Fixing our defense

[Natty]

Wrote a quick blog post on this: https://www.vcuramnation.com/articles/rams-defense-leaves-room-for-improvement.3810/

Biggest issue is our 2-point defense, which I think is the result of two things:
1) Lazar is a GREAT offensive big man, but not particularly great (or involved) defensively
and 2) We don't really hedge screens, instead choosing to switch everything, which teams seem to love to take advantage of (video example in that article).

Obviously there's a reason coach is opting NOT to defend ball screens via hard hedges, but I'm curious what it is (and I'll ask when I get the next good opportunity). Coach was elite defensively last year at Bryant and had a really good year there his first year, so I'm super curious about what's going on with our defense (considering our budget in particular). I've seen a million VCU players since both watching and also covering the team, and I believe this group is PLENTY capable.

Anyway, this is one of our best offensive groups we've had, so obviously seems like the deal with the devil on it is it came with our worst defense. Time to figure it out and I TRULY believe we can....but will we?

I'll be the annoying guy to turn up the heat on the issue.

 

[Ramdog]

Wrote a quick blog post on this: https://www.vcuramnation.com/articles/rams-defense-leaves-room-for-improvement.3810/

Biggest issue is our 2-point defense, which I think is the result of two things:
1) Lazar is a GREAT offensive big man, but not particularly great (or involved) defensively
and 2) We don't really hedge screens, instead choosing to switch everything, which teams seem to love to take advantage of (video example in that article).

Obviously there's a reason coach is opting NOT to defend ball screens via hard hedges, but I'm curious what it is (and I'll ask when I get the next good opportunity). Coach was elite defensively last year at Bryant and had a really good year there his first year, so I'm super curious about what's going on with our defense (considering our budget in particular). I've seen a million VCU players since both watching and also covering the team, and I believe this group is PLENTY capable.

Anyway, this is one of our best offensive groups we've had, so obviously seems like the deal with the devil on it is it came with our worst defense. Time to figure it out and I TRULY believe we can....but will we?

I'll be the annoying guy to turn up the heat on the issue.

I saw our rating as compared to our league members…abysmal

 

[balldontlie]

Good write-up. Switching on those picks is confusing and never seems to work in our favor. We can also struggle staying in front of guards which the switching doesn’t help either. And for a team that doesn’t turn opponents over very much, our guys gamble on steals sometimes when they shouldn’t.

It’s what makes this team frustrating. If it felt like we were getting the groups best effort and just couldn’t do better it would be easier to accept than the current reality which is that it feels like we’re not getting the most out of the team.

 

[Scuffy McGee]

Wrote a quick blog post on this: https://www.vcuramnation.com/articles/rams-defense-leaves-room-for-improvement.3810/

Biggest issue is our 2-point defense, which I think is the result of two things:
1) Lazar is a GREAT offensive big man, but not particularly great (or involved) defensively
and 2) We don't really hedge screens, instead choosing to switch everything, which teams seem to love to take advantage of (video example in that article).

Obviously there's a reason coach is opting NOT to defend ball screens via hard hedges, but I'm curious what it is (and I'll ask when I get the next good opportunity). Coach was elite defensively last year at Bryant and had a really good year there his first year, so I'm super curious about what's going on with our defense (considering our budget in particular). I've seen a million VCU players since both watching and also covering the team, and I believe this group is PLENTY capable.

Anyway, this is one of our best offensive groups we've had, so obviously seems like the deal with the devil on it is it came with our worst defense. Time to figure it out and I TRULY believe we can....but will we?

I'll be the annoying guy to turn up the heat on the issue.

I’ll take the bait.

Bryant was 151 on Kenpom last year in DRtg. I don’t see that as elite.

The year before that they were 95 which is a lot better than 151 but still mediocre-ish.

Did he hedge or switch everything primarily at Bryant?

What are our options? What are your suggestions? Mix in the hedge? Mix in the press? Mix in zone?

I agree this is a very good VCU offense that we have and “among” the best we have ever had but arguably not better than 2010-2011, 2014-2015 VCU and 2015-2016 VCU and clearly not better than 2009-2010, 2012-2013, and 2006-2007 VCU.

 

[share the ball]

Wrote a quick blog post on this: https://www.vcuramnation.com/articles/rams-defense-leaves-room-for-improvement.3810/

Biggest issue is our 2-point defense, which I think is the result of two things:
1) Lazar is a GREAT offensive big man, but not particularly great (or involved) defensively
and 2) We don't really hedge screens, instead choosing to switch everything, which teams seem to love to take advantage of (video example in that article).

Obviously there's a reason coach is opting NOT to defend ball screens via hard hedges, but I'm curious what it is (and I'll ask when I get the next good opportunity). Coach was elite defensively last year at Bryant and had a really good year there his first year, so I'm super curious about what's going on with our defense (considering our budget in particular). I've seen a million VCU players since both watching and also covering the team, and I believe this group is PLENTY capable.

Anyway, this is one of our best offensive groups we've had, so obviously seems like the deal with the devil on it is it came with our worst defense. Time to figure it out and I TRULY believe we can....but will we?

I'll be the annoying guy to turn up the heat on the issue.

thanks will be interesting to hear Martelli Jr."s philosophies on a number of defensive things we do or don't do

I discount a little of what he accomplished at Bryant. It seems to me that as coaches rise to higher levels of competition, that offenses are better (as the players are better) and defenses they used at lower levels are nowhere close to being as effective - so coaches have to learn to adapt and I am seeing this year as that adaption period for Jr.

to further buttress that point look at when Shaka moved on and his defense at VCU did not find the same level of success at Texas and so on

my personal observation this year is we have the weakest inside defense that we have had in what seems like at least a decade - lazar tries, Mitchell is mostly clueless and Belle is just a wee bit small (but our best defender of the 3)

 

[RamStrut]

I agree, the switching on everything is not helping. Another thing is we play a very vanilla defense. Sometimes you have to take calculated risks. Rarely do we double or have an extra defender work the weak side of an opponent with the ball. There is no help D. I saw multiple times yesterday where guys wanted to come and trap where it was the right time to pounce but they quickly backed off and went back to their man. I assume they are being coached to just stay with it guy the time unless screened and then switch. It’s a very different style than what brought us much success in the recent past.

 

[rambunctiousrowdyram]

I’ll take the bait.

Bryant was 151 on Kenpom last year in DRtg. I don’t see that as elite.

The year before that they were 95 which is a lot better than 151 but still mediocre-ish.

Did he hedge or switch everything primarily at Bryant?

What are our options? What are your suggestions? Mix in the hedge? Mix in the press? Mix in zone?

I agree this is a very good VCU offense that we have and “among” the best we have ever had but arguably not better than 2010-2011, 2014-2015 VCU and 2015-2016 VCU and clearly not better than 2009-2010, 2012-2013, and 2006-2007 VCU.

I was gonna say this offense doesn’t seem that good compared to teams in the last 15 years or more.

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

I saw our rating as compared to our league members…abysmal

It's definitely not good. 9th of 14 in the conference, though that only takes into account conference games.

Across the whole season we're 4th, but are rated #85, which is the worst defensive efficiency rating we've had since Mike Rhoades's first season (#156, the worst since the Mack McCarthy era).

The lack of defense really confuses me because even if Martelli himself isn't a very defensive-minded coach, you'd think that some of the assistants' experience on teams that played good defense (including Jimmy Martelli - VCU had a top-15 KP defense in Rhoades's last 3 years) would be able to make up for that.

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

I was gonna say this offense doesn’t seem that good compared to teams in the last 15 years or more.

Even though I literally just posted about metrics, I guess it's one of those things that shows that metrics aren't everything. Our offensive efficiency rating this season (#43) is the best we've had since the 2012-13 season (#20), which happens to be VCU's best season in history as far as KenPom is concerned.

What I wouldn't give to have a team like that one again...top 20 offense, top 40 defense, best in the nation at forcing turnovers.

 

[Tedicola]

The switching everything drives me crazy. Especially when we are switching some of our elite defenders off of the opponents biggest threats. This coupled with no significant hedge and slow help in the paint is a recipe for easy open looks. It seems as though we’re attempting to come help more in the paint but it’s often too late or lazy which results in our defender being in no mans land between the opponents biggest threats in the paint and at the three point line.

Hope we figure it out before SLU, GMU and Dayton games.

 

[Scuffy McGee]

Some notable games Bryant had defensively last season versus relevant teams which I define as top 105 NET teams:

At Saint Bonaventure (11-24-24); Saint Bonaventure finished the 2024-2025 season 21-12 and 105 in NET; Bryant gave up 85, losing 85-70

At Chattanooga (11-27-24); Chattanooga finished the 2024-2025 season 27-9 and 96 in NET; Bryant gave up 84, losing 84-76

At St. John’s (12-11-24); St. John’s finished the 2024-2025 season 31-5 and 13 in NET; Bryant gave up 99, losing 99-77

At Grand Canyon (12-30-24); Grand Canyon finished the 2024-2025 season 25-8 and 97 in NET; Bryant gave up 112, losing 112-66

Vs Michigan State in the first round of the NCAAT (3-21-25); Michigan State finished the 2024-2025 season 30-7 and 9 in NET; Bryant gave up 87 losing 87-62

Bryant played no one else that finished higher than 145 in NET last season

Bryant absolutely was not elite defensively last year.

 

[Bluey]

I’ll take the bait.

Bryant was 151 on Kenpom last year in DRtg. I don’t see that as elite.

The year before that they were 95 which is a lot better than 151 but still mediocre-ish.

Did he hedge or switch everything primarily at Bryant?

What are our options? What are your suggestions? Mix in the hedge? Mix in the press? Mix in zone?

I agree this is a very good VCU offense that we have and “among” the best we have ever had but arguably not better than 2010-2011, 2014-2015 VCU and 2015-2016 VCU and clearly not better than 2009-2010, 2012-2013, and 2006-2007 VCU.

OP referenced 2P defense specifically, Bryant was really good per KP both years under PMJ. He clearly prefers to rely on rotation principles rather than hedging….which is fine if one feels good about matchups they can control.

I suspect one issue is there is a desire to protect Lazar from fouls. He’s not an internal defender, Lazar himself has shared how he grew up as a guard and really has never played the 5–it’s not a shock that he is not a great 1-1 defender inside and I agree that we don’t want him going after blocks too much, given the foul risk. He’s is too important to the offense, I wish he were more active inside, but I understand why that is not the case.

This is a big paradigm shift for VCU from that last few years—-I think we are accustomed to having a couple rangy bigs able to rim protect and in the worst case we had at least 10 fouls to give. In all cases, these guys were not main options on offense— their job was to rim protect by any means necessary—-think Mo, Corey, Lawal, H Ward, Luke, Ferm. This year, we have virtually no dedicated rim protection—Lazar is unaccustomed to the inside role and Mitchell does not fill that role either….the best we have is Belle and he is undersized on the block, plus we don’t want him in foul trouble, because he does so much of the grit and grind work on both sides of the ball.

I have no data, but anecdotedly it seems like we have a little more rim protection when T Ward is in the game…but I don’t think it makes us any more than a few clicks better defensively, if at all.

Not sure what the solution is beyond making sure we guard the three and outscore the other guys.

 

[ram-n-jam]

It's definitely not good. 9th of 14 in the conference, though that only takes into account conference games.

Across the whole season we're 4th, but are rated #85, which is the worst defensive efficiency rating we've had since Mike Rhoades's first season (#156, the worst since the Mack McCarthy era).

The lack of defense really confuses me because even if Martelli himself isn't a very defensive-minded coach, you'd think that some of the assistants' experience on teams that played good defense (including Jimmy Martelli - VCU had a top-15 KP defense in Rhoades's last 3 years) would be able to make up for that.

Exactly the question i posed earlier is a different thread.

 

[Scuffy McGee]

OP referenced 2P defense specifically, Bryant was really good per KP both years under PMJ. He clearly prefers to rely on rotation principles rather than hedging….which is fine if one feels good about matchups they can control.

I suspect one issue is there is a desire to protect Lazar from fouls. He’s not an internal defender, Lazar himself has shared how he grew up as a guard and really has never played the 5–it’s not a shock that he is not a great 1-1 defender inside and I agree that we don’t want him going after blocks too much, given the foul risk. He’s is too important to the offense, I wish he were more active inside, but I understand why that is not the case.

This is a big paradigm shift for VCU from that last few years—-I think we are accustomed to having a couple rangy bigs able to rim protect and in the worst case we had at least 10 fouls to give. In all cases, these guys were not main options on offense— their job was to rim protect by any means necessary—-think Mo, Corey, Lawal, H Ward, Luke, Ferm. This year, we have virtually no dedicated rim protection—Lazar is unaccustomed to the inside role and Mitchell does not fill that role either….the best we have is Belle and he is undersized on the block, plus we don’t want him in foul trouble, because he does so much of the grit and grind work on both sides of the ball.

I have no data, but anecdotedly it seems like we have a little more rim protection when T Ward is in the game…but I don’t think it makes us any more than a few clicks better defensively, if at all.

Not sure what the solution is beyond making sure we guard the three and outscore the other guys.

This is good stuff. To be fair, Bryant’s SOS overall was 309 last year and the NCSOS was 156. 2p defense efficiency is going to look pretty good playing an America East schedule and generally a pretty weak schedule overall versus lots of clown programs.

 

[RAMification]

Hopefully the interior defense will be substantially improved with the addition of Collin Ross of Spire Academy. Collin is one of the best, if not the best, rim protectors in the 2026 class. Offense is still a work in progress but unlimited upside for this 4-Star top 100 prospect. I still think this team has the ability to get better defensively as a whole. Obviously we are not there yet. I hope this is an issue of integrating so many new players into a solid, tough, cohesive, defensive unit. Need to get better now.