STrib blog: Should the Gophers switch to man D?

per Amelia:

One of the problems with the Gophers' zone this season is it has handed opponents the keys to the game, should they be able to hit shots. Minnesota has been decent when it comes to stopping the two-point shot (they rank fifth in the league, allowing opponents to shoot 46.1 according to kenpom.com), but if you can get hot from behind the arc, you can probably beat Minnesota. The Gophers are second-to-last in the league (they did just pull out of the basement though!) in three-point defense with conference foes shooting 36.4 percent from that range.

Last night, it looked like that trend could continue, with the Boilermakers making five of their first 12 triple attempts (41.6 percent). Then the Gophers switched to man, and Purdue managed just one of six attempts (16.6 percent) the rest of the way. The Gophers also held Purdue to 37.5 shooting in the second half and OTs combined after allowing the Boilermakers to convert 52 percent of their shots from the field in the first.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/243976941.html

Go Gophers!!

Yes, but not against Indiana. Indiana looks awful against the zone.

It doesn't matter what defense they play. Our PFs are huge defensive liabilities. Any defense we play will be exploited.

The only way you can 'switch' to a man-to-man is if you haven't played it. They play some zone and some man. They will play more Man when they have 'quicker' players.

One other note. We are NOT very deep. M2M is ok in spurts for this team, but you really risk racking up a bunch of fouls against say a team like Iowa.


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