12/4/12 @ Iowa

[yotemeal]

Iowa was about a .500 team last year overall and in the Big Ten. They have a good core from that team back, so will probably finish in the upper lower half of the league. Tough test, but certainly no Gonzaga.

[Cousin Eddie]

Actually they have some really talented freshman as new additions.

[Cousin Eddie]

Available on BTN, btw. Tied at 22-22

[Cousin Eddie]

Gruis could learn something from Woodbury on the offensive end. Very nice jump hook.

[sleuth]

we need to be strong with the ball. Gruis is the only one who has consistently gotten the ball across half court for us, and he is our center.

[sleuth]

we also dont rebound well out of that zone and the lack of rebounding kills us more than anything. Get rid of that god awful zone and go to man defense. when we played man vs western we started to play much better. Im not gonna count the iupui game as they are not good. i dont think man defense would have won us this game but it sure woulda kept the score a little closer. offensively juevol needs to let the game come to him. he forces it once and a while, as well as karim. Both of them have amazing talent but sometimes try and do to much.
we need to re group and get the next one.

[Coyote Fan]

This message is not meant to be judgemental of the zone good or bad. You can't just thrown out the IUPUI game because it was a good example of when the zone did work well. If teams are not hitting from outside the zone can be effective. There are other times when it seems like opponents find the spaces against it and rebound effectively on offense against it as well. IUPUI is still a pretty good team. Let's not take away the credit that the Yotes deserve for defeating the Jags as soundly as they did.

There are some old habits that Boot's still has and may come out yet this season but I would say so far he has done a pretty good job of coaching this year.

[sleuth]

the hawkeyes shot terrible from 3 and we still get beat by 24. Not taking anything away from the coyotes for beating the jags soundly but they aren't a great team. good teams will pick a zone apart. every game that we have fell behind in so far, and then switched to man defense, has become a close game with the exception of gonzaga. everyone has to see it, we play better when using man to man defense. we get out and run and we actually rebound. very few teams are long enough or athletic enough to use a zone as there go to defense. Zone defense is a tactic that you use to slow down a team with good big men or as a different look if man isnt getting it done, it usually isnt a weapon of choice unless you are long enough and quick enough to make it effective. Time an time again we have seen the coyotes be more effective using man to man and yet every game we come out in a zone and let ourselves get behind. This isnt division 2 and its not the NCC, this is the Summit league and Division 1 basketball. its time to put away the old gimics and play some ball. We have watched this defense fail for he last 2-3 years so its time to change.

[#1CoyoteFan (Admin)]

Agreed sleuth. Unless your team is run by Jim boeheim, the zone is not an every game defense. This is d-1 and the majority of the teams can beat the zone.

[yotemeal]

A few observations. We need to work on breaking the press. I watched the entire game, and I don't know how many times we threw it right into the corner. The zone is what it is: a calculated risk. It mitigates our poor defenders and protects our short rotation from fatigue. The trade offs are painfully obvious.

Kasperbauer continues to impress me with his range. I haven't watched him closely on the defensive end, and I know he doesn't have ideal size, but I think he brings a deep threat similar to what we saw with Jake Thomas (who couldn't defend). I think Flack is experiencing a little baptism by fire. Too often he struggles to finish around the basket, but I think that will come with acclimation to the speed and size of this level of basketball.

[sleuth]

i apologize for being so negative towards it but it is frustrating seeing the potential this team has go to waste by not playing to their strengths. I think this team is talented enough to have a 20 win season or at least very close to one if they would be allowed to play man to man. I know Boots see the difference in how they play but i think he is to stubborn to change the game plan and its a shame. Its not doing him or the program any good.

[sleuth]

This situation is kind of like Rex Ryan sticking with Mark Sanchez as the starting QB for the Jets.

[sleuth]

I agree Yotemeal. The press break was not good. I listened to the game on the radio and by the sounds of it our starting center brought the ball across the timeline half the time. He shouldnt be the only guy on the team who can get the ball up the court. but aside from the press break i think our biggest weakness is still rebounding which is directly linked to that zone. We wouldnt have to score as many points to win a game if we didnt give up 20+ offensive boards in a game. It hard to win a game when the oposing team has twice as many possesions to try and score.

[wileycoyote]

Maybe a little more inside game at times would help.

[Coyote Fan]

So if Boot's is the coach and he will not give up the zone as a primary defense than what can be done in Coyote Nation to get rid of the zone.