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A motion offense requires two things to really hum at the college level.
The most important one is an intelligent point guard who can distribute and set up ball movement while being an offensive threat as well when needed. Crosby can score sometimes, but I severely doubt in his ability to set up ball movement on the offensive end and read the defense.
The other thing you really need is a forward who can distribute or score from the post, be it the high post or the low post. It seems like Josh and Kostas aren't trusted to handle the ball in the post (possibly justifiably so, which is a concern) and honestly, XW is rarely in the post, he plays like a wing. Even if it's a simple dish to the low post to a scoring threat that can either win the 1 on 1 matchup or draw in the wing defender to pass it back out for an open 3 without creating a turnover.
Without those 2 things, relying on a motion offense for points without a lot of set plays and/or PnR is going to be a dicey proposition. Crutcher is showing some promise at being the first thing, but he is still an under sized freshman adjusting to a monumental leap in level of competition. Crosby has been around 2+ years and while he plays a little more under control than he used to, it's getting late for him to blossom into the player the offense needs him to be. As for the forwards, that's a big question mark. Our bigs play way too much outside of the paint and even outside of the 3 point line. We need a trusted ball handler to work the post, and Kostas can maybe become that. Maybe Trey Landers as well as while he doesn't necessarily have the height, he at least has the bulk to bang down low a bit if needed.
If this is the offense we are going to run, then it's going to be a very up and down year with this personnel. If we end up with more wins than loses, it's going to be a solid year, which is what I have expected all along.
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