The Upside

[SWC75]

- Brandon Triche continues his run of strong games with 20 points, including 8 of 10 shooting inside the arc, mostly on twisting drives to the basket. As one poster in the chatroom pointed out, he rarely goes to the line because he’s so strong that normal fouls don’t prevent him from scoring.

- CJ Fair lost his scoring touch in the second half but pulled down 10 rebounds in a game where rebounding was paramount and we weren’t getting much from the bigs, (see below).

- Michael Carter-Williams had a bad game overall but he did contribute 9 rebounds. See above. He also had 4 steals.

- James Southerland was the third guy in our rebounding triumvirate and made a huge three down the stretch that gave us a workable lead.

- It was really the defense that won the game. USF scored 19 points in the first 8 ½ minutes and 25 points in the last 31 ½ minutes. People think that comebacks are about getting hot on offense but they are more about getting stops on defense. Similarly, when you fall behind it’s not just about the other team hitting shots: you fall behind because you stop scoring.

14-1 and sixteen to be done! (and then some!)

LET’S GO ORANGE!!!

 

[SoBristol]

Great point about the defense. The team adjusted to what USF did in the early stages, and made it difficult for USF to score. A big part of that was shutting off Collins.
The bigs didn't do much on the stat lines, but Keita & Christmas did OK on defense.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

I don't remember seeing this mentioned before, but:

• The announcer was all over JB's zone 'adjustment' after SF began shooting well from the outside. Said something about JB instituting zone "flex" or some such. Okay. Whatever. Seemed like a perfectly simple read to make and adjustment to apply. But, here's the thing — if the scouting were better, wouldn't such a 'flex' have been implemented pre-game? Shouldn't we know the personnel and tendencies well enough to have put them into the game plan so that we don't have to react after getting blitzed?

So, my question is... because any tape we get of opponents is likely against man defense, how valid is the scouting? We're, essentially, playing against a different team than we see on tape. Different players with different tendencies than will show up against us.

This may be (sorta?) why, for example, we may be aware of a great 1-on-1 player or pick and roll tandem, but then find out that some stiff we didn't care about is an outstanding catch-and-shoot guy. He'll hit for five 3s against us because we never saw him in a context where he could just catch and fire.

Is that valid or am i over/underthinking it?

Triche was great today. During this performance i had the odd thought that maybe he's got the best chance of having an productive NBA career... except that he'd likely have to play point in the pros. I wonder if he could adapt and/or if someone will give him a chance to adapt.

I loved that running one-hander/hook from James. And his boards and defense. Like Triche, it seems like we have a few guys who, with the addition of some real confidence/swagger, could be bigger stars than they currently are. Triche, James, and Rak strike me that way. Rak just needs more focus. Another example today - he closed out on a deep wing jumper, and just stood there in the corner after the shot went up. Could easily have gotten back into the play, but too often he just makes one 'play' and considers his work done. If he had a Kenneth Faried-type motor, we would really have something.

Cooney's just going to have to keep playing. If he's not shooting well, he's still got to get minutes to spell the other guards. He doesn't have to shoot, though.

 

[shermstheman]

I don't remember seeing this mentioned before, but:

• The announcer was all over JB's zone 'adjustment' after SF began shooting well from the outside. Said something about JB instituting zone "flex" or some such. Okay. Whatever. Seemed like a perfectly simple read to make and adjustment to apply. But, here's the thing — if the scouting were better, wouldn't such a 'flex' have been implemented pre-game? Shouldn't we know the personnel and tendencies well enough to have put them into the game plan so that we don't have to react after getting blitzed?

So, my question is... because any tape we get of opponents is likely against man defense, how valid is the scouting? We're, essentially, playing against a different team than we see on tape. Different players with different tendencies than will show up against us.



The logic is you play the way you usually play. Some teams aren't going to be able to shoot over the zone even if they've shot well against earlier (and inferior) competition...then no adjustment is needed. If they keep hitting, then you adjust. Let them prove to you that they can beat you, most teams can't. If you adjust earlier then you run the risk of opening other opportunities for them.