Ducks Attack Message Board Forum

Altman has said that some of the driving lanes aren't there for Will and the other remaining guards/wings because they're having to play two bigs, which clogs the middle. Them putting Bittle into the starting lineup helps a bit since he can play along the perimeter.

greenyellow wrote:Altman has said that some of the driving lanes aren't there for Will and the other remaining guards/wings because they're having to play two bigs, which clogs the middle. Them putting Bittle into the starting lineup helps a bit since he can play along the perimeter.

I don't think I buy that it is the 2 bigs because Bittle and Ware are playing stretch 4 so much of the time. The attention that Dante is drawing and how often he sets up down low does tend to clog the middle and teams are playing a pulled in zone because a) they cant guard him man for man and b) Oregon is shooting less than 25% from 3. At this point Bittle and Ware are the best threats to hit from 3 and stretch the defense though their sample is small.

-guard play on offense was so poor. lackadaisical play led to too many turnovers

-Houston was much more dialed in from start-to-finish than we were. disappointing

-our bigs basically dominated whenever they had the opportunity (boards, blocks, and post offense). Houston had no chance to stop them.

-our defense was decent but in 1st half we let them have too many good looks from 3pt range. Our perimeter defenders needed to play tight on the 3pt line and then let our bigs clean up with some blocks. they didn't do well when they penetrated.

-again, this game was won b/c their defensive guards absolutely dominated our guards. I understand getting blitzed and then adjusting, but we continued to have tentative guard-play until the game ended. c'mon

-our defense size can be scary good. Richardson, soares, and the trio towers are all imposing defenders for their positions. if we scheme our defense better, we can really have a good defense this year.

-our guard play just doesn't create enough offense. With that being said, we need to continue to feed our bigs more and more. Our entry-passing is improving a lot but there were still a couple of turnovers from entry passes... one of those was actually Nfaly's fault for not sealing defender on the entry pass.


Long story short: we have something special with our 3 bigs but it will be hard to design a offense/defense that tailors to our strengths. We weren't able to do it last year, and we are slowly improving..... just not sure if a big-oriented team can have success in the new world of basketball...to be determined.

Bittle has to become a Shooter for us: plain and simple.

GrandpaDuck wrote:Richardson was like this last year until conference then he played really well until mono got him. So this slow start is not without precedent nor is him snapping out of it.

Are any of the injured guards disruptive defenders? With the rim protectors it has, this team could be a defensive monster like some of the past teams, but we could use some guards that can pressure the ball in order to get there.

Like everyone has said shooting is a major problem but so is penetration which has always been W.R.s strength and hopefully and likely will be again in the next month.

Shooting and penetration go together though. When you drive the ball successfully, the defense will collapse getting more open looks from the outside. And shooting well outside will cause teams to have to play perimeter tighter allowing more driving lanes to open up. Similar to passing/running on offense.

The problem is we don't have any natural drivers, and we don't have very high percentage of shooters. What we do have is decent defense, height, and good inside scoring. So if Altman can figure out how to win without shooters or a strong ability to drive, then he is a wizard of a coach!

Duck07 wrote:Bittle has to become a Shooter for us: plain and simple.

That's what I was thinking during the Houston game. If both him and Ware can become 35% 3-point shooters, then that would be huge.

Altman has said that Rigsby is a very good perimeter shooter and was slated to start before he got injured. Hopefully we can get him back soon. We need him badly.

northbeachsf wrote:Altman has said that Rigsby is a very good perimeter shooter and was slated to start before he got injured. Hopefully we can get him back soon. We need him badly.

That’s great to hear, did not realize that was the case.


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