The Downside - Clemson | Syracusefan.com

The Downside - Clemson

SWC75

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- We let two opportunities to get unexpected wins slip away and now we’ve let a game we expected to win slip way. If this continues, we won’t be expecting any wins at all.

- Clemson won this game because we had no interior defense at ll. Every time the ball got into the paint or to the baseline, a lay-up or dunk was virtually automatic. Clemson had 40 points in the paint to our 18 and was 20 for 35 ((.571) on two point shots to our 11 for 28. (.392) And next we face Brice Johnson, who just had a 39 point 23 rebound game against Florida State. He could easily to9p those figures against us from what I saw tonight.

- In the first half, our offense was at its dismal worse: nothing but ring-around-the Rosie, with the ball never penetrating the arc unless someone made a separate drive late in the shot clock. We shot 10 for 33 overall and 4 for 156 from the three point line, which was easily guarded because Clemson didn’t have to worry about anything else. They just guarded us the way you would guard a team who needed a three pointer to tie in the finals seconds: everyone at the arc, each guy finding a man and making sure he was guarded.

- Which is ironic because we faced the exact situation at the end of regulation. Not only did we not foul to put them on the line, (which everybody was talking about on the post- game call in show), but we trapped, leaving a guy open for the tying three pointer. Why would you try to force a turnover as the risk of an open shot when it’s 61-58 with five seconds left?!?

- DaJuan Coleman in three ACC games: 45 minutes played 3 for 7 from the field with no free throw attempts. 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and block with 4 turnovers and 11 fouls committed. Opposing centers and forward s are 30 for 55 on two point shots, (virtually all of which would have been in the paint and 20 for 26 from the foul line. We’ve been outscore din the paint in these games 62-104.

- Tyler Lydon hit a three late in the game but was 1 for 6 from the field and often reluctant to shoot, (which means he’s less likely to make it when he does). We have to get him more involved in the offense and that’s hard to do when he just camps out in the corner. He’s attempted 13 shots in 98 minutes in ACC play.

- Kaleb Joseph played 5 minutes, had a rebound but no assists and was 0 for 2 from the field. No progress at all.

- For all our problems if Trevor Cooney’s three pointer at the end had fallen, we win. And if his three pointer with 9:48 had counted, we’d have won in regulation. We inbounded with 2 seconds on the shot clock. Cooney got the ball and, if the referee was to be believed, he was fouled I the first second and got the shot off in the second second. That seems amazing. Isn’t there some rule in the NBA that a shot with a second left doesn’t count unless it’s a tip-in because you can’t catch and shoot in that time?

- We are a team with no center and no true point guard who is dependent on the three point shot, which becomes relatively easy to guard if you know that’s all the other team is going to do, other than drive to the basket from beyond the arc, which gives the other team time to collapse on the driver.

- But we could open up more offensive possibilities if we would do things like running a high post offense with Tyler Lydon or using the full court press proactively. (I’m not big on switching to a man-for –man because if you are playing the zone poorly it’s probably because you are not moving very well and I doubt that a defense that requires you to move even more is the answer. But surely the zone can be adjusted to cut off what the other team is having success with, or at least make it more difficult. ) But we don’t do some things just because we don’t do them: we don’t believe in them so we don’t teach that here of they aren’t available to us. The great coaches like Popovich of Belichick don’t just obtain players for the way they’d like to play: they can also adjust their strategy to what ty have available. And in college ball where you don’t always have elite athletes at every potion and the roster changes every year, there are always going to be flaws on every team that you have to work around. You really nee3d the whole playbook to do that. “We don’t do it because we don’t do it” doesn’t get it done.
 
"We let two opportunities to get unexpected wins slip away and now we’ve let a game we expected to win slip way. If this continues, we won’t be expecting any wins at all."

If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all?

Why do you think Lydon is playing so scared? It seems to me that if we are going to have any more wins, he must shoot - and score! They have to get the ball in the hoop quickly. If we're trying to catch up, and STAY up, we have to shoot. Maybe they don't because we can't rebound and so no one wants to take a shot that fails?

Roberson also doesn't want to shoot. Yes, we know his longer shots are unreliable, but he made two of them this game, I believe. At the end of regulation (I think) he was in a position to shoot and he was frantically looking for someone, anyone, to pass the ball to. He did, and then we ran out of time, or something. Again, I know we don't rebound well, but IMO he should take the shot!

Does Boeheim shame these kids in practice so much that they become shrinking violets? Because I don't think he does, but I can't understand how this team has become so unconfident.
 
"We let two opportunities to get unexpected wins slip away and now we’ve let a game we expected to win slip way. If this continues, we won’t be expecting any wins at all."

If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all?

Why do you think Lydon is playing so scared? It seems to me that if we are going to have any more wins, he must shoot - and score! They have to get the ball in the hoop quickly. If we're trying to catch up, and STAY up, we have to shoot. Maybe they don't because we can't rebound and so no one wants to take a shot that fails?

Roberson also doesn't want to shoot. Yes, we know his longer shots are unreliable, but he made two of them this game, I believe. At the end of regulation (I think) he was in a position to shoot and he was frantically looking for someone, anyone, to pass the ball to. He did, and then we ran out of time, or something. Again, I know we don't rebound well, but IMO he should take the shot!

Does Boeheim shame these kids in practice so much that they become shrinking violets? Because I don't think he does, but I can't understand how this team has become so unconfident.
Lydon is a freshman, and an undersized one for the role he is being asked to play for this team. While he is very talented, he is still learning how to play the zone, and he's just now learning how to deal with adversity on the court (personally and as part of a team), not to mention experiencing the physical and mental rigors of playing high D1 basketball. The good ones fight through this, and I think he's a good one. Be patient.
 
- We let two opportunities to get unexpected wins slip away and now we’ve let a game we expected to win slip way. If this continues, we won’t be expecting any wins at all.

- Clemson won this game because we had no interior defense at ll. Every time the ball got into the paint or to the baseline, a lay-up or dunk was virtually automatic. Clemson had 40 points in the paint to our 18 and was 20 for 35 ((.571) on two point shots to our 11 for 28. (.392) And next we face Brice Johnson, who just had a 39 point 23 rebound game against Florida State. He could easily to9p those figures against us from what I saw tonight.

- In the first half, our offense was at its dismal worse: nothing but ring-around-the Rosie, with the ball never penetrating the arc unless someone made a separate drive late in the shot clock. We shot 10 for 33 overall and 4 for 156 from the three point line, which was easily guarded because Clemson didn’t have to worry about anything else. They just guarded us the way you would guard a team who needed a three pointer to tie in the finals seconds: everyone at the arc, each guy finding a man and making sure he was guarded.

- Which is ironic because we faced the exact situation at the end of regulation. Not only did we not foul to put them on the line, (which everybody was talking about on the post- game call in show), but we trapped, leaving a guy open for the tying three pointer. Why would you try to force a turnover as the risk of an open shot when it’s 61-58 with five seconds left?!?

- DaJuan Coleman in three ACC games: 45 minutes played 3 for 7 from the field with no free throw attempts. 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and block with 4 turnovers and 11 fouls committed. Opposing centers and forward s are 30 for 55 on two point shots, (virtually all of which would have been in the paint and 20 for 26 from the foul line. We’ve been outscore din the paint in these games 62-104.

- Tyler Lydon hit a three late in the game but was 1 for 6 from the field and often reluctant to shoot, (which means he’s less likely to make it when he does). We have to get him more involved in the offense and that’s hard to do when he just camps out in the corner. He’s attempted 13 shots in 98 minutes in ACC play.

- Kaleb Joseph played 5 minutes, had a rebound but no assists and was 0 for 2 from the field. No progress at all.

- For all our problems if Trevor Cooney’s three pointer at the end had fallen, we win. And if his three pointer with 9:48 had counted, we’d have won in regulation. We inbounded with 2 seconds on the shot clock. Cooney got the ball and, if the referee was to be believed, he was fouled I the first second and got the shot off in the second second. That seems amazing. Isn’t there some rule in the NBA that a shot with a second left doesn’t count unless it’s a tip-in because you can’t catch and shoot in that time?

- We are a team with no center and no true point guard who is dependent on the three point shot, which becomes relatively easy to guard if you know that’s all the other team is going to do, other than drive to the basket from beyond the arc, which gives the other team time to collapse on the driver.

- But we could open up more offensive possibilities if we would do things like running a high post offense with Tyler Lydon or using the full court press proactively. (I’m not big on switching to a man-for –man because if you are playing the zone poorly it’s probably because you are not moving very well and I doubt that a defense that requires you to move even more is the answer. But surely the zone can be adjusted to cut off what the other team is having success with, or at least make it more difficult. ) But we don’t do some things just because we don’t do them: we don’t believe in them so we don’t teach that here of they aren’t available to us. The great coaches like Popovich of Belichick don’t just obtain players for the way they’d like to play: they can also adjust their strategy to what ty have available. And in college ball where you don’t always have elite athletes at every potion and the roster changes every year, there are always going to be flaws on every team that you have to work around. You really nee3d the whole playbook to do that. “We don’t do it because we don’t do it” doesn’t get it done.

Your reason for not playing man to man also applies to full court pressure which you said you wanted to use more of. I like pressure as well but with no rim protector and no bench depth I think it could be a disaster.
 
Your reason for not playing man to man also applies to full court pressure which you said you wanted to use more of. I like pressure as well but with no rim protector and no bench depth I think it could be a disaster.

There's such a thing as a zone press in which you alternately pressure the ball and set up traps. It's not the same at all as playing a defense where each player runs all over the court to maintain contact with the opposition player.UCLA went 30-0 using the zone press with no rim protector and won the national title in 1964, (and then went 28-2 and won it again the next year). And I'm not saying to use it for 40 minutes, just at certain points in the game. Then go back into the half court zone to rest the players.

http://www.ncaa.com/video/basketbal...mbering-ucla-john-wooden-first-national-title
 
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"We let two opportunities to get unexpected wins slip away and now we’ve let a game we expected to win slip way. If this continues, we won’t be expecting any wins at all."

If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all?

Why do you think Lydon is playing so scared? It seems to me that if we are going to have any more wins, he must shoot - and score! They have to get the ball in the hoop quickly. If we're trying to catch up, and STAY up, we have to shoot. Maybe they don't because we can't rebound and so no one wants to take a shot that fails?

Roberson also doesn't want to shoot. Yes, we know his longer shots are unreliable, but he made two of them this game, I believe. At the end of regulation (I think) he was in a position to shoot and he was frantically looking for someone, anyone, to pass the ball to. He did, and then we ran out of time, or something. Again, I know we don't rebound well, but IMO he should take the shot!

Does Boeheim shame these kids in practice so much that they become shrinking violets? Because I don't think he does, but I can't understand how this team has become so unconfident.


I think the issue is less Tyler's attitude than it is the coaches' failure to put him in a position to be successful. I think he's mostly wasted on the perimeter, even though he can hit an occasional the pointers. We need him in the high post. We have no intermediate passing target in this offense and he could use all hist talents, shooting, passing, driving, rebounding) from there.
 
There's such a thing as a zone press in which you alternately pressure the ball and set up traps. It's not the same at all as playing a defense where each player runs all over the court to maintain contact with the opposition player.UCLA went 30-0 using the zone press with no rim protector and won the national title in 1964, (and then went 28-2 and won it again the next year). And I'm not saying to use it for 40 minutes, just at certain points in the game. Then go back into the half court zone to rest the players.

http://www.ncaa.com/video/basketbal...mbering-ucla-john-wooden-first-national-title

In your initial post you said use more of 'the full court press'. I translated that as "the press in our current system."

As you know Pitino uses zone pressure a lot. It has traditionally worked best when he has guards that are extremely quick. I am for anything that keeps the other team guessing.
 

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