The baseline is used as an extra defender reducing the amount of help required. Good defenses both zone and man require the use of court boundaries to free defenders to stop drives penetrating the middle. The best zone teams such as Syracuse use man principals in a zone set up. When done effectively it appears to be a switching man to man. Cannot get beat one on one baseline. McGary does do an excellent job hedging, but there is no such thing as over helping. Root cause is we were beat baseline. I would like to see better rotation of helpside guard down to the block when McGary has to leave for help. Especially against non sharp shooting teams.
McGary seems to solidify the defense and in regard to him over helping the defender is getting beaten one on one baseline. This is a cardinal sin for any defender. Michigan perimeter D has to use the baseline as another defender. When the opponent drives middle the Michigan defense needs to do a better job of "helping early". McGary and others need to show help early by stepping toward the driver before his defender is beat. Until we start helping early expect more of the same.
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