Transcription
Congratulations to Loyola Chicago for their win over Illinois today. So, they were very underseeded. They've been top 15 the whole whole season in Kenpo, and one of the reasons is their players are good and their coaching staff is very good. They had a terrific scout today, and you can see it when you break down the film, especially defensively.
So, this voiceover and film edit is just going to be their defensive possessions because their scout report was so good, and you can see it throughout all the film here. So, first of all, when you're playing against Illinois, their best player and one of the best players in the country, number 11, Ayo Dosunmu. So, when you're playing against him, one of the things you can notice is they are always up to touch on any ball screen. They always went weak or ice, forcing him to his left hand. They did not want him to get downhill going to his right, and you'll see that throughout this film breakdown.
So, you can see there, his left hand, the defender's left hand is in his hip right here. They're up the touch right here. So, when you're playing this aggressive type ball screen coverage, you have to have someone tag the roller. So, you can see right here, they had the low man basically opposite tag the roller. That pass from here, if he makes that pass over there, that's a very, very tough pass for college players. It's something that most college guards can't do. That's why teams can basically guard ball screens like this in the NBA. More players can make that pass, of course, because they can go dribble, throw it across court with their left hand. Now, some of the special passers in college basketball, like Cade Cunningham, can make this pass, but it's, it's difficult, and that's what you're giving up. And you can see they tagged over right here with this man, who would be the low man over here, who's covering number three in the opposite side corner. So, they're getting back. You can see they went back to fronting the post right there, and this is just terrific. Keeping your man in front, getting back to the spot, high hand contest, and they were terrific boxing out. And that's a boxing out foul to start the game. You can see right there, once again, keeping the ball out of the paint and keeping the ball in front. Active hands here. This is incredible, and this was excellent scout right here.
So, the moment the ball goes on the floor by their post player, they are digging down by their guards. One, two, both guards, not their numbers, but that's one and two defenders are now digging down to force him back to his right shoulder, which is uncomfortable for basically a majority of his shots are going to go over his left shoulder to his right hand, and he's going to put it back to his right hand, and then they get a rebound. Tough shot here. It is again. So, you can see they're up the touch now, even on Illinois's guard. So, he tries to throw opposite. They arrive on the catch on this closeout. So, now he's slower to come out to make sure someone is covering number 21. But you can see the sprint back here, and a steal. Here's their transition defense, which was excellent the whole game. Sprint backs. You got to sprint back to the paint. You got to communicate. You can see number 30 right now, it's pointing. They did a terrific job communicating two to the ball initially. Watch this again. This is so important on transition defense. They throw a head to number one to the ball right here. He cannot split that because you have two on the ball right there. Transition, and then they're matching up. Great hands on the back cut. Turnover, once again. This is, watch again. They're not letting him get right. He's got to go back to his left hand. He slips out of this ball screen, or no ball screen, he just rolls or dives right here. You can see there's a man right there. There's a defender there. He is seeing he has two people on him the whole game. In any ball screen coverage, on any covers, they do not want to allow him to be able to get downhill to make plays. You can see the high hands consistently beating to the spot, stabbing at the ball with their hands. This was excellent right here. Watch this.
So, he's going to drive baseline. Watch their big man right here. He's going to take a step over, which basically takes away his driving angle to the rim, and he has to shoot a well-contested floater. Switching right there, once again. They're going under on Carbonello. So, watch this. He goes under. Their big man is dropping back. They're allowing that shot. Once again, here we are. Transition defense. Watch this sprint back. The first three steps, the first three steps. Transition. Watch all their players right here for Loyola. Watch how hard they're sprinting back to get to the level of the ball. This is just excellent right here. High hands beat them to the spot. Force the swing out. Watch this contact switch right here. This is very, you have to practice this a lot. Contact switch. His hands are right on him. So, now he's switched right there. They go under again. Contest. Rebound. Here we are again. You can see transition. Nail. You can see you have a defender right here who's going to be at the nail. You have another defender right there to wall them off. Another contact switch. Swing it. Watch here again. Watch this contact switch. He gets his hands on him. Now they've switched. Getting back in front, not allowing any straight line drives. Middle. Who is the ball? You know it's coming now. They're going ice. Up the touch. So, they're forcing him to his left hand. He goes one pass right there, and you can see the low man is all the way over. Contested shot. Rebound. You can just see it was consistently all game. They're up to touch. They're up to touch. Once again, in transition. Watch this. Can also be called the plug defender in the NBA. Basically, this, he's going to be at the nail, taking away any middle or easy drive, straight line drives. Now he changes direction. Got pickup. Good hands again. There, they had excellent hands this game. Always stabbing at the ball. Once again, you can see his hands right on him. His left hand is jamming his hip. Up to touch again. Good hands, active hands. It's that's what makes the pass to the opposite so tough is how active their their hands are. The guards and the bigs. Wait till you see the last two possessions of ball screens of this game. Turnover. Another one. Transition. There, they get all the way over. They want him to go back to his left hand. Here it is again. Watch. There's one, two. That's who is guarding the post player. Three digging down. There's a player there right there who's helping. He can't continue to go this way. He could, but it would be a stop. So, he has to go back to his right shoulder, and he's uncomfortable doing that. A lot of post players are, most are in college. Watch the contact switch again, forcing him back baseline. They don't want him to get to his right hand and middle. And look on that pass. Say, swing it. Watch right here. He's open. Watch how they converge. Backside help right over there. There's three on the ball here in a great block. Watch this again. Watch how they topside switch. This takes a lot of practice. Switches out on the stagger. Now they're in their horns action. Watch how aggressive this is right here. Aggressive. And you can see on this horns, he sees it. So, he also is going to tag 21. Low man, two. You can see he gets it. Hand touch. Low man's over. And you, you just saw what happened on the weak side. Now watch. Watch what happens to the ball handler. Watch how aggressive they are with their hands. They're stabbing. Their hands are all over. And then, once again, the weak side help from the back side on the post entry pass is incredible.
Okay, you know it's coming for his ball screens. They're going weak. Up to touch. Aggressive. This is something that's very, it's taught well in the NBA, and you can see Loyola Chicago teaches it a lot. They have this hand basically middle or low to take away the pocket bounce pass, and then you have this outside hand high to take away his vision to throw weak side or throw opposite. And one of the things when you are aggressive up to touch like this, and he picks it up, and you're sprinting back, watch this sprint back that matters so much. And then great verticality. If, if your screener's defender doesn't turn and sprint back, the coverage will not work because you can go one swing and then hit the roller right away. Here it is again. Watch how they force him back left. They force him to change direction to chest stop. And now watch the corner defender right here. Strong side corner. Okay. So, he's driving right now. He gets right there's the defender right at the elbow. There's a gap defender. He forces a gap pickup. Great defense. You can see look how they're guarding. Look where they're angling him. You can see the left hand is on his hip. His right hand's high to take away the vision. And then they don't want him to go to his right. Contact switch again. Weak up the touch. So, this time he sees the screener's disconnected. When you see the screener's disconnected, you want to try to split through, which he does. But watch the hands. They're so active. They're able to get a deflection right here. It's another turnover. Contact switch again. On this dribble handoff, they're going right into a ball screen action. This is scout and report defense right here. Weak up to touch. And look at their hands again. They're pointing. They're communicating. The low man right here has to communicate. He slips out. He now has him. Good hands. He sprints back. Now they're playing defense again. And watch this, even on this dribble handoff, you can see contact switch. Contest. Tough shot. He, he had to take a lot of tough shots this game. Here it is again. You're weak up to touch. This at great angle. Watch their hands. They're very, very active. That's what makes the pass going to the opposite or the weak side so tough. Chest stop makes them change direction. Gap pickup. Pass. High hand contest. Here it is again. So, you can see they're angling him here. So, they don't go as drastic with the weak coverage because they're, they already have him going left. They just can't let him reject it here to get to his right hand. But up to touch, you can see the low hand right there. Who's is gonna that left hand is gonna stab at the ball. And watch how they take away. Watch this is just perfect. He gets over. He wedges over top the primary on-ball defender. And look at his right hand right here. He's taking away that pass back to the shaker. This hand's basically taking away any pocket bounce pass. He is not comfortable right here, and it's taken away his vision too. Now he's back in front. Great ball screen coverage.
Okay, so he, he gets right now. Watch this gap pickup. They force a gap pickup and a rebound. Okay, here we go again. Weak up the touch. High hands. He has to swing it back in front. What, like it's stuff like this that wins you basketball games in the NCAA tournament. Watch. They go swing. Watch how he jumps over and they take away that pass. He's not open now because the low man jumps over. And if they throw over top, he's going to wall up right here or he's going to steal that pass. And then they have to take a jab jumper that is contested with high hand on the shooting side. This is what I was talking about earlier in the voiceover. Stabbing at the ball. Watch. Watch the screener's defender. Watch his hands. Stabs. That's stabbing at the ball. That's having active hands on the as a screener defender. And that creates a turnover. This is huge. Like this is big possessions right here. Watch this again. They're up 11 with 2:49 left in the game. They're going high ball screen with their best player. Active hands creates a turnover. Now they're up eight with a minute left. Weak. Not letting them go there. You can see the gap defender right there. So, he knows he can't reject it and get to his right. The low man is coming over to help. You can see he even tags right here in this eye formation. Now watch the stab again with his left hand. His left hand is so good at stabbing the ball. And this one's the game. And this reaction is priceless. That is just a winning basketball play.
So, I hope some of the things you picked up when you watch and studied their defense against Illinois, you saw a couple things. First of all, Ayo Dosunmu, they did not let him get to his right hand. And if they did, they forced a gap pickup. Everybody was in the gap then. And then on all his ball screen coverages, so when they were defending him, they forced him to his left hand. So, they were either weaking it, which is basically taking away your ability to go to your right hand, and then they were up the touch and they stabbed at the ball with active hands, especially the left hand of the screener's defender was very active on the ball. And their primary defender, when he wedged over top the screen, he had his inside hand. So, a lot of time it was his right hand active to take away that shake pass and to take away the vision of the roller. So, and then transition defensive wise, so you could see they were always getting back. They sprint back. They had two to the ball. They had a plug defender, which is basically the same thing as a transition nail defender. And then they were incredible at keeping the ball in front. And if you can keep the ball in front and you can get chest stops, that makes it very difficult for the defense or the offense. This was an excellent win, and I look forward to watching them continue to play and win games in March.