The major flip is that we got bigger and more athletic at 1-4, and it helped the defense quite a bit, but most of the rest of it rings pretty trueâŚ
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Great post Hav, then and now. To your point about just liking eachother and having fun. Weâre seeing it now with NC State. Power of team chemistry.
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I assume the one on one discussions with players start next week?
Based on the past couple of seasons, this factor might need to make it into our big man recruiting profile:
https://x.com/brucefeldmancfb/status/1770857142091649047?s=46&t=wAzMZR-0PRGT1LpN6U5x0g
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Sir Mixalot for recruiting coordinator
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Coaching staff specifically from Oakland.
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OMG Haney, look at thatâŚ
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One of the reasons I think our bigs need to be thiccer is so they can better execute the post seal that creates a driving lane/takes the rim protector out of the play:
I always think of Gonzaga with this, but Wake is really good at this too, and CSU got us a couple times with it.
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You are right about the observations and how revealing it is that nothing really changed.
I wonder, though, if the disgraceful, embarrassing losses culminating in the putrid performance in the NCAAT might be enough to shake things up? I guess we will find out relatively soon.
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Iâm always a little hesitant to judge this because I think winning makes it more fun for everyone. Obviously there can be some extreme examples where teammates clearly donât get along but generally I think itâs harder to judge from the outside. For instance, did NC State seem like they were having fun while they were losing 7 of 9 to close the regular season. I honestly donât know but my guess is they seemed frustrated at that point.
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Youâre dedicated bro
Iâm bored as shit when itâs quiet. Got Netflix pulled up, YouTube to scout in the other tab. And a word document hidden deep in my computerâs files of to-do lists to apply to grad schools that Ill brush off⌠once portal season is over
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Analysis paralysis is a good way to describe some of our offensive issues. This year and last, itâs seemed like guys have hesitated more and more to take open shots early in the shot clock. The flair screens and lack of post game also rings true. My consolation from watching the Tournament is that there are plenty of dudes out there who could make an impact for us. My fear is that once landed, Tony has to let them play for them to make an impact, and he doesnât have a great track record in that regard.
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Iâve wondered if it has been drilled into them to think âcan I get a better shot than this later in the shot clock?â before shooting. That mantra might cause the doubt that weâve seen when a good look happens early in the shot clock, along with hesitancy when actually shooting (âwhat would Coach want me to do here, do I get the hook if I shoot this early?â).
Just in memory - no stats, feels like in 2018-2019 we WOULD take shots before the last 7 seconds of the clock when there. The low possession mantra about UVA then was that we make the OTHER team work deep into the shot clock.
This season - we were ALWAYS deep in shot clock on offense.
Whether that is how they were incented/coached to behave or a will/skill issue for some players - I donât know.
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That âpass up a good shot for a better shotâ philosophy has a different effect on different types of players.
For confident, skilled, experienced offensive players, I think that philosophy can work really well and help support some of Tonyâs overall philosophies.
For less confident, skilled, or experienced offensive players (like the ones we had this year), they are passing up some of their few good shots for generally less good shots and getting worse, not better.
Itâs generally considered good to be flexible and adaptive. Itâs why Iâm always legit curious to have the reflexive Tony defenders explain why inflexibility is good on an earnest basis and not on a poop emoji basis, but they generally donât even try. Which is telling.
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I think it has always been a big part of Tonyâs defensive game plan to make the other team play a lot of defense. Not just to wear them out, but to frustrate them because it limits their number of possessions on offense and makes them do things they might not do otherwise.
After college I played with a guy who ultimately turned out to be a good coach, and even a good defensive coach. But, I used to joke about him that he thought defense was just that thing you were forced to do in order to get the ball back for offense. That would probably describe a number of players today, most notably Kentucky, Alabama.
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Fine w a deliberate offense. More than fine. But it should feature non stop movement. Threats from all 5 spots. Watch some of our offensive possessions later in the season. A lot of standing around. Bigs not nothing to try to establish post position. Screens that didnât generate anything. Very little downhill or diagonal actions. Our offense used a lot of clock, but it sure didnât require a lot of work by the defense.
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Agree with both of the previous posts. Making the defense work for longer can be a good strategy. But using more of the shot clock than 99.9% of other teams doesnât automatically equal making the defense work that hard (as we have seen by watching the last few years).
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