Defensive Rebounds: Uche Echefu and the Rest, Part I-A

I became far too upset watching the Wake Forest game to actually analyze much of anything, and I don't think that I will be able to bring myself to go back and watch it again. Wake is really good at running the break off missed baskets, maybe better than UNC. Aminu is exceptional. We had very little answer for his offensive skill (though I thought that we could have been successful isolating Uche on him to try and get him into foul trouble). Toney handled Teague well enough, but the rest of their team was able to hurt us, even without being able to shoot the three. The most frustrating part was the refs. I won't say that they weren't consistent (though they did miss a few obvious calls that went against us). However, the game was called so tickey-tack that a team that plays aggressive man defense like we do really had very little chance. We couldn't stop their transition game, the refs kept us from being effective defending in the half court, and we never were able to build any energy offensively. Once Solomon was ejected, we were done. This game reminded me what a razors edge FSU walks between being able to beat anyone, and not even being competitive. A couple momentum swings against us can tip the balance way too far.

Anyway, back to defensive rebounding. The one play I did notice occurred in the first half when Solomon had perfect inside position on his man, but was unable to keep him sealed long enough, and his man managed to slide around him for the offensive rebound. Leonard Hamilton has often stated in his interviews that the stress fracture Solomon had last year kept him from working out his lower body at all, and that he's still suffering from a lack of strength. Now my original plan to determine why we have trouble with defensive rebounding was to compare Uche with Reid and Singleton, because the three of them spend most of their time at the forward position, while Solomon, who is our best overall rebounder, sticks more to the middle, as a true center. However, recall that Uche grabbed defensive rebounds last year (when he was our primary center) at a higher rate than Solomon does this year, and while our team last year had far less height overall, they ranked significantly better on the defensive boards. What I'm beginning to wonder is if our problem has more to do with Solomon's emergence pushing Uche out of the paint than it does with the rebounding skills of our forwards. When we next play a game that I can watch with a cool head, I will both compare Uche to Reid and Singleton, and also compare our rebounding prowess as a team with Solomon in the game to when he takes a seat.