College Basketball teams that are built for March and teams that are not pic.twitter.com/UHn8pDS9c1

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) February 21, 2024

Baylor is 4-0 against every team on the list we have played.

Kansas is conspicuously missing from this list on either side.

Only one big 12 team… And it is one of the new ones

95.5% of National Champions since 2001 have had a top-21 KenPom offense pre-tournament.

90.9% of National Champions since 2001 have had a top-31 KenPom defense pre-tournament.

Teams that currently fit this criteria: pic.twitter.com/x8zFGFRtRk

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) February 21, 2024

Florida is the type of 7, 8, 9, or 10 seed that could break open a bracket in the NCAA Tournament.

You want NO part of the Gators if you're a 1 or 2 seed.

ELITE offensive team. https://t.co/LOpA077Pgw

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 22, 2024

Yep. Offensively we could take some teams out of the tournament when we're shooting well, but defensively we are a sitting duck to any team that has a reasonably efficient offense. Just hacks me off that we are this bad on D two years in a row. Last year at times it seemed to be lack of effort. This year, it's definitely not a lack of effort. It's just plain lack of basic skills.

… So you're telling me there's a chance.

We are not consistent and play questionable defense. Not built for March. Walter could get hot and if we get matchups that allow zone we have a shot but that is a big ask.

JP1037 said:

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Walter could get hot.

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I keep waiting for it....but it's getting harder and harder for me to see this happening.

boognish_bear said:

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JP1037 said:

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Walter could get hot.

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I keep waiting for it....but it's getting harder and harder for me to see this happening.

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Yeah. Me too. I didn't say hoping for that is a solid strategy.

boognish_bear said:

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What are they even basing this on?

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Teams that cannot play defense.

DanaDane said:

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Yep. Offensively we could take some teams out of the tournament when we're shooting well, but defensively we are a sitting duck to any team that has a reasonably efficient offense. Just hacks me off that we are this bad on D two years in a row. Last year at times it seemed to be lack of effort. This year, it's definitely not a lack of effort. It's just plain lack of basic skills.

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This team does not have instinctual help defenders and does not know how to switch. Hence the confusion and large number of breakdowns on D. The zone changes that because the assignments are simplified. The National Championship team had a rotation of 8 guys that could all switch and help. This team has 2 and one of them is a part time player.

The bias against the zone is silly. The objective is to win and if you have 8 dawgs on defense you stick with man-to-man defense. But if you don't then zone is the way to go. The objective is to hold down the opponents scoring as much as possible and win, not pass some basketball purity test. There is no quality team, no matter what offense they run, that this team is not better zoning. If a team is going to get wide open 3 point looks against your man defense so what if they step back a few feet and attempt 3 pointers against your zone. At least we'd take away the wide-open layups in the half-court (which should never happen).

We're actually a good man-to-man team in terms of ball coverage. But we don't help well, deal with switches well and we might be the worst defending the pick and roll in the Big 12. The amount of times guys slip off the roll and have uncontested layups is insane. And the amount of times we run underneath picks is maddening.

We have not had a banger anyone was afraid of in the low block since Mark Vital. Thamba could've been that but he had comically weak hands. Everyday Jon could've been that, but even at full strength he floated out of the post too often. Lohner could've been that but he plays like he thinks he's a wing slasher. And Josh O is slow to read the play and doesn't crash hard enough. And Missi definitely isn't that kind of player.

To win in March, you need reliability. The shot is going to blink off, you need paint points. As good as our guards are, if we make a run it'll be because Yves Missi explodes and somebody else gets tough inside. When we lose, it's always because we play weak.

BUCANDOIT82 said:

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DanaDane said:

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Yep. Offensively we could take some teams out of the tournament when we're shooting well, but defensively we are a sitting duck to any team that has a reasonably efficient offense. Just hacks me off that we are this bad on D two years in a row. Last year at times it seemed to be lack of effort. This year, it's definitely not a lack of effort. It's just plain lack of basic skills.

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This team does not have instinctual help defenders and does not know how to switch. Hence the confusion and large number of breakdowns on D. The zone changes that because the assignments are simplified. The National Championship team had a rotation of 8 guys that could all switch and help. This team has 2 and one of them is a part time player.

The bias against the zone is silly. The objective is to win and if you have 8 dawgs on defense you stick with man-to-man defense. But if you don't then zone is the way to go. The objective is to hold down the opponents scoring as much as possible and win, not pass some basketball purity test. There is no quality team, no matter what offense they run, that this team is not better zoning. If a team is going to get wide open 3 point looks against your man defense so what if they step back a few feet and attempt 3 pointers against your zone. At least we'd take away the wide-open layups in the half-court (which should never happen).

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BYU is probably the worst team to zone I've seen but I still would have still preferred it to wide open layups with man to man.

Tell me you don't know hoops without telling me you don't know hoops

BU77 said:

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Baylor is 2-0 against the "teams built for March."

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We still have a few days to go before it's March.

JP1037 said:

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We are not consistent and play questionable defense. Not built for March. Walter could get hot and if we get matchups that allow zone we have a shot but that is a big ask.

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I think we have to play our zone regardless. It's the only defense this team seems to know how to play, and at least it doesn't give up free layups with no defender within 10 feet of the shooter. BYU hit a boatload of threes against our man. I think we should play our zone and just hope for three-point misses. At least it will do a better job of stopping easy buckets in the paint.

DanaDane said:

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Yep. Offensively we could take some teams out of the tournament when we're shooting well, but defensively we are a sitting duck to any team that has a reasonably efficient offense. Just hacks me off that we are this bad on D two years in a row. Last year at times it seemed to be lack of effort. This year, it's definitely not a lack of effort. It's just plain lack of basic skills.

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Hypothetical time. The pieces have some limitations but it shouldn't be this bad. We have great length and okay athleticism. Lateral foot movement has been a huge surprise (negative) and is deeply flawed. Instincts just don't seem to be there.

But I can't help but think someone like Self could turn this same group to at least a top 50 type defense. We need some specialists brought in to help with this D. It's a sensitive subject bc some of our D staff are the best recruiters in the country, but it has to be fixed.

Quinton said:

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DanaDane said:

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Yep. Offensively we could take some teams out of the tournament when we're shooting well, but defensively we are a sitting duck to any team that has a reasonably efficient offense. Just hacks me off that we are this bad on D two years in a row. Last year at times it seemed to be lack of effort. This year, it's definitely not a lack of effort. It's just plain lack of basic skills.

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Hypothetical time. The pieces have some limitations but it shouldn't be this bad. We have great length and okay athleticism. Lateral foot movement has been a huge surprise (negative) and is deeply flawed. Instincts just don't seem to be there.

But I can't help but think someone like Self could turn this same group to at least a top 50 type defense. We need some specialists brought in to help with this D. It's a sensitive subject bc some of our D staff are the best recruiters in the country, but it has to be fixed.

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Kelvin Sampson has been able to incorporate LJ Cryer, an objectively poor defender, into the No. 1 defense in the nation.

Coaches get from players what they demand. And we've never demanded the same level of execution or consistency on the defensive end that we do on offense. We've lucked into four or five elite individual defenders over the years, but we haven't created any of them. And when we don't have guys who arrive on campus with those skills, we're pretty much always a mediocre or worse defensive team -- especially in man-to-man.

boognish_bear said:

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JP1037 said:

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Walter could get hot.

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I keep waiting for it....but it's getting harder and harder for me to see this happening.

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Not gonna happen. If he would have gotten better, it would have happened already. Missi on the other hand could get even hotter, and if he does then we could reach the Sweet 16 despite our shoddy D.

JP1037 said:

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We are not consistent and play questionable defense. Not built for March. Walter could get hot and if we get matchups that allow zone we have a shot but that is a big ask.

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Questionable defense is putting it nicely.

Guitarbiscuit said:

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boognish_bear said:

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JP1037 said:

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Walter could get hot.

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I keep waiting for it....but it's getting harder and harder for me to see this happening.

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Not gonna happen. If he would have gotten better, it would have happened already. Missi on the other hand could get even hotter, and if he does then we could reach the Sweet 16 despite our shoddy D.

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The only problem with Missi is, as good as he is, he's still not very strong or mature physically. And every time we play a good, veteran big -- especially a physical one -- that fact gets highlighted. He's gotten to a point where he's giving us pretty consistent offense, but he gets manhandled on the defensive end from time to time. If we get the wrong matchup in March, that could be a serious weakness.

Chuckroast said:

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JP1037 said:

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We are not consistent and play questionable defense. Not built for March. Walter could get hot and if we get matchups that allow zone we have a shot but that is a big ask.

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I think we have to play our zone regardless. It's the only defense this team seems to know how to play, and at least it doesn't give up free layups with no defender within 10 feet of the shooter. BYU hit a boatload of threes against our man. I think we should play our zone and just hope for three-point misses. At least it will do a better job of stopping easy buckets in the paint.

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The way our man defense generally works out (it doesn't), zone would be the way to go with this squad. I haven't seen a Baylor team this slow in a long time.

bear2be2 said:

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Guitarbiscuit said:

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boognish_bear said:

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JP1037 said:

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Walter could get hot.

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I keep waiting for it....but it's getting harder and harder for me to see this happening.

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Not gonna happen. If he would have gotten better, it would have happened already. Missi on the other hand could get even hotter, and if he does then we could reach the Sweet 16 despite our shoddy D.

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The only problem with Missi is, as good as he is, he's still not very strong or mature physically. And every time we play a good, veteran big -- especially a physical one -- that fact gets highlighted. He's gotten to a point where he's giving us pretty consistent offense, but he gets manhandled on the defensive end from time. If we get the wrong matchup in March, that could be a serious weakness.

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I'd agree with you there. But I'll still maintain that Missi has a better chance of making a meaningful impact come March.

But overall I"m not excited at all about this team's chances to get to the second weekend.

Guitarbiscuit said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Guitarbiscuit said:

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boognish_bear said:

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JP1037 said:

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Walter could get hot.

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I keep waiting for it....but it's getting harder and harder for me to see this happening.

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Not gonna happen. If he would have gotten better, it would have happened already. Missi on the other hand could get even hotter, and if he does then we could reach the Sweet 16 despite our shoddy D.

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The only problem with Missi is, as good as he is, he's still not very strong or mature physically. And every time we play a good, veteran big -- especially a physical one -- that fact gets highlighted. He's gotten to a point where he's giving us pretty consistent offense, but he gets manhandled on the defensive end from time. If we get the wrong matchup in March, that could be a serious weakness.

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I'd agree with you there. But I'll still maintain that Missi has a better chance of making a meaningful impact come March.

But overall I"m not excited at all about this team's chances to get to the second weekend.

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I love Missi. It's not his fault he's physically weak right now. That's just a product of getting him as an 18- or 19-year-old freshman. And he does a lot of really good, important things for this team. That's just one aspect of his game -- and our team right now -- that likely limits how long we can play into March.

This team has too many of those limiting factors on the defensive end unfortunately. There are a lot of players and teams that we don't match up well with on that end of the floor.

Agreed. Dude is going to be incredible defensively once more physical development takes place. But as you often say, it won't be here.

Still pleased with the progress. But you can't grow your body in season, that's maturation and offseason development

bear2be2 said:

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Guitarbiscuit said:

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boognish_bear said:

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JP1037 said:

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Walter could get hot.

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I keep waiting for it....but it's getting harder and harder for me to see this happening.

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Not gonna happen. If he would have gotten better, it would have happened already. Missi on the other hand could get even hotter, and if he does then we could reach the Sweet 16 despite our shoddy D.

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The only problem with Missi is, as good as he is, he's still not very strong or mature physically. And every time we play a good, veteran big -- especially a physical one -- that fact gets highlighted. He's gotten to a point where he's giving us pretty consistent offense, but he gets manhandled on the defensive end from time to time. If we get the wrong matchup in March, that could be a serious weakness.

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As long as we get Dickinson or Filipowski we'll be OK. They totally proved your point.

boognish_bear said:

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What are they even basing this on?

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clicks

BUCANDOIT82 said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Guitarbiscuit said:

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boognish_bear said:

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JP1037 said:

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Walter could get hot.

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I keep waiting for it....but it's getting harder and harder for me to see this happening.

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Not gonna happen. If he would have gotten better, it would have happened already. Missi on the other hand could get even hotter, and if he does then we could reach the Sweet 16 despite our shoddy D.

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The only problem with Missi is, as good as he is, he's still not very strong or mature physically. And every time we play a good, veteran big -- especially a physical one -- that fact gets highlighted. He's gotten to a point where he's giving us pretty consistent offense, but he gets manhandled on the defensive end from time to time. If we get the wrong matchup in March, that could be a serious weakness.

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As long as we get Dickinson or Filipowski we'll be OK. They totally proved your point.

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Dickinson had 15 and 7 in a win. And Filipowski had a double-double ... again in a win. Neither were super efficient on the offensive end, but it's not like we shut them down.

Now go watch our games against UCF and WVU and watch how Diallo and especially Edwards abused our young phenom. Or go all the way back to our opener and look what Broome and Cardwell did to us.

There are a number of examples this season of physical post players having their way inside. But you're blind to them because you've already declared Missi the next Hakeem -- a comparison as ridiculous as your George-Magic Johnson nonsense.

Like Quinton said, Missi will be a really good post defender in time. He already does some things really well. But a physical post player can push him right under the basket, and a quick drop step gets you right around him.

Agree about the zone. The open layups are so frustrating. The games we have played zone we are better. Our guys are willing to try, they just are not very good at man. The "open 3" thing with zones is overblown. We would be better off playing zone. I am convinced of that. I think we hustle pretty well in our zone

FFA0329 said:

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Agree about the zone. The open layups are so frustrating. The games we have played zone we are better. Our guys are willing to try, they just are not very good at man. The "open 3" thing with zones is overblown. We would be better off playing zone. I am convinced of that. I think we hustle pretty well in our zone

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I'm a zone fan. I was one of the first ones calling for a switch to zone back in 2006, 2007 and 2008 when the Jarrells/Dugat/Rogers teams were playing turnstile defense. But the "open 3 thing" isn't overblown. Any team that can knock down 3s with consistency will obliterate a zone -- even a well executed one -- because the ball moves faster than rotating defenders can.

You can't effectively zone a team that moves and shoots the ball well. Even a good, active zone gives up open jump shots. It's always a matter of hoping your opponent doesn't hit enough open shots to force a switch back to man.