Four out one in

#26
#26
livefaith said:
Whew, our offense is atrocious. 4 guys staking out the perimeter with an innefective post up game in the middle. One of the successes of small ball is the ability to run up and down with quicker guys and reduce 1/2 court sets.
We started out with what looked like elite guard ppl lay, but still philosophically were a 1/2 court methodical offense. That was perfect last year as shown by the nationally high 1pt per possession stat. We had an experienced inside out threat and elite distributor too.
Not to bring Pearl into this, but this is a lot like what he inherited from Buzz. He went controlled chaos and used our guards as out strength.
We don't have strength in the paint and we don't shoot well from the arc. We need a different approach it seems to me. This group is not going to succeed in 1/2 ct offense. Run it and press all over. That offense was hard to watch last night and most the season.

I'm sure Ricks waiting impatiently for my input!
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Oh, I agree with you. I sometimes wonder what our team would look like in Pearl's offense. It would best serve this team to get out in transition and push the tempo for easy baskets. Pons and Fulk can run with anybody, but they don't have the size to carve out space in the box. Barnes isn't going to change his system because in his mind its proven to work regardless of personnel.
 
#28
#28
livefaith said:
We don't have strength in the paint and we don't shoot well from the arc.
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This might be changing though, at least from the arc. I know it's a small sample size, but sometimes all it takes is 1 shooter to open things up for everyone.

Bowden has proven he can fill it up if he's not the #1 focus of the defense. Through the 1st 3 games of the season, including the game against Washington, Bowden was 9-14 from 3, and we were at 46% as a team. The Washington game is supposedly when Turner's shoulder went to crap, and immediately afterwards so did our overall 3P %. From Alabama State - Wisconsin, we shot under 25% from 3. That's just plain awful.

Enter Vescovi into the lineup, and in the past 2 games we've shot 48% and 46% respectively. Bowden did suck against LSU, but my eyes tell me we now have 4 guys capable of draining 3's at a pretty good clip (Bowden, Vescovi, JJJ, Pons). If we can maintain a % close to the mid 40's and stop turning the ball over, we can beat a lot of teams.

I don't think running and gunning like we did in Pearl's 1st year fits the strengths of pretty much any of our players, and we have so little depth that we almost can't even afford to do it. I do like it when we apply pressure in the backcourt, but I just don't think we can keep that up for long stretches.
 
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#29
#29
ColinS said:
What about starting four guards with Pons at center. Let Fulky get his minutes off the bench rotating at the 4 and the 5. He is a more natural 4. Any way you slice it we are not gonna have any productive size on the post and this gets an unproductive freshman out of the rotation and puts our best rebounder at the 4 in JJJ. If you have a small ball roster then you might as well embrace it.
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You could still play that way with Fulkerson being the center Pons is very solid perimeter player. On defense we could be quite small and anyone with a big center and forward would bash us inside. Thus far Fulkerson has held his own and Pons leaping ability saves some attempts. With just Pons in there we would have a huge mismatch against some teams at one position.
 
#31
#31
Volfan2012 said:
You could still play that way with Fulkerson being the center Pons is very solid perimeter player. On defense we could be quite small and anyone with a big center and forward would bash us inside. Thus far Fulkerson has held his own and Pons leaping ability saves some attempts. With just Pons in there we would have a huge mismatch against some teams at one position.
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Agree but I just think Pons would be a better rim protector and rebounder. Both would have to play the position in this lineup.
 
#34
#34
livefaith said:
Whew, our offense is atrocious. 4 guys staking out the perimeter with an innefective post up game in the middle. One of the successes of small ball is the ability to run up and down with quicker guys and reduce 1/2 court sets.
We started out with what looked like elite guard ppl lay, but still philosophically were a 1/2 court methodical offense. That was perfect last year as shown by the nationally high 1pt per possession stat. We had an experienced inside out threat and elite distributor too.
Not to bring Pearl into this, but this is a lot like what he inherited from Buzz. He went controlled chaos and used our guards as out strength.
We don't have strength in the paint and we don't shoot well from the arc. We need a different approach it seems to me. This group is not going to succeed in 1/2 ct offense. Run it and press all over. That offense was hard to watch last night and most the season.

I'm sure Ricks waiting impatiently for my input!
Click to expand...

Don't think we have the defensive speed to press and run. Pearl had Watson, Jujuan Smith, and an athletic Asumnu, and even Andre Patterson to run with. He had Lofton and Smith to shoot.

We don't have that kind of speed an/or shooting. I didn't see any of last night's game, but we haven't been making enough stops on defense to run either.
 
#35
#35
VolGee4 said:
Don't think we have the defensive speed to press and run. Pearl had Watson, Jujuan Smith, and an athletic Asumnu, and even Andre Patterson to run with. He had Lofton and Smith to shoot.

We don't have that kind of speed an/or shooting. I didn't see any of last night's game, but we haven't been making enough stops on defense to run either.
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I think our 1/2 court and transition D is good enough to succeed. Unless we face a beast in the paint. They held Mizz in check pretty well as in most games. But offensively we look lost and confused!
 
#37
#37
Honestly, I think Bowden just needs to shoot his way out of the hole. He has plenty of evidence to suggest he can be an effective scorer, and we don't have many other guys with that resume. Maybe teams having to respect Vescovi will be a spark.
 
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#38
#38
Volfan2012 said:
You could still play that way with Fulkerson being the center Pons is very solid perimeter player. On defense we could be quite small and anyone with a big center and forward would bash us inside. Thus far Fulkerson has held his own and Pons leaping ability saves some attempts. With just Pons in there we would have a huge mismatch against some teams at one position.
Click to expand...
I just don't see Pons as a perimeter player. Yeah, he can splash the open jumper at the top of the key but his strength is inside. I think the position move is the biggest factor of his improvement.
 
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