lack of ball movement

[Sea Bass]

this team has struggled with moving the ball quickly. The ball has been sticking in the hands of some players and that has led to forcing offense resulting in turnovers. Unless the Flyers get the kind of ball movement they have had the past few years the team will struggle to score in the half court.

[Don]

It was hard, but I think I remembered one bright(??) spot in the X game. Sam Miller finally made a 3-pt shot. He's supposed to be pretty decent from there and just needs to get over the freshman nerves. With Steve Mc. as foul-prone as he is, Sam will be getting a steady dose of minutes.

[DallasFlyer]

I agree this has been a bit of an issue. Pierre helps this if/when he's back. Archie's teams have shown ability to win multiple ways, but I think you are on to something as they tend to move the ball well when they are winning. Minimize turnovers and maximize ball movement are things for the team to works towards.

[CE80]

They are trying to get the ball into the low post but are not decisive enough to get it in there or when it goes in there the player with the ball is either not in the position to do something or is to slow in doing it.

[SeasonTicketFan]

The team struggled offensively last year too. Their defense was good in Puerto Rico, but the offense was not in sync.

The offense will improve, but will take longer this year with so many new players.

[Flyer 86]

I missed several minutes yesterday due to frustration. The ONLY freshman who moves the ball and seems trustworthy and confident is MIKESELL.

Xeyriuis probably the next best when it comes to performance not just ball movement. Of course he's turning it over and making some dumb freshman attempts. But i like his confidence level and ability to try to mix it up. He'll learn to make wiser shot choices.

Can't judge anything with Steve Mac yesterday, just a neg day.

Crosby is progressing, i liked the few minutes i did see.

HOWEVER, Arch needs to shorten the bench playing less players and give MIKESELL some more minutes/PT. LOVE this kid. Drained the shot i saw, and the ball moved. Very confident out there.

Not even gonna talk about Kyle, Cooke or any others yesterday . Yesterday is done.
MOVING on.

[Flyer1986]

Another issue to me is D Davis. Last year he had many open threes, catch and shoot from kick outs and ball movement. This year he seems to be setting up deeper, not in position for a good shot. He seems to be a player struggling to find his role. A little more ball movement and a little better defense of penetration and we will be fine. All of the new players have shown me things I like, but all have things I dont like also. Looking forward to 2 months from now and seeing the improvement that Arch seems to deliver. That said, we have some nice wins already, wins that could keep on giving come selection day. Go Flyers!

[steve]

Originally Posted by Flyer1986 Another issue to me is D Davis. Last year he had many open threes, catch and shoot from kick outs and ball movement. This year he seems to be setting up deeper, not in position for a good shot. He seems to be a player struggling to find his role. A little more ball movement and a little better defense of penetration and we will be fine. All of the new players have shown me things I like, but all have things I dont like also. Looking forward to 2 months from now and seeing the improvement that Arch seems to deliver. That said, we have some nice wins already, wins that could keep on giving come selection day. Go Flyers!

Yep..He's definitely the biggest issue, imo, thus far....He's not creating, getting open off screens, rushing to catch the few times he gets his hands on the ball, etc....With his lack of D and some terrible committed fouls I never thought I'd classify DD as one-dimensional but he's not even THAT right now..DD needs to average close to 10 ppg this year........They need shooters out there and I can see KD being barely better than last year but still being left open like crazy....It's even more imperative this year being able to hit open shots with the shot clock down to 30. There simply is not enough time anymore to reverse the ball to try to find that 2nd shooter alot of times..

[CE80]

Originally Posted by Flyer1986 Another issue to me is D Davis. Last year he had many open threes, catch and shoot from kick outs and ball movement. This year he seems to be setting up deeper, not in position for a good shot. He seems to be a player struggling to find his role. A little more ball movement and a little better defense of penetration and we will be fine. All of the new players have shown me things I like, but all have things I dont like also. Looking forward to 2 months from now and seeing the improvement that Arch seems to deliver. That said, we have some nice wins already, wins that could keep on giving come selection day. Go Flyers!

Hasn't he been playing more pg? He is not going to get the same kick out open looks. We need Crosby to start earning more minutes.

[bhflyer5]

Originally Posted by CE80 Hasn't he been playing more pg? He is not going to get the same kick out open looks. We need Crosby to start earning more minutes.

D. Davis is in one of his funks again. He's a head case once he misses a couple shots in a row. How many air balls did he have last game? After that, he stopped shooting open looks and looked as if he couldn't wait to get the ball out of his hands. We need to figure out a way for him to not get so nervous after missing a few or else he's gonna have a slump like last year.

[FLYER5]

Scooch was ok, but everything considered the one player that I thought played the best and looked like he belonged most was Xeyrius Williams. He's going to be a good one.

Miller was game, though he looked out of sorts. He didn't crumble under the pressure. He's going to be a good one if he can get stronger in the weight room. By the time he graduates I think he will be a very good player.

Same with Mikesell They have some resilience and they'll both need it. Don't know if it's toughness yet. I'll leave it as resilience. But these are two players that I think if they get tough they will be good.

X had two or three guys crashing on every rebound. I don't remember any offensive rebounding if we had any at all. They work you over in the half-court and turn all your misses into points on their end. Great rebounding team.

I didn't see this coming, but Archie's statement before the game about the Flyers not being ready to play them was not coach speak. At all.

[DallasFlyer]

Originally Posted by Flyer 86 I missed several minutes yesterday due to frustration. The ONLY freshman who moves the ball and seems trustworthy and confident is MIKESELL. Xeyriuis probably the next best when it comes to performance not just ball movement. Of course he's turning it over and making some dumb freshman attempts. But i like his confidence level and ability to try to mix it up. He'll learn to make wiser shot choices. Can't judge anything with Steve Mac yesterday, just a neg day. Crosby is progressing, i liked the few minutes i did see. HOWEVER, Arch needs to shorten the bench playing less players and give MIKESELL some more minutes/PT. LOVE this kid. Drained the shot i saw, and the ball moved. Very confident out there. Not even gonna talk about Kyle, Cooke or any others yesterday . Yesterday is done. MOVING on.

Big Steve is going to be fine. He'll have better days.

For Mikesell, having developed in high school both as a front court and back court player, you can see it coming pretty naturally for him. As he's adjusting to the college game, he really just needs to add strength more than anything. But I can see the coaching staff running some plays, and really trying to get him going in the coming weeks.

With Xeyrius, he has all the tools. He's raw, but such a great athlete, that it's easy to see why he's getting opportunities, but he's going to make freshman mistakes. Hopefully, by conference play, those mistakes will be more rare.

Crosby deserves more PT probably but we just can't take Scoochie off the floor. Hard to really see what we have with him as of yet.

Honestly, only Sam Miller has disappointed. Like Mikesell, he needs to add strength. But he looks like a kid who is more than anything lacking confidence right now. Hopefully, he can get things going cause he kind of looks like a poor man's Bobby Wehrli right now...

[FLYER5]

I don't think Miller has looked that bad. Not making excuses for his inept offense so far, but he is being asked to defend the deep post, which is something he didn't do in hs.

I think we'll start to see him come on. I look for him to be an offensive asset in league play once he settles down. But I will admit that I thought he would be more physically ready to play inside from the start.

It is hard for me to envision a niche he may carve out because he is a tweener playing out of position right now. But I realize that where I say tweener, Archie sees mismatches.

[DallasFlyer]

Originally Posted by FLYER5 I don't think Miller has looked that bad. Not making excuses for his inept offense so far, but he is being asked to defend the deep post, which is something he didn't do in hs. I think we'll start to see him come on. I look for him to be an offensive asset in league play once he settles down. But I will admit that I thought he would be more physically ready to play inside from the start. It is hard for me to envision a niche he may carve out because he is a tweener playing out of position right now. But I realize that where I say tweener, Archie sees mismatches.

Agree with your assessment. I had similar expectations. I guessed that Sam would be the most college-ready of the bunch. That hasn't come to fruition. He may be great, but he just hasn't wowed me yet, while some of the other guys have flashed a bit more early on. I'm not losing patience or complaining, or down on the kid though. It's a steep learning curve.

[San Diego Flyer]

Our weak passing is an adjunct to our lifeless offensive movement. When we are moving and in synch, the right pass is more automatic. We are not moving because Arch is making a major investment for the future in Freshman minutes in ooc. These guys weren't around when we were dazzling the world with crisp sharp passes and in constant motion the last two seasons.

Now we have one or two or three Frosh in the lineup at the same time. Not saying Arch shouldn't do it, but we aren't going to get the 2014/15 edition of the Flyers with that many new players inserted. They have to learn the offense until they can do it in their sleep. Takes time.

Then factor in several supposedly good shooters casting 3's and missing at an alarming rate, and yesterday is what we get.

Sam Miller? The world is going by him before he can blink. He is a half step slow on almost everything. He will probably make the most improvement from his Freshman year to his Soph year as anyone.

[marco red eagle]

Sam Miller and Crosby had the most to learn in the UD practice that I saw. Nothing since that practice reverses my thoughts about the 2.

I heard it loud and clear directly from AM ... he is forced to give freshman time on the court during prime time ... he knows he will get burned from doing this ... his positive that he mentions is ... they will be "better" players later this year. This is the lot we are in due to Pierre being gone. It will be a bumpy ride.

[steve]

Originally Posted by San Diego Flyer Our weak passing is an adjunct to our lifeless offensive movement. When we are moving and in synch, the right pass is more automatic. We are not moving because Arch is making a major investment for the future in Freshman minutes in ooc. These guys weren't around when we were dazzling the world with crisp sharp passes and in constant motion the last two seasons. Now we have one or two or three Frosh in the lineup at the same time. Not saying Arch shouldn't do it, but we aren't going to get the 2014/15 edition of the Flyers with that many new players inserted. They have to learn the offense until they can do it in their sleep. Takes time. Then factor in several supposedly good shooters casting 3's and missing at an alarming rate, and yesterday is what we get. Sam Miller? The world is going by him before he can blink. He is a half step slow on almost everything. He will probably make the most improvement from his Freshman year to his Soph year as anyone.

Agree 100%...Miller is no different than plenty of high school kids who are OL that enter college and finally start banging against guys their own size..It's the true measure and the only way they get better and realize what they need to do is taking their licks..

Also, it's no coincidence that without Big Steve on the floor we really have no inside/out game and everything is perimeter based...That's all well and good if you have multiple shooters out there knocking down shots but not what UD is presently shooting..Defenders are extending out and the only inside game usually starts with KP getting the ball 10-15 feet away and slashing to the hoop....

Archie knows it's well worth it to take a few licks right now to get the youngins' ready.......

[Alberto Strasse]

Reasons:
1. KP needs to think less about shooting the "J" and more about passing rebounding
and foul shooting. A "true team" works hard to get the ball to the best shooters
when they are ready to shoot. Dribble penetration by KP is OK but he is not
reliable yet at the foul line.
2. Darrel "Baby" Davis lacks confidence. He muffs the catch for an open trey which
allows the "D" to recover. He throws sloppy, soft loopy passes due to his spindly
arms. He must step up soon because so far he's regressed.
3. Sam Miller sees the court well and gets the ball where it needs to go but his
passes are too soft for College ball and get intercepted.
4. Ryan Mikesell is the best passer and moves the best without the ball since Jim
Paxson Jr. He needs more P.T.
5. Charles Cooke III is a great shooter and scorer. He should be receiving passes.
When he is passing the opponent's defensive game plan is working.
6. Using big Steve on the pick and roll is not a pretty sight. It is a turnover waiting
to happen. That play may work against SEMS but not X or Vandy.
My final thought is that "In Archie We Trust". He will get it figured out and UD will improve.

[DGO67]

Regarding "lack of ball movement," there was plenty of ball movement...unfortunately it was robotic. It looked more like passing used to salt away a game...not to set up a shot.
X is at the top of their game and we're not, but heading in the right direction.
So let's rumble on!!!