Where Baylor's Defense Faltered and Goes from Here
It felt like deja vu watching Baylor-Michigan State. A team from the Midwest smoked the Bears’ defense--like Marquette did last year--and now Baylor has a defensive ranking far outside national title contention.
Let’s look at what’s gone wrong, then focus on some possible solutions.
*On-ball defense: To rank 70th in adjusted defensive efficiency, Baylor has quite a few problems. This one stuck out to me. RayJ Dennis did a poor job keeping guards in front of him and not requiring help.
*Screened off ball- Michigan State blew up Baylor with some off-ball action. Jayden Nunn is very intense defending on the ball. He has bad lapses off of it. Michigan State screened him early and hit a triple. The Bears not only sometimes lack the effort you’d like to see defending those actions--sometimes they fail to understand the defensive plan. Baylor’s getting late into the season to not know, “Are we switching or fighting over?”
*Defending empty ball screens- An empty ball screen is where the defense does not have a help option. Baylor’s championship team loved to run empty ball screens where the defense wouldn’t have a third player available to help defend Davion Mitchell and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua. The Illinois game is a class in how to run and score with those sets. Yves Missi struggled deciding whether to trap or stay back. End up in no man’s land, and the defense dies. Missi has to either trap the ball-handler or stay back to take away the lob threat.
*Defending with two men in middle screens- Josh O. also struggled when asked to defend those screens. On one occassion, Josh ended up in no man’s land as Michigan State ran nice stuff off the ball to ensure only Dennis and Josh could defend the set. Josh also needed to make a decision--either come forward or stay back. Sparty took advantage and scored.
*Understanding the defense- With 1:35 left in the first half, Dennis and Josh O. had a high pick-and-roll to defend. Each got fooled by a crossover and went the same left. That left a path to the hoop and Baylor’s back-line defense couldn’t recover in time. Baylor’s guard and big man have frequently been disjointed.
*Transition defense- This has been awful. Michigan State got way too many runouts. Baylor likes to send extra bodies to the offensive glass, so this is always going to be an area of opportunity for Baylor’s opponents. But the Bears were way too slow getting back and a few times, the guards went for a swipe that left them out of the play once the ball went down court. In his press conference, Scott Drew highlighted this as the key area of concern to work on.
*Losing shooters on drives- The Bears no longer play the no middle defense. That means Baylor’s defenders no longer can just watch the ball trying to make sure the ball-handler avoids reaching the middle of the paint. But on one troubling occassion, Langston Love failed to find his man, and he flared out for an open three.
Work to do:
Somebody could read that list and think, “My God, that’s a ton to work on, this defense is going to be bad.”
Maybe. But one could also read that list and think, “The defense is still No. 70 after a pathetic game and some hot shooting from Michigan State. There’s plenty to work on, but so many areas mean Baylor can improve.”
This will be the central challenge for Baylor’s season. While my last post identified some offensive struggles, I think we all believe Baylor should end the season with a top 10 offense. The question on that side is whether Baylor can have the nation’s best offense or more like No. 10.
The defensive outcomes are a lot wider. If Missi figures out and develops, the defense could climb and get into the top 30 range. If the same problems reappear, and if Baylor’s guards can’t stop penetration, this team looks a heck of a lot like last years.
I think Baylor won’t be as bad as it was against Michigan State the rest of the way. But that’s not the standard. Baylor needs to find a way to get close to top 30 if it wants to make another Final Four. Time to start showing that ability against Duke tonight.