Effort and basketball IQ are seriously lacking overall. Two possessions in a row, we throw away a basic inbounds play leading to a layup and then Copeland tries to make some sort of no look pass and takes five steps to do so, turning it over…again.
Bells lack of effort is something that cannot be allowed to happen, especially with a first year coach. Think about the message it sends, you don’t HAVE to play D or rebound here at SU even as a FORWARD, just shoot. Sorry, that’s not gonna play unless we want more one dimensional shooters who can’t rebound or play D. I’m sure Bell has given up more points allowed not rebounding or letting every player he guards go bye him like he’s not there.
Bells not the only one with the lack of effort though, Benny’s done the same the last 2 years. Two forwards who can’t guard their man, is not a good thing.
Basketball IQ is often underrated IMO. This team makes inbounding the ball hard. How does a basic basketball play, you learned in your first year in youth basketball become a turnover waiting to happen?
If you decided to make the next SU game a drinking contest, take a shot every time you see one of the 6 things below happen. You’d have alcohol poisoning by the end of the first half.
1. Bell gets beat by his defender. You may not make it to the first TV timeout.
2. Inbounds play that results in a TO or near TO.
3. Two or 3 SU defenders go for the block they don’t get they fall over each other crashing to the floor leading to an easy offensive board and layup.
4. Bell looks like he’s confused if he’s supposed to be playing M2M or zone.
5. Our guards drive and jump with absolutely no idea if they are shooting or passing leading to a TO.
6. Every bad shot…lol
I do think Red deserves a long leash to fix this though. He’s been an assistant and recruited some current players sure but they were recruited to play zone. Still surprises me to see them struggle this much defensively though. It just looks like they have no idea how to play help defense in M2M.
Anyway, a lot of work to do for Red. Gotta be patient, if he’s bringing in forwards who can’t play defense or rebound in a few years, then we will have a real problem. I don’t think Red does that.