I’m going to get a little defensive today…. I am not a website designer, all! I’m simply a guy who loves UVa and hoops and who wants to share that in detail with anyone who wants to come along for the ride. Frankly, it took significant outside technological intervention just to get my video formatting away from youtube links…!
Just kidding. Not that kind of defensive.
I am, though, going to try something a little different and focus entirely on that side of the ball in today’s review. For one, because they played so dominantly (33 points allowed!). Secondly, because they’re playing with a collective aggressiveness that’s refreshing and exciting. Thirdly, not having access to Isaac McKneely is (hopefully) atypical and I don’t want to spend much time focused on that side of the ball unless it’s clear his absence is a longer-term thing. Fourthly, I think it’ll be fun to have a more focused piece today (which is probably the point that could supersede points 1-3)!
I was asked by someone the other day whether there were significant changes to the defense and I said, basically, “no, it’s just the different personnel and what they’re capable of doing.” And while that’s true… there’s nothing about our defensive system that’s changed about our core concepts and what the players are being asked to do… it is a little misleading because the execution does look and feel different. It is not so much the system, though. Players like Beekman have always been able to try to anticipate passing lanes and hound the ball handler. We’ve always been able to switch screens if we need to. We’ve always been able to double-team the post, etc. Depending on the needs of the moment and matchups, we might do those things more than other times. What it is fair to say, though, is that this team is collectively much more aggressive across the board; trying to be disruptive and trying to force turnovers both on the ball carrier, helping, and in passing lanes. And I believe that’s largely just due to who we have out there, and how comfortable they are in the system, with each other, along with their collective and individual defensive abilities. After the game CTB made a comment about this, paraphrased, basically saying that they put themselves out of position a little too much, which allowed for some break downs and Texas Southern getting into the paint that they just weren’t able to convert. Be that as it may, this was the best defensive performance we’ve put on in terms of points allowed in almost four full seasons; the first time we’ve held a team under 40 points scored since 2019-2020.
So, what I hope to do today is to compare our defense on Thursday to some of our defense last season and then take a look into what CTB was saying. How much of this was us just exploiting an admittedly bad offensive team and not getting punished, vs. how much can a similar level of aggression help us create easy buckets, not have to clear the defensive glass, etc. Let’s get into it!
Defensive Dive
This is the first possession of the second half on Thursday. Don’t worry, we’ll back up, but it’s an introduction to how aggressively we were playing defense. It’s also an example of us allowing a potential opportunity through over-aggression that we were able to make up for through our athleticism. But, honestly, unless we were regularly being beaten off of the dribble to the basket in this game, the only thing I’d change about this possession is Blake Buchanan over-lingering on the hedges. We ARE being more aggressive on the ball handler than normal, and Dunn is pressuring the heck out of the top of the key rotational pass but these are things we have done in the past, depending on our defender, it’s simply that more of our defenders feel comfortable doing it and they obviously feel very comfortable on this play with Dunn and Buchanan’s mobility on the back end to be there on the rotations. We start off with Beekman out on the ball handler, then Rohde still being well extended past the three-point line but allowing a bigger cushion. The pass goes through Dunn’s man who he pressures obscenely, and then the ball goes back out to the logo again where Dante Harris picks up. All-in-all, the primary ball defender always has been encouraged to pressure the ball handler, so this isn’t abnormal so far, it’s just that we have more guys doing it capably without worry of getting beaten to the net result is forcing the ball farther away from the hoop. Texas Southern attempts to set a ball screen closer to half court than the three-point line as a result, and Buchanan still hedges it. The thing that he does that isn’t unheard of but IS a little abnormal is he lingers well after his man rolls, performing almost a quasi-trap but not that aggressive on the ball handler. Ostensibly this is because the ball is so far away from the hoop to keep from a quick attack, because of his confidence in his recovery speed, and because of his confidence in Dunn, hanging out there at the free throw line, to rotate where needed. The ball moves to the wing and Dunn closes out, Buchanan recovers, and then into the corner with Rohde having helped to shade the lane and then getting out on his man. Now here we see Rohde being a little more aggressive than he was earlier with the sideline behind his man, invading his space – but this is also because look at how much (pause at 11-12 seconds) Buchanan is shading help to the baseline and being willing to recover to his man at the high post. Rohde swipes at the ball and forces the pass back out to the logo again. Texas Southern sets the ball screen again and Buchanan looks to linger again, but this time they immediately dump the pass overhead. Rohde is in good position to stop the dribble, but fakes that and instead recovers to his man, presumably more worried about the three-point shooter. Dunn, meanwhile, is dropped deep from his own wing defender and doesn’t have to rotate very far to be there to block the shot.
A lot going on – but it’s basically just more players taking the more aggressive option within the system that already exists and trusting the others are there. When CTB talks about being too aggressive and making mistakes, it’s an example even though it didn’t bite us, because Buchanan really should be retreating to his man once he stops the ball carrier’s momentum rather than lingering. We were put in a position where, against a better offensive big, Rohde would have either had to stay put and potentially give up a three-point shot on his man, or the player may have had more success scoring on/drawing a foul on Dunn. But because of the immense talent and athleticism of the team, the havoc created by the team still worked out.
And here’s a similar look, below, just a few minutes later in the game where Buchanan executes a great hedge and recovery FAR out near the V-Sabre where he still takes a very extreme/aggressive angle on the hedge but this time turns and retreats as soon as he stops momentum and, is able to get his hand on the pass back to his man for the steal. He certainly appears to be our best 5 in a long time at quickly changing direction, which is great for a defense like this. So, that’s just a very small tweak/lesson learned while still being aggressive with the hedge that creates a turnover. Note, Dante still pressures the ball enough to have this hedge take place far away from the hoop – but he is giving some space here and isn’t just downright hounding the ball handler.
Okay – so those are two quick examples where we see an aggregate aggressive perimeter defense both lead to a defense break down that we were able to cover up, and create a steal; risk/reward. But let’s look at just a couple of quick possessions from last year as a baseline now to contrast with these clips and the rest in the piece.
Calibration From Last Season
This first one is @Syracuse and you’ll see that, conceptually, it’s very similar but the aggression with which we’re playing the ball handlers and the help/rotations on the back end are all of the difference. Franklin is well-extended past the three-point line at the beginning of his possession and kind of casually swiping at the ball. The ball rotates out to Beekman’s man and he is decidedly less aggressive here, choosing to give some space and hang back a little closer to the three-point line. It’s notable because it’s Beekman, because we’ll see him all throughout these clips playing much more aggressively with his man. Some of that may be the injury, some of it might be confidence if he gets beaten – but he’s playing more like Rohde’s spacing from the first clip. Again – same defense, same decisions between two different players, but different decision by Reece himself a year removed. Clark then stays out on his ball handler, having played him back to the Syracuse “S” logo. So, really, how both he and Dante Harris are playing their men is very similar, he’s just slightly less invasive when the ball gets closer. It should also be noted that Beekman is guarding Judah Mintz (#3) here, who is an NBA-level prospect, but he goes under the screen, allows too much space, and allows him to get into the lane. BVP is pretty slow to react, lingering on Edwards (#14) for as long as possible, and then eventually stepping up but being unable to impact the floater.
This next one is a clip vs. Houston and this one is a much more passive Pack Line. Franklin sags back and retreats on his slide inside of the three-point line initially. He switches with Beekman onto Marcus Sasser (#2) but is full-on underneath the three-point line when he does so. Sasser passes to Jamaal Shead (#0) and Beekman is also standing with a foot on the three-point line and is doing nothing to bother Shead’s vision or passing lines. The ball goes into the corner inside of the three-point line and Shedrick steps out to guard, with Kihei pinched down with Gardner on the opposite post but not really paying much attention to the ball. This cross-court pass to Gardner’s man in the block is glaring, because two of our players were literally pinching this player but neither had the awareness/length/athleticism to get to the ball. I’m going to ask you to think about this pass when you think about our rotations and defensive players – this pass would never get through. Franklin does sink down to swipe at the ball several times and they force a miss around the rim/he cleans up the rebound. When we talk about getting out of position through aggression, I’d make the counter-point that, in recent years, sometimes we were in more technically sound position, but unable to make a play on the ball. I’d much rather be in the former position than the latter. This is less than three minutes into the game and there’s a very different energy than we’re seeing at the top of this piece in the second half. The caution, in my opinion (well, in Beekman’s case it’s still likely due to injury because he was far from 100% in this one), is from more just needing to from fear of getting beaten.
Here’s a look against N.C. State, this time with a hedge included. Beekman’s on-ball defense is more aggressive here, Shedrick shows on the hedge and forces the ball handler out wide, and turns and recovers well. This is certainly a less aggressive execution than we saw from Harris/Buchanan earlier but it is more technically sound. Beekman is able to recover and, once he does, he is aggressive about trying to get his hands on the dribble. N.C. State throws it into the post and, on the back side you see Gardner initially start like he’s going to double team, but think better of it, chopping his feet and staying home between Burns and his man. This is also a more technically sound play, not to send the double team when we’ve got a plus defensive matchup (we’ll talk about this later). N.C. State kicks it out of the post back to the perimeter again but notice that, even though Clark knows this is coming, he more just prepares himself for the catch and the defense while staying low under the three-point line. There’s no attempt to steal this pass, mostly because there isn’t a real threat to. Then, quality on-ball defense forcing a tough step-back three.
So, all-in-all, it’s really the choices the players are making. Most are playing it more safely because they aren’t big threats to make a play on the ball and because it’s certainly safer this way (and it, as opposed to the previous two clips from last season, this all worked and were correct decisions based on what was going on for this lineup).
And… let’s even take a quick peek last season when Ryan Dunn was on the floor. You’ll notice at the beginning of the possession he’s much more focused on his individual man and sagging off far less. His hedge on the ball screen on Franklin is a drop-hedge, forcing him to pick up Hildreth from Wake one-on-one as opposed to cutting off the drive and allowing Franklin to recover. Basically – it’s the same player but with less experience/confidence to react in all of the right ways and to know how to best exert his abilities outside of his direct responsibility.
Back To Present Day…
I’m pretty sure that the biggest difference between the way we run the Pack Line this year vs. how we did last season is that if CTB’s guidance is something along the lines of “be aggressive but sound” this group is interpreting that with some of the more aggressive choices because of a combination of their faith in their individual ability as defenders and their knowledge of the athleticism/reaction times of the teammates around them, and it’s snowballed into what we’re about to look at (coupled with the fact that Texas Southern is a pretty poor offensive team. So, let’s revisit first by looking at how the pressure has been able to turn the ball over.
Theft:
Okay, here we back up toward the beginning of the game. I’ll say, I picked two second-half clips to kick us off because it was very clear we had a taste for defensive playmaking at that point and the defense was at its most aggressive, I thought, in the game. There’s not a ton to say about this clip other than Rohde is playing good defense, sliding well, taking some swipes at the ball but, once he cuts off the drive, look at how pressed Dunn is leaning on his man to make sure that the return pass isn’t viable (and is stolen). He’s simply not afraid of a back cut because he knows he can react, so he plucks the ball back.
In this next look, below, just really good rotational basketball and with Jacob Groves out there. Rohde pinches down to help cut off the drive and then really does extend his pick-up just like our point guards typically do. Groves executes a good hedge and Rohde drops back to deter a pass to the screener while Groves recovers – a good, quick decision with Dunn still there camping the lane. The ball then goes into the post, but in that kind of middle-ground, not on the block, and Dunn springs over for the double team. It is an intrusive double, invading space, and Harris bolts down into the post, but there isn’t good line of sight to even try to get the ball there anyway. The Texas Southern player dribbles out of it while Dunn recovers. As Texas Southern attempts to take Beekman off of the dribble, Groves is kind of around the ball but his man is never really setting a ball screen. I like how around 21-22 seconds in, he just makes the decision to go and help on the ball carrier and Dunn immediately reads/anticipates the pass back to Groves’s man, rotating and picking it off. This is the biggest reason why our guys are more willing to take the proactive line this season, because of the active and ranging center-fielder we have on the back end. Dunn has been that oppressive and that good with his rotations. But, it’s the same guy we saw against Wake last year… this is that training and experience coming into play.
Now you know I had to show this clip! Defense leading to offense in the most glorious way. I do want to call out a couple of things. For one, Groves makes a good hedge but his recovery is really slow back to his man – it just doesn’t matter because his man isn’t looking to score or make a play that far away from the hoop. Against better competition that might be different or the extension of the pressure might be relevant. This was still too slow of a recovery for reliably good defense, but the active hands from Dante Harris, as well as how far up Dunn was playing off of his man, made this play. Harris got up high to tip this ball and then Dunn was there in full locomotive mode the other way.
This next one is really pretty great individual defense by Dunn for most of the possession, but he actually gets beaten off of a cross-over early and Buchanan is very quick to react and Rohde is in fantastic position to front Buchanan’s man, and Beekman, playing that back end rotational role, reads the pass to the corner. Watch Dunn from here, though, as he’s carrying his man out to the three-point line but immediately identifies that the corner man is dribbling back out. He stops following his man and free-lances on the ball handler, disrupting the dribble while also technically covering both other men on the wing and at the point. If you pause at 7 seconds you see this with Dunn making an aggressive play for the steal and Rohde till in the restricted area rotating out to help. The play goes from Dunn basically disrupting 3 players at once, to having to get kicked way out to the logo and the defense fully reset, and it happened because Dunn made the opportunistic play of disrupting the dribbler rather than the standard one of simply peeling off of his man and attempting to cushion a pass to either. Buchanan helps hedge with Dunn, which is a pretty deadly duo, but doesn’t really need to as Dunn stays constant on the ball handler. Another interesting thing about this play is that Groves actually falls asleep and gets beaten back door but both Dunn (who was everywhere this play) and Buchanan peel off of their men to make the shot impossible and Beekman is right there with the active hands to get the steal right before a shotty violache anyway. This whole possession reads as way more aggressive (Cory Alexander even comments on it), but it’s really just Ryan Dunn being incredible and disruptive and Blake Buchanan being alert/on point with his back end help.
We got a lot of these types of pick-6s, below, through pressuring the pass to the high post here with Dunn and we saw Bond do it later too. But this isn’t new – if we recall Shedrick making this play in Las Vegas and going coast-to-coast. What is difference is the frequency of this play happening because of how quick these defenders happen – but the pressure on this pass isn’t an adjustment.
We’ll close the steal section with this play, which I’d like to compare to the N.C. State clip from last year. We start with Harris being very aggressive on the ball and Groves also probably over-hedging but Bond making a good rotation on the back end and Groves recovering with all of Taine Murray and Andrew Rohde collapsing the lane. The double team is very disruptive and the ball goes out to Taine’s man just inside of the three-point line. Pause at 8 seconds into this clip and see where the Texas Southern player identifies his open man in the corner and how Leon Bond is all the way on the opposite side of the lane, just starting his recover. The ball gets there in a hurry but Bond is in a full sprint and he’s so fast and long, man… the Texas Southern player literally pump fakes and thinks better of what should have been a clear shot. That’s straight up taking a shot attempt off of the board by Bond and might as well be the same as a block out of bounds. He follows it up with stifling defense on ball with his man going into the lane, staggering and having to kick it back out. But, now, look at Andrew Rohde with his own length and awareness, pressing on his man closer and using his reach to get he hand into the passing lane, deflecting the ball, having the awareness to get to it, and then rewarding Bond the other way for the dunk. This is just unlike anything we saw last year because, even though we have two of our worst defenders this year on the floor in Groves and Murray, Bond’s mobility and athleticism coupled with Rohde’s awareness, pressure, and length, are undeniable. Bond’s defense is basically like Dunn-lite at this point, which is still insanely high praise.
Too Much Of A Good Thing
Now, let’s take a look at a few times where we got into some unnecessary positions that didn’t always punish us (but sometimes did) because of our opponent because we were being too aggressive.
For what it’s worth, I absolutely adore this defensive lineup and think it’s probably our best 5 in that regard if you had Beekman in the game instead of Harris but it’s probably our second best defensive lineup as it stands with Harris in the game. You’ve got Harris at point, Rohde at the 2, Bond at the 3, Dunn at the 4, and Buchanan at the 5. Be still my heart. We start the possession with Harris and especially Rohde being very aggressive on the ball. When it gets to Dunn’s man, though, the ball screener fakes a screen and dives back toward the center of the hoop. Buchanan has pre-prepped a hedge toward the sideline and gets beaten badly, with a lot of floor between his man at 14 seconds. Bond shows into the land and Harris pecks at the ball from behind, but Bond recovers back out to his man. The Texas Southern player is simply not looking to score here himself, as the seas kind of open for him to do so at 15 seconds. Instead, he passes it out to the corner where Rohde can recover and the advantage is lost. A more skilled offensive player here is forcing Bond to defend and attacking the rim.
After a good hedge by Buchanan here, and this likely shouldn’t be surprising given how aggressive we just saw him being on the ball handler, Rohde overplays the dribble on the ball handler, allowing him to spin away and get a lane toward the hoop. But, while that is a mistake and Texas Southern does get a foul out of this, what is encouraging is that Beekman is right there, just oddly stationary at that moment, and Buchanan is there to make that shot very hard (he just fouls on the play in so doing). This is one of those where you lament the over play but it also makes sense why the over play has been happening. Do you make this trade off if it’s leading to the turnover rate you’ve been creating? I think you do.
Here is an over trap by Dunn. You can tell he’s just itching to do it but he has a hard time getting into the play, impacting the ball, and telegraphs it. He also doesn’t need to do this. Buchanan is right there in front of his man and has an advantage here. Recall the play against N.C. State with Burns in the post where Gardner decided NOT to go double. Dunn should realize that this isn’t Groves and he doesn’t need to force the issue. Because he gets caught behind Buchanan for a moment here, the pass back to that vacated spot comes and there’s an open path to the bucket. Buchanan again does a great job to get back into the play and alter the shot, forcing the miss, but this is a decision that definitely could have been punished. As otherworldly as Dunn has been on his rotations, I do wish he’d be more conservative about the post double when Buchanan is the primary defender (and vice versa).
And this last one from this section is more Bond being caught off guard than anything else. He hedges and recovers into position, but it’s like he’s not expecting his man to attempt to take him off of the dribble after the recovery. This one’s not as much about being out of position through aggression as it is that when you are always dictating the pace/flow of play sometimes it’s easy to let your guard down for counter-punches.
Great Team Defense
But, much more often than not, what we got as a combination of a defense that was much more aggressive while still holding sound on their principles, which led to smothering situations and some great individual moments, as well.
This play was special. It starts with Beekman getting over a screen and Buchanan playing drop coverage. But then, after an exchange and a ball screen, Dunn and Beekman simply switch men on the perimeter. Now, right now he’s playing the 3, so this isn’t unheard of, but also note that he more often plays our 4, so this is pretty special that we can do this. Groves does a very nice job of seeing the drive and dropping to help on it, but then it gets kind of crazy. Beekman is at the point and if you pause at 13 seconds, Rohde is supposed to be between this corner pass and the wing. Ideally, he’d have dropped lower and maybe even stolen this pass into the corner, but Beekman reacts, running past Rohde on a beeline from the point and actually blocks this three-point attempt! The even crazier part about this is that you can see Beekman’s first thought is to take the wing player with Rohde rotating to the corner but when he realizes that Rohde is slow to react and/or doesn’t see it, he changes direction slightly and bolts out there. Split-second audible on his recovery route with awesome result. This section is supposed to mostly be highlighting sound, complete defense, but this one highlights how special some of our guys are to make a play like this as a safety net for everyone else, collectively elevating our team defense.
Here’s two successive quick and effective hedges and recoveries from Harris and Bond dealing with on-ball screens and then Beekman just clamping down to seal the possession with another block on a jump shooter.
This had an unfortunate ending as Rohde attempted to immediately turn the ball up the floor on the rebound and had it stolen (ball security was an issue this game that limited our point total… but we’re not talking about offense!!!), but the possession was rock solid. Beekman and Harris are out on the ball handlers early and Dunn even has his man throw a shoulder into his chest in an attempt to get space. As Dunn’s man picks up his dribble, Reece is full-on chaotic ball denial on his man until the ball has to be passed out to Buchanan’s man at the top of the key. Texas Southern attempts a dribble hand off into a ball screen and Buchanan plays drop coverage again, doing a good job of keeping his man in front and contesting the jumper. Rohde, and I was impressed with this, does a great job of going from trailing a much bigger player to getting in front of him, boxing out, and gathering the ball (before the steal). Very cool set that showed how much our on ball defenders were feeling their pressure as well as Rohde’s size being relevant on a rebound after a switch.
This could have actually gone in the previous section because Beekman jumping over the screen (along with Groves not being ready to hedge) allows this drive down the lane, but I actually wanted to call out the early linger by Taine here on the baseline. Around 3-4 seconds in his man is fully in the opposite corner and he’s still on the near block after helping to shut down the dribble, knowing full well that Dunn is there on the back side. This was a nice decision. Beekman should have gone under this screen, though, and the angle allows a driving lane, but Dunn is right there to be able to annihilate the shot without leaving his man too early.
Last clip for you is this really nice double team rotation where Bond leaves from the point to help Groves double in the post. That’s not a standard doubling angle as it usually will come from the opposite side of the paint, but Bond IS playing the 4 here. Taine makes a really good rotation to take Bond’s man cutting, Harris plays defensive back well, and Texas Southern has to reset. From there, Rohde plays very good on ball defense, forcing a travel before a contested hook shot in the lane.
At some point I’ll focus on defensive rebounding because there will be a time where it really burns us in a game (like it almost did against Florida). Despite all of these favorable findings on the defensive side of the ball (and we did improve in the second half of this one, as well), securing the glass has been a weakness for which it will be hard to find a clean remedy. Certainly, erring on the sounder side of the defensive end will help with that, and overly aggressive rotations can and do hurt rebounding position. But, today, I really just wanted to spend some time showing why it looks different, why that’s been a collective good thing, at least so far, and that it’s more the result of individual player reads and ability than it is a strategic decision.
In Conclusion
We had one special defender for his position last season in our starting lineup, who was injured for most of it. This year we have the makings of three special defenders, in Dunn, Beekman, and Bond, with our augmenting players in Buchanan, Harris, and Rohde being more than solid accompaniments (and Buchanan potentially being greater than than). Of our guys in the regular rotation against good teams, when healthy, I would say only Groves is a minus defender for his position, and he’s certainly better as a 4 than as a 5 and is being helped by so much surrounding talent. They’re playing with a LOT of confidence as a result. It’s not unique to our defense or scheme – as we’ve seen various individual players, like Beekman as an example, play like this in the past. Remember the days of Kihei heating up the ball handler full court all the way until they passed it? That’s something all of our guys have the freedom to do if they’re talented enough to do it and if they can get away with it because they trust the help behind them if they’re beaten. It might be the first time (certainly in a while) that we’ve had so many guys with so much athleticism. So, we’re seeing that reflected in the ball pressures and the rotations – they’re not just defending, it’s like they’re hunting plays. What does it look like when the Pack Line has the defensive equivalent of a Reece Beekman at both the wing and the 4 slot? This. More aggressive about trying to shut down the dribble on the perimeter, more aggressive with its hedges, more aggressive in passing lanes, more versatility in switching, more ability to get hands on passes, dribbles, shots…. Logical. Extension. But, in reality, it’s mostly those special players pushing the boundaries a little and everyone else just being good defenders and playing within the system well.
While I do think they let loose a little bit because of their opponent, which led to more gambling, I also agree that they’re going to have to tighten some of it up against better opponents. That mostly appears in hedging and doubling decisions, to me, though. When you’re playing more potent offensive teams, like Florida, who are able to get easy buckets inside or match your athleticism, there is a natural adjustment toward scaling the risk-taking back, adjusting spacing if you’re getting beaten off of the dribble, etc. These are still mostly young guys, most of whom just have one offseason practicing together, so cleaning stuff up is bound to happen and will be welcomed. What I hope, doesn’t happen (and don’t anticipate it will), though, is an attempted scaling back on the defensive playmaking. If it’s unique, it’s because of the talent. We’ve traditionally used the Pack Line as an equalizer for our historically less athletic teams to bother opposing offenses through team concepts forcing play to remain on the outside. I’m excited to see what it can be with plus athletes who still retain the core principles/benefits of the defense while also being able to pressure and adapt across more areas.
Okay! Let’s give some power conference schools a taste and, still, hoping for an Isaac McKneely return to health. I promise some offensive Cuts next time.
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