Game 9 - @ Eastern Michigan Dec 3 6pm ESPN3.

[Just Sayin]

If your primary defensive strategy is to create turnovers and steals I would ask what is and has been the cost/benefit of such a strategy. How many of those turnovers or steals that actually occurred led to a scoring opportunity for us?  Contrast that with the number of missed steals and easy driving buckets made by the opponent.  Perhaps they are scoring on balance more than we are in these situations because I'm guessing that missed steals are way more common than actual steals.  Perhaps the defensive strategy should be changed or modified if this is true. If it ain't working, why have it as a primary defensive strategy?

Great questions  and very difficult to answer! My take is that Lottich views Sackey and Freeman as a once in a lifetime guard tandem requiring a shift in tactics to properly exploit. So I take them as the foundation around which he is engineering a major structural change. Clay, Fazekas and Krikke look like they will fit into this system perfectly with Robinson, Kiser, Freese-Villien and McMillan as fair fits and the rest of the team filling various roles. Looks like everybody is buying in but many are struggling with the defensive rotations. I don't think that any of our departed grad transfers would be great fits in this new system but I would concede that Golder might have at least maintained his minutes. As for the cost/benefit I just don't know how to properly price chaos. Yes an attempt must be made to measure these things but it looks to be much too early to throw the gearshift into reverse. Also a fast and loose play style attracts fast and loose talent. As long as all our future recruits can defend out to the 3-point line then I love this gamble. Who is the main beneficiary -for now? Can you say Freeman-Liberty?

Good points. But thus far, this approach has led to a significant decrease in our defense of shots when compared to prior years. And unless there are some major (and pronto) leaps in the ability of this team to adapt to what is required to improve defensive rotations, etc., things are going to get ugly real fast because if you can't defend shots, you lose. I would venture to say that no team ever which has made the big dance  since its inception was near the bottom, in the 320s out of 353 teams in defending the 2 and the 3 and being near the bottom in reducing the Effective FG% of opponents, which Valpo now is.  Think of that. The bottom feeders in Division one are being joined in those statistics by Valpo. You HAVE to turn that around. Disaster looms if you don't start to see improvement regardless of whether we have improving offensive prowess. Heck, if I were Matt, I'd say to hell with this. It isn't working. He's had fairly good defensive teams in the past and perhaps he should not try to fix what ain't broke.