Originally Posted by jack72
Seeing the game in person last night, I saw great signs of good coaching. Grant has had a good effect on Williams, who is becoming a more complete player. Williams did not take a three and passed and rebounded and moved on defense. Maybe his best game this year.
Great call by Grant to try some full court and then man at the end, but our talent just can't do it on defense. Our offense is not a problem. Out defense and lack of rebounding position is a huge problem.
Great call by Grant to leave Trey and his high energy in almost the whole game. It rubs off on some of his teammates.
I bought tickets at exactly mid-court in the last row so I could watch the defensive rotation, and the offense attempts to get the ball inside.
The defensive rotations and movement on our zone looked like a cat chasing a laser dot. A day late and a dollar short most of the time. Richmond is not good and they shot 39% from three on continuous wide open shots in the corner and wing. The staff has to teach man and make the likes of Trey play it.
The passers looked inside a bunch last night. Two problems, no great post up players and our passers are too slow passing. Lots of telegraphed looks to the post and then a slow pass off target. There was some progress, but our guys have to learn to the point that they can make inside passes in split seconds. Our bigs have to post up better. Too many times Cunningham is rotating and not looking. Kostas posts up decently but turns his head away from the ball, so the guard rotates the ball. Williams was never taught by the last staff how to post up, and is clueless. Trey does a decent job of posting, but he is not tall so the pass has to be away from the defender, not high. Last night it was all about execution, which was rarely there for post ups.
Our penetration on dribble drive, led by Trey, was outstanding and the main reason we scored a bunch. DD was off shooting last night, or we would have scored 100. It was obvious from the lack of outside shot attempts by DD and Jordan and others that Grant has their ear (only 19 three attempts last night). Crutcher took two early shot clock threes, and is still on the short bus.
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I noticed the same things watching the game on facebook last evening! The only time we go fast on offense is in transition. Usually our guards throw slow passes which are often telegraphed and create turnovers. Two examples were the first two entry passes for turnovers by Crutcher at the beginning of the second half! My sons soccer coach referred to them as "hospital" passes! They have no speed on them and are easy to steal! Same is true for basketball and soccer! Cunningham would often post up and be open but our guards have a split second to throw a swift entry pass for it to be successful. I agree with Jack, however, that Josh and Kostas need to post up better. With 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock Josh can't be 20 feet out on the perimeter. Agree that dribble drive by Trey was outstanding. Would like to see less three point attempts and more dribble drives by all our guards because they are all good free throw shooters and can get to the line! 93% as a team was great. AG deserves credit because even AM's teams weren't near that good from the line!
As for defense, whether it be zone or man to man, the description of a cat chasing a laser dot is right on! Jackson kept hitting wide open three pointers from the corner even when we had Kostas in the back of the zone because Kostas was always one step slow! We don't cheat or anticipate like we should! We waited till the pass was already thrown to the corner then moved when we should have been moving with the pass or better yet cutting it off to lead to a fast break. Easier said than done but we just need to be overall quicker!
In short, everyone needs to play like Trey has been lately! The only game where he wasn't himself was the
UMass game! Others have been inconsistent from one game to the next!
