How similar is Jay Wright's system to Beilein's?
The Championship aside, I've always respected what Jay Wright has been able to do at Nova. He's a clean coach from what we know and recruits to his system while developing multi-year players and picking up the occasional blue chip. I'm sure that will only continue now that he's broken through twice and has shaken off the NCAA "choking" label for good.
Watching Nova play this year was not only terrifying but impressive in how balanced they look. Hell even the 2013/14 Michigan teams weren't that fluid on the offensive end where 1-5 could all shoot 3s with confidence.
Any Xs and Os gurus know what is similar and different from what Mich and Beilein does? Or did it just come down to having a deep, veteran squad led by a bonafide PG? It also seems like Nova favors a more uptempo approach compared to us although both teams space the floor really well when everything clicks.
Going into the game I had the same respect for their program as the OP based on their clean recruiting practices. After seeing the above comments I can see I was wrong in that regard.
But after seeing their style of play with all the acting to draw fouls I no longer hold them in high esteem.
I detest the "overdramatized acting" of their players in order to draw foul calls. Brunson got one foul call with a head jerk when there was absolutely no contact. I'm sure this is coached. Brunson is the major violator and DiVincenso is also guilty of it.
This should not be a necessary part of the game and the rules need to be changed to discourage this. I equate this to the diving that was going on in the NHL to draw penalty calls.
They need to call charging on the offensive players who initiate and overembelish the contact. I would also add a technical foul for extreme cases. If you make the punishment severe enough you should be able to contain it without ruining the game.
Was that I was in the *upper deck* at the Alamodome and it was obvious to me that there was no contact. I was wondering what the hell was going on. Now I know.
I had this conversation with some friends during the conference tournaments and its also been happening in the NBA too over the last decade (but way more common). Back in the 90's if a jumpshooter jumped to the right and into a defensive player it was an offensive foul. When Brunson would jump stop, pivot, then lower his shoulder into the defender to create space..that used to be an offensive foul too. Now, all the kids do it becasue its all you see in the NBA. Clearly leagues want to see more offensive basketball and give the advantage to the offensive player. And kids these days watch Curry, Harden, etc then mimic their moves...and the refs tend to allow it to happen.
Moreover, I can not believe the amount of push offs not called these days when players drive and use their off arm to create separation. They ALL do it. Yes, refs make the call, but let WAY too many go. Brunson constantly did it, but MAAR and Mo often do it as well. They are just doing what the refs allow them to get away with.
In regards to flopping..Brunson is the worst of them for sure. Even on a dribble hand off he's trying to sell a foul. However, he's a junior and POY so he knows the refs will give him the call. He's an extremely smart and savvy player.
I’ve never gotten he same impression from Nova’s offense. My limited understanding is they have a few basic spacing and motion concepts / rules that they teach but few actual plays. As we saw, this Nova team had a core of versatile players, four or five of whom will play in the NBA, that executed on these rules with incredible success.
With regards to recruiting, there is a good ESPN article about how Wright changed up his tactics and focus over the last 5 years. After the good run in 2009, they were able to get the top of the top players. They then proceeded to have a losing record a year or two after. Wright realized the guys they brought in weren’t a good fit for what made him successful and made the changes that got him to where they are today. Whether those changes included adding or removing bagmen from the staff is TBD.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22436614
You should post it as a separate MGoBoard post -- I think it does a lot to illustrate what we can learn from Villanova's success.
The concept of "systems" is generally overblown. Case in point, for all the talk about Beilein's "system," the 2018 offensive structure was pretty different from that of say 2013 or 2014. Even this current Villanova team plays differently than the title team of two seasons ago. What coaches like Beilein and Wright share are concepts and philosophies such as finding and exploiting mismatches. Neither coach is married to a particular "system" in that way, and their offenses evolve based on personnel and how defenses play them.
The Michigan and Villanova offensive systems appear very similar to me. I think the main difference is talent level. Nova's players are probably higher rated than Michigan's. I bet the 2013 Michigan squad would've given the 2018 Nova team a tough battle.