We need to hire an offensive coordinator.

[TinyManInside]

nm

 

[Trueblue25]

My votes for Gandalf.

Surely a wizard can take 6 scholarship players and make an offensive powerhouse.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We had one, but the HC didn’t listen to him apparently.

 

[Alsacs]

My votes for Gandalf.

Surely a wizard can take 6 scholarship players and make an offensive powerhouse.

You can defend JB but our 2013 team had MCW, Triche, Fair, Southerland and Rak/Keita and Grant and it was a terrible halfcourt team.
He doesn’t do anything to help the offense.

 

[dollarbill44]

Amen. While watching that horror show last night, I couldn't help but wonder if JB of past decades would have allowed such a lack of adjustment on the offensive side. GT played a fairly simple defense and we never really made any adjustments to attack it for easier looks. Sure, the way the game was officiated allowed GT to manhandle our players, but we continued to bang our heads into the wall for 40 minutes. Btw, both teams got away with egregious fouls all game.

 

[NineOneSeven]

You are always a very respected and rational poster so I am curious if you get better replies than if other posters posted something similar

 

[Trueblue25]

You can defend JB but our 2013 team had MCW, Triche, Fair, Southerland and Rak/Keita and Grant and it was a terrible halfcourt team.
He doesn’t do anything to help the offense.

Im not defending jb, I’ll reword my thoughts.

Jb hasnt noticeably had a strategy on offense for like a decade (from what I’ve seen). However, our team right now is so lacking in depth I’m not sure it even matters.

 

[jr4750]

The old man cemented his ways into adamantium years ago. Ain't no chance of changing it now. We got at least 4.5 more years of zone and iso ball. Just hope we can get more talent than our opponents, because they will definitely know what our scheme will be.

 

[cuse10]

You can defend JB but our 2013 team had MCW, Triche, Fair, Southerland and Rak/Keita and Grant and it was a terrible halfcourt team.
He doesn’t do anything to help the offense.

But they still ran. They haven't actively pushed the ball up the court and look to run fastbreaks since Ennis got the reins.

 

[RF2044]

We need better guards. Why is it that a team like Louisville under Pitino was also zone-oriented, but had no problem marching out a parade of smaller guards who could all handle, pass, and shoot without hurting THEM defensively?

College basketball is heavily guard driven. Ours aren't good enough. Simple as that.

 

[SoBeCuse]

We need better guards. Why is it that a team like Louisville under Pitino was also zone-oriented, but had no problem marching out a parade of smaller guards who could all handle, pass, and shoot without hurting THEM defensively?

College basketball is heavily guard driven. Ours aren't good enough. Simple as that.

Agree. Better and more of them/ballhandlers. Some homers are complaining how GTech clutched and grabbed all game. You know what? NOBODY worries about going up against Georgia Tech and their ‘vaunted’ defense, lol. Frank makes Alvarado look like Tony Allen. Nobody legitimate who covers the sport complains (at least publicly on any platform) about Virginia’s defense except sore loser fans. Villanova as well. If you have good guards and good ballhandlers then you exploit tight defense. Georgia Tech would still beat us 4-2/4-3 in a seven game series, IMO. Heck, Pitt and Stallings don’t even play defense and we barely could score.

 

[Jasoncuse]

We need better guards. Why is it that a team like Louisville under Pitino was also zone-oriented, but had no problem marching out a parade of smaller guards who could all handle, pass, and shoot without hurting THEM defensively?

College basketball is heavily guard driven. Ours aren't good enough. Simple as that.

L'ville brought in kids with athleticism, quickness and offensive ability. We bring in longer players and hope to turn them into skilled players.

 

[SoBeCuse]

L'ville brought in kids with athleticism, quickness and offensive ability. We bring in longer players and hope to turn them into skilled players.

Unfortunately I think this is the gist of it. Yet, they still deploy some zone.

 

[RF2044]

L'ville brought in kids with athleticism, quickness and offensive ability. We bring in longer players and hope to turn them into skilled players.

Agree 100%. And what's frustrating about that approach is that if there is a position where it doesn't make sense to sacrifice skill, it's in the backcourt. Guards are too important in college basketball.

Unfortunately I think this is the gist of it. Yet, they still deploy some zone.

I think it is just a rationalization, that you need big guards to play zone effectively. I mean, on paper I certainly get the advantage of having a 6-6 guard challenging shots, but being active covers a lot and can also be a way to deter shot attempts.

 

[Fly Rodder]

We need better guards. Why is it that a team like Louisville under Pitino was also zone-oriented, but had no problem marching out a parade of smaller guards who could all handle, pass, and shoot without hurting THEM defensively?

College basketball is heavily guard driven. Ours aren't good enough. Simple as that.

It'd be interesting to see what this team would look like with someone like Alvarado (who was gettable*) or Matt Coleman at PG, FH at SG, Tyus at the 3, Moyer at the 4 and Chukwu at the 5 with Brissett, Marek, and Sidibe coming off the bench.

Missing out on Greene and then not getting another capable guard really hurt this season. Taurean leaving was tough, but not having a PG really hurts.


*Gettable in the sense that I think he would have committed to Syracuse, but I have no idea if he would have qualified at SU

 

[Cusefan0307]

In a perfect world Howard is a 2 and Battle is a 3 IMO, but guards aren’t the only issue. You need to at least have bigs who can catch(Sidibe was on his way to passing Chukwu, but he got hurt) and you need to have 4 guys who can shoot or the paint is way to packed to drive the ball.

 

[NineOneSeven]

In a perfect world Howard is a 2 and Battle is a 3 IMO, but guards aren’t the only issue. You need to at least have bigs who can catch(Sidibe was on his way to passing Chukwu, but he got hurt) and you need to have 4 guys who can shoot or the paint is way to packed to drive the ball.

Last year we had 4 guys who could shoot. And shoot well.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Last year we had 4 guys who could shoot. And shoot well.

This year’s team is the complete opposite of last year. All defense/no offense. We need to get some balance. I think it’s coming next year.

 

[manleyzoo]

I'm at the point where I don't care about defense anymore at all and recruiting for the zone makes me want to hurl. Personally, I'd rather see us lose 91-89 than win 51-49. I've always thought, maybe wrongly, that the whole idea on offense is for the coach to make sure players are in a place on the floor where they can make a shot. Or maybe two shots. There's barely a game where that happens anymore. Here and there, yes, but not very often for years. The one constant for the awful offense is the old ball coach. He says you can't win if you don't make shots. Well, duh. Is it possible to open up the offense by maybe changing up the defense? Can you give us a peek at something different? Just a peek? I'm basically begging for him to finally to step aside for a younger person to grow into the job. And I'm an old guy saying that.

 

[pearl31]

I want to disagree with all the derision towards JB's offense. I want to say, "yeah, but..." but I can't. Valid points being made all around last night/this morning.

 

[FrancoPizza]

I think it is just a rationalization, that you need big guards to play zone effectively. I mean, on paper I certainly get the advantage of having a 6-6 guard challenging shots, but being active covers a lot and can also be a way to deter shot attempts.

If JB stopped obsessing over the high post entry pass which is just a decoy for most teams, maybe he'd realize you can get away with shorter players who can actually play basketball at their natural positions.

 

[Jasoncuse]

It'd be interesting to see what this team would look like with someone like Alvarado (who was gettable*) or Matt Coleman at PG, FH at SG, Tyus at the 3, Moyer at the 4 and Chukwu at the 5 with Brissett, Marek, and Sidibe coming off the bench.

Missing out on Greene and then not getting another capable guard really hurt this season. Taurean leaving was tough, but not having a PG really hurts.


*Gettable in the sense that I think he would have committed to Syracuse, but I have no idea if he would have qualified at SU

Why wouldn't he have qualified? GTech is a very good academic school and he got in as a frosh there...

 

[cuse10]

Agree. Better and more of them/ballhandlers. Some homers are complaining how GTech clutched and grabbed all game. You know what? NOBODY worries about going up against Georgia Tech and their ‘vaunted’ defense, lol. Frank makes Alvarado look like Tony Allen. Nobody legitimate who covers the sport complains (at least publicly on any platform) about Virginia’s defense except sore loser fans. Villanova as well. If you have good guards and good ballhandlers then you exploit tight defense. Georgia Tech would still beat us 4-2/4-3 in a seven game series, IMO. Heck, Pitt and Stallings don’t even play defense and we barely could score.

No, they wouldn't. In spite of Syracuse's incompetence last night, they were in the game until the very end. That says more about Tech than it does about SU.

 

[Jasoncuse]

I'm at the point where I don't care about defense anymore at all and recruiting for the zone makes me want to hurl. Personally, I'd rather see us lose 91-89 than win 51-49. I've always thought, maybe wrongly, that the whole idea on offense is for the coach to make sure players are in a place on the floor where they can make a shot. Or maybe two shots. There's barely a game where that happens anymore. Here and there, yes, but not very often for years. The one constant for the awful offense is the old ball coach. He says you can't win if you don't make shots. Well, duh. Is it possible to open up the offense by maybe changing up the defense? Can you give us a peek at something different? Just a peek? I'm basically begging for him to finally to step aside for a younger person to grow into the job. And I'm an old guy saying that.

I wholeheartedly agree. If we were winning 25 games a year and getting a top 4-6 seed, fine, but we're a bubble team at best, going on 4 years now. This system is not working in the ACC and definitely doesn't gel with the current basketball landscape. You need quality guards, multiple shooters and bigs that can step out.

I'm tired of watching the same garbage every game and now every year. I won't stop watching, because I can't and don't want to, but it's just so sad and frustrating watching this program starting to circle the drain. Love JB, but I'm terrified of 4 more years...

 

[orangenirvana]

nm

Or just recruit players who aren't so offensively-challenged.