Two Reasons We Are Improving...

[newmexicuse]

G & Roberson......

Both of them have made great strides since the beginning of the season. G has far exceeded my expectations. His only flaw this season has been unreliability at the FT line , but he is improving in that area as well. He will be our star next season. Tyler's next step is to consistently make the mid-range J. I like his basic shooting form, and I believe that shot will come next season.

Rak was above & beyond last night, but by and large he made his jump over the summer and has been steadily terrific all season long so he can't be credited for intra-season improvement.

The deeper we go into the season, the more difficult it seems to become for Trevor for two straight seasons now. I empathize with the kid because he is being asked to assume a role beyond his talent level by a coach who doesn't have sense enough to rest him for a few minutes here or there when he is in the midst of missing ten straight game after game. It is not like he is a great PG facilitating others when his shot is off. I hate to say it, but it has reached the point when I start to cringe when he rises for another off-balance or rushed trey attempt.

I think Joseph is slowly improving in a two step forward one step back fashion. He made a few really nice plays at the end of yesterday's game. His long J near the end of a shot clock would have been a dagger had he gotten it off a few tenths sooner.

It has also been interesting to see for two straight games now against top competition, that it does not seem to hurt us when Chino spells Rak for short periods, so not to beat a dead horse, but if he can survive a couple of minutes here or there w Rak on the bench why does Jimmy think Cooney is so indispensible out there that he can't get a rest???

Just one more item about yesterday's game - it sure hurt to see an Onauku out there not wearing orange. How did we let that kid escape us ? He looks solid now & he will be a legit force a year or two down the road.

 

[longislandcuse]

Agree on everything but Onuaku probably wouldn't have gotten much burn until his junior year here. Definitely not this year and next year he'd have to contend with DC2/Diagne and possibly Bryant.

 

[TinyManInside]

Tyler's biggest problem with his midrange shot is his footwork. It's really bad. Everything comes up short because he doesn't get any lift from his legs.

 

[NorSyr66]

I think the biggest reason we are improving is the solid work of the coaching staff. Think back where this team was early this season. Nearly every aspect of the team needed rapid improvement, and in numerous areas not just tweeking. Even Xmas needed to focus on not getting silly fouls that had plagued him for the last three years and he started to repeat in the first few games. Without doubt G and Roberson have moved to the head of the class but Joseph and Patterson have also made solid strides. All of this happens with player dedication and solid coaching, pointing out the areas for improvement then hard and repetitive work to achieve better results. No doubt, the team is a lot better than we were earlier this year. Then there is Cooney - not sure what is happening there?

 

[sufandu]

Tyler's biggest problem with his midrange shot is his footwork. It's really bad. Everything comes up short because he doesn't get any lift from his legs.

I'll add release point to that too. It's often way too low and his shot has almost no arc on it. It's almost like he's shooting it at the rim instead of over it.

 

[RF2044]

I think the biggest reason we are improving is the solid work of the coaching staff. Think back where this team was early this season. Nearly every aspect of the team needed rapid improvement, and in numerous areas not just tweeking. Even Xmas needed to focus on not getting silly fouls that had plagued him for the last three years and he started to repeat in the first few games. Without doubt G and Roberson have moved to the head of the class but Joseph and Patterson have also made solid strides. All of this happens with player dedication and solid coaching, pointing out the areas for improvement then hard and repetitive work to achieve better results. No doubt, the team is a lot better than we were earlier this year. Then there is Cooney - not sure what is happening there?

Coaches have done a GREAT job, for sure. Not good, great. When you think about the relative inexperience many key players had, all of the injuries, players stepping into new roles, the offensive ineptitude earlier in the season, etc. for the coaching staff to get this team to where they can legitimately play top 10 caliber teams and go toe-to-toe with them, they've done a great job.

But I don't want to leave the players out, because they deserve a TON of credit for working hard, buying in, improving, stepping up, and not getting down / losing focus as a function of the post-season ban.

I know it hasn't always been "pretty," but this team has been easy to root for--at least for me. They've really improved over the course of the season.

 

[Cowtown]

Tyler's biggest problem with his midrange shot is his footwork. It's really bad. Everything comes up short because he doesn't get any lift from his legs.

If it's anything like last year, he has nothing left after running his ass off trying to get open without success for 40 minutes every game.

 

[sufandu]

If it's anything like last year, he has nothing left after running his ass off trying to get open without success for 40 minutes every game.

Are you talking about Tyler or Trevor?

 

[Cowtown]

Are you talking about Tyler or Trevor?

Tyler Cooney. ... Trevor.

 

[MSOrange]

Coaches have done a GREAT job, for sure. Not good, great. When you think about the relative inexperience many key players had, all of the injuries, players stepping into new roles, the offensive ineptitude earlier in the season, etc. for the coaching staff to get this team to where they can legitimately play top 10 caliber teams and go toe-to-toe with them, they've done a great job.

But I don't want to leave the players out, because they deserve a TON of credit for working hard, buying in, improving, stepping up, and not getting down / losing focus as a function of the post-season ban.

I know it hasn't always been "pretty," but this team has been easy to root for--at least for me. They've really improved over the course of the season.

Yes and I don't think it will be totally appreciated because of where we ended up compared to the preseason rankings - which is silly when you take everything into account.

 

[RandygoCuse]

If Roberson can master the jumper we could put out a nice sized lineup

DC
CM
TR
MG
Richardson

 

[SUMBA]

It has also been interesting to see for two straight games now against top competition, that it does not seem to hurt us when Chino spells Rak for short periods, so not to beat a dead horse, but if he can survive a couple of minutes here or there w Rak on the bench why does Jimmy think Cooney is so indispensible out there that he can't get a rest???

We were outscored 7-2 last night in the 5 minutes that Obokoh was on the floor. That is why Rak came back.

 

[newmexicuse]

Several in this thread have talked about the good to great job the staff has done. I by and large agree. I think Jimmy has done an especially great job in getting this group to play better post-self penalty when the team might have just as easily given up on the season. the off season development of Rak and the in-season improvements by G & Tyler & others have been astounding. The coaches get a good part of the credit for that.

However, I have one quibble with the staff, but it is a big one. That quibble is the handling of Trevor Cooney. It is not only the failure to substitute and give the kid any rest. It is a lack of recognition of his capabilities. They treat him like he is GMAC II. Unfortunately, he isn't nearly the player that Gerry was & that is not Trevor's fault. They give him a green light to shoot from anywhere at any time. There is no accountability for his taking good shots. There is no accountability when he gets out on the break & doesn't pass & then misses the layup. We see an occaisional glimpse of a solid drive to the rack and/or a pullup J, but mostly we see long stretches of his just chucking up treys. Trevor is basically an average player with one special skill, but instead of coaching him to manage and maximize that skill he gets reckless freedom which results in his not really honing & refining that skill. This season look sthe same as last in terms of Trevor's play - no adjustments by the staff to not repeat the same mistakes. The second half of yesterday's game was the first time all season there might have been any kind of a red light on the kid. Just imagine how good we would be if everybody else played as well as they did in the second half and you add in a couple of really selective takes and makes by Trevor.

 

[sufandu]

Several in this thread have talked about the good to great job the staff has done. I by and large agree. I think Jimmy has done an especially great job in getting this group to play better post-self penalty when the team might have just as easily given up on the season. the off season development of Rak and the in-season improvements by G & Tyler & others have been astounding. The coaches get a good part of the credit for that.

However, I have one quibble with the staff, but it is a big one. That quibble is the handling of Trevor Cooney. It is not only the failure to substitute and give the kid any rest. It is a lack of recognition of his capabilities. They treat him like he is GMAC II. Unfortunately, he isn't nearly the player that Gerry was & that is not Trevor's fault. They give him a green light to shoot from anywhere at any time. There is no accountability for his taking good shots. There is no accountability when he gets out on the break & doesn't pass & then misses the layup. We see an occaisional glimpse of a solid drive to the rack and/or a pullup J, but mostly we see long stretches of his just chucking up treys. Trevor is basically an average player with one special skill, but instead of coaching him to manage and maximize that skill he gets reckless freedom which results in his not really honing & refining that skill. This season look sthe same as last in terms of Trevor's play - no adjustments by the staff to not repeat the same mistakes. The second half of yesterday's game was the first time all season there might have been any kind of a red light on the kid. Just imagine how good we would be if everybody else played as well as they did in the second half and you add in a couple of really selective takes and makes by Trevor.

I agree. I like Trevor. I want to see him succeed. I like that he's attempted to diversify his game. I think it needs to be accepted that, despite him having measurable athleticism better than GMac and similar to or better than Eric Devendorf, he will never be comfortable in traffic. He is not a good decision maker on the break. His job on the break should be to give the ball up and spot up in the corner or trail with the opportunity to shoot off the secondary break while other guys fill lanes. That break last night with two guys trailing him while he threw up an ugly falling down off balance whatever that was can't happen. I don't get how the staff has not made this adjustment.

 

[HoustonCuse]

The coaches have done a good job getting this team more coherent on offense. They've also gotten G engaged and he has shown some great capabilities. Roberson is increasing incrementally. One subtle thing they have fixed is Rak's severe complaining to the refs. He has toned that down tremendously in the last 5 games or so. One area they have not been able to coax improvement is in the defense.