I sort of get what Red is trying to do

[Ottoman]

Coach Autry has been determined to build a team with depth. And for better or worse, is committed to playing 10+ guys. He wants his players to push the pace as hard as they can, and then be substituted out when they're winded.

I think the Pace game was a preview of his plan working. By the last 8 minutes or so, the Pace players were gassed. That's when we pulled away. Pace didn't have the depth to match our substitutions, and their starters were asked to play big minutes at a high pace. They couldn't do it.

This strategy will probably work great against lower-tier teams that can't match our depth. I just don't see how it gives us any chance against teams like Duke, Kansas, Houston, Tennessee, and Louisville. They have better depth than we do. That's where Red's strategy makes no sense to me. Perhaps he is acknowledging that we are unlikely to win those games anyway and that our primary goal should be to win consistently in order to get back to the tournament.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Yeah… it was Pace.

There’s no team in college basketball where we should go in “acknowledging that we are unlikely to win those games anyway”. Now, there clearly are, and have been for far too many years, and that’s a problem.

High pace, zone defense, man to man defense, full court press, methodical offense, motion offense, exploiting iso mismatches, high screen and rolls, 5 out, aggressive trapping, 7 guys, 10 guys… whatever it is, it’s the coaching staff’s job to figure it out and work with the players to execute it.

Bottom line… Bring back Syracuse basketball. Bring back March basketball.

 

[Ottoman]

Your point is well taken - it was Pace. But while Pace is not a strong team and lacks athletes, there is no indication that their conditioning is worse than the teams we will be playing during the regular season.

 

[OrangeFoo]

Coach Autry has been determined to build a team with depth. And for better or worse, is committed to playing 10+ guys. He wants his players to push the pace as hard as they can, and then be substituted out when they're winded.

I think the Pace game was a preview of his plan working. By the last 8 minutes or so, the Pace players were gassed. That's when we pulled away. Pace didn't have the depth to match our substitutions, and their starters were asked to play big minutes at a high pace. They couldn't do it.

This strategy will probably work great against lower-tier teams that can't match our depth. I just don't see how it gives us any chance against teams like Duke, Kansas, Houston, Tennessee, and Louisville. They have better depth than we do. That's where Red's strategy makes no sense to me. Perhaps he is acknowledging that we are unlikely to win those games anyway and that our primary goal should be to win consistently in order to get back to the tournament.

I would agree except... none of that happened against Pace. We didn't push the pace (pardon the pun) at all from what I could see. To me the game reminded me of YMCA ball where you the other team's kids were a better team but only 5 showed up and they had no subs. At some point, yes the team with no subs will wear down, but it has nothing to do with our strategy it's just because of numbers. Unfortunately when we go against our normal schedule, more than 5 players from the other team will probably show up.

 

[RedtheGOB]

I would agree except... none of that happened against Pace. We didn't push the pace (pardon the pun) at all from what I could see. To me the game reminded me of YMCA ball where you the other team's kids were a better team but only 5 showed up and they had no subs. At some point, yes the team with no subs will wear down, but it has nothing to do with our strategy it's just because of numbers. Unfortunately when we go against our normal schedule, more than 5 players from the other team will probably show up.

Besides the slacking with the players it was also this inbetween gameplan, which is more of the same with all the worries people already have about AA. Ok yea we want to go fast but then you pull George in less than 4 mins. Then Kiyan ran the point for more minutes in the 1st half than George did.

Kiyan isn't build to push the ball up the court. So now we're back at the Y having a shoot around as our gameplan. No one would give a crap right now if the bench just played all game and wore Pace down the stretch and won by 10-20. Kiyan/Zephyr/Womack/Sadiq/Suare would've at least got a full game under their belt and felt good.

Might as well not even play the game or just rest the starters all game cuz what we did just is bad for the fanbase and bad for the players too.

 

[Forloveoforange]

Well, it is exhibition. That's really interesting, with Fennell out with who-knows-how-bad of a hip flexor problem, that Autry tried Kiyan at point.

 

[Niastri]

Well, it is exhibition. That's really interesting, with Fennell out with who-knows-how-bad of a hip flexor problem, that Autry tried Kiyan at point.

I said that it looked like Anthony was getting time at point guard after the Buffalo game.

He might be able to not screw it up next to Starling for a few minutes a half. But he hasn't had to do it before, so games that don't count or that we are going to win handily are the best time to give him that experience.

We wound up in a tight game and pulled away when we started playing for real. Isn't that what practices are for?