A Benford coached team- What will be different?

[UNT90]

Building on Greenminer's post in another thread, what do you wise pontificators of basketball knowledge think will be the major differences in this team vs. a JJ team?

Personally, I am hoping for more offensive movement (although with pounding the ball down low being a Benford priority, I don't know how this will work out), and more pressure (possibly even some full court) defense. As deep as we are, I hope to see the press in spots a lot more this year.

I have looked at some Marquette video, and from the small sample I could find of offensive sets, it looks like Benford's offense will be similiar to JJ's (with the big assumption Benford is going to run the same offense as Marquette).

I expect we will push the ball a lot more with CJ and PJ being a huge upgrade from what we finished with last year at the point.

T minus 27 days.

Edited October 13, 2012 by UNT90

[greenminer]

Thanks 90; I almost created a thread for this.

[greenminer]

Just guessing but with our depth, I'd like to see us push for more transition opportunities. Then, if we are in the half court, make a concerted effort to get the ball inside. JJ's teams seemed to be okay with getting points from the 1 through 3?

Ultimately, I'm fine with whatever. This is for the sake of discussion.

Edited October 13, 2012 by greenminer

[emmitt01]

Tighter D.

[UNTflyer]

Stopping runs with a timeout.

[H-towngreen]

I think we'll see more of a 3-4 alignment on D, with blitzers coming off the edge. On offense look for a ground and

[UNTLifer]

Tighter D.

This.

[emmitt01]

This.

I gotta wonder though. We've never had a more talented team athletically (on paper at least). Will the fact that they'll be able to jump in passing lanes and "cheat" a little more due to their athleticism show that Benford's defense is the result of coaching or superior players?

[Green Lantern]

Hopefully an effective press break when necessary.

[greenminer]

Y'all are milking the crap out of this football bit.

[chrisfisher]

Stopping runs with a timeout.

That was the absolutely most frustrating part of JJ's style of coaching.

[chrisfisher]

Tighter D.

Definitely.

[UNT90]

I gotta wonder though. We've never had a more talented team athletically (on paper at least). Will the fact that they'll be able to jump in passing lanes and "cheat" a little more due to their athleticism show that Benford's defense is the result of coaching or superior players?

As long as the defense is good, who cares if it's improved athleticism or bettter coaching, as long as it is.

[meangreenfan65]

For what it is worth. I posted this back in May:

I watched Marquette a couple of times on tv, the game i watched, they scored alot of points, off pressure defense, in other words their guards and wings, forced alot of turnovers on defense, which led to quick fastbreak transition points. The offense was a motion, spread type offense, this is not a slow, ugly, offense. imo. We have the athletes to play this style of ball, when needed.

PS. That's assuming, Benford runs the same system.

Edited October 14, 2012 by meangreenfan65

[BillySee58]

I watched Marquette a couple of times on tv, the game i watched, they scored alot of points, off pressure defense, in other words their guards and wings, forced alot of turnovers on defense, which led to quick fastbreak transition points.

This would be huge for us. We have some excellent rebounders especially with the addition of Coleman and led by TM who "has a chance to lead the country in rebounding," to go along with his game changing shot-blocking ability. Like Benford said, Coleman can guard the teams biggest guy allowing TM to come from the help side and block shots. Forcing steals would be huge for us.

If we can force a lot of steals and block a lot of shots that will leave teams with fewer overall shot attempts. Because we have so many good rebounders we will not allow for very many second shots on offense.

Translation: IF you are able to put a shot up you'd better make it, because our rebounders aren't going to give you a second chance this possession. This is what makes me feel like we will have a dominant team this year, at least in the belt. Benford is putting an emphasis on defense so let's hope we see this.

Edited October 14, 2012 by BillySee58

[meangreenfan65]

This would be huge for us. We have some excellent rebounders especially with the addition of Coleman and lead by TM who "has a chance to lead the country in rebounding," to go along with his game changing shot block ability. Like Benford said, Coleman can guard the teams biggest guy allowing TM to come from the help side and block shots. Forcing steals would be huge for us.

If we can force a lot of steals and block a lot of shots that will leave teams with fewer overall shot attempts. Because we have so many good rebounders we will not allow for very many second shots on offense.

Translation: IF you are able to put a shot up you'd better make it, because our rebounders aren't going to give you a second chance this possession. This is what makes me feel like we will have a dominant team this year, at least in the belt. Benford is putting an emphasis on defense so let's hope we see this.

Could not have said it, better!

[MeanGreenHoops]

I hope when they have a team down 13 in the 2nd half and reeling, they finish them off.

[GrandGreen]

Difficult to say being no one has seen Benford as HC. My guess and hope is that the team will be more defensive oriented and rely less on the three point shoot. JJ ran mostly a guard oriented offense and had trouble winning when the shots didn't fall.

I also think that Benford will take the overall season more serious. JJ did a great job of having the team peak at the right time and play their best ball at tournament time. The issue I had is that they generally were mediocre until that point. Beating cream puffs and playing about even with everyone else.

With the depth and talent on the roster this year, I see Benford using a lot of players and hopefully a fast paced game, pressing and fast breaks.

[CMJ]

We really didn't rely on the 3-point shot much actually. Didn't Greek or CBL find stats that showed we tended to shoot somewhere around the nation average or less? It's kinda like with FT shooting - we always remember the games where they don't fall (or the ones where we might shoot & miss way more than normal), not the typical games.

Edited October 15, 2012 by CMJ

[UNTflyer]

How about "Not Playing Down to our Opponent"?

[kalebschumann]

NCAA Tourny wins?

[aztecskin]

There really is no telling. I'm hoping he adjusts whatever system to the talent we have. I love the emphasis on defense for two obvious reasons:

Everyone works on offense. No one goes out to the gym and practices boxing out. You shoot around, and dribble. This team should have no problem creating a good shot. Against really good competition we may have to get sophisticated and work on sets but the Sun Belt shouldn't be too difficult.

Defense wins games. It is cliche because it is true. It isn't getting stops late in games necessarily, but 40-minutes of forcing tough, second and third choice shots, and getting rebounds. This team has the luxury of attacking passing lanes (J-Will was and is awesome at this) with Tony cleaning up the mess. This is an easy way for even the most offensively challenged player to get an open layup in transition.

Any coach worth anything preaches this. JJ did too. It will be interesting to see if the change in voice (and tons of talent) will get better results.

Biggest difference I like to see: no mid-season lull where we lose games we shouldn't.

[GangGreen]

We really didn't rely on the 3-point shot much actually. Didn't Greek or CBL find stats that showed we tended to shoot somewhere around the nation average or less? It's kinda like with FT shooting - we always remember the games where they don't fall (or the ones where we might shoot & miss way more than normal), not the typical games.