If the system was good the players we have would be able to execute in the system. Our offensive system should not struggle 4 years in a row.
The PG position was fine with MCW and Ennis in 2013 and 2014 and the offense was sub-par both of those years.
Last year we had Rakeem Christmas an elite post player and our offense was bad.
This year we have G and another sub=par offensive year.
I am sure this offense would work if you had
MCW 2013
G 2016
Fair 2013
Southerland 2013
Christmas 2015
but getting that all in one year is tough. Our system is to rely on a penetration and outside shooting.
Our D is elite but our offense is sub-pa and if we had a better offense we really could win it all this year.
The offense wasn't "fine" between 2013 - 2015 primarily due to guard struggles.
In 2013, MCW was a good passer, but was offensively challenged, and that team went through lengthy stretches of the season where they collectively struggled to put the ball in the hoop. Part of that was due to inconsistency [Southerland], part of it was due to poorly subpar three point shooting from both MCW / Triche [who regressed to something like 29% as a senior]. But that team was anemic offensively, and just happened to get hot at the right time of year, with our guards suddenly taking it up a notch offensively.
2014 -- don't get me started. Ennis's greatest strengths was in avoiding turnovers. I'm a big fan of Ennis--he was a solid player [good scorer, nice passer, decent three point shooter, very good innate feel for the game]. But objectively speaking, he had holes in many other facets of his game, including pushing the ball in transition, which might have helped that scoring challenged squad get a few more easy buckets. And the slowdown pace that he employed took its toll on our players, enabling lesser teams to hang around. It also didn't help matters that like Triche the previous year, leading scorer CJ Fair plummeted to something like 29% from three point range, a precipitous decline from the previous year, when he shot nearly 50% from trifecta.
It is revisionist history to suggest that the point guard play was "fine" either of those years, or in 2015.
In 2015, we had Rakim Christmas as you point out, who had an all american type of year. We had Gbinije finally coming into his own as a scorer after beginning the season on the bench. But let's look at the guards: we had the usual inconsistency from Cooney, and got virtually NOTHING from starting point Joseph and only marginal contributions from McCullough [for a month] and Roberson. In many games last year, we couldn't throw the ball into the ocean. There were sporadic occasions where Joseph was a difference maker [namely, the Villanova and Michigan road games], but by and large he was a non-factor.
The issues the last three years have been personnel based. All three years, it has been a combination of generally subpar PG play to varying levels, and generally poor three point shooting.
We need a point guard who can handle pressure, break things down off the dribble when our half court offensive sets bog down, get into the lane to create easy scoring opportunities, and create for both himself and his teammates off of the bounce. This year's squad does not have that type of player. As terrific as G has been, he's limited as a point. Howard MIGHT develop into that player [I like what I'm seeing this last quarter of the season].
Improve the situation at point guard, and
many of the other issues--which are symptoms of the problem, not the actual problem itself--will improve.
