Selfishly, I have been looking forward to this game as I am excited to watch Trae Young play in person. He is the total package for a point guard. You can't give him any space from essentially the time he crosses half court as his range in unlimited, but is more than quick enough to blow by you. He can finish from the middle of the lane with floaters and despite not being overly strong or an explosive leaper, can finish at the rim. And lastly, his vision allows him to find open teammates from any spot of the floor from any angle.
West Virginia has done the best job on him. They "held" to 29 points and only 5 assists with 8 turnovers. But not many teams, including K-State have a single defender as good as Jevon Carter, or play as good of team defense. Wichita State tried a little bit of everything, trapping at halfcourt, post playing contain off the ball screen, and a hard hedge. There are two basic schools of thought from the two ends of the spectrum:
Don't let OU inbound the ball to Young.
When K-State has the ball
The Wildcats must make Young defend. He is not a bad defender, but does not want to pick up fouls. At the very least, hopefully you can wear him down some, and possibly you can get lucky and get a couple of early foul calls.
Early in the game I would see how OU reacts to guard to guard ball screens. Most teams will switch those. If OU does, I would have X set ball screens on whoever Young is guarding to force Young to switch on Sneed. From there I would post Sneed up. He had some success against KU in the post and would have the size advantage over Young. He could get some clean looks at the basket or again, hopefully draw some fouls on Young.
Not to sound like a broken record, but Wade must win the battle with Brady Manek. Manek is a skilled player who will be a good player in this league, but as a freshman is still very thin physically.
Final Thoughts
Young is going to make some unreal plays in this game and the Wildcats cannot let that faze them. They must be resilient and stay the course, something this team has shown it is capable of. K-State will need to be efficient on the offensive end. At a minimum, they will most likely need to put up at least 80 to give themselves a chance. OU has over 10 guys that average over 10 minutes a game. Can this finally be the game that someone off of K-State's bench can gives them a lift?
West Virginia has done the best job on him. They "held" to 29 points and only 5 assists with 8 turnovers. But not many teams, including K-State have a single defender as good as Jevon Carter, or play as good of team defense. Wichita State tried a little bit of everything, trapping at halfcourt, post playing contain off the ball screen, and a hard hedge. There are two basic schools of thought from the two ends of the spectrum:
- You have the belief that not one single guy can beat you. You single Young as much as you can and don't give up open looks to other guys. Against Wichita State, Brady Manek hit 5 threes and Kam McGusty hit 3.
- You go into the game saying you are not going to let the best player in college basketball beat you. You get the ball out of his hands as much as you can and force someone else to knock down shots. The two issues with this is OU has plenty of other capable shooters and OU does a nice job of spacing the floor and Young's vision is so good he gets a lot of easy looks for others.
Don't let OU inbound the ball to Young.
- On any dead ball situation or as you can after made baskets, double Young in the backcourt with the man guarding the inbounder. Make OU throw the ball in to someone else. Face guard Young up the floor so someone else for OU has to initiate the offense.
- I fear if we employ our normal strategy of the post playing contain on the guard coming off the ball screen, Young will kill the Wildcats from long distance. He is also good enough to go around the post and then you are in real trouble. With a hard hedge, the goal is to make him take at least one or two dribbles back towards half court and not let him immediately turn the corner and attack the basket. The guard has to fight to get over the screen to recover to Young quickly.
- When Young gets into the lane and the post defender slides over to help, the guard who was defending Young needs to drop off him and slide into the lane in front of OU's 5 man. If Young is able to throw a lob, then the help won't affect that. But if Young has to throw a dump off or rap around pass, the guard who was defending him can run right into that pass and create a turnover. The post defender coming over to help must come with high hands to discourage the lob and force the dump off or rap around pass.
- My guess is the Wildcats will start with Barry Brown on Young, but need to use multiple guys to stay out of foul trouble and keep guys fresh. And here is possibly an unconventional thought, put Xavier Sneed on him for stretches. Maybe X's length can bother Young.
When K-State has the ball
The Wildcats must make Young defend. He is not a bad defender, but does not want to pick up fouls. At the very least, hopefully you can wear him down some, and possibly you can get lucky and get a couple of early foul calls.
Early in the game I would see how OU reacts to guard to guard ball screens. Most teams will switch those. If OU does, I would have X set ball screens on whoever Young is guarding to force Young to switch on Sneed. From there I would post Sneed up. He had some success against KU in the post and would have the size advantage over Young. He could get some clean looks at the basket or again, hopefully draw some fouls on Young.
Not to sound like a broken record, but Wade must win the battle with Brady Manek. Manek is a skilled player who will be a good player in this league, but as a freshman is still very thin physically.
Final Thoughts
Young is going to make some unreal plays in this game and the Wildcats cannot let that faze them. They must be resilient and stay the course, something this team has shown it is capable of. K-State will need to be efficient on the offensive end. At a minimum, they will most likely need to put up at least 80 to give themselves a chance. OU has over 10 guys that average over 10 minutes a game. Can this finally be the game that someone off of K-State's bench can gives them a lift?
