I love seeing defensive players getting recognition. It is an incredibly difficult and often thankless job, especially for the short sticks. I spent my career playing primarily offense, and the impact a good SSDM can have on a game is enormous.
As a ssdm I feel as though his hips and feet weren’t in the right spot. U can see that he kind of gave the middie almost an option of top side or the alley when he should of had his back foot almost at his back foot to take away all of top side and have his back towards the opposing sideline. This may get him beat but at least he is making worse of an angle for the offense to shoot and an easier slide and he doesn’t have to work as much because it is almost guaranteed a dodge to the alley so he won’t have to guess which side. But still a great play
yeah I am always told not to be squad, and give them the lane bc top side is a harder slide, and a easier shot, but i just play mcla so mby duke d coaches different
At that level getting beat down the alley is not a good solution to not getting beat topside. They expect a lot out of ssdms, and bank on athleticism to match feet instead of giving up the alley. That being said, he’s also closed off space with his approach and had the dodger matched if it was a foot race over the top, which wouldn’t have been concerning since he’s initiated way up at the restrained
Listen to your D-coordinator… we approached very differently than this Duke player did and over played to force them down the alley. Different defensive style requires different positioning. This is not a one size fits all for every team. Our d-coordinator would’ve been mad if we approached like this, but this is dukes team defense not ours.
