swish7
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- Aug 26, 2011
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Throughout the season, I noticed little things that caused alarm. When you go 25-0 it is pretty ridiculous to whine. But we are now on a 2-7 streak. In our worst swoons, it seems like we would still manage to end the season on at least a 5-5 streak. So, why did this season all go so wrong? What would be the result of a root cause analysis? What is wrong with this team, and when did it start? Because something is seriously wrong.
My earliest spider sense tingles were with the strategy around Fair. I questioned why we spent so many offensive possessions running isos through him. He was and is not Melo. When he isoed, some bad things would happen. Offensive movement would stall. Grant was left without opportunities. Ennis passed up a lot of opportunities and other players to get it to Fair. And Fair would have a couple bad turnovers. Root cause result: Fair is better off as Robin, not as Batman.
I don't recall exactly when it started, but sometime in this last 3rd of the season, Ennis started looking for his own offense. He started pressing matters, and the outcome was mostly positive. There were turnovers the worst of which were against that 9 win team. Root cause: I think he's better now than he was early. He turns it over more, but he creates more and handles duress very well.
Center Play
Grant. It's obvious that he's too weak. He does not have the upper body strength to be a 4o minute threat on the inside. He's very, very athletic and talented. If he stays, and if he gets stronger, he will be a POY candidate like Fair. In my opinion, we should have treated Fair and Grant as equals, in terms of offensive attempts. The earned senior stuff is stupid. Play your best and reward the hardest workers in practice. Root cause: drink more milkshakes, and be treated like the stud he is.
Cooney. Hard worker. Gym rat. Big scorer from a small school. Coached by Gerry. Root cause: Not Gerry. We need a true all around scorer at this position.
Gbinje. He plays his role and gives good effort. You cannot ask for too much more. Root cause: he was allowed to transfer from Duke for a reason. Good role player, but we rely on him too much.
JB: The D was brilliant until the entire conference adjusted to it, and our players became gassed and got injured. He was drug by the ear lobe into playing Roberson. And reverted back to benching him at the first possible moment. He created his plan early. He went all in with Fair, gave major roles to Ennis and Grant, and hoped for the best from the remaining players. He made some adjustments here and there. He asked Ennis to press more. He gave Grant more rope. Practically in desparation, he broke out the press against GT (I believe). It almost got us a victory, but he never used it again. Root cause: he recruited and coached these players. He lost this team at some point, and hasn't won 'em back. He coached tight this year. And has this week, one last attempt, to correct things.
Assistant coaches: Not sure what they do besides looking constipated on the bench. I wish our bigs were more fundamentally sound, and our Cooney knew when and when not to shoot the dagger shot.
Chemistry: It doesn't seem to be off to the degree of a Me-shaun getting a hummer in a 44s bathroom wrong, but something is off. The guys seem to like each other, but there is no emotional leadership. We do not have a killer instinct. We play down or up to the level of our competition. Allowing that to happen is a lack of leadership.
My little, puny coaching experience has taught me one thing: basketball is at once, simple, and extraordinarily complex. All the little stuff, passing, boxing out, drawing fouls, spacing, movement, is really hard to teach. However, as JB once said, it is about getting as close as you can and making a shot. We do not shot well, so we've lost that battle. We also don't do the complex things well.
But in the end, maybe we were never that good. This was a massive wasted opportunity. The best we can hope for is start building positive momentum. I don't see any way to fix this offense. However, if we can regain some of that pre-duke magic on defense, all bets are truly off.
My earliest spider sense tingles were with the strategy around Fair. I questioned why we spent so many offensive possessions running isos through him. He was and is not Melo. When he isoed, some bad things would happen. Offensive movement would stall. Grant was left without opportunities. Ennis passed up a lot of opportunities and other players to get it to Fair. And Fair would have a couple bad turnovers. Root cause result: Fair is better off as Robin, not as Batman.
I don't recall exactly when it started, but sometime in this last 3rd of the season, Ennis started looking for his own offense. He started pressing matters, and the outcome was mostly positive. There were turnovers the worst of which were against that 9 win team. Root cause: I think he's better now than he was early. He turns it over more, but he creates more and handles duress very well.
Center Play
- Dajuan. I kept waiting for him to break out. He showed flashes. It would certainly be wonderful to have him now. But, can you truly point to him as a root cause for what is wrong with this team? I think not. JB gave him token starter minutes, but hooked him early. After his injury, we got better for a while.
- But Rak seriously plateaued. My spidey sense would tingle when Rak would settle for fadeaway jumpers as opposed to attacking the rim. I was told the he always takes those shots and makes them more often than not. So what? It's not good ball for a center, not named Kareem, to do that.
- In previous years, BMK was an energizer bunny. Through sheer will and effort he could cause something positive to happen. A couple bobbles were easily forgiven because his defense was frustrating the heck out of the other team. Last night, I cannot emphasize how bad it was that he passed up that dunk attempt. It was such a fundamentally unsound play. Let me reiterate, our center passed up a dunk attempt b/c he feared being blocked and instead passed it out, and turned it over.
Grant. It's obvious that he's too weak. He does not have the upper body strength to be a 4o minute threat on the inside. He's very, very athletic and talented. If he stays, and if he gets stronger, he will be a POY candidate like Fair. In my opinion, we should have treated Fair and Grant as equals, in terms of offensive attempts. The earned senior stuff is stupid. Play your best and reward the hardest workers in practice. Root cause: drink more milkshakes, and be treated like the stud he is.
Cooney. Hard worker. Gym rat. Big scorer from a small school. Coached by Gerry. Root cause: Not Gerry. We need a true all around scorer at this position.
Gbinje. He plays his role and gives good effort. You cannot ask for too much more. Root cause: he was allowed to transfer from Duke for a reason. Good role player, but we rely on him too much.
JB: The D was brilliant until the entire conference adjusted to it, and our players became gassed and got injured. He was drug by the ear lobe into playing Roberson. And reverted back to benching him at the first possible moment. He created his plan early. He went all in with Fair, gave major roles to Ennis and Grant, and hoped for the best from the remaining players. He made some adjustments here and there. He asked Ennis to press more. He gave Grant more rope. Practically in desparation, he broke out the press against GT (I believe). It almost got us a victory, but he never used it again. Root cause: he recruited and coached these players. He lost this team at some point, and hasn't won 'em back. He coached tight this year. And has this week, one last attempt, to correct things.
Assistant coaches: Not sure what they do besides looking constipated on the bench. I wish our bigs were more fundamentally sound, and our Cooney knew when and when not to shoot the dagger shot.
Chemistry: It doesn't seem to be off to the degree of a Me-shaun getting a hummer in a 44s bathroom wrong, but something is off. The guys seem to like each other, but there is no emotional leadership. We do not have a killer instinct. We play down or up to the level of our competition. Allowing that to happen is a lack of leadership.
My little, puny coaching experience has taught me one thing: basketball is at once, simple, and extraordinarily complex. All the little stuff, passing, boxing out, drawing fouls, spacing, movement, is really hard to teach. However, as JB once said, it is about getting as close as you can and making a shot. We do not shot well, so we've lost that battle. We also don't do the complex things well.
But in the end, maybe we were never that good. This was a massive wasted opportunity. The best we can hope for is start building positive momentum. I don't see any way to fix this offense. However, if we can regain some of that pre-duke magic on defense, all bets are truly off.
