Duke Gets to Play in Home State Again Tournament
SAN FRANCISCO — For equally demoralizing and revolutionary a thing information technology is, Mark Adams' signature defence force sure could utilize a catchy nickname.
The schema that'south brought Texas Tech back to a tertiary Sweetness 16 in the past four NCAA Tournaments has as well kept the Reddish Raiders atop the sport in per-possession defence. Adams' team ranks No. 1 in defensive efficiency at KenPom.com, allowing 84.4 points per 100 possessions (adjusted for competition). It's an outright nuisance. But can't nosotros go this defensive doctrine a proper label?
Adams' abstraction is almost ofttimes referred to as a "no-middle" or "side" defense. Doesn't he realize that'south not how you lot market in 2022? Jerry Tarkanian had the Amoeba. John Chaney had his vexing matchup zone. Jim Boeheim has practically patented the 2-3 every bit his own. Seems that Adams, 65 and in his start season as a head coach of a D-I program, isn't interested in branding.
Whatever you want to call it, it'due south a problem. And information technology could be the last thing Mike Krzyzewski sees before he's Knuckles's bus no longer.
On Th night, the tertiary-seeded Ruby Raiders will foursquare up with No. two Duke in the well-nigh compelling regional semifinal of the dark. Texas Tech got here by mashing No. fourteen seed Montana State and elbowing out upset-minded No. xi seed Notre Dame. Duke kept Krzyzewski's retirement tour going past casually dispatching No. 15 seed Cal State Fullerton, then finding its about dominant five-infinitesimal stretch of the season at the exact-right moment vs. No. seven seed Michigan Country in the 2nd round.
Now Krzyzewski finds his squad in an uncommon position as the higher seed: Duke is not favored to win here. If Duke is going to stick around and get K NCAA Tournament win No. 100, it volition most certainly have to do this the hard way.
It's not just that Duke will have to overcome the nation'due south all-time defense — it's also that Duke doesn't have a lot of experience this season playing against nifty defensive teams. Through 36 games, Duke'southward played simply one squad in the peak 30 of KenPom'south adjusted defensive efficiency rankings. That team is, coincidentally plenty, the one Duke might accept to beat again in order to make the Final Four: Gonzaga (which Knuckles outlasted in November). Beyond the Zags (ninth at KenPom in AdjDE), the merely other teams even in the top l in per-possession defense to play Duke this season are: Kentucky (35th), North Carolina (42nd) and Wake Woods (46th).
These mostly greenish Blue Devils are in for a daze to their senses Thursday night. To know why, you need to know how Adams' enterprise fetters foes on a regular basis. Texas Tech'due south no-middle D relies on 3 bedrock principles: do not allow the ball into the paint; rotate and/or switch early, with clairvoyant-level instincts; and maintain unrelenting ball force per unit area. It's a man-to-man defense that vexes opponents considering it has quick-twitch response to inflate and briefly resemble a zone depending on where a player is with the ball.
I mean, how sick is this: TTU senior Marcus Santos-Silva is a power frontward/middle. Yet he'll sometimes be the one assigned to defend the point guard. (Get set up, Jeremy Roach.)
Red Raiders' D 'can be a shock' to face
One of the foremost experts on the no-middle defense is North Texas associate head coach Ross Hodge. He runs that program's defense force in its entirety. Hodge's defence helped lead the Mean Green to an upset of Purdue in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Hodge installed the no-middle philosophy a few years agone after coming together with Adams to fully empathize all the nuances of what makes this defense force worth buying into.
"Yous have to game-plan for it, and it can be a shock to the system when you oasis't faced it," Hodge said. "Similar the name says, y'all're selling out to keep the ball out of the middle of the flooring. Human foot positioning, close-out angles, everything is predicated on not existence driven to the center of the floor."
Why? It limits paint touches. Limit paint touches, limit efficiency. Every metric and reference backs this up.
"You will not drive to the paint," Hodge said. "You lot will have to drive baseline, then yous'll have an early assistance defender there, meeting yous before you become to the paint."
Knuckles'southward players are going to experience something they haven't before. Perhaps Roach or Wendell Moore Jr. or Paolo Banchero will have some success with penetration. Perchance they'll exercise it in the alleyways that accept openings against this defense (near the baseline). But when that happens, they're going to see another defender who's helping. Texas Tech's recovery is teleportation-like. What makes Tech unique is its ability to switch all ball screens and all off-ball screens. Their length is like trying to come across through the curtains of a car wash. The Red Raiders build a wall around the paint, and fifty-fifty if one guy gets beat, everyone knows at all times how and where to rotate.
"Texas Tech's physicality, versatility, depth and ambitious defense volition cause all sorts of bug for Duke," ane Large 12 coach told CBS Sports. "Adams' defence force is nearly known for its switching and not allowing teams to go the ball into the paint. Many times they volition have five guys on the court who are all betwixt half dozen-6 and 6-10."
Kevin McCullar is TTU's most indispensable defender on a team filled with them. Terrence Shannon Jr., Bryson Williams, Davion Warren and Santos Silva all are capable of defending upwardly of three positions. Tech has its fashion with stride, and that means Duke getting to lxx points is extremely unlikely. Tech wants to beat you 55-42. TTU has given up seventy or more than points two times this flavour: one required 50 minutes of play, equally TTU cruel in overtime at Kansas; the other game was an 83-73 Red Raiders home win over Baylor.
The Blue Devils also demand to score as much as possible in transition in social club to increment their odds of winning. Against Tech, this is way easier said than done. Beat the animate being before information technology resets and grows five heads again. Duke might have five NBA picks on its squad, ii of them lottery-level in Banchero and A.J. Griffin. They're used to creating and/or finding space. Every fourth dimension they turn, face up, spin, a body is going to be there a half-second faster than they're used to in every other game this season.
"Information technology tin feel similar there's 6 or vii guys out there," Hodge said.
Considering college doesn't take a three-2d rule for defense in the paint, beating this team off the dribble is akin climbing a mountain on one leg. This is an particularly big problem for Duke, which gets more than 40% of its points in the pigment. Michigan Country was successful much of its game resisting Duke, before information technology broke Sparty'southward will in the terminal vi minutes. TTU locks that door about of the game.
"This is where I consider coach Adams a defensive savant, he also knows all the nuances and they also will exercise things to proceed you off-rest, whether it'south soft-printing you some, run-and-jump you some, trap y'all out of a timeout," Hodge said. "They have adjustments in their coverages. If it'southward a dynamic driver, they'll do subtle things that to the naked eye you lot wouldn't know they're doing it."
Physicality, how the game is called could decide it
Two ACC coaches confirmed a suspicion: no ane in Duke'due south briefing runs a defense similar to Texas Tech. (Virginia often has an elite defense, merely in fact it forces the brawl to the center.) 1 ACC double-decker said the one team that but sort of has run stuff like Texas Tech to confront Duke in the past 2 seasons is Illinois ... and the Illini trounce Duke at Knuckles concluding year by 15. And then there's the physicality of Adams' team. They push the envelope with the whistle.
"Tech fouls a lot, gets abroad with it for some reason," an ACC coach said. "They get a skilful whistle. We will see if they get it vs. K. It's not me just saying it. [That is] coming from Large 12 coaches."
Said a Large 12 coach: "The level of physicality that the officials let in this game could very well determine the issue. Knuckles cannot win an overly physical game against Tech. If it's chosen tight, Duke has the edge."
For all Tech does that allows it to thrive defensively, there is no such thing as a perfect defense force or unimpaired arrangement. Something must be sacrificed. What is it?
"If y'all accept size at guards, when those guards are driving and the defense does commit, they're able to meet over the superlative of the defense and laissez passer the ball the place where it needs to go," Hodge said. "Yous're talking about very, very good players that accept the ability to do that. If y'all can get them into rotation and pass out of information technology, you tin get some open up kick-out 3s — and you better make them."
Fortunately for Duke, Griffin's turned ankle from the Michigan State game isn't going to prevent him from playing. The Blue Devils volition demand his 45.5% accuracy from across the arc. And it's not like Tech has all the advantages here. The Scarlet Raiders have too not faced a role player like Banchero: 6-foot-ten, 250 pounds, a litany of skills at his disposal. He can shoot off the catch, create off the dribble, use the mail, apply the midrange, use the 3-signal arc, and he's not a ball hog. For as much every bit Krzyzewski has toiled over the tape in recent days, Adams — just 10 years Krzyzewski'south junior — tin't exist sleeping all that much either.
How Krzyzewski uses Banchero could prove to be the vital coaching decision in this game. Hodge fabricated the case that playing Banchero and center Marker Williams all the time might play into Tech's hands.
"Autobus K's won nearly 1,200 more than games than me, but If I was him, I would strongly consider downsizing and playing Banchero at the 5 because that is the one matter that could challenge this defense force," Hodge said. "If you're able to space the perimeter on them and shoot it from five spots, and then you lot tin can negate some of the rotations. But if y'all're going to have a guy who'due south a non-shooter out at that place? Hooooey."
In talking to coaches in the Big 12 and ACC, one summation is: Moore, Banchero, Roach and Trevor Keels will need to tap into their NBA ceilings and consistently gnaw abroad at Tech'south defense force by winning ane-on-one battles.
"The not-then-obvious x-gene could be Griffin," a Big 12 coach said. "If he makes iv or five 3s, that will accept a ton of pressure level off. He has to be fix to shoot on the take hold of and they have to try to use skip passes to go it to him on the weak side of the floor."
The last ingredient in this game will be something Krzyzewski's all too familiar with. His team has had information technology as well, albeit in episodic spurts: religion in the cause. Texas Tech never quits. It keeps coming and coming and coming. A 7-2 run on this team tin can feel similar a mission achieved. There is no wilt, though.
"They can all move, and they believe," Hodge said. "For all of his defensive tactical magic, Mark's a master at the psychological. He'southward as good a motivator as in that location is."
Should Duke falter, should Thursday, March 24, 2022 signal the end of the greatest career in college coaching, maybe then a moniker tin can exist manufactured for this distinct defensive tactic of Adams'. Knuckles was afforded some geographic leniency with its three-hour drive to Greenville, South Carolina, for the start weekend. Now, betwixt a cross-country flying and a region — the just region — that has its top four seeds yet continuing, the bracket gods have sent their message loud and articulate.
On Thursday nighttime, the Blueish Devils will step into the Chase Center and go face-to-face with a five-headed fauna. It'south blighted to be the toughest game Knuckles's played this season. The same might be said for Texas Tech. It'due south John Wooden and Mike Krzyzewski tied atop the best list in men'due south college basketball game with 12 Final Fours apiece. How fitting that Krzyzewski has at least one more than legitimate X-and-O challenge in order to get at that place. If K is to have the record all his own, his team will have to have to earn it like few Knuckles teams take always done before.
Source: https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ncaa-tournament-duke-faces-the-nations-best-defense-in-the-sweet-16-as-it-tries-to-extend-coach-ks-career/
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