Devilsforlife
Legend
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2017
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Defense is simultaneously instinctive and anticipatory, and requires far more effort than offense. You don't get a Shane Battier
Shane Battier is a great example of this--so cerebral on defense, anticipating everything like a game of chess, and then just out efforting everyone all the time.Agree with you wholeheartedly. I feel like people describe one of the key strengths of guards like Tyus as being able to "see the floor" on offense -- there's a similar ability some players have to see the floor on defense. Plus motor, and length, etc., but a lot of it is mental.
To be fair to our perimeter defenders, it's hard to be a good defender when you're forced to pick your guy up 26 feet from the hoop while pressuring off the ball...and playing 36 minutes per game
Louisville plays with high up the linee defensive pressure and have an elite defense every season. This is the case because A.) Pitino recruits long athletes with quick feet, and he emphasizes defense (not sure how much K does anymore). His teams are built around multi-year, strong, long, athletic players that understand the system and the defensive standard. B.) Pitino almost always has multiple big men that are tall and long, block shots, and rebound well. Yes, his perimeter players sometimes get burned, but there are big athletes on the backline altering shots and rebounding misses. Pitino also develops and gives PT to his big men, even if they aren't particularly ready- and this pays off in a big way for Louisville.
It can be done- Louisville is a prime example. Brad Underwood and Bob Huggins also run hc pressure m2m defenses very effectively- those 3 programs are also very different than ours culture wise at the moment.
A perimeter defense of Grayson Allen-Kennard-Matt Jones is going to be pretty mediocre in any system.
I wish Duke had been better on the defensive end over the last five or so years, but I certainly would not want to trade the results achieved by Pitino (especially when you consider his 2013 title is tainted), Huggins, or Underwood, nor the talent level on their respective squads.
Ideally, we should be fielding top 10 defenses to complement the highly ranked offenses with the perfect blend of OADs and talented upperclassmen, but when it really comes down to it, is there another program any of you would want to swap results with over the past decade? Kansas, Kentucky, UNC, UConn... No thanks. Ditto for the second-tier Villanova, Louisville, Michigan St.-level programs.
So for all the legitimate complaints many of us have about K and the program, being a Duke basketball fan is still a pretty sweet experience. My main concern is for the next few years. Enduring the slow demise of the K era followed by the likely to be dead-on-arrival Capel years (I'd prefer Collins, but have a gut feeling Capel will get the first crack at the job), does not fill me with optimism.