How can we get better?

[SWC75]

There's another thread about where are we right now. I thought a thread on how we might improve would be appropriate.

1) One of our centers could develop into a force inside. I don't really see this happening. They obviously aren't even trying to develop Obokoh any more. I don't see any really improvement in Coleman and it's hard to imagine that we'll see any more than we've seen the rest of the way. As Jimmy Salatin said yesterday, "He just can't get off the ground". And what he does on terra firma isn't all that encouraging.

2) Kaleb Joseph or Franklin Howard could emerge as a legitimate point guard. Michael Gbinje is a possible All-American but he's not really a point guard. A point guard gets everybody organised, breaks down the defense and gets the ball to our best offensive threats. Mike is our best offensive threat. I think Howard has the greater potential here and having him not play at all in a 21 point win over Cornell is disturbing. But I still have hopes he could become an important player for us by the end of the year.

3) Tyler Lydon has been amazing so far but I think he could be used better at the top of the key. He'd be an ideal guy to lob the ball into and he could shoot or drive from there, dump it down low or back out for threes that would be open as the defense would collapse on him. he makes much more sense there than Roberson. But there seems be no inclination to change from our "Ring around the Rosie" offense to something centering on the high post.

4) This may be two reason but I'll combine them because the problem is the same. Tyler Roberson and Mal Richardson are talented players who have been inconsistent. Roberson needs to have the pilot light on all the time. Richardson needs better control and shot judgement. Tyler was great against Cornell. Hopefully that will continue. And I don't expect Richardson will ever got 0 for 11 again. This is the area for improvement I am most optimistic about.

5) Trevor Cooney is Trevor Cooney. I'd like to see him drive to the basket more and I do think that if you are missing from 20 feet it might be worth it to see what you could do from 10-15 feet but I doubt that we'll see a change in his game. But I bet we don't see another 0 for 12 stretch again. Trevor should at least be able to get us 2-3 treys a game. It could matter in a close game.

6) Internal defense. Even if Coleman and Okohboh can't score, they have big enough bodies to make it difficult for other teams to score inside. Unfortunately, they don't seem to know how to use their bodies. Lydon can block shots but how will he stand up to ACC big men? This is the area I'm least optimistic about. The best we can do is try to prevent penetration. But we haven't been good at that, either.

7) External defense. The biggest physical advantage we have over other teams. is size in the backcourt and one the wings. And our two seniors are part of that so there's plenty of experience, too. That should make the zone formidable but it hasn't so far, for some reason. There are too many open looks and too many penetrations. it seems to be JB and Hop's biggest concern. Maybe that will produce the greatest improvement.

8) Defensive pressure. We've gotten back into games after bad starts with pressure defense. teams with internal defensive problems often try to make up for it with pressure. But we never seem to use it proactively, to create leads and to break games open. I realize we lack depth but I don't think that the limitations of Howard and Joseph would make them a liability in pressure situations. And the limitations of Coleman and Okoboh are lessened if all they have to do is stand in front of the basket to prevent lay-ups. But that isn't our way so I don't expect to see it.

9) Shoot the lights out. I expect we'll pull off at least one big upset this year with our outside shooting and we may blow a couple teams out the same way. it may get us a couple of marquee wins that could get us into the NCAAs instead of the NIT. But what i really want to see is a more consistent outside game. That's almost an oxymoron. But since we depend so much on the jump shot, I know we're working on it all the time. I have hopes that we'll get better at setting up those open shots and our players will get more and more confident in shooting them, especially the young ones. We're shooting .365 from the arc and getting 9 treys per game. That's very good. If we could get at least that every game, it could elevate this team enough to ensure a winning record and give us a good shot at the NCAAs.

 

[pfister1]

I feel like Roberson and Coleman are both very tentative and lack confidence. I would like to see them both work on being quick and decisive when they gets the ball on offense. Every time Roberson touches the ball I feel like I see a pause while he formulates in his mind what his next move is going to be. When he's inside that usually means someone will defend or even block his shot. Nothing goes up super quick. Coleman I just feel is slow, slow, slow.... It would be great if when they got the ball deep in the lane they could score it with consistency.

I would love to see Cooney work on getting better shots (meaning square to the hoop).

I would like to see us play some minutes with G off the ball and see what comes out of it. That means a reasonable number of minutes so that Frank or KJ have a chance to get their sea legs before we decide the experiment doesn't work and G has to be the point. 3 or 4 minutes and one mistake is not enough time.

I would like to see Cooney on the bench when he isn't shooting well. I don't mean benched, I just mean rest...try another combo.

I would like to see Tyler Lydon be more assertive on offense. Take the shot when it's there, it's there more often than you think it is.

I want to see Mal continue to drive to the hoop.

Finally, I'd like to see everyone improve their free throw shooting.

Would love to see the team experiment with some man defense. It doesn't seem like this team is the best suited team to play the zone, so why do you have to be 100% committed to trying to put the square peg in the round hole. Maybe the square hole is the right one this season.

 

[Jack Hall]

There's another thread about where are we right now. I thought a thread on how we might improve would be appropriate.

1) One of our centers could develop into a force inside. I don't really see this happening. They obviously aren't even trying to develop Obokoh any more. I don't see any really improvement in Coleman and it's hard to imagine that we'll see any more than we've seen the rest of the way. As Jimmy Salatin said yesterday, "He just can't get off the ground". And what he does on terra firma isn't all that encouraging.

2) Kaleb Joseph or Franklin Howard could emerge as a legitimate point guard. Michael Gbinje is a possible All-American but he's not really a point guard. A point guard gets everybody organised, breaks down the defense and gets the ball to our best offensive threats. Mike is our best offensive threat. I think Howard has the greater potential here and having him not play at all in a 21 point win over Cornell is disturbing. But I still have hopes he could become an important player for us by the end of the year.

3) Tyler Lydon has been amazing so far but I think he could be used better at the top of the key. He'd be an ideal guy to lob the ball into and he could shoot or drive from there, dump it down low or back out for threes that would be open as the defense would collapse on him. he makes much more sense there than Roberson. But there seems be no inclination to change from our "Ring around the Rosie" offense to something centering on the high post.

4) This may be two reason but I'll combine them because the problem is the same. Tyler Roberson and Mal Richardson are talented players who have been inconsistent. Roberson needs to have the pilot light on all the time. Richardson needs better control and shot judgement. Tyler was great against Cornell. Hopefully that will continue. And I don't expect Richardson will ever got 0 for 11 again. This is the area for improvement I am most optimistic about.

5) Trevor Cooney is Trevor Cooney. I'd like to see him drive to the basket more and I do think that if you are missing from 20 feet it might be worth it to see what you could do from 10-15 feet but I doubt that we'll see a change in his game. But I bet we don't see another 0 for 12 stretch again. Trevor should at least be able to get us 2-3 treys a game. It could matter in a close game.

6) Internal defense. Even if Coleman and Okohboh can't score, they have big enough bodies to make it difficult for other teams to score inside. Unfortunately, they don't seem to know how to use their bodies. Lydon can block shots but how will he stand up to ACC big men? This is the area I'm least optimistic about. The best we can do is try to prevent penetration. But we haven't been good at that, either.

7) External defense. The biggest physical advantage we have over other teams. is size in the backcourt and one the wings. And our two seniors are part of that so there's plenty of experience, too. That should make the zone formidable but it hasn't so far, for some reason. There are too many open looks and too many penetrations. it seems to be JB and Hop's biggest concern. Maybe that will produce the greatest improvement.

8) Defensive pressure. We've gotten back into games after bad starts with pressure defense. teams with internal defensive problems often try to make up for it with pressure. But we never seem to use it proactively, to create leads and to break games open. I realize we lack depth but I don't think that the limitations of Howard and Joseph would make them a liability in pressure situations. And the limitations of Coleman and Okoboh are lessened if all they have to do is stand in front of the basket to prevent lay-ups. But that isn't our way so I don't expect to see it.

9) Shoot the lights out. I expect we'll pull off at least one big upset this year with our outside shooting and we may blow a couple teams out the same way. it may get us a couple of marquee wins that could get us into the NCAAs instead of the NIT. But what i really want to see is a more consistent outside game. That's almost an oxymoron. But since we depend so much on the jump shot, I know we're working on it all the time. I have hopes that we'll get better at setting up those open shots and our players will get more and more confident in shooting them, especially the young ones. We're shooting .365 from the arc and getting 9 treys per game. That's very good. If we could get at least that every game, it could elevate this team enough to ensure a winning record and give us a good shot at the NCAAs.

To me its pretty simple, we all saw the template in Bahamas. You can say it was a fluke but we did not win those 2 games w smoke and mirrors. In the Bahamas we spread the court w 3-4 shooters, shot a TON of 3s and made a high % of 3s, then they had to come out and guard us . At that point the lane was wide open and we were able to drive it on top of hitting 3s. Not too many teams can beat us in that scenario imo.

But obviously its all predicated on making our 3s. If we dont we will lose to some lousy teams (as we already have) but conversely if we do, as has been discussed we will win some big games (as we did in baha). It is what it is

But make little mistake about it, imo we are not a dribble drive (first) team . we will not develop an impressive low post game this year and we will not have a real pg this year. Again it is what it is. If we are going to beat anyone real good this year we have to be a very good (volume and %) outside shooting team. Its all predicated on that first.

You can mock me all you want but...If we are going to make a run in March, assuming we make the Dance, imo we will basically need to take over say 25 3s a game. If we shoot less than 30% we could likely be one and done. But if we shoot over 20-25 3s / game at over a 33-40% clip we could go to elite 8. When you are a team w some glaring weaknesses (as has been discussed ad naseum here) you better go to your one potential strength- which in our case is spacing the court w 3-4 shooters and firing away. Go hard w that strength or go home. Who knows maybe these great young men get hot at the right time. Go Cuse!

 

[Nicknack]

Great post as usual, SWC. I agree with just about everything you mentioned. For me, I don't like how we seem to be opposed towards trying to develop the center position more WITH A CENTER. I just think Coleman could do more over the season if we continue to go to him so he develop confidence and some rhythm. It's tough for any center to continue to battle when they don't get the ball much. The other piece of this is that when players do go to him, make the damn pass. Yesterday, I liked more activity towards his direction but there were to many errant passes.

Frank is the other thing that bothers me as well. I won't go on about how disappointing it is to see him sit in games where we have the game in hand so I'll just leave it at I believe we are wasting an opportunity to develop a young man who could end up being a big contributor by March.

 

[Nicknack]

You can mock me all you want but...If we are going to make a run in March, assuming we make the Dance, imo we will basically need to take over say 25 3s a game. If we shoot less than 30% we could likely be one and done. But if we shoot over 20-25 3s / game at over a 33-40% clip we could go to elite 8. When you are a team w some glaring weaknesses (as has been discussed ad naseum here) you better go to your one potential strength- which in our case is spacing the court w 3-4 shooters and firing away. Go hard w that strength or go home. Who knows maybe these great young men get hot at the right time. Go Cuse!