Interior Defense / Fouling

[MHettel]

Ok, there are several things that need to improve, but there is ONE THING that needs to be fiXed IMMEDIATELY.

The interior defense is horrible, mostly in my view due to the constant fouling by our centers.

We have 2 pretty nice options at the 5 (in theory). Abou is a Senior with good experience and Ciani is a big body and as a freshman is showing some solid promise. There have been MANY years where we were "1 deep" at Center, and had to run an undersized guy out there. this should NOT be a problem this year, but it has been. Largely due to the fact that we cant keep these guys on the court.

2 guys should be able to cover 40 minutes a game easily. But we're getting 36 minutes out of them, meaning 10% of the time we're running a smaller guy out there.

Whats worse, is that in our 3 losses we are averaging just under 29 minutes a game combined from these 2. And why is that? FOULS.

In those 3 losses, these 2 guys committed 19 fouls. Thats .2209 FOULS PER MINUTE.

I've got stats on 67 XU players over the last 30 years. The most frequent fouler was Reynolds, at .1622 per minute. So in those losses our guys are fouling 36% more frequently than our most frequent fouler in 30 years. And Reynolds stands out. Robinson is next at .1390. Caudle then at .1365. Cole at .1357, and Gaston at .1263 rounding out the "top" 5. By the time you get to number 10 (Duncan), the foul rate drops to .1169 which means Abou and Ciani are fouling 89% more than our 10th most frequent fouler in the last 30 years.

And by the way, its mostly Abou. His foul rate is .2133 for the SEASON. In the losses, he's at .3548 fouls per minute! In the Wins, he's still in Jalen territory at .1563. In his career, Abou is at .1350 which would still put him in our "Top" 5, so this isnt something new for him.

This fouling needs to stop now. We need Ousman on the court.....and NOT worrying about foul trouble....for 25 minutes a game. We need Ciani out there for 15 minutes. Dez, Lazar, and Gytis can split time at the 3/4 positions. Dez can play a little 2 so we can get Swain a bit of PT as well. Green can backup McKnight.

Plenty of depth on this team to keep guys game ready but also fresh when the Big East grind occurs. Last year, we saw a worn down Boum late in the year and then we had no chance with a short bench (no Free) against Texas. (frankly shocked we got that far...).

Our biggest problem so far has been these foul issues. Clean that up, and suddenly the rebounding issues get solved becasue your big guys are in there. opponents' trips to the line get cut down as well. Fewer guys being asked to play out of position.

this is a fixable problem, but we need it fixed NOW.

[Xville]

Great post and agreed. Ciani I’m willing to give a little bit of slack due to being a freshman but ousmane should know better by now.

[xukeith]

Ok, there are several things that need to improve, but there is ONE THING that needs to be fiXed IMMEDIATELY.

The interior defense is horrible, mostly in my view due to the constant fouling by our centers.

We have 2 pretty nice options at the 5 (in theory). Abou is a Senior with good experience and Ciani is a big body and as a freshman is showing some solid promise. There have been MANY years where we were "1 deep" at Center, and had to run an undersized guy out there. this should NOT be a problem this year, but it has been. Largely due to the fact that we cant keep these guys on the court.

2 guys should be able to cover 40 minutes a game easily. But we're getting 36 minutes out of them, meaning 10% of the time we're running a smaller guy out there.

Whats worse, is that in our 3 losses we are averaging just under 29 minutes a game combined from these 2. And why is that? FOULS.

In those 3 losses, these 2 guys committed 19 fouls. Thats .2209 FOULS PER MINUTE.

I've got stats on 67 XU players over the last 30 years. The most frequent fouler was Reynolds, at .1622 per minute. So in those losses our guys are fouling 36% more frequently than our most frequent fouler in 30 years. And Reynolds stands out. Robinson is next at .1390. Caudle then at .1365. Cole at .1357, and Gaston at .1263 rounding out the "top" 5. By the time you get to number 10 (Duncan), the foul rate drops to .1169 which means Abou and Ciani are fouling 89% more than our 10th most frequent fouler in the last 30 years.

And by the way, its mostly Abou. His foul rate is .2133 for the SEASON. In the losses, he's at .3548 fouls per minute! In the Wins, he's still in Jalen territory at .1563. In his career, Abou is at .1350 which would still put him in our "Top" 5, so this isnt something new for him.

This fouling needs to stop now. We need Ousman on the court.....and NOT worrying about foul trouble....for 25 minutes a game. We need Ciani out there for 15 minutes. Dez, Lazar, and Gytis can split time at the 3/4 positions. Dez can play a little 2 so we can get Swain a bit of PT as well. Green can backup McKnight.

Plenty of depth on this team to keep guys game ready but also fresh when the Big East grind occurs. Last year, we saw a worn down Boum late in the year and then we had no chance with a short bench (no Free) against Texas. (frankly shocked we got that far...).

Our biggest problem so far has been these foul issues. Clean that up, and suddenly the rebounding issues get solved becasue your big guys are in there. opponents' trips to the line get cut down as well. Fewer guys being asked to play out of position.

this is a fixable problem, but we need it fixed NOW.

Good stuff MH!

If we can get Abou to play at least 25 quality minutes, maybe X can build a 10-13 point lead.

Swain and Claude could play some 4 but ideally they excel at guarding 2's and 3's.

Opponents probably will opt to play a lot of zone on us as we are not so great a shooting team.
Hope we can make foul shots like last night and win rebounding battles and keep to's at 10 or less.

Miller for some reason chose to play Lazar a ton of minutes despite not being able to do anything defensively. Usually Freemantle got the heat but who is fooling who? Lazar is a deer in headlights that can only improve play and gain experience.

[xu82]

It makes me curious about how this compares to recent years for Ousmane? I thought it was an issue for him, but is this even worse? It’s a shame because I like a lot of what he does out there.

[MHettel]

It makes me curious about how this compares to recent years for Ousmane? I thought it was an issue for him, but is this even worse? It’s a shame because I like a lot of what he does out there.

His career “fouls per minute” would rank 5th among 67 recent XU players. Only 7 games from this year factored in that career total. So yeah, it’s been an issue

[American X]

Fouling more than the HFM Will Caudle is a problem.

[xukeith]

Is it fixable?
Miller was interviewed some night with Joe and Byron and he stated Abou just needs to relax and just play not get all hyped up.

Sounds a lot like Caudle and Jalen Reynolds.

[webxu]

never imagined waking up today and seeing Will The Thrill Caudle bring a topic.. haha

[XfansinKy]

Miller said Ousmane goes out and smacks opponents in the face and acts like he didn’t commit a foul. If Ousmane could stay on the court 25-30 minutes he could get 15-20 points per game with that bully ball he plays in the paint.

[xukeith]

Heard on 55krc last night that Gytis Nemeiksa recieves a 2nd year of eligibility .

Next year's frontcourt looks like this:

Nemeiksa
Ousmane
Nzeh
Ciani
Hunter
Freemantle
Djokovic

If healthy these post players will be very strong in 24/25 season.

X needs just a super outside shooter, ball handler from portal and X might be top 15 next season.

[MHettel]

Heard on 55krc last night that Gytis Nemeiksa recieves a 2nd year of eligibility .

Next year's frontcourt looks like this:

Nemeiksa
Ousmane
Nzeh
Ciani
Hunter
Freemantle
Djokovic

If healthy these post players will be very strong in 24/25 season.

X needs just a super outside shooter, ball handler from portal and X might be top 15 next season.

Really low chance that all those guys come back in my opinion. Especially considering that the Euros were all very late additions in large part because the absence of Free and Jerome.

Those guys all play 4/5 and maybe a little bit of 3, but there is little outside shooting there.

Not that I want any of them to leave, but I just don’t see how they all stay. I’m addition that wouldn’t really help out with roster planning into the future. Ideally we get to a point where we have about 6-7 returners each year and then 3-4 freshmen and a couple transfers that fill specific needs.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

The three Euros were on Miller's radio show last night and they were asked about differences between playing in Europe vs, playing here. Two items were mentioned. First, the pace of play now is much faster than the slower pace at which they previously played. Secondly, and relevant to this thread, basketball in Europe is more physical and contact, that here is whistled, was not back home. They mentioned this difference as requiring adjustments to which they were still not yet comfortable. That explains a lot but doesn't address Abou's performance.

[XUGRAD80]

The three Euros were on Miller's radio show last night and they were asked about differences between playing in Europe vs, playing here. Two items were mentioned. First, the pace of play now is much faster than the slower pace at which they previously played. Secondly, and relevant to this thread, basketball in Europe is more physical and contact, that here is whistled, was not back home. They mentioned this difference as requiring adjustments to which they were still not yet comfortable. That explains a lot but doesn't address Abou's performance.

Interesting……it has looked to me that the Europeans are not used to the physical nature of the college game, not the other way around. They seem to be getting pushed around pretty easily and are not real strong defending one on one in the post area. Give up to many offensive rebounds because of failing to keep good inside positions. I was thinking that they are just being overly cautious in order to keep from picking up fouls? Thinking to much and not just playing? But I understand the idea of having to adjust to a faster pace of play and thus not being in correct defensive position and can see how that would lead to the same thing.

[xukeith]

Lazar Dj said last evening he has gained 20 pounds since arriving to X. He notices a big change when he posts up and/rebounds vs Ousmane as he can now hold his position a lot longer.

[noteggs]

Lazar also mentioned he just focused on the offensive side of the ball. Which checks out.

[paulxu]

I've never thought watching a limited amount of European ball, especially around the Olympics, that they are all that physical.
Seems to be more finesse.