Do we play good defense?

[WCWIII]

Do we play good defense?

(1) From Basketball Prospectus

Drew Lavender is 5’7”, and I don’t care how good you are, when you’re 5’7”, sometimes you’re a problem on the defensive end. It’s an exploitable weakness that will cost them a game every couple of weeks.

Drew has so many positives. I never thought his defense was in the least bit a problem. What do others think of Drew's defense?

(2) Also from Basketball Prospectus (previously pointed out by someone else)

Florida and Xavier fit the profile of having high shooting and offensive rebounding percentages with an inconsistent defense.

We are apparently in the top 10% of college basketball programs in defense efficiency (ranked around 30), but still get this comment. Does it have any merit at all?

[hatsoff27]

Although he is really short for a basketball player, he gets a number a steals. What he lacks in height he more than makes up for with quickness. His defense helps this team much more than hurts it. Do you even watch the games?

[JAX 3758]

drew makes up for any of his mismatch problems by being a very smart defender. What he lacks in skill he makes up for with timely takeaways. I often hear people talk about how deceptively quick drew is on the offense end, but it is his quickness on the defense end that surprises me. That is what leads to him getting many strips on players that try to post him up. It seems that every game there is at least one time where it looks like d lav is beat for an easy lay up, but he is able to quickly counter and poke the ball loose while that player is making his move to the basket.

For every exploitable weakness that drew has that may lead to "a loss every couple weeks" (his words not mine), he has a handful of other skill sets that are probably what is going to help this team win the A10 and go a "couple weeks" deep into march. Ill take that ANY DAY.

[xuhuh!]

Do we play good defense?

(1) From Basketball Prospectus

Drew Lavender is 5’7”, and I don’t care how good you are, when you’re 5’7”, sometimes you’re a problem on the defensive end. It’s an exploitable weakness that will cost them a game every couple of weeks.

Drew has so many positives. I never thought his defense was in the least bit a problem. What do others think of Drew's defense?

(2) Also from Basketball Prospectus (previously pointed out by someone else)

Florida and Xavier fit the profile of having high shooting and offensive rebounding percentages with an inconsistent defense.

We are apparently in the top 10% of college basketball programs in defense efficiency (ranked around 30), but still get this comment. Does it have any merit at all?

Drew could be a little more tenacious on d, but as stanley would say for him 'the help from teamates is always there'. i guess it's possible that any player could be vulnerable to a situation, so should be ok...

[XU84]

I thought a stingy defense was becoming our trademark. I think the comments are made by those not really familiar with the team to be honest.

[joetitan]

1. XU really has not seen many opponents try to post up Drew with bigger guards.

2. We could ask D Vaughn if Drew can defend.

3. Defense is much more of a "team" concept than individual play.

[CarlosTheJackal]

Drew got mismatched a few times at UMass. My take is that Xavier will give up a few baskets every couple of weeks, not a few losses, because of a mismatch with Drew. The author's take is theoretically logical, but it never seems to play out in games. I worry about it at times, too; but I never get a sense that it is even close to a problem, let alone a problem that leads to losses. I was thinking Tenn would kills us that way, but they didn't. Stan seems to be inviting blocks with his forays up the lane, but it seems he senses when a block is coming and either floats one up, or dishes.

I have not yet read enough Prospectus articles to say, but my first couple of articles give the impression that this is a 'stat' based forum. M Hettel should be freelancing there. To segue into another question, seen less of MH's analysis this season. Is this because a lot of the "what if"s that were part of his reports have been made real...stronger X and A10 OOC sched, winning ways? I for one liked his stat analyses.

And now my final Q: Is Drew really 5-7? I'm the last guy to be running a carney booth judging height, but he looks more like 5-5 to me.

[Pizza Delivery]

And now my final Q: Is Drew really 5-7? I'm the last guy to be running a carney booth judging height, but he looks more like 5-5 to me.

I got 20 on 5'6"

[kyzrex]

IMO the team plays excellent defense....most of the time. Like any team, it doesn't play it's best all of the time (2nd half @ Temple), but it plays defensivly very good at least 80% of the time, and that will only improve over the next 2 mths. By tourney time this will a team that can play against anybody.

Allso, I don't see Drew as a defensive liabilty. The team has learned how to pick him up when needed, and he has show the ability and knack of picking other players up when they need it.

Whomever wrote that doesn't know what they are writing about.