Defensive Rebounds: Uche Echefu and the Rest, Part II

Before I get to the conclusion of the defensive rebounding series, I have to admit that I had great difficulty watching the battle in the paint for the first half. I was completely transfixed by the show Toney Douglas put up guarding Jack McClinton, Miami's star scorer. In FSU's first meeting with Miami, Leonard Hamilton elected to guard the 6-1 McClinton with the 6-7 Jordan Demercy. This strategy made perfect sense, as it should be difficult for even the best of shooters to get off clean shots against athletic freaks half a foot taller than them. McClinton, however, was able to create just enough space to bomb away from well beyond the NBA three point line. It was a learning experience for DeMercy, and a reminder that sometimes elite scorers appear completely unstoppable.

In the second meeting, Hamilton adopted a different strategy. Sometimes the Noles trapped McClinton as he was bringing the ball up the court, just to get it out of his hands. Other times, Toney simply pressured McClinton man to man till he gave the ball up. After the ball was out of McClinton's hands, Toney stuck to him like a Venus fly trap sticks to a bug it has already digested. By my count, McClinton took only one shot in the first half while Toney was guarding him, and that was a brick. In the second half, Devidas Dulkys and Demercy each spent time on McClinton to give Toney a rest, with acceptable results, and Toney was able to martial enough energy for his usual late game excellence, but for my money, the whole first half was "Toney Douglas Time."

Now for the rebounding. When I payed more attention in the second half, I found that FSU's help line is not as aggressive as Clemson's. We seem to place it right about at the center of the paint (Clemson's was on the strong side of the paint). I don't think that aspect of our scheme is as instrumental in our rebounding woes as it is for Clemson. As for Singleton, he does watch the ball too much and lose his man occasionally. Alabi does lack some strength, most noticeable in the fact that Hamilton often tries to protect him by placing Uche or Reid on the opponent's most bullish player. Reid, though, is a complete mystery. Everything that I previously noted Trevor Booker doing well and Raymond Sykes doing poorly, Ryan Reid excels at. Reid never loses his man, he never lets him take up position near the basket, and he always puts a strong body on him when the shot goes up. Reid may not be pulling down a ton of defensive rebounds, but he most definitely is not letting his man get to them either. Perhaps he is too disciplined and doesn't go after the ball soon enough on defense. Perhaps his style of play helps the team without showing up in his personal stat line. For a great read about +/- statistics and their use in analyzing the true contribution of a player, read this Michael Lewis article in the New York Times Magazine. As far as I know, no one keeps +/- stats for college basketball, and I don't feel able to hazard a qualitative guess at what Reid's true rebounding contribution is.

So here are my concluding facts:
1) The Seminoles are good at offensive rebounding but bad at defensive rebounding.
2) The Seminoles are the tallest team in the nation.
3) Uche Echefu's individual stats say that he is a good defensive rebounder. My eyes agree.
4) Solomon Alabi's individual stats say that he is a decent defensive rebounder, but a comparison to other centers of his considerable talent (and to Uche last year) reveals that he should be better than he is. My eyes and Leonard Hamilton's mouth say that he lacks lower body strength due to his recent stress fracture, and that he will improve.
5) Chris Singleton's individual stats say that he is an underperforming defensive rebounder. My eyes agree, because he often fails to get a dominating boxout on his assigned man.
6) Ryan Reid's individual stats say that he is an underperforming defensive rebounder. My eyes disagree, and say that he rarely misses his assignment.

Extras:
7) Xavior Gibson has a long way to go before he isn't a defensive liability in ACC play.
8) Jordan Demercy's stats say that he is a valuable rebounder in the context that he usually plays defense against a perimeter player.