Observations w/vid (inexcusable start, how Vandy carved up the D, halfcourt O, playing small/Adrio at 4, effort on glass

Basketball Insider Board
#1

<LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2017 … anderbilt/”>http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2017/feb/08/5-observations-arkansas-72-59-loss-vanderbilt/</LINK_TEXT>

— The slow start was inexcusable given what transpired Saturday. Instead of coming out with a sense of urgency, they came out flat. Obviously they’ve shown they’re capable of erasing big deficits vs Tenn, A&M and the first Vandy meeting, but you can’t keep putting yourself in that position or you’ll get burned, which is what happened at OSU, Missouri and tonight. Disheartening effort.

— Video of all 10 Vandy 3s in the first half. Hit 3s off of beating pressure, miscommunications, poor closeouts, gambles gone wrong, bad rotations, help defense leaving open shooters, offensive rebounds and more. Pretty much anything you can think of. Some shockingly open looks. Added a video of them hitting a 3 against the zone in the second half for good measure. Hogs now 12th in the SEC in defensive rating in conference play.

— 0 fast-break points in the first half and the halfcourt offense was brutal. Missed a number of good looks, but also too stagnant. Vandy took away Moses postups. Lot of one-on-one.

— Mike benched Arlando and Dustin midway through the first half and either went small with Manny at the 4 or played Adrio Bailey the rest of the way. Spacing is SO much better with the small-ball group. He hadn’t gone small for more than 12 minutes all year and did so 16:55 tonight. Arlando, Dustin and Trey combined for 1 rebound in 14 minutes. Adrio’s minutes were essentially garbage time, but he was active (4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal) and showed again how he impacts the game the way the others can’t. Have to wonder if it’s time to let him play more. He is going to make mistakes and be lost sometimes, but the other 2 are so wildly up and down that I wouldn’t be shocked if Mike increased his role.

— Were down 14-3 on the glass at one point and wound up getting beat 38-26. To me, that screams effort. We’ve seen this team hold its own on the glass against good rebounding teams. Vandy is not a good rebounding team, but the Commodores outhustled and outworked the Hogs. Rebounding was indicative to the overall lackadaisical showing.

— Stray thoughts, including Dusty’s second half and postgame, Macon off the bench, crowd and more.

#2

No heart and no want too and always a step behind and a coach on the sidelines that looks lost once again MID FEB.!!! Always backed MA but this is unforgivable against a team with 8 players and missing their top scorer! WOW!!!

#3

You proved the lack of effort, Jimmy. Now go find out why it happened. I have a few guesses. I don’t believe some of these guys want to help some of the other guys on defense.

#4

Along those lines, Arkansas is 151 in defensive efficiency according to KenPom. Just behind Liberty and better than Georgia State.

http://kenpom.com/index.php?s=RankAdjDE

#5

OK Jimmy, here is the usual question (Insiders please weigh in), Why no CJ Jones? And no one say defense, as Jimmy showed, no one was playing it last night. At least Jones gives you a scoring threat (something else no one not named Dusty seemed to do last night)

#6

Jimmy, it appears to me that a lot of the rebounding issues stemmed from going with four guards much of the game + giving single-digit minutes to three bigs who usually get double digits.

The guards didn’t rebound at all either.

#7

Vanderbilt was up 14-3 on the boards when it was 25-4. Arkansas hadn’t gone small at that point. To me, that’s a reflection of the lack of intensity they started the game with. From that point on, it was pretty much even (Vandy 24-23, 17-14 in the second half).

I do think Moses being pulled away from the basket on switches hurts them big-time, especially in small-ball lineups. He typically grabs a massive amount of defensive boards when he’s in the game.

#8

I thought he might get C.J. some run in the second half since Dusty was the only guard that had it going. Obviously it was garbage time at that point.

Dudley asked him about it last week and Mike said others were playing better than him in practice.

#9

This is incredibly sobering.

http://www.arkansasfight.com/2017/2/7/1 … ght-tunnel

[quote]This is a roster filled with juniors and seniors playing at least 80% of the minutes. Yes, many of the freshmen are highly rated and there’s reason to expect they’ll be good, but they’re unlikely to be great immediately. None are rated as highly as Bobby Portis was, and it took Portis a while to come into his own. And it’s not like there aren’t talented, highly-rated players on this team right now. So if anyone is skeptical at the moment they’re justified.
[/quote]

This isn’t a young team.

#10

This isn’t a young team.
[/quote]

That is deceptive. It’s true there are a lot of JR-SR. It’s also true we only returned 4 players that played last year. Not excusing a poor coaching performance.

I also think Gafford will make a big impact on defense and rebounding next year (offense will be raw), similar to Portis overall impact.

#11

The players seem so frustrated and they aren’t communicating on trap switches. It is obvious our trap defense is STILL not working. Are the players frustrated with trapping defenses or the communication required? Isn’t our coaching staff supposed to recognize these issues and make changes to the plan? I like CMA but it doesn’t matter how many different players you try with this defensive style; the trapping isn’t working at all with teams that have good passing guards to find open 3pt shooters. It is time to make a change in the defensive plan. More importantly it is time for CMA to let go of the 90’s rope. Teams have had 20 years to learn how to beat it and the hand check rule killed an important part of the 90’s success.

#12

I agree 100% percent with this comment and posted something similar on twitter last night. It is time to change the system and let go of the past. The great coaches adapt and Mike Andersen hasn’t shown that he is willing to or consider doing this.

All the good offensive teams know how to beat Arkansas by having Moses or any big man switch. Macon and Barford don’t seem to want to fight through picks/screens to stay on the shooter. Beard has significant problems closing out on shooters because of his height. Dusty is a major liability on defense (just watch the end of the Missouri game). To me, the players know that the system is not going to be successful and that impacts their effort against good teams.

I do think the recruits are signed up are worth giving Mike Andersen another year but I think that we will continue to struggle in the future against the top teams with good guards trying to play the fastest 40 even if we have better talent.

#13

I’m very concerned that CMA can’t change from the 90’s style because of his loyalty to NR. I am afraid that NR is going to have to tell CMA to change before he will do it. In theory JL needs to demand a change but I don’t think CMA will listen to JL over NR.

#14

I kinda chuckle at RB stats at times. If the other team is hitting 60 percent (or better) early in the game, there are not going to be any defensive rebounds. That’s where the bulk of RBs come from. Vandy did not miss early. So that’s why Arkansas didn’t have any defensive rebounds.

#15

Jimmy’s stuff is always good. I talked to him after the game. I did not break it down to every play, but I see the problems and it is related to defense.

I know they didn’t score at the start of the game. They missed shots. But, the way they tried to relieve pressure out of the double teams on Moses was a significant problem in the first half. You should get shots out of that Vandy move. And, that’s one of the reasons I thought the fours didn’t play a lot in the second half. They were not doing anything to help Moses with the pressure release. Normally, the four defender is the one coming to double. Not every time but some of it.

It was clearly Vandy’s plan, to allow the post entry, then to double and see what Moses could do out of that. Almost nothing. He was prepared for that in the second half and moved the ball quickly when the post pass was made.

But the main issue in the first half was defense, or lack of. I did not think Vandy was very good with their screens, but they did not have to be, because we switched big to little, or doubled. The bad area is the over plays and the dribble penetration. Vandy did not give up any. Arkansas did, over and over. So to stop a layup, they helped and rotated. And that left shooters open.

There is no doubt that Vandy has the best collection of 3-point shooters in the league. They don’t shoot layups in pre-game, they have lines to shoot threes. It’s quite a sight to see.

You can’t help on defense against Vandy. You leave a shooter, the ball ends up there, boom. And, it’s going through the net while you try to close out. And, that happened eight times in about the first six minutes. Again, there were not a lot of rebounds there, because the ball was going through the net.

Arkansas was stuck on four points for a long time. They were getting shots, although not as good of looks as Vandy. But some looks.

What makes you look disinterested is when one team is making shots, and you are not. I think there were times Arkansas played hard on defense, just poorly. Effort can be there, but if it winds up in over playing a dribbler and he’s past you, the effort was wasted.

I thought the officiating was horrible in the second half, but I understood it. Vandy was up 22-24 much of the half and intent on not fouling. But they did foul some. Doug Shows did not blow his whistle at all until the last minute, after Mike pointed out they had called one foul on Vandy in the half. Oddly, Shows called a foul when Moses went t the basket, and there was no contact. The Vandy defender dove out of the way, but Shows was going to make sure to call one foul.

I don’t blame the officials for staying out of the way, though. When one team is dominating like that, they are not going to call much at all on the team trailing like that. You have to earn calls and Arkansas did not earn any. Don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s what I saw.

#16

Great job! The apple did not fall far from the tree. Yeah I remember him very well and you are making him proud.

#17

That’s a fair point, but Vandy did grab 4 of its first 7 misses. That 14-3 mark looks a lot different even with the hot shooting if Arkansas holds its own on the defensive glass. This team has been pretty good rebounding the ball. They just did not look as engaged as they needed to be early and it showed up on the scoreboard.

Exactly. Moses being doubled should be great for the offense. Instead, he had nowhere to go with the ball. No cutters. Nothing. And then you’re late in the clock having to settle for a low-percentage shot.

Playing small absolutely helped them in this area in the second half. It spread the floor, which made the double have to come from farther away and gave Moses a less cluttered view. They were able to generate some good looks out of it.

I honestly don’t know how I’d handle Arlando and Dustin if I were Mike. They’re just so inconsistent. At his best, Arlando is a good offensive rebounder who plays really hard and can guard multiple positions. When he’s not playing well, he struggles on the defensive glass, forces shots and is a non-factor with his energy. When Dustin is playing well, he’s good at the front of the press, provides a little playmaking and uses his vertical to rebound well. But he’s shot the ball horribly, isn’t that great of a defender in the halfcourt and fouls way too much. They’re both really inconsistent. They’re both non-factors on offense and opposing teams have noticed.

He’s definitely trending toward playing small more. If that continues, C.J. will have to play for depth purposes. Dusty played the entire second half last night. At this point, I’m for giving Adrio some more run. He’s going to make mistakes on defense, but it’s not like they’re playing great otherwise.

#18

It is very interesting. Last night notwithstanding, this team has forced turnovers at a lower rate than any other Mike has had in his 15 years as a head coach. Other teams also get to the line more often against them than any other team in the SEC. So they’re getting beat or fouling more often they’re forcing turnovers. The math doesn’t work. They bleed points from trapping and pressing against most teams.

No guard that plays is taller than 6-3. They lack the length to really bother teams and I wouldn’t consider any of them especially athletic or quick. Manny is the only good defender. At this point in the year, the routine miscommunications are more bothersome than players who aren’t great defenders getting beat. You’d like everyone to be on the same page in February.

On Moses switching, I watch a ton of NBA and there is huge value placed now on being able to switch 1-5. But even at that level, not many teams can pull it off. It’s one thing to switch late in the shot clock and ask Moses to hang with a guard for a few seconds and contest a shot. But the switches early in the clock are opening them up to be exploited so many ways.

I’ve wondered if they will wind up deciding to have the bigs hedge and recover or just drop back on ball screens. Both minimize the off-ball help needed and you don’t have to switch. Both are more conservative, but playing aggressive hasn’t worked.

#19

I have asked several times about Moses switching so much.

I dont get it.

#20

Arkansas’s rebounding percentages were terrible in the first half. Below 50% on defense.