Ha - I promised some areas to clean up and some positives in the intro… ended up with like… two positive sections.
Eh - we write what we see.
Brilliant as always, thanks @Cuts_from_The_Corner !!
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Thanks! Very kind.
Great work! Gate reading these after we lose lmao.
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Thanks!
I can tell you I was much more enthused to pull up a chair to the N.C. State piece than this one.
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So, if you’ve read the piece, the part I found myself most interested in writing about (and most frustrated thinking about) was the section about the Power/Buchanan/Robinson lineup. Not in the actual impact that it had but in what it represented re: lack of early season experimentation and how backward it felt like that we got there.
I’d be interested in thoughts on that and any discussion around it.
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That lineup, especially coming when it did as we were on a roll and had brought the game almost back to even, was the nail in the coffin for me with Ron as our next HC. Just seemed like awful bench management. Not to mention I am not a TJ Power fan.
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From far it felt like what HGN said. Coaches trying to make guys happ with playing time. As far as BB and TJP go anywat
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Probably, but he clearly didn’t plan to use them like that because he had Saunders in there instead of Buchanan, pulled him for two plays probably to tell him to stop shoving guys in the back after made baskets, and put him right back in.
Just seemed like very little thought about all of that considering how particular we’ve been not to use our frontcourt in different ways.
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My Dad and I texted each other “WTF” at the same moment when that line up went in. Him from the game, me from home.
I would describe it as a lot of little decisions all made with good thought but with a failure to consider how they looked in the aggregate.
IMO we should never play that line-up. Power and Robinson still so far behind on team defense (and Power on individual defense as well). The three together bad for spacing and shot creation. Just bad.
Apart from Xs and Os, it utterly killed the great momentum we had going into it. It was one of 2-3 anchors in our demise.
Sidenote: Saunders needs to chill. He gets too chippy, too easily. Overall seems like a great personality but he’s made some dumb emotional fouls that have really hurt the team.
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I think Saunders is frustrated at our lack of ability to feed the post after he works his ass off down low, seals his man, and doesn’t get the ball. He seals really well and we rarely throw it into him. Don’t have stats on this- just noticed how often he is open on or near the block and we reverse the ball away from him. That’s frustrating as hell for him I’m sure and it manifests itself as “chippiness”. Just a guess.
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This resonates. I’d love to see us just make it a priority to feed Saunders or Cofie in the high or low post most possessions. Why not? They’re the best creators vs. whoever is guarding them on the team. Let iMac get open off the ball away from them and take feeds - enough of this forced guard facilitation when we don’t have the skillsets.
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When it happened during the game, I was mystified and aggravated. We were hanging tough and you could tell the moment could be decisive. Was also very frustrated that Robinson was completely clueless due to lack of game reps. It was a game killing substitution IMO. We have a few more months of this I guess. Will look for bright spots like Rohde (!) and further development of Saunders and Cofie. I do think we should spread the floor and find Cofie at the high post and let him take his man one on one from a face up position. I bet that is a favorable matchup for us in many cases. Once the defense adjusts and collapses, find the 3 ball.
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@Cuts_from_The_Corner Mind if I zero in on ARob some?
Wonky lineup aside, this all applies to Anthony Robinson in general now, as well. By not playing him earlier in the year aside from clean up time, especially against poor opponents, he missed out on valuable experience that would help us now when we need him to help stand up to the physicality of ACC rebounding. He wasn’t ready to contribute well enough in this game, and game reps certainly play a role in that. We clearly under-estimated how much we would need him, which was a misevaluation.
This makes intuitive sense to me, but is the implication then that they shouldn’t use him in meaningful situations going forward? I.e. that the “cake was baked” already with his lack of early playing time? Or more that “of course he’s looks like he’s behind, so we’ll just have to play catch up with his game reps and live with the results”?
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Could it be …… Rohde‼️
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Side note, with guards having limited creation skill, and a pair of forwards who can handle the ball and drive mismatches, this roster is actually begging for a Princeton offense or hybrid Princeton like the Colorado State team that smacked us last year.
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I’d like us to try some zone as a 2-3 series switch up and work on a hurry up offense when behind. What is the harm?
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I’d go a step farther with Saunders. I think he is really, really, really frustrated that he thought he went to a better program from San Diego State to Virginia and he has now realized he was at a much better program right now and he came to a very, very very crappy non-athletic mediocre not very talented team. Especially the quarterbacks (guards)
Meanwhile San Diego State is 29 in SRS and 34 in NET.
And I gotta believe there are some group chats between him and his former teammates going on where he’s catching grief as they beat Houston and Creighton and also Cal by 21… good comparison game tonight.
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I think they should absolutely play him - see: Memphis game.
But it should be with players like Cofie or Saunders (OR BOTH) not with players like Buchanan or Power. Give him a chance to thrive with our good players and then keep an eye on him (because the need to yank him in some situations is going to be very real).
The challenge is that he’s not the best fit for the Inside Triangle - although you can still do it if you have him pressure the block often. That’s going to make things a little trickier offensively and you need to be willing to mix up your offensive sets based on who is on the floor (true with Buchanan and Ames, too).
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Agree. We have talked about this a lot on the podcast. So many benefits to it.
Also want to know if we have a press-package for when we are down late and need to try to create turnovers. Speed up the game, get a couple of turnovers and score quickly. Then right back into the press/trap.
We have to have the ability to close the gap rapidly when we are down. If you are down 10-12 points with under two minutes, playing excellent/principled packline defense isn’t the answer. Just wondering if we have that in our system- because you have to have it.
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