A look at Ryan Odom’s defensive systems across his previous three stops. The consistencies and differences based on roster comp.
Will probably not be great on mobile again - sorry!
https://cutsfromthecorner.com/2025/04/24/cuts-from-the-defensive-playbook-ryan-odoms-system/
About halfway through. Good stuff, as always.
I really liked that VCU defense from last year. A lot of length and quicks and therefore, combined with the scheme, disruption. I haven’t gotten to what he did at USU yet, but I feel like our personnel is going to be closer to that, relatively. (Maybe like, just past the midpoint, shaded towards Utah st). Shulga was a surprisingly good defender…
Also, I’m sure they’ll adapt, but I do worry a bit about ACC guards making us pay with drop coverage. … and sure enough, I keep reading…
In fact, high quality, scoring PGs give this drop strategy all kinds of issues, as we saw from Donovan Dent against both VCU (and we’ll see against Utah St. later).
Dent went for 40 against them.
Finished. Really good overview. I like the aggression. I like throwing in a zone when the man is getting carved up. He’ll have to figure out the right way to approach drop coverage in the ACC (assuming the ACC still has good PGs going forward, which I suppose isn’t quite a sure thing…)
What’s interesting, is that while the Utah St defense looks pretty meh, it was actually consistently pretty “okay” at least. And overall, Odom’s defense is a bit more consistent than his offense.
Great breakdown as usual. My biggest takeaway is that I’m bullish on Onyenso in Odom’s system.
I’m sure a big reason the staff picked him up is that they want to run drop coverage. He’s probably close to the ideal defensive big for that type of defense with his length and shot-blocking ability. It should also simplify the game a lot for him.
Thanks!
I agree. A player like him could be a very good defender in this system. And I think he’d be fine as the center in the offense too.
