Let me start this topic with a usual disclaimer. I've watched basketball for 60 years, played through high school, but I am not a coach and never have been.

This season anyone watching our team play knows that it is customary in the half court defense that when the other team sets a high ball screen, more often than not we end up doubling the ball handler, while our other three players rotate to the nearest passing points that the ball handler has. In most cases this strategy leaves one player from the opponent's offense completely open. MM's strategy is that there will be a very low chance that the ball gets to that player within two passes, thus we hope to ultimately rotate to defend him if he receives the ball.

While I like the implementation of the strategy, sometimes it can backfire. That's what it did at the start of the second half of yesterday's game. GT got back into that game by hitting some catch and shoot threes by players that were literally unguarded. Which leads to my opinion. I think that MM should be more discriminate as to when and when not to use this strategy. It seems like, the fact that we do it almost every time is something we should change. Every once in a while, why not switch to a zone temporarily? Or sometimes, instead of doubling, why not play it straight - don't double and either fight through or do a complete switch on the ball screen? I just think using a little more variation on the defensive end would cut down what happened yesterday when we blew the 14 point lead. Any opinions on this one?

I agree the two defenders do commit to the double, but that doesn't guarantee that it will always work. Honestly, yesterday I don't think it was a coincidence that GT started beating it right after halftime. I've gotta think that Stoudamire went over this issue and emphasized how to beat it during the locker room break. The beginning of the second half would have been the perfect time to take the strategy off for a while, then gradually bring it back as the game progressed. Again, just some variation.

I love this defense if our bigs are quick enough and can blitz without fouling

Sometimes the offense can pass into the post but that's a tough pass and oof defenders should rotate to cover that

I much prefer that to the offense being able to run their pick and roll or hit an easy pull-up or floater like they did the last 2 seasons when we played drop coverage

My only debate is whether we use it too often making our defense predictable

What about the other half of the court? Madsen clearly doesn't want to live in a full press mode, but I'd start with mixing in some different presses to throw the timing and rhythm of the opponent's offense.

We could employ more of a peel switch if we aren't sticking the hard hedge off the screen. It's really the variety and unpredictability of our defensive look that becomes part of its effectiveness.

We could theoretically mix in all sorts of wrinkles but doing so without the ability to execute them is sure death. To me that is why MM is going with, until they beat it we are going to stick with it strategy.

Middling teams fighting for the bubble are going to have limited options to beat a defense we do well if they can't find an answer. The great ACC teams will have multiple options they can beat us with across various looks particularly if we can't execute the multiple looks.

I place Clemson towards the top end of the middling teams. If they don't have an answer for our hard hedge and can't beat it, we should just stick with it.

Showing a level of unpredictability is what I think has the most chance of disrupting a team who has watched us on tape and expects the do it until they beat it look.

^
Again, when I started this thread, it was never about getting rid of the half court double, it was about taking it off randomly so that the opponent doesn't get too used to it. An example, when players like Dorsey and Campbell are in the game they are probably our best defenders so it might be a good time to take the double team off. Just some variation.