Re: Offense vs. defense

From: Al Uhrig
Date: 09 Mar 2007 - 10:04 AM EST

Huggins recruiting philosiphy had a lot to do with the emphasis on defense. He did not want to recruit guys who could not defend. It was Mick Cronin who talked Huggins into taking Steve Logan, Huggins did not want Logan because he was all offense, no defense. Thanks to Mick for talking him into taking Steve.
---- jon breiner <address@hidden> wrote:

DF, I think you are brilliant. That is exactly my thoughts all along. That
is why I think it was important for BH to stress defense the way he did. He
would never get 5 MCD's AA's here so he had to devise a strategy and it is
easier to do something effort related versus skill related (when the Duke's,
NC's etc.. are likely to have more skilled players). I believe that if BH
spent 2 hours on offense and 1 on defense we might have scored a couple
extra points per game while giving up 10 more per game. Ok so those numbers
are not exact but I believe it makes the point. I believe that Huggins
emphasis resulted in a couple extra wins each year compared to if he
emphasized offense.

In a perfect world I would like for UC to have 10 McD AA's and to run some
killer offense, but we don't so I think Huggins philosophy in light of the
circumstances was appropriate. Maybe we'll get there with Cronin, but we
are what we are and Huggins realized and worked within those confines well
(IMHO).

Jon

----- Original Message -----
From: "dfairchild" <address@hidden>
To: "UC Basketball Forum" <address@hidden>
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 10:53 PM
Subject: Re: [UC Basketball] Offense vs. defense

Keith,

It seems you are giving voice to frustation with Huggins philosophy. I
remember reading where some of his practices would devote over 2 hours to
defense and less than an hour to offense. I agree that seems unbalanced
to
me.

However, after thinking about it for a while, it dawned on me, that
Huggins
was making a strategic decision. He recognized that against other top
rated
teams, the other team would like have better personnel, better skilled
players. In those situations, it makes sense to focus on defense.

While shutting down a better player and scoring on a better player are
difficult, I think on has a better chance of shutting down a better player
than scoring on one.

Any thoughts?

Go Cats!
DF

-----Original Message-----
From: address@hidden
[mailto:address@hidden Behalf Of Keith Wedinger
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 4:48 PM
To: UC Basketball Forum
Subject: Re: [UC Basketball] Offense vs. defense

Let me clarify. I think defense is important. I don't want the offense
to
suffer because so much emphasis is placed on playing defense.

On 3/8/07, jon breiner <address@hidden> wrote:

See you miss part of the object of the game. Both teams put it in the
basket. The object is to do that more times than the other team. So
defense does come into play.

I don't disagree about needing to see better offense (now or some years
in
the past) and I think you are right about this year's team and the number
of
missed layups, but I think you are too narrow minded when you summarily
dismiss defense. It is at least equally important.

Jon

----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Wedinger" <address@hidden>
To: "Basketball Forum" <address@hidden>
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 2:20 PM
Subject: [UC Basketball] Offense vs. defense

I understand and appreciate the importance of playing defense and
rebounding
the ball. But I think you can build a team that not only excels on
defense
but also excels at offense. In the future, I would like to avoid as

much

as
possible games where "the shots don't fall". Unless I missed
something,
the
object of the game is to put the ball in the basket and if there is one
area
where I want to see a dramatic improvement, it's shooting the ball.

Ideally, I would like to see the Bearcats consistently shoot:
Above 35% from 3
45% or better from the field
70% or better from the line
90% or better when shooting "bunnies"

Nothing drives me crazier on the offensive end than seeing a team miss
open
layups.

--
Keith Wedinger
Bearcatnews.com
Sciotofootball.com

--
Keith Wedinger
Bearcatnews.com
Sciotofootball.com

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