Number one Virginia loses in the first round. WOW!

[Coug1990]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/umbc-shocks-virginia-first-16-seed-ever-beat-1-033317126.html
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/umbc-shocks-virginia-first-16-seed-ever-beat-1-033317126.html
No. 16 seeds had tried 135 times. And 135 times, they had failed. Then the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers played the game of their lives on Friday night, and altered college basketball history.

UMBC shocked No. 1 overall seed Virginia in the first round of the NCAA tournament, 74-54, a score that sent shockwaves throughout the sport, and throughout the sports world as a whole. It busted brackets and opened up paths to the Final Four in San Antonio....


Tony had a great season, but now it goes down in flames.

 

[avabob1]

Never had any animosity to Tony for leaving, but don't feel sorry that he lost either.

As good as his defense is, it still has the one weakness that all systems have. You can't stop a team that shoots lights out from 3.

 

[LoneStarsGhost]

Never had any animosity to Tony for leaving, but don't feel sorry that he lost either.

As good as his defense is, it still has the one weakness that all systems have. You can't stop a team that shoots lights out from 3.

And, they weren't stopping that lil' feller from driving.

 

[Observer11]

Never had any animosity to Tony for leaving, but don't feel sorry that he lost either.

As good as his defense is, it still has the one weakness that all systems have. You can't stop a team that shoots lights out from 3.

True - I coached pack line for a couple years and finally modified some of the principles to a 1-2-2 zone simply because of that. The Pack Line was so susceptible to the drive/skip pass for a three. When teams were hitting shots, it got ugly fast. Then the help defense becomes hesitant and the drive opens up - which is exactly what happened vs. UMBC last night.

I do believe in the Pack Line's basic philosophy that there are three things to do on defense away from the ball - deny, help, recover - and you can only do two of those things effectively (meaning, if you're in full deny, you simply can't help on the drive or if you're helping, you can't deny the pass - pick your poison). Which is why I just dropped into a zone so the defense essentially started in a help position against the drive. It was a workaround to be able to stop the drive but still be in a position to recover - and with a little length on the wings, get a hand in the passing lane or extend.

It's interesting to watch the old Dick Bennett tapes - he actually coached almost the opposite of the Pack Line in the 80's and early 90's. Lots of denial and forcing the ball to one side of the court, cutting off ball reversal. It wouldn't surprise me to see Tony dust off a bit of that at some point in the future.

It would have helped Virginia a bit last night too if they'd have hit some shots and shared the ball a little bit. I don't think they had an assist the entire night.

 

[avabob1]

Really good analysis. The other thing is that 3 point shooting is getting much better. lots of teams have 3 guys who can really shoot. I remember watching Tony's d at Pullman. He almost dared teams to put up an early 3, but always denied the top shooter a look early. Lots of teams took that bait. Interesting that Oregon with Ernie was always tough on the Bennett's defense. Ernie always had multiple shooters, and they were patient in the half court.

 

[Coug1990]

True - I coached pack line for a couple years and finally modified some of the principles to a 1-2-2 zone simply because of that. The Pack Line was so susceptible to the drive/skip pass for a three. When teams were hitting shots, it got ugly fast. Then the help defense becomes hesitant and the drive opens up - which is exactly what happened vs. UMBC last night.

I do believe in the Pack Line's basic philosophy that there are three things to do on defense away from the ball - deny, help, recover - and you can only do two of those things effectively (meaning, if you're in full deny, you simply can't help on the drive or if you're helping, you can't deny the pass - pick your poison). Which is why I just dropped into a zone so the defense essentially started in a help position against the drive. It was a workaround to be able to stop the drive but still be in a position to recover - and with a little length on the wings, get a hand in the passing lane or extend.

It's interesting to watch the old Dick Bennett tapes - he actually coached almost the opposite of the Pack Line in the 80's and early 90's. Lots of denial and forcing the ball to one side of the court, cutting off ball reversal. It wouldn't surprise me to see Tony dust off a bit of that at some point in the future.

It would have helped Virginia a bit last night too if they'd have hit some shots and shared the ball a little bit. I don't think they had an assist the entire night.

Virginia under Bennett has been a number 1 seed three times and a number 2 seed once. Virginia has lost early in each case. Bennettball is not built to win in the tournament. When you can only play one way and the other team takes that away, it's impossible to win.

 

[COUGinNCW]

Exactly. I didn’t pick this upset but had uva getting bounced in the 2nd round. They seem to underperform for their seed every year.

 

[dgibbons]

Exactly. I didn’t pick this upset but had uva getting bounced in the 2nd round. They seem to underperform for their seed every year.

I had UVA winning the whole thing.

 

[jourdand]

I run pack line as a baseline man to man defense. I modify it based on the scouting report. No help on certain players extreme help on others. Example I would have player guarding Acquaah help in the middle until he proved he could hurt me from outside. I primarily run Syracuse 2-3 zone, which as much as I hate to admit it I enjoyed watching UW this year

 

[Glad Cougar]

Really good analysis. The other thing is that 3 point shooting is getting much better. lots of teams have 3 guys who can really shoot. I remember watching Tony's d at Pullman. He almost dared teams to put up an early 3, but always denied the top shooter a look early. Lots of teams took that bait. Interesting that Oregon with Ernie was always tough on the Bennett's defense. Ernie always had multiple shooters, and they were patient in the half court.

Ernie was tough when Dick was coaching because he had superior experienced talent. But Tony was 7-2 vs. Ernie, a few of those games blowouts, largely because of the same reason.

Glad Cougar

 

[ElComanche]

Glad to see TB s team go down It was great to see a slo ball team go down I t is more about the Jimmies and the Joe s than the X s and the O'S Who knows ,perhaps this year s early team on a very hot night could have beaten the plodders Laugh as the Virginia conquerers go down in the next game

 

[COUGinNCW]

I’m no profit. I had Arizona going to the championship game.

 

[avabob1]

Tony did have good luck against Kent, but most were close games. Dick beat UCLA and AZ, but never beat Ernie. I realize Ernie had more talent, but he was the one guy who didn't try to get Dick in a race horse game.

 

[Glad Cougar]

Tony did have good luck against Kent, but most were close games. Dick beat UCLA and AZ, but never beat Ernie. I realize Ernie had more talent, but he was the one guy who didn't try to get Dick in a race horse game.

So when Ernie beat Dick, it was coaching. But Tony had good luck vs. Ernie. That's an interesting assessment.

Glad Cougar

 

[avabob1]

Not sure I said that and I know I didn't mean that. Let's try again. Ernie had better talent than Dick as did most of the PAC. Dick system was able to overcome that advantage at least on occasion against every team but Oregon. I give Ernie some credit for that.

Tony had better talent than Dick, and was able to leverage that talent to beat everyone but UCLA and Stanford ( both loaded with NBA talent ) Didnt mean Tony was lucky. He had a talented and smart team that really matched his defensive scheme.