Agree that D is trending the wrong direction…and it was mediocre at best to begin with.
Our D will dictate where we finish. Sure our O will save and carry us vs. lower tier teams (ie- Pepperdine last Saturday) and on an exceptionally hot shooting night might carry us to a win over the likes of WSU or USF. But that’s not a sustainable approach to success; especially with our extreme reliance on 3pointers.
At least above average D will be needed if there’s any hope of securing 2nd place. 2nd place will take a record of somewhere around 14-4. If the #3 through #6 or 7 teams beat up on each other, mostly split their games vs. each other and lose a game against a bottom pack team and lose their GU games then you could see the 3rd through 6th place teams finish around .500 to 11-7 and it’s then conceivable a team could sneak in to 2nd place with 13-5 or even 12-6 record but that’s a lot of ifs and unlikely.
I’m not going to bother contemplating 1st place, especially after the USF loss. GU isn’t lighting up the scoreboard right now but IMO there’s still a pretty distinct talent gap between GU and the next tier of teams; I’ll be surprised if they lose more than 2 or 3 games in WCC play.
California Dreaming if you think that’s ever going to happen!!!
With all respect, these guys are grown men who have been playing basketball for a longtime, so as a former player and coach I cannot put everything on the coach. How many seniors do we have? Do we not have a NBA prospect? The coach can’t make free throws or 3’s for them! The offense requires high IQ guys who can make the right reads. Is it best for this group? IDK. With that said, our defense is very soft and we do lack a true PG. Todays game is a players game and more needs to be put on them.
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I’m going to partially agree/disagree.
While running the same offense, it’s not hard to understand: ‘Let’s for the 3’s less and look for more opportunities to attack the basket off the dribble, cut harder and look for those cutters, etc.’ You get what you emphasize and it seems clear the coaches have encouraged/emphasized taking the 3’s. They’ve drank the Kool-aid of the ‘3’s and layups’ analytics…but where are the layups??? And where are the FT attempts resulting from attacking for layups and drawing contact and fouls at the rim??? We are 242nd on Torvik in FT attempt rate. That’s a direct byproduct of overreliance on 3’s.
Moreover, the best and most efficient offenses (ie- Gonzaga) are often more balanced and don’t rely solely on the 3 ball. Gonzaga is currently 277th in 3point attempt rate, we are 48th.
And to be clear…there’s also nothing special or magical about the offense the coaches have deployed. It’s continuity and motion offense and actions that over half the country is running…4 or 5 out, the dribble handoffs, handoffs/screens by bigs, pick/pop and pick/roll, ghost screens. All fairly vanilla and common stuff in today’s hoops.
I don’t hate the system but:
- we need to emphasize and use the other options available within in it: dribble penetration, pick/roll, back cuts, occasional post-ups or back downs. And,
- we don’t have to run it 98% of the time as we have been. Most of the better teams also have and run special sets or special/unique actions within their regular offense when they need a bucket or want to take advantage of a mis-match. We rarely if ever do that. How about a special set with a guard setting back screen and lob for Cam, Tilly or Mahi??? How about a set that can isolates whichever player you chose in the post when they have a mismatch??? We have a tall lineup especially on the wings, there are times when the 6-7, 225lb Mahi is being guarded by a 6-3 or 6-4 guy; why not take advantage of that and isolate him in the post??? You’ll see it occur almost by accident in a broken play once a game and then we never go back to it.
The analytics say we have a strong offense…but it could be so much better and more reliable (late game situations, ie- USF, N Dakota, etc.), if we ran the offense better and took advantage of all the options we have with this offensively talented group.
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