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Message: [QUOTE="CardiacCuse, post: 2860095, member: 6979"] - tyus battle will basically always have a height advantage on whomever is guarding him...same for howard (and brissett will usually have a good match up in terms of height). I would like to see some of them posted up. When MD is playing center he can stand at the top of the key - draw the big man away from the basket - and let the smaller players like battle (especially) and maybe brissett and howard post up. Battle had an excellent turnaround post bucket vs Clemson - i think he could be a great postup player in the right scheme. Maybe the answer to lack of post play is not what the centers can do but what the gaurds can do??? - battle is in his head about efficiency and shooting % - no doubt that was the feedback that he got from the NBA. His recent preference for 2-pointers and reluctance to shoot 3s seems to be related to that. However, the team needs him to shoot open 3s...(and make them). Just speculating bit it seems like his decision to not shoot 3s is having a deleterious impact when he does shoot a 3 - can almost see the wheels turning in his head calculating how a missed 3 will impact his shooting % as chucks every outside shot lately. hopefully he can just put all the stats and everything out of his head and play - if they are indeed on his mind as he plays. - i feel like refs are possibly secretly evaluated on (or given bonuses for) preventing blowouts and keeping the scoring margin as close as possible. multiple times in the first half vs clemson - as soon as syr looked like they were going to maybe open a huge lead the refs came in a called some bogus calls against SU to keep it close - the end of the first half in particular was crazy. the second half was probably called in favor of SU and they got multiple borderline calls in their favor - regardless i know CBS and NCAA want close games and buzzerbeaters so it would not surprise me if behind-closed-doors the refs are encouraged to "keep things tight" and even rewarded for doing so. in other words, my beef with the refs isn't only for favoritism - its bias towards close games. (which also seems to be happening in the NFL and other sports as well - makes sense given the influence of TV and the spike in ratings for exciting games). - my favorite lineup from the clemson game was: MD, BS, battle, howard hughes. Brissett looked a little forlorn on the bench during that stretch. the team played great and the offense was the best it was all game with that lineup. i think brissett is a good player and good 1 on 1 player but would take a huge leap if he improved his team basketball skills/tactics/thinking etc. the play where MD found him for a dunk on the break - MD had to lead him with the pass - OB didn't make the cut on his own. His biggest potential area of improvement is mental - on the team aspect of playing. physically, he's got it all - just needs to figure it out X's and O's wise. - the offense was great for the first 10 minutes - not sure about the other 30 - maybe it was good adjustments from Clemson. but it seemed in the 2nd half the ball movement stopped and the 1 on 1 play came back. part of me wonders if - since all that really matters is in march - if the team is kinda playing a certain way to not reveal their best strategy too early and not let people figure out how to stop them. for instance, the press is good but only tried for 3 possessions - it could be used much more. but if it is used sparingly it is harder to gameplan for and therefore more of a weapon in a way. i hope that is what is happening with the offense - b/c the 1 on 1 offense in the second half was clearly not as good as the ball movement of the first 10 minutes of the game. [/QUOTE]

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