The Defense Was The Problem - Is It Still?

[slothrop8]

I see lots of talk and concern about our offense last year and the perceived failings of Coach Davis' "offensive system" last season. It was not our best offense, for sure, and our lack of outside shooting at key positions and inability to get easy looks inside due to lack of strong post play were issues all season without a doubt. However, the true failing of last season's team was the defense. We were badly undersized in key spots and had overall poor defensive personnel. Consider the following stats to back up what I'm suggesting. Note that ORtg and DRtg, for those not familiar, are points scored or allowed per 100 possessions - in other words they adjust offense or defense for tempo. I've got ORtg and DRtg data back to '09-10 - so 16 seasons worth.

Looking at the last 20 seasons of UNC basketball - a fairly successful 20 year sample overall we see last year's offense ranked:

10th of 20 in Points Per Game (80.7)
Tied 5th of 16 in ORtg (113.4)

Whatever one's feelings might be about last year's offense, the results suggest that it was about average by the standards of the program over the last 20 seasons.

Now on defense:

20th of 20 in Points Per Game Allowed (74.7)
16th of 16 in DRtg (104.9)

Statistically this was the worst UNC defense in 20 years. Going back further the only 2 teams to allow more ppg in the last 30 seasons were Roy's first year and the 8-20 team. It was really a historically poor UNC defense.

Do we feel we've fixed the defense? Could we be improved next season even if the offense takes a small step back if the defense makes a significant leap forward?

 

[Bubspub88]

Defense last season was atrocious. Very poor post defense, no true rim protector, undersized backcourt and terrible communication. Was it Stanford that burned us on the same inbounds play a half dozen times? Factor in waaayy too many turnovers and weak offensive rebounding that resulted in easy transition baskets and you have the ultimate storm for defensive inefficiency.

More size and a true post presence will help the D some but until the staff shows they can teach better defense it will not be pretty. Probably be losing those quad 1 games 75-65 instead of 90-75.

 

[NathanFielder]

We're not going to know about the offense or defense until they play. This team is bringing back literally 0 starters from last year. It's a completely different team. In theory, they're bigger and longer so they should be better defensively. I do think they have enough size where they can utilize offensive rebounding as a weapon and as insurance in case their initial offense stalls. They should be more competitive on the defensive glass as well. They obviously were hurt against good teams in that regard.

But I don't know as of today. And if their offense takes a dip next season, it will likely affect their defense negatively.

 

[DSouthr]

WE are bringing in 3 guys noted for their defense in Jarin, JPow, and Wilson. IN addition, Veesaar should be a strong defensive upgrade for us over the departed JWash, JWit, Lubin, Drake (Drake at the 4, Drake was one of the 2 solid defenders we had but was over matched at the 4) in the front court. In the back court on shear size alone the upgrade is clear but Seth as our only returner that was in the regular rotation is as good as any you will find defending 1-3 and he should be this teams leader. Evans is more of a par defender but still he is an upgrade over the small defenders we had in that back court. In my opinion neither of our starting back court last season were even par defenders nor was Ian.

IN addition, a soph version of James Brown, in any aspect, I would take over a freshman version, same with High.

 

[heels05champs]

It’s hard to compare numbers from last year against the previous 19 years given how historically poor the ACC competition was as a whole.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

It’s hard to compare numbers from last year against the previous 19 years given how historically poor the ACC competition was as a whole.

The last good year for the ACC was 2018. Back then...

Eleven of 15 teams had ORtg above 110
Eleven of 15 teams had DRtg below 100
Nine were both ORtg>110 and DRtg<100

With the addition of 3 more teams, this past season...

Twelve of 18 teams had ORtg above 110 (including the 3 newcomers)
Five of 18 teams had ORtg below 100
Four were both ORtg>110 and DRtg<100

 

[slothrop8]

It’s hard to compare numbers from last year against the previous 19 years given how historically poor the ACC competition was as a whole.

That’s a good point about the ACC but our non-conference strength of schedule last season was so tough that our overall strength of schedule was quite good even relative to past seasons. That’s how we got in the dance at all ultimately. So the comparative metrics still work pretty well.