It was a win so that is good. However, some things stood out to me. It was obvious from the beginning that Miami was going to play stall ball and shorten the game because of the difference in talent.
JB in the beginning of the game used to the press a couple of times, but we got no turnovers and he just stopped using it the rest of the half and allowed Miami to dictate tempo. I hope the next time we play Miami in 3 weeks that he has the team ready for stall ball. The offense looked like a clogged toilet yesterday and I get Cooney was off, but Ennis/Grant played passively and made Fair/Cooney take all the shots.
I wish JB would give the bench a little more run, but obviously he knows this team a lot better than I do as yesterday we only went 6.5 deep yesterday. I get with not many fouls their was no need to play that many guys, but with Cooney struggling in the 2nd half I was wondering why Mike Gbinije didn't get much playing time.
It appears to me JB is comfortable with these slow tempo/stall ball type games because he likes his talent more than the others. The reason yesterday was a bad game was we never put game pressure on Miami and allowed them to stay within 7 points the entire 1st half and thus shortening the game made a lot of sense. I love this team and honestly think we are legitimately a top NC contender, but JB needs to light a fire under this team as I don't care if the other team hits their shots and beats us I just don't want to watch a team play passively and let the other team dictate tempo/style of play. If we press in the beginning of games and give up a couple of layups because of it, but it speeds the other team up I think its smart to do that as the more possessions in games favors the better team.
Finally, Rak Christmas is improving and I am loving his post ups. The kid may not be perfect, but his offense is improving and if he can post and give us ANY threat down low that could be huge in March. This kid may not be the defender that Keita is, but he is improving and had FOUR key points in the 2nd half yesterday. I hope this kid keeps improving and we have a post presence.
JB in the beginning of the game used to the press a couple of times, but we got no turnovers and he just stopped using it the rest of the half and allowed Miami to dictate tempo. I hope the next time we play Miami in 3 weeks that he has the team ready for stall ball. The offense looked like a clogged toilet yesterday and I get Cooney was off, but Ennis/Grant played passively and made Fair/Cooney take all the shots.
I wish JB would give the bench a little more run, but obviously he knows this team a lot better than I do as yesterday we only went 6.5 deep yesterday. I get with not many fouls their was no need to play that many guys, but with Cooney struggling in the 2nd half I was wondering why Mike Gbinije didn't get much playing time.
It appears to me JB is comfortable with these slow tempo/stall ball type games because he likes his talent more than the others. The reason yesterday was a bad game was we never put game pressure on Miami and allowed them to stay within 7 points the entire 1st half and thus shortening the game made a lot of sense. I love this team and honestly think we are legitimately a top NC contender, but JB needs to light a fire under this team as I don't care if the other team hits their shots and beats us I just don't want to watch a team play passively and let the other team dictate tempo/style of play. If we press in the beginning of games and give up a couple of layups because of it, but it speeds the other team up I think its smart to do that as the more possessions in games favors the better team.
Finally, Rak Christmas is improving and I am loving his post ups. The kid may not be perfect, but his offense is improving and if he can post and give us ANY threat down low that could be huge in March. This kid may not be the defender that Keita is, but he is improving and had FOUR key points in the 2nd half yesterday. I hope this kid keeps improving and we have a post presence.