I do not recall OSU being that aggressive under Eddie in over playing the passing lanes (he also did not want to over play to the point we got back doored to death, which happened to us early some this year), what I do recall was how good OSU was under Eddie in playing help defense and hedging in those instances it was advantageous to do so and creating an effective double team and a difficult pass to defeat the double team, this is how we created T/O's and it was great defensive positioning. We were good about not fouling when enforcing a double team under Eddie, we were not good at that this year at all we slapped at the ball, etc... particularly Dillard. We made ourselves "big" - arms up under Eddie at the point of the double team and looked for a tie ball if that chance came and then the steal after a pass, and hopefully deflect the pass. Eddie's teams kept themselves in position, players kept themselves between the ball and the basket, took charges, and got butts on players to rebound, Eddie recognized the need to have players with good foot work (Cornell Hatcher played soccer) and if you were going to play the 1 the thru 3 positions needed to preferably be able to have some flexibility and some hip swivel to maintain a good defensive positioning.
IMO, if I was Brad, and I wanted to over play the passing the lanes, I am looking for athletes that are at least 6-1 or bigger to play the guard positions, with long wingspan for their height, some muscle on them, and good footwork, flexibility, and hip swivel. We lack size and strength, ISU had 3 guys that were cut like McGriff and their guards were physical, to stop guys driving to the lane in the open court you have to have the footwork and take the right angles to cut them off, and the size to put a little body lean in to them that is not a foul but gives some leverage to slow them down. Guys the size of Evans and Forte are going to have a hard time stopping guys going full speed up the court with the type of Big 12 guards they saw this year. And then when you get past our guards, we did not have that great shot blocker or intimidator type behind them to discourage the drive or get in their head for the shot at the rim.
Eddie's style IMO is a safer man to man that offers more consistency. Brad's style of defense is more risk / reward and plays in to his desire to get an open look within the first 7 seconds of the shot clock, Eddie had no such offensive goal. What I would hope, is that Brad mixes both styles of defense, assuming you could coach it. Against teams with poor guard play Brad's style might lead to more easy buckets, against teams with quality guards Eddie's style would be better IMO. Brad changed the defense after the 0-6 start to something more similar to what Eddie ran, but it lacked some of the hedging / help / double team concepts out on the wings, and the ability to stop the dribble drive in the open court.
Going to be interesting to see as Brad gets his recruits in and a chance to further coach his system what our defense looks like in the future.
IMO, if I was Brad, and I wanted to over play the passing the lanes, I am looking for athletes that are at least 6-1 or bigger to play the guard positions, with long wingspan for their height, some muscle on them, and good footwork, flexibility, and hip swivel. We lack size and strength, ISU had 3 guys that were cut like McGriff and their guards were physical, to stop guys driving to the lane in the open court you have to have the footwork and take the right angles to cut them off, and the size to put a little body lean in to them that is not a foul but gives some leverage to slow them down. Guys the size of Evans and Forte are going to have a hard time stopping guys going full speed up the court with the type of Big 12 guards they saw this year. And then when you get past our guards, we did not have that great shot blocker or intimidator type behind them to discourage the drive or get in their head for the shot at the rim.
Eddie's style IMO is a safer man to man that offers more consistency. Brad's style of defense is more risk / reward and plays in to his desire to get an open look within the first 7 seconds of the shot clock, Eddie had no such offensive goal. What I would hope, is that Brad mixes both styles of defense, assuming you could coach it. Against teams with poor guard play Brad's style might lead to more easy buckets, against teams with quality guards Eddie's style would be better IMO. Brad changed the defense after the 0-6 start to something more similar to what Eddie ran, but it lacked some of the hedging / help / double team concepts out on the wings, and the ability to stop the dribble drive in the open court.
Going to be interesting to see as Brad gets his recruits in and a chance to further coach his system what our defense looks like in the future.
