College Basketball Season Opening Film Breakdowns

There were 183 college basketball games played on November 2nd, the season opener. Basketball started as the clock struck midnight as High Point and Liberty battled as part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon, and it concluded as Seattle and Hawaii tipped off at 11:59 PM ET. Let's go through some key film components from a few of the best on the day, including one that tipped off at 3 AM eastern time.

Florida 77 - Miami FL 67

Florida and Miami gave us our first taste of "this game feels like a Sweet Sixteen game" on the season. Florida was able to utilize a good three point shooting night to carry their offense, but their interior defense was the star of the show.

On the night, Miami shot just 17/43 (39.5%) from two, even though they're a team that's built to be able to efficiently operate on the interior.

Acaden Lewis went 7/12 from two, knocking down a couple midrange shots and also getting to the rim. Somto Cyril used his athleticism to go 4/5 from two, with a few of those coming off of offensive rebounds. The rest of the team went a combined 6/27 from two.

This is how Florida wants to operate defensively, and they have the personnel to do so. Rueben Chinyelu ended with 3 blocks, but he impacted so many more shots than that.

Florida wants to play drop coverage, having their big stay below the level of the screen, as shown in the clip above. This can force offenses into taking tougher midrange shots, as Miami did less than twenty seconds into the game.

With drop coverage, though, guards can put pressure on the defense by trying to attack the big and force him to make a decision. When this happens, Florida opts to late switch, meaning that they only switch the big onto the guard when the guard gets too far into the paint. In this clip, Chinyelu did a great job of being able to wall up and force a wild shot.