College Hoops Crossroad

[Bill McPeek]

Posted without comment, however interested in opinions of Priders.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...lls-crossroads

[Chris R]

I think part of the problem with scoring is offenses have been given so much latitude late in the shot clock that there is no reason to push scoring. If your offensive sets dont work and you need a basket, just jump into somebody and get a blocking foul called and you're all set. Officials continue to bail out horrible offenses and horrible basketball plays both collectively and individually with this ridiculous "was he set?" garbage.

I couldn't care less who's set or who's moving. If you instigate the contact and jump from point A and decide you want to land at point B, all bets are off dude. You just abandoned your position of home-base verticality and if you want to throw up slop or get the ball bumped out of your hands, that risk is entirely on you. We should only be protecting players that land from the same spot they jumped from -- defenders undercutting players notwithstanding.

What we have now is bowling and defenders are nothing but the pins. Its dumbing down the basketball because every offense knows they have a get-out-of-jail card they can play when nothing else works. Why rush a shot and push tempo and risk turnovers or poor shots when you have such a luxury with the officials?

They call 55 hand-checks in the Dayton/Findlay exhibition, then 2 weeks later I see guys doing full-gainers into the paint and knocking 2-3 defenders down at a time and getting rewarded with 2 foul shots.

Nobody has any idea what a block and a charge is anymore and I believe this has done more to hurt offenses as much as the players or coaching. Its not even matter of collecting your thoughts and deciding how officials are calling things from game-to-game or half-to-half. The inconsistency is literally play-to-play. Nobody can possibly adjust to that, nevermind overcome it.

[springborofan]

As I read the article--from both an offensive and defensive perspective--one name kept racing to my thoughts: Brian Gregory. While I liked BG, he was completely focused on defense (the new banging defense) and micro managing the offensive sets. AM is more old school on offense where a team moves without the ball and is focused on passing. The team this year was much less physical on defense and relied on moving their feet and help defense--primarily because they could ill afford fouls.

Yes, the AM style is much more enjoyable than the BG style

	Brian Gregory BRIAN GREGORY UD Men's Basketball Head Coach since 2004. Groomed by the likes of Judd Heathcoate and Tom Izzo at Michigan State, as well as Kevin O'Neill and others, Gregory's defensive-minded leadership has led Dayton to NCAA and multiple NIT appearances. A good recruiter, BG has elevated the athleticism of the squad in recent years and kept top area talent at home. Still looking for that breakthrough season with his own players that catapult him to the NCAA tourney. Graduated from Oakland University.

[xubrew]

As far as being at a Crossroad, as much as it bothers me to say this, I think it's already gone through the crossroad and is going down the path of becoming less popular.

The overly physical play and the "lack of offense" is only part of the problem. It's one of the bigger problems, but by no means is it the only problem.

The regular season is definitely boring compared to what it used to be.

-The ratings are down, the attendance is down,
-the game is too physical,
-the rivalries are gone,
-AAU is a huge problem because it showcases talent rather than develops it (and Sonny Vaccaro will be the first person to tell you that),
-the transfer rate is through the roof (largely because coaches force players out),
-way more than half of the OOC schedule is buy games,
-the TV deals bury games on premium networks and makes it hard for those who spend less than $100 a month on cable to see them,

But other than that, the game is great!!

[Gazoo]

Here's the inconsistency I see:

"College basketball's style of play today can typically be summarized by ball screens, ball screens and -- did we mention? -- ball screens. There's nothing necessarily wrong with so many ball screens. The technique opens up the offense for pick-and-roll possibilities, a philosophy that flowed to college from the NBA and international games."

I totally agree with this summary, and that's why I've said the game is too formulaic right now. But, the solution according to some is to shorten the shot clock to 25 or 30 seconds. But, that's what you've got in the NBA. By the time you cross half court you don't have time to run more than a SINGLE off-ball screen or cutting action, and after that you're down to 14 seconds so what do you do?? You motion for the big man. Let's ball screen.

Shortening the shot clock will just exacerbate this problem. Leave the shot clock where it is and fix the other problems that over-reward defenses.

[springborofan]

Originally Posted by Gazoo Here's the inconsistency I see: "College basketball's style of play today can typically be summarized by ball screens, ball screens and -- did we mention? -- ball screens. There's nothing necessarily wrong with so many ball screens. The technique opens up the offense for pick-and-roll possibilities, a philosophy that flowed to college from the NBA and international games." I totally agree with this summary, and that's why I've said the game is too formulaic right now. But, the solution according to some is to shorten the shot clock to 25 or 30 seconds. But, that's what you've got in the NBA. By the time you cross half court you don't have time to run more than a SINGLE off-ball screen or cutting action, and after that you're down to 14 seconds so what do you do?? You motion for the big man. Let's ball screen. Shortening the shot clock will just exacerbate this problem. Leave the shot clock where it is and fix the other problems that over-reward defenses.

I couldn't agree more Gazoo. The best chance to improve scoring is to stick with the plan they started early last season. Call the foul when defender bumps a cutter, call the foul when a guy hand checks. Players will adjust.

[Chris R]

And call the foul every time an offensive player has 3 seconds left on the shot clock, and makes a terrible uncoordinated no-fundamentals Dude-Perfect basketball move by lunging into some defender who otherwise can't get out of the way fast enough if he was on Wiley Coyote rocket skates. To me, the diapering of bad offense into ridiculous trips to the foul line are what has made the game almost unwatchable.

I dont see many quality offenses anymore with solid ball screens, hard right-angle cutting away from the ball, constant motion, pick and roll, ball rotation, in-and-out, weak-side kicks, clever switching of a big on a small and a small on a big, etc. Teams like Davidson and Dayton and Wisconsin and Notre Dame others that tend to consistently have very good offensive efficiencies are the exception rather than the rule. Too many teams want to play to a whistle rather than play for a result.