First, I will qualify by saying it's been two games. Some of these issues will work themselves out.
1. I am not nearly as concerned about the freethrow shooting as most on here. Trice is 4-14. Everybody else is 13-24 in very limited opportunities. That number for everyone else is what matters. Just a couple more makes and the percentage is fine. It will self correct. Trice is exactly what he is. A very poor offensive player that gives great effort, rebounds at an extremely high level and plays very good on the ball defense. The staff knew that's exactly what they were getting. I saw someone post that he needs to be getting way less minutes. That's simply not true. He is playing about 13.5 minutes which is pretty close to where he needs to be. The biggest thing is he can't be on the floor at then end of close games.
2. This team is really good defensively at most positions. You can tell that they have spent an incredibly high amount of time in practice on being sound defensively. Barry and X are elite perimeter defenders and Dean, Trice and Mak are way above average interior defenders that can step all the way out to the three point line on a switch. Kam is an awful on the ball defender, but one of the things that I liked last night was them putting him on the worst player offensively. He was able to basically float around and use his experience to be in the right spot to get a couple of big steals. Carti and Mike are both playing well defensively. Once again, you can see how much time they have spent on the defensive end of the floor in practice. I think that is part of the problem on the offensive end and it's a great problem to have.
3. Offensively, the team simply isn't shooting well. If they make 4 of 14 threes in the first game (still bad) instead of 1 of 14, they win that game by 20. If they make just 2 more of their open threes and shoot 60% from the line last night, they win by 20. That's why I am not overly concerned right now. What's concerning is who is taking the shots. Kam and Mike are 2-14 from three point range. X was 1-7 last night, but you could really tell in the second half that the lack of practice over the last week has hurt him. He had no lift on his shots in the second half. Dean and Carti aren't going to continue to be 0-7, they are too good of shooters for that. The freethrow percentage is going to get back up to close to 70% for the year and the three point percentage is going to get back up to 35%.
4. The posts are fine. Dean, Mak, Trice and Stockard are going to be the four that play significant minutes. I know people talk about Mak being more aggressive, but it's not an issue for me. He is a really good defender that is happy to take whatever shots come to him in the flow of the game. He was saddled with foul trouble last night, but at least two of those fouls were pretty tough calls that don't get made normally. Dean's shot will start to fall and the guards will do a better job of getting him the ball in better spots. But boy did I love watching the way he rebounded the ball last night. When was the last time one our post players had a 12 point 16 rebound night and people were talking about him needing to be more aggressive.
5. The guard/wing play has to get better. And quickly. Take Barry away and our 1-3 position is shooting 10-49 from the floor with 13 assists and 13 turnovers. Those are absurd numbers. I am not going to bag on them any more than I have. I don't think the shooting will continue to be as bad as it has and that will lead to some better overall play.
6. Coaching. I am not going to get on the coaching yet. My guess is they have been spending an inordinate amount of time on defensive work and simply haven't put in as much time on the offensive end of the floor. If that's truly the case, I love it. Most coaches spend all of their time in the early part of the year putting in offensive sets and plays and work on the defense as the year goes along. I think the way Bruce is doing it is so much better. What I won't do is give them a pass on not playing SNW. I know how hard it is for a loyal coach to take minutes away from a Senior. It's hard. But that's why good coaches have good assistants. And when they are telling you that you need to do exactly that, you have to listen. It will be very interesting to watch how this plays out.
Sorry that was so long and if you didn't read, I don't blame you.
1. I am not nearly as concerned about the freethrow shooting as most on here. Trice is 4-14. Everybody else is 13-24 in very limited opportunities. That number for everyone else is what matters. Just a couple more makes and the percentage is fine. It will self correct. Trice is exactly what he is. A very poor offensive player that gives great effort, rebounds at an extremely high level and plays very good on the ball defense. The staff knew that's exactly what they were getting. I saw someone post that he needs to be getting way less minutes. That's simply not true. He is playing about 13.5 minutes which is pretty close to where he needs to be. The biggest thing is he can't be on the floor at then end of close games.
2. This team is really good defensively at most positions. You can tell that they have spent an incredibly high amount of time in practice on being sound defensively. Barry and X are elite perimeter defenders and Dean, Trice and Mak are way above average interior defenders that can step all the way out to the three point line on a switch. Kam is an awful on the ball defender, but one of the things that I liked last night was them putting him on the worst player offensively. He was able to basically float around and use his experience to be in the right spot to get a couple of big steals. Carti and Mike are both playing well defensively. Once again, you can see how much time they have spent on the defensive end of the floor in practice. I think that is part of the problem on the offensive end and it's a great problem to have.
3. Offensively, the team simply isn't shooting well. If they make 4 of 14 threes in the first game (still bad) instead of 1 of 14, they win that game by 20. If they make just 2 more of their open threes and shoot 60% from the line last night, they win by 20. That's why I am not overly concerned right now. What's concerning is who is taking the shots. Kam and Mike are 2-14 from three point range. X was 1-7 last night, but you could really tell in the second half that the lack of practice over the last week has hurt him. He had no lift on his shots in the second half. Dean and Carti aren't going to continue to be 0-7, they are too good of shooters for that. The freethrow percentage is going to get back up to close to 70% for the year and the three point percentage is going to get back up to 35%.
4. The posts are fine. Dean, Mak, Trice and Stockard are going to be the four that play significant minutes. I know people talk about Mak being more aggressive, but it's not an issue for me. He is a really good defender that is happy to take whatever shots come to him in the flow of the game. He was saddled with foul trouble last night, but at least two of those fouls were pretty tough calls that don't get made normally. Dean's shot will start to fall and the guards will do a better job of getting him the ball in better spots. But boy did I love watching the way he rebounded the ball last night. When was the last time one our post players had a 12 point 16 rebound night and people were talking about him needing to be more aggressive.
5. The guard/wing play has to get better. And quickly. Take Barry away and our 1-3 position is shooting 10-49 from the floor with 13 assists and 13 turnovers. Those are absurd numbers. I am not going to bag on them any more than I have. I don't think the shooting will continue to be as bad as it has and that will lead to some better overall play.
6. Coaching. I am not going to get on the coaching yet. My guess is they have been spending an inordinate amount of time on defensive work and simply haven't put in as much time on the offensive end of the floor. If that's truly the case, I love it. Most coaches spend all of their time in the early part of the year putting in offensive sets and plays and work on the defense as the year goes along. I think the way Bruce is doing it is so much better. What I won't do is give them a pass on not playing SNW. I know how hard it is for a loyal coach to take minutes away from a Senior. It's hard. But that's why good coaches have good assistants. And when they are telling you that you need to do exactly that, you have to listen. It will be very interesting to watch how this plays out.
Sorry that was so long and if you didn't read, I don't blame you.
