Purdue ranked 6 in rankings. Author says the 2014/15 Duke team was not good defensively leading into the tournament and then flipped the switch so there is somewhat of a precedent here. (Sorry, paywall). Excerpt below:
“Given all of the above, it might be tempting to write off Purdue entirely. Fun team, no defense, first-weekend exit. And, well, maybe. Most teams lose in the first weekend. But there is at least some precedent for a team that really struggled defensively all year getting suddenly good in March — the 2014-15 NCAA champion Duke Blue Devils. Remember that team? They were awful defensively for most of the season. Jahlil Okafor couldn’t execute a high ball-screen coverage to save his life. Mike Krzyzewski got so exhausted with it he switched to zone, which he had basically never done before. That team was really good, too, and finished seventh in the ACC in points per trip allowed that season. It was a thoroughly average defensive team heading into the postseason — at which point something clicked and the Blue Devils spent the entire NCAA Tournament shutting everybody out, up to and including that incredible Wisconsin offense in the national title game. Duke’s final adjusted defensive efficiency rank? No. 11.
Purdue isn’t capable of that. This is a veteran team with priors, not a group of gifted youngsters figuring it out on the fly. But we bring it up just to remind people that there is precedent for being average-to-bad defensively for most of a season, still having a good season, and then getting really good on the defensive end in the tournament. It does happen. It can happen. Maybe don’t give up on Purdue just yet.”
https://theathletic.com/3146159/202...ndgame-experience/?source=user_shared_article
“Given all of the above, it might be tempting to write off Purdue entirely. Fun team, no defense, first-weekend exit. And, well, maybe. Most teams lose in the first weekend. But there is at least some precedent for a team that really struggled defensively all year getting suddenly good in March — the 2014-15 NCAA champion Duke Blue Devils. Remember that team? They were awful defensively for most of the season. Jahlil Okafor couldn’t execute a high ball-screen coverage to save his life. Mike Krzyzewski got so exhausted with it he switched to zone, which he had basically never done before. That team was really good, too, and finished seventh in the ACC in points per trip allowed that season. It was a thoroughly average defensive team heading into the postseason — at which point something clicked and the Blue Devils spent the entire NCAA Tournament shutting everybody out, up to and including that incredible Wisconsin offense in the national title game. Duke’s final adjusted defensive efficiency rank? No. 11.
Purdue isn’t capable of that. This is a veteran team with priors, not a group of gifted youngsters figuring it out on the fly. But we bring it up just to remind people that there is precedent for being average-to-bad defensively for most of a season, still having a good season, and then getting really good on the defensive end in the tournament. It does happen. It can happen. Maybe don’t give up on Purdue just yet.”
https://theathletic.com/3146159/202...ndgame-experience/?source=user_shared_article
