bama, etc. send 2 and 3 of theirs to get offensive rebounds frequently. If Black is the one attacking the basket, he is great at grabbing some offensive rebounds, but why do so many of our rebounders not go to the basket to try and get some putbacks. Maybe this is something to do with positionless basketball. Am I the only one seeing it this way?
You were asking for responses from people who know basketball, I love the game, but would not purport myself to be any kind of expert, so just offering a bit of what I have seen. Last night it did not seem like most of the time we attacked the glass. With the exception of Kimani, who is always attacking the glass, it seemed I saw a lot of standing and hoping the ball bounced the right way. There have been times where the Mitchell’s have been rebounding machines, but for whatever reason, last night was the opposite. Kimani’s size kind of limits him and UConn was very big inside, so it really showed last night, even though he fought hard and got some rebounds.
I wonder if our positionless style draws our bigs outside too much and limits some of the rebounding. I do know with this style and lots of switching we had our bigs on the perimeter against quicker players a good bit and it usually did not end well for us. Not saying the style is wrong, but it does have some risks associated with it.
Four of the top 10 all time best rebounding seasons were during the CNR years. 98-99 Derek Hood w/ 349. 97-98 Nicky Davis w/ 322. 90-91 Oliver Miller w/ 294. 94-95 Corliss Williamson w 293.
Three of the top 10 all time rebound leaders were in CNR years. Derek Hood w/ 1002. Oliver Miller w/ 886. Todd Day w/ 673.
No expert myself, but seems to me past few years we really have struggled when matching up with powerful big guys. Was hoping early in the year this was Brazile… I dont know if our prior star Jaylin Williams would have impacted this game last night. Anyways great team , tough breaks this year with some injuries causing late mesh of team, ran into a buzz saw last night, it happens in sports.
I was trying (not very well apparently) to say that Nolan’s system, although very different from Eddie’s, worked and worked well. So, I am open to this apparent problem having a very good reason to be that way and will be worth it for the Hogs in the end.
Sometimes, you preach getting back so the other team doesn’t get a run-out layup.
Sometimes, you keep the offensive guys away from the paint to avoid bringing their defender as well, clogging up (more) an already clogged paint.
What I saw last night was UConn pulled their offense away from the strong side once it went inside, keeping ballside help from impacting Sanogo and Co. One time in particular Devo was trying to come from weak side to help and couldn’t get there in time, having to circle the defender and Sanogo (got there just as the ball left his hand).
Your quick research may be incomplete by just looking at the offensive rebound comparison. Yes UConn got only 11 offensive rebounds, but we got 15 defensive rebounds, so apparently there were limited chances. we got 16 offensive rebounds, but they got 32 defensive rebounds. They got 41% of their offensive rebound opportunities where we got 33% of our opportunities for offensive rebounds.
That’s a little misleading. We got 4 defensive boards in the first half IIRC; they rebounded more of their misses than that. We got most of the defensive boards in what you’d have to call garbage time, which was the last 10-12 minutes.
On an unrelated note, did we have any dunks last night? I can’t think of any but I also spent much of the evening averting my eyes from the carnage.