Grinder

The radio announcers said this would be a grind it out game, and they were on target, even before knowing what a big surprise Newman was going to be.

I am amazed at how inept we can look at times, for instance leaving 3-point shooters wide open and rarely being in position to rebound, and yet how terrific we can look at others.

Nevertheless, I love a win, and in this conference every win is wonderful to me. Heck, every time we win, whatever the skill of our conference, is wonderful.

Kudos to Malik, Svi, Doke, and each player who hustled tonight. Kudos to Graham who didn't give up on his shot but who came through when we really needed it. Kudos for the desire to win. May that continue to be our credo.

Most often our issues for 3 point defense is due to how we have to set up rotations for screen and roll defense as well as post double rotations. With ball screens, the weak side is covering up the post as Udoka hedges the ball screen. This creates a long rotation for our wings, but it is how Kansas is defending the ball screen. On post entry when Udoka is not the primary defender. Kansas doubles from the other low block and the weak side guard rotates to cover opposite block. I felt that all the players were rotating properly. Sometimes they were not able to close back out on the shooters quick enough. These rotations are being used because we only have one big man. If you watch the game closely, all of the players are performing these rotations the same, Svi and Vick just happen to be the wings that are in this position most often.

Another issue is that we have a hard time defending the dribble drive, which often comes off of the rotations from our help defense. Having only one big has such a huge aspect on the entire game. I think our guys are doing a fine job executing the strategy, they just get wore down by being undermanned.

As for rebounding, many offensive boards occur because of Dok leaving his feet to block shots too often. This takes him out of rebounding position. Svi and Vick are usually battling much bigger bodies. Last night Newman was active on the glass and if that continues we will get better at getting the boards.

I think another issue is in the back of our big's mind is they know we can't afford for them to be in foul trouble so they hesitate to play more physical and also leads to some hesitancy. I think if we have full rotation of bigs we would foul a little more but also give up a lot lower field goal percentage.

This is great stuff, minerscoach, thanks!

I would love for someone -- perhaps a Newell or a Tait -- to highlight this analysis with some video.

Most often our issues for 3 point defense is due to how we have to set up rotations for screen and roll defense as well as post double rotations. With ball screens, the weak side is covering up the post as Udoka hedges the ball screen. This creates a long rotation for our wings, but it is how Kansas is defending the ball screen. On post entry when Udoka is not the primary defender. Kansas doubles from the other low block and the weak side guard rotates to cover opposite block. I felt that all the players were rotating properly. Sometimes they were not able to close back out on the shooters quick enough. These rotations are being used because we only have one big man. If you watch the game closely, all of the players are performing these rotations the same, Svi and Vick just happen to be the wings that are in this position most often.