To me...this year, past years and every year in the future starts with containing the dribble (not a problem personally for me yet
). THAT alone leads to rotations which lead to poor position to defend and rebound. Containing the dribble starts with individual effort (naturally athleticism is huge) and help defense...which overused or improperly used, leads to open looks for the opposition as well as again bad position. Containing the dribble is always a HUGE concern.
Now I don't recall if Alabama presses, traps or just belly ups in man, but the athletic part of a fast game should be an advantage for Cam and Myles as well as most the team. It may lessen the impact at the 5 somewhat in a full court game whereas dribble containment in the half is crucial as well. IMO it appears that Purdue trying to be a bit more disruptive on D has also led to some expected out of position defenders which will probably always have the rebounding down a bit on D, but the offensive rebounding diminished by some hot shooting can still be better as well as the 50-50 balls. You would think that Purdue moving a bit more on O would shift the D enough to diminish the natural D position they hold and increase the offensive boards, but we have seen the long boards and 50-50 balls go to the opposition more than desired. Still, a lot of new players that are also very young and inexperienced in play