Final Four scouting reports

Coaching staffs for Butler, Connecticut, Kentucky and VCU are working overtime this week trying to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses for their opponents in the Final Four.

Few outsiders know as much about a team as the assistant coaches who sit in the film room dissecting highlights of upcoming opponents.

That’s why we’re giving you an inside look at the Final Four teams from coaching staffs who either faced the Final Four teams early in the tournament or during conference play. Here are some of their observation; they were promised anonymity for their insight.

On Butler

• “At the beginning of the season, they lost a great player [Gordon Hayward] and now they’ve got to figure it out. They had to figure out how to play and how to be good again without him. It’s not simple or as quick as we’d all like. They struggled with that early on. Once they figured it out, which they did at the right time of year, they were really playing well.”

• “When our team lost our best player, we struggled with what our roles were. We lost a certain amount of points and rebounds, and it took us a while to figure who was going to be responsible for that and how we all fit together. No one player was going to be able to do what he did. It all had to filter together. That’s kind of what Butler has gone through. They figured it out.”

• “Last year’s experience has come back to play great dividends for them. Every game except one has been a close game, and they’ve won them all. They’re really good in close-game situations. They execute great, and even if they don’t get a great play, they find a way to win the game. They have an incredible belief they’re going to win, especially in close games. That comes from everybody, but Matt Howard is the biggest contributor to that.”

• “Matt Howard is just a winner. He’ll get them three extra possessions through the course of the game, just on hustle plays. … It’s hard to measure what he does for that team.”

• “They’re an excellent defensive team. They can defend at pretty much every position. That’s the quality you have to have at this time of year, and they certainly have it. They have good interior defenders and good perimeter defenders and a great defender on the ball. Their point guard [Ronald Nored] is a great defender on the ball. Great defense starts at the point of attack. He’s such a good defender it’s like he can guard his guy and then help defend somebody else. Nored isn’t a great shooter, but he makes timely shots. He may not make a lot of them, but he makes timely shots.”

• “Shelvin Mack is the one guy who can put the ball in his hands and get a shot. He can create a shot for himself or for other people. He’s played extremely well in the tournament, scored a ton of points and made some big shots when they needed it. He might be their best all-around basketball player. Maybe. Andrew Smith is a workhorse role player who does a great job defensively. He’ll score when he needs to, but he’s out there trying to blend in. He’s a great screener and good teammate, it seems like. He kind of fits. They’ve got a bunch of other guys who can come in and make a shot. They can really shoot the ball well as a team. They absolutely guard you and they shoot the ball.”

On VCU

• “It’s so tough in the NCAA tournament to prepare for a team you haven’t seen before. League play, I don’t care what league you’re in, it’s [different]. We watch them run their offense now and they’re getting it every time. They’re getting exactly what they want every time. They have a harder time getting that in league play.”

• “Their style on the court is no different from what they did early in the season. It’s exactly what our league saw all year long. They are playing with an incredible amount of confidence, and they are shooting the ball tremendously. And they are a good shooting team. In three of their five [NCAA tourney] games, they hit 12 3-pointers – and the most they hit in a game all year long was 11. They’re really shooting the ball with a great deal of confidence. They made more ‘3s’ than ‘2s’ in the Elite Eight. They haven’t changed anything from what they did all year long in terms of style.”

• “Offensively, they’re playing at the same pace. They’re pressing like they always have. The only difference is they’re playing some zone. They really didn’t play zone during the regular season. The 2-3 zone is something they pulled out for the tournament. I don’t think they’re a particularly great defensive team in the halfcourt, but they’ve done a great job of keeping people off-balance by zoning and things like that.”

• “They’re very athletic and their pressure is very good. They’ll turn you over if you don’t take care of the ball. You’d better be prepared for it. They give you a lot of different looks - they’ll zone-press you, they’ll man-press you, they’ll run-and-jump you. It’s not like they’re doing one thing. If you start beating the press, they’ll switch up presses on you. One of the things they’ve done a great job of in the NCAA tournament is they’ll use that zone to change momentum a little bit. Kansas started making a little run, boom, they went zone. The zone was really effective in the last three minutes.”

• “Jamie Skeen has taken it up a couple of notches in the tournament. He’s always been an inside-outside guy, but he was 4-for-7 from ‘3’ against Kansas. He’s had an unbelievable year. Last year, he was a good player in our league, but not an all-conference player who could lead his team to the Final Four.”

• “When Eric Maynor was there, Joey Rodriguez was one of their main 3-point guys. If you look at his assist-to-turnover numbers then, they were not particularly great. Shaka Smart has done a great job of giving him a little ownership of that position, and he’s responded well, really running their team. He puts them on his back at times, making and taking big shots. He really did that this year.”

• “Clearly, Butler is going to have to defend the 3-point line. I don’t know if they can score enough 3-point baskets to win the national championship. For them to do it, and they’re capable, they’ve got to make a ton of ‘3s.’ You can’t turn the ball over because they get out in transition and a guy like Brandon Rozzell gets going. The other thing is handling their pick-and-roll and not getting strung out where they’re constantly kicking to shooters.”

On Kentucky

• “They’re much, much more athletic than they were last year. The chemistry might be better because those guys maybe don’t think about being first-round draft picks. They’re focused on the task at hand, and that’s to win the national championship, not what slot they’re going to go in the first round. This team really plays together. The thing that stands out with their team is their basketball IQ is off the charts.”

• “From the outside looking in, this could be correct or it might not, but it’s my opinion these freshmen seem to be much more mature than last year’s freshmen. DeMarcus Cousins is a terrific talent, but he could pout up and down, and John Wall was a turnover machine at times doing crazy stuff. Patrick Patterson probably kept things under control with those guys. I just feel their freshmen this year are more mature.”

• “The key against UConn is how DeAndre Liggins contains Kemba Walker. He’s got to make him work. He’s not going to contain him, but you have to make him work. Don’t let him get easy shots. Connecticut has to be conscious of Josh Harrellson on the offensive glass. When they dribble penetrate, they do a great job of finding him.”

• “Brandon Knight is really good at the end of games. He’s ultra-confident at end of games. You can’t guard him. You can’t guard any better than Ohio State’s Aaron Craft did in the Sweet 16, and he knocked down the game-winning shot. He’s so good in pick-and-rolls and handoffs. A handoff turns into a ball screen. That’s where he’s so dangerous. He’s so smart. He’s not as quick as John Wall, but he’s a better shooter than John Wall. When Knight has the ball in his hands, he’s a shooting guard. He makes shots.”

• “What they’re doing so well now is you’re constantly guarding pick-and-rolls, and then Josh Harrellson gets into those handoffs. You’ve got two high-basketball IQ guys right there in Knight and Harrellson. Your point guard is usually your best defender, and your five guy is a defensive liability. Right now, you’ve got Knight and Harrellson who can defend.”

• “The guy who creates more matchup problems is Terrence Jones. He’s got a lot of versatility and can score on you in the paint, but he can score on you in the perimeter. He can draw fouls. If you have a key matchup there, it worries you. He doesn’t score a real high percentage from the perimeter, but enough to keep you honest. He hit a huge one against North Carolina.”

• “Knight can shoot the ball so much better than Wall. Everyone zoned Kentucky last year. Nobody plays Kentucky in zone this year. That’s how they got beat. You can’t do that this year. Doron Lamb shoots it. When Lamb’s effective, he’s making ‘3s.’ If he makes two or three ‘3s’ in game, that’s a big bonus for them. And Liggins shoots it and Miller can shoot it. When you have a point who can shoot, it’s tough to zone that team.”

• “We felt we had to contain Knight with his transition from end to end and dribble penetration. We also couldn’t give Miller any open looks. We felt that Harrellson was a big factor because he kind of stays out of the way and plays off those guys. He gets easy putbacks. He has great hands.”

• “They wouldn’t be where they’re at without Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins. Miller is finally playing to his potential. He’s been more aggressive; he’s hit some huge shots for them. These guys are not afraid to make plays, and they have made plays.”

• “Harrellson has become a real huge piece of Kentucky’s success. He does everything terrific for what they need. He’s strong and tough and plays hard and gets the ball to Knight and screens for Knight and Liggins.”

• “There’s only six of them. Once they got into the tournament, unless it was foul trouble, depth hasn’t been an issue. These guys have played this way the whole year. They’re comfortable with the rotation. It’s an easy rotation. In the NCAA tournament, timeouts last forever, so they’re resting plenty. They’re not going to get worn down. The only thing that could hurt them would be an injury or foul trouble. They played all year and understand how they have to play. Sometimes they have to play with two or three fouls at a time where maybe if they had a little more depth, Calipari would sub them.”

On Connecticut

• “With Kemba Walker and UConn for the most part, I don’t know if it’s the way they planned it but he’s evolved as the leader and the team started to follow. As time went on, he started making key plays and working hard in practice. The other players started feeding off on that. Every player on UConn feels like they have a chance to win based on what Kemba is going to do. They have a chance to win it. He has such confidence in his ability and confidence in his teammates.”

• “Kemba Walker’s combination of skill and athleticism and mental toughness makes him the player of the year. The first thing you have to do is get back in transition with that team because from defense to offense, they’re quick. You don’t want to give them easy baskets in transition. It’s easier said than done, but that’s where you have to start.”

• “[Walker has] always had quickness and an ability to create his own shot. What’s evolved is his leadership ability. You put that along with his ability to score and he’s the player of the year.”

• “When we played them, we wanted [Walker] to work for every cut, work for every shot and expend a lot of energy to score. Against us, not only did he not do that, he was confident with Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier. Lamb creates his own shot, too. And the guys inside started rebounding. One of the big things Walker learned was that he didn’t have to score every point. It gave him an opportunity to do other things. That’s the biggest thing that’s happened to him.”

• “You’re not going to stop Walker from getting shots. Like all great players, he’s going to get his shots. You want to make everything tough, whether that’s through double-teams or switching guys on him. … You have to control the things you can control, and you can’t control Kemba. You have to make sure guys don’t get wide-open looks from putting all your attention on Kemba.”

• “Kemba is getting everyone involved early, as all great players do. He’s trying to get his young guys involved early and be a facilitator early. And then when they need him as the game progresses, he tries to put his stamp on the game offensively.”

• “Lamb was a high priority for us. He’s really been playing well of late. You really have to pay attention to him, and they have multiple guys who can shoot the ball. You have to find the balance of giving Kemba his due attention and not letting others get wide-open shots. Lamb’s playing with a lot of confidence. He can shoot the ‘3’ and also go by you and shoot the mid-range shot.”

• “We looked at Lamb as a catch-and-shoot guy rather than a guy who could create off the dribble. The way we play, we try to take that away. What he’s developed is a floater. He’s able to get the ball to the paint and throw a floater up there; that’s added a lot to his game. He can still make open shots, but he plays off of Kemba.”

• “We were not going to double Alex Oriakhi. Our thoughts were we’re going to push him off the block and make him shoot over you, which I think everybody in the country tried to do. The key is transition again and making sure you do the work early on him. If he’s getting layups and dunks early, you’re in trouble.”