Would Motion Offense Have Helped UCLA vs Memphis?
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008Posted By Coach Greg Haskell
Written By Greg Haskell
I’m certainly not going to attack Coach Howland. UCLA is lucky to have him as their coach. I wasn’t a UCLA fan for years until Coach Howland brought in some meaningful physical and mental toughness to that program. He has done a great job and I’m not sure anyone has consistently done it any better in the last three years.
I believe the Bruins ran into a situation where the Memphis guards were just as quick (or even more so) and bigger/ stronger than UCLA’s. In my mind the only way to combat that is to clog the lane to limit dribble penetration with more of a sagging man to man defense laying off the #4 and #5 options on offense. In most cases UCLA could dictate the game, but Memphis seemed bigger, faster, and stronger. I also understand the psychology involved in telling your players that these guys are so good we have to adjust. Most nights at UCLA the other team must adjust to the superior personnel.
On offense poor Darrin Collison was unable to take the Memphis guards off of the dribble because he was physically in over his head against Rose of Memphis. A little more movement away from the ball (motion offense) with Kevin Love and Lorenzo Mata setting some bone crushing screens (followed by posting or flashing off of the inevitable switching on defense) at multiple angles and sets might have softened Memphis up a little. At the very least they would have had their heads on a swivel rather than loading up on the UCLA perimeter players. Those are a few of my thoughts that might have made a difference. What do you think and why?