2020-21 Season

Film Room: How Michigan built the best defense in the Big Ten (Part 1)

Film Room is an X’s and O’s breakdown of Michigan basketball by Gibson Pyper. Pyper has diagrammed almost every offense in college and professional basketball at The Basketball Playbook and is an expert on the X’s and O’s of the game. If you want to learn more about the concepts that Pyper breaks down, make sure to check out his new project, Learn Basketball, an interactive course about basketball strategy, film study and X’s and O’s. 

Today’s Film Room looks at how Howard has built Michigan’s defense which is best in the Big Ten and ranked 6th nationally in adjusted efficiency. 

The first thing Juwan Howard told his assistants this offseason was that he needed Michigan to become a “kick-ass defensive team,” and he was disappointed with the results on that end of the court. In his second year, the Wolverines have jumped from 28th to 6th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency and lead the country in 2-point defense.

Everyone knows that the results have been impressive but what is Michigan doing on the defensive side of the ball? In the first of a two-part series, Gibson Pyper breaks down Michigan’s core concepts defensively and how the Wolverines guard typical actions.

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