Defense?

On Vito’s blog, he talks a little about why we are sucking so much. So Johnny Jones wants defense and is benching Tristan for not being Bruce Bowen?

UNT does need to play better defensively, but I wonder if benching the only pure scorer on the team is the answer. Someone has to handle the ball, and that’s going to be either White or Johnson. White had five assists, while Johnson had three.

Totally agree with his Vito-ness here. It is too deep into the season and careers of this team for JJ to break out the discipline for defensive lapses. Vito is also on the money with this:

UNT isn’t a great defensive team and it isn’t going to suddenly become one. It doesn’t matter how much UNT talks about it and drills on it.
What one has to hope is that UNT become average on that end and just out-score people. With Thompson, who was the league’s leading scorer heading into last night, and two small guards who can shoot the ball in White and Johnson, that’s UNT’s best bet.

Fo Sho.

Somebody ask Johnny Jones what the deal is with all this nonsense. Normally it is not wise to question a successful basketball coach. The thing is that he hasn’t been so successful this last week or two.

We have been pretty awful defensively. Early in the season we were getting away with some pretty bad rotations because we were winning. We’d press to cause turnovers and Josh and Tristan bailed us out down the stretch. Now? Well our transition defense has been horrible. Means the opposition is getting back on defense and forcing us to score from a set offense. Without Tristan to open up the defense and slice it when a crack appears we are forced back into a less potent drive and kick mode.

At this point in this current iteration of Mean Green Basketball it sure doesn’t seem like the greatest idea to bench your leading scorer. Who are you trying to prove a point to? The whole squad is on the way out. No one else knows that Tristan isn’t hustling in practice or whatever.

Of course, we may all look stupid when the squad gets its act together and romps through the conference tourney. When that happens I will happily declare my ignorance. Until then I am on the panic bus.

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