I have some nits to pickā¦ but someone check that Dougie Fresh assist at the end of the half!
3 Likes
I can tell you my worst story. That year NC State at home. NC State at UHall home. I had 3 turnovers in minute of play. I went to Slaughter that night and played against @haney for hours
6 Likes
Your handles got better over time, @DFresh11.
2 Likes
Wtf is that NC State logo during the intro (at the 0:15 Mark)
1 Like
āif Chris Corchiani isnāt going to guard you then youāve got to make yourself an offensive threat. And he does that right here!ā
(Thereās a pretty sick no look pass early, a gorgeous lob over a double team in the corner to a fronted post man, and a pretty slick and-1 through a narrow laneā¦ good stuff!)
6 Likes
Man, Chris Fowler was young!
I wish there was more film from the older eras. Itās fun to revisit. Itās never not jarring to watch guys pass up wide open threes to dribble in and take drifting jump shots from the elbow, though.
4 Likes
Man its optically so different right? Floor is all compact on the offesive side and the real gravity is to the old school big men posted up in the lane
Also: Fresh should have played more
6 Likes
A young Dragon was in the front row for that game.
4 Likes
Yeah, itās always crazy seeing the space perimeter defenders allowed their man out there and no oneās pulling the trigger even though there are plenty of capable shooters.
Itās really just that the shot wasnāt emphasized like you said. Guys would take it and make it if it was open AND if there wasnāt that super tasty couple of dribbles in for that sweet, sweet, 15 foot jumper action that everyone coveted.
6 Likes
Steph Curry changed the game as much/more than anyone in the last 30 years.
6 Likes
Oh, way more, agreed.
But his contributions changed the already changed game from the late 2000s toward the modern day - basically maximizing spacing to the extreme even well-beyond the three-point line.
There was another shift that took place before him that brought the game out to the three-point line and these clips were prior to that!
4 Likes
Kernel of thought / open question: I was recently watching old games from late 90s and early 2000s and defense seemed to be ā¦ dramatically worse. Is that a function of teams not yet needing to run guys off the 3 point line?
Watching it felt like guys were getting more open looks mid and close range, too, though.
1 Like
Not sure if this is a good answer but back then defense was centered around a lot of āhelpā in lots of situations and physicality. Maybe guys looked more open than they were?
Also, you sort of had to choose with the better players. Do you cut off their driver OR take away their shot. Defending really good players and taking both away was hard to do. Which meant you usually took a chance that they would miss from outside but made them think you were contesting
5 Likes
Not having played in that era but just watching film then vs. now, I do agree with this and itās probably a few things:
Help defense wasnāt focused on the same things (or as alert, generally) - there was a good amount of willingness to give up shots to collapse a lot of bodies around the post players.
Rim protection wasnāt as effective or consistent across as many different players. Obviously there were some great shot blockers back then but I donāt think a 6ā5" player like Bryant Stith would have been able to have quite the same amount of success around the rim now than he did then (although heād still be great and I think his game would just adjust more to the modern game).
There just werenāt as many BIG and lengthy guards running offenses/defending as there are now.
But I also think many of the fouls that were called wouldnāt be called in the college game today - so it probably was actually harder to defend.
3 Likes
Good call. I had some vague hypothesis about the change in the 3/4 spot, but hadnāt put my finger on it. Rim protection makes a lot of sense as part of it.
To add on that was the age of the NYC type point guards. Not everybody focused on shooting but moreso on running the team and getting it to the right guys etc. Derek Phelps and King Rice (boo) come to mind. Corchianni etc
2 Likes
Agreed and it wasnāt even just the guards - I came up through AAU not that long after this era and was 6ā0" in 7th grade (and then stopped growing). They didnāt teach you guard skills if you were taller back then, it was all post moves (sure, you could work on them, but they were discouraged in games and you really repped big man footwork, etc).
The advent of ball skills across bigger players changed the game offensively but it also improved team defense because you just had a ton more size able to do more different things.
6 Likes
Just for the record I do not agree that defense was not as good then as it is now. I just think that huge play/ highlight defense is better now with Ryan Dunn types and the fact that the NBA wants that
Edit: Bryant Stith would average 30 ppg in college today
1 Like
I think it would be hard for it not to be, though. The game has evolved since then - from the skill level of all players playing, to the increased collective size of the types of players able to be on the floor at the same time, to the training regimens of those players, to the systems and strategy used.
Just the fact that the internet wasnāt really a thing back then - players today are much more immersed in basketball concepts and there have been so many more lessons learned along the way.
That doesnāt mean that most of the guys playing then would be worse than the guys playing now - with current coaching and prep and training their games would also be modernized.
1 Like
