belated thoughts from Lehigh

[OrangeFoo]

Meant to get some thoughts on Tuesday but something else big took up my attention... something about an election or something, dunno... anyways back to what really matters.

Overall team thoughts... this is a fun, athletic team. Reminds me a lot of the Roy Williams UNC teams that played volleyball on the boards, ran up and down the floor and couldn't shoot a lick. Those teams did okay because they always had a couple of guys who create offense in a half court set... not sure we do.

This team is going to win or lose games based on how well it can defend and get steals. At some point this season we will need to roll out the zone as I don't see how we can hide JG3 against better shooting and more athletic teams in m2m.

But the offense is going to determine the ceiling... right now we have three players who can consistently contribute on offense and that's probably 1.5 players short. If I was a coach I would face guard JG3 and have my other floor players always have at least one foot in the paint. To combat this, if I were JB, I would have Torrence/JG3/Mintz get the majority of the minutes move to a 4 corners style offense like we ran on the MCW team that lost to Michigan to prevent teams from clogging the paint. I wish JB would use JG3 like he used GMAC and Cooney and run him off endless screens vs him trying to create off the dribble or a single pick, but I haven't seen that kind of play design in years. It would also be helpful if Mintz could learn how to run a PnR w Jesse as that would also unlock a lot of offense. What we really need is at least one more player to be a consistent 3 point threat other than JG3 and I don't see one on this team.

A few individual player thoughts:
- Mintz... exciting player who, while not nearly as good or explosive as Flynn, I can see the comp. I love the swagger... for the first time in a LONG time we have a player with some attitude who is willing to get into people's faces. Love it. BUT we will lose some games because he will play hero ball at the wrong moments
- Jesse... 2nd best player on the team behind Mintz. If he had a baby 10 foot jumper he would be unstoppable. Please don't get hurt.
- JG3.. unlike others I don't think he should continue his adventures inside. He was struggling to get his shot off and convert even against Lehigh... he's going get packaged a LOT and get clobbered a LOT if he tries to go inside. JG3 is not Buddy and he's not going to be as successful inside. I'd rather that JB designs plays for him get open shots.
- Torrence... he's the X factor and if he can get some consistency on his shot, continue his great defense and playmaking I think we will be in business
- Benny... my mom said if I have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all.
- the rest... not sure what to say yet, I think there is a lot of untapped potential and if we can get at least one of them to step up into a real ACC player this team can do some real damage.

I want to see more of what we saw Monday and not the usual passive... sit in the zone all day... play 6 players team

 

[rrlbees]

There is one positive about Joes drives into the lane. Sure he’s gonna get some smacked back into his face, but he seems to draw a lot of fouls. In the 3 “games” he’s 18-19 on FTs. That’s a lot of FTs for a 2G, even though 1 or 2 of them were on 3 pointers.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

There is one positive about Joes drives into the lane. Sure he’s gonna get some smacked back into his face, but he seems to draw a lot of fouls. In the 3 “games” he’s 18-19 on FTs. That’s a lot of FTs for a 2G, even though 1 or 2 of them were on 3 pointers.

Yeah, he can get his shot thrown into the 4th row everytime if he's going to the line on the play, for all I care. His career FT percentage is fantastic. Getting Joe to the line more is one of the best things we can do.

 

[Orangezoo]

Yeah, he can get his shot thrown into the 4th row everytime if he's going to the line on the play, for all I care. His career FT percentage is fantastic. Getting Joe to the line more is one of the best things we can do.

He did this a lot in HS with great success. The big thing is that when he does drive we need guys on high alert for offense rebounds if he doesn't get a call. I believe a couple times we got the miss and a putback.

 

[DilemaCuse]

Ive been critical of JB in recent years and I am glad that he is willing to try and adjust some things such as the M2M and actually playing his bench. I was almost stunned at how much M2M and bench hes playing. They need to get more production from Benny (2pts) Bell (3 pts) and JT (1-7) at the forward spot. Brown doesnt look lost which is great but I just dont know how much we can count on him for pts in ACC games.
Hes still looking for the right mix and the minutes distribution might be different later in the year than what he envisions or hopes for today. I hope he can make those adjustments when we are going to need them.

 

[OrangeFoo]

There is one positive about Joes drives into the lane. Sure he’s gonna get some smacked back into his face, but he seems to draw a lot of fouls. In the 3 “games” he’s 18-19 on FTs. That’s a lot of FTs for a 2G, even though 1 or 2 of them were on 3 pointers.

But with ACC refs will he get those calls or it will lead to a lot of fast breaks because we have so many players inside the opponents paint?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Ive been critical of JB in recent years and I am glad that he is willing to try and adjust some things such as the M2M and actually playing his bench. I was almost stunned at how much M2M and bench hes playing. They need to get more production from Benny (2pts) Bell (3 pts) and JT (1-7) at the forward spot. Brown doesnt look lost which is great but I just dont know how much we can count on him for pts in ACC games.
Hes still looking for the right mix and the minutes distribution might be different later in the year than what he envisions or hopes for today. I hope he can make those adjustments when we are going to need them.

Not that it's a huge difference but Bell had 5 points.

I'd imagine he'll probably average in the neighborhood of 5 a game. He'll have the occasional double figure scoring game piling up 3 pointers, but especially if he plays a lot of minutes with the starters he's down the list of guys getting consistent shot attempts.

 

[DilemaCuse]

Not that it's a huge difference but Bell had 5 points.

I'd imagine he'll probably average in the neighborhood of 5 a game. He'll have the occasional double figure scoring game piling up 3 pointers, but especially if he plays a lot of minutes with the starters he's down the list of guys getting consistent shot attempts.

My bad, I think we need that triumvirate to get us at least 12 a game, right?

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Meant to get some thoughts on Tuesday but something else big took up my attention... something about an election or something, dunno... anyways back to what really matters.

Overall team thoughts... this is a fun, athletic team. Reminds me a lot of the Roy Williams UNC teams that played volleyball on the boards, ran up and down the floor and couldn't shoot a lick. Those teams did okay because they always had a couple of guys who create offense in a half court set... not sure we do.

This team is going to win or lose games based on how well it can defend and get steals. At some point this season we will need to roll out the zone as I don't see how we can hide JG3 against better shooting and more athletic teams in m2m.

But the offense is going to determine the ceiling... right now we have three players who can consistently contribute on offense and that's probably 1.5 players short. If I was a coach I would face guard JG3 and have my other floor players always have at least one foot in the paint. To combat this, if I were JB, I would have Torrence/JG3/Mintz get the majority of the minutes move to a 4 corners style offense like we ran on the MCW team that lost to Michigan to prevent teams from clogging the paint. I wish JB would use JG3 like he used GMAC and Cooney and run him off endless screens vs him trying to create off the dribble or a single pick, but I haven't seen that kind of play design in years. It would also be helpful if Mintz could learn how to run a PnR w Jesse as that would also unlock a lot of offense. What we really need is at least one more player to be a consistent 3 point threat other than JG3 and I don't see one on this team.

A few individual player thoughts:
- Mintz... exciting player who, while not nearly as good or explosive as Flynn, I can see the comp. I love the swagger... for the first time in a LONG time we have a player with some attitude who is willing to get into people's faces. Love it. BUT we will lose some games because he will play hero ball at the wrong moments
- Jesse... 2nd best player on the team behind Mintz. If he had a baby 10 foot jumper he would be unstoppable. Please don't get hurt.
- JG3.. unlike others I don't think he should continue his adventures inside. He was struggling to get his shot off and convert even against Lehigh... he's going get packaged a LOT and get clobbered a LOT if he tries to go inside. JG3 is not Buddy and he's not going to be as successful inside. I'd rather that JB designs plays for him get open shots.
- Torrence... he's the X factor and if he can get some consistency on his shot, continue his great defense and playmaking I think we will be in business
- Benny... my mom said if I have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all.
- the rest... not sure what to say yet, I think there is a lot of untapped potential and if we can get at least one of them to step up into a real ACC player this team can do some real damage.

I want to see more of what we saw Monday and not the usual passive... sit in the zone all day... play 6 players team

Hard to run pick and roll when you are not a threat from outside 15'.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Ive been critical of JB in recent years and I am glad that he is willing to try and adjust some things such as the M2M and actually playing his bench. I was almost stunned at how much M2M and bench hes playing. They need to get more production from Benny (2pts) Bell (3 pts) and JT (1-7) at the forward spot. Brown doesnt look lost which is great but I just dont know how much we can count on him for pts in ACC games.
Hes still looking for the right mix and the minutes distribution might be different later in the year than what he envisions or hopes for today. I hope he can make those adjustments when we are going to need them.

Players being equal, JB always plays his bench. Heck, when what's his face went to Seton Hall, he had averaged more minutes than JG averaged.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Meant to get some thoughts on Tuesday but something else big took up my attention... something about an election or something, dunno... anyways back to what really matters.

Overall team thoughts... this is a fun, athletic team. Reminds me a lot of the Roy Williams UNC teams that played volleyball on the boards, ran up and down the floor and couldn't shoot a lick. Those teams did okay because they always had a couple of guys who create offense in a half court set... not sure we do.

This team is going to win or lose games based on how well it can defend and get steals. At some point this season we will need to roll out the zone as I don't see how we can hide JG3 against better shooting and more athletic teams in m2m.

But the offense is going to determine the ceiling... right now we have three players who can consistently contribute on offense and that's probably 1.5 players short. If I was a coach I would face guard JG3 and have my other floor players always have at least one foot in the paint. To combat this, if I were JB, I would have Torrence/JG3/Mintz get the majority of the minutes move to a 4 corners style offense like we ran on the MCW team that lost to Michigan to prevent teams from clogging the paint. I wish JB would use JG3 like he used GMAC and Cooney and run him off endless screens vs him trying to create off the dribble or a single pick, but I haven't seen that kind of play design in years. It would also be helpful if Mintz could learn how to run a PnR w Jesse as that would also unlock a lot of offense. What we really need is at least one more player to be a consistent 3 point threat other than JG3 and I don't see one on this team.

A few individual player thoughts:
- Mintz... exciting player who, while not nearly as good or explosive as Flynn, I can see the comp. I love the swagger... for the first time in a LONG time we have a player with some attitude who is willing to get into people's faces. Love it. BUT we will lose some games because he will play hero ball at the wrong moments
- Jesse... 2nd best player on the team behind Mintz. If he had a baby 10 foot jumper he would be unstoppable. Please don't get hurt.
- JG3.. unlike others I don't think he should continue his adventures inside. He was struggling to get his shot off and convert even against Lehigh... he's going get packaged a LOT and get clobbered a LOT if he tries to go inside. JG3 is not Buddy and he's not going to be as successful inside. I'd rather that JB designs plays for him get open shots.
- Torrence... he's the X factor and if he can get some consistency on his shot, continue his great defense and playmaking I think we will be in business
- Benny... my mom said if I have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all.
- the rest... not sure what to say yet, I think there is a lot of untapped potential and if we can get at least one of them to step up into a real ACC player this team can do some real damage.

I want to see more of what we saw Monday and not the usual passive... sit in the zone all day... play 6 players team

I know Mintz is shiny and new, but he is well behind Jesse and Joe at this stage. Those guys have proven they are ACC level players. Mintz had a decent game against Lehigh.

 

[MikeSU02]

Yeah, he can get his shot thrown into the 4th row everytime if he's going to the line on the play, for all I care. His career FT percentage is fantastic. Getting Joe to the line more is one of the best things we can do.

I don't think he'll keep getting calls when we play better teams, but for average or lesser teams, I think he can. I'd say this for most players, btw.

He hasn't shot over 38.5% from two at any point during his career. But he had career highs in eFG and TS last year. Point being, while you'd want the 2PT% to be higher, seems like he's aware of how to get buckets and his limitations or at least is getting better at it. Plus, if he keeps up his improved 3PT shooting from last year, will give him more options.

Assuming the team keeps progressing, and they start solidifying the rotation, I would give JGIII the benefit of the doubt, as the veteran leader, to have an awareness of who he can/can't take off the dribble and look for his mid range shot or get fouled and when it's pressing too hard.

Caveat to all the above is with his role being more featured than last year, high %s aren't always going to hold up with increased volume, especially if he ends up as 'the guy who gets the ball when the shot clock is about to expire', but let's see how it plays out.

Second caveat, until the forward position, specifically, finds some consistency, JGIII, Mintz and Jesse will have added burden to deal with to keep in mind.