I don't think you can blame our poor defense on just effort. Our approach has been wrong in my opinion Brads whole time here. It just gets compensated for on some year when we have a few really athletic players. You have to stop the ball period. Quit staying back on the ball screens. You have to step out and stop the ball or even better hedge hard and trap. You can't rely on your defenders getting through the ball screens on a regular basis. Until we change to a defense emphasizing those things ours will continue to be subpar. Just look around at how many teams out there that are even less athletic than we yet consistently play better defense. Most of that is because of their strategy and concepts.
Maybe this is just another good, not great, Underwood Illini team, or it's just a team that's still not fully healthy and still trying to figure out what everyone's role is. That's what happens you have constant roster turnover on an annual basis.