Game thread

[ctchamps]

I agree Dpross and I am sorry to rant on... but youth and coaching inexperience in my mind would play a roll in a blown lead or a bad turnover with 1 minute left or mental errors and so on. I am talking about team offensive basketball 101. You cant argue that when we ran a set early in our possession (ie out of the time out) we got better shots and were in position for rebounds and were able to rotate back for defense recovery.

There is no excuse for this. I have never coached a d1 game in my life and I guarantee you after 1 week this offense would look much better. I can make it very simple because our coach is soooo inexperienced. - Wolfe and niels set off ball screens every other possession and we call it set and fly. I am telling you we have players who move well off ball screens.. OC, RJ, BAZ, and especially DD work very well away from the ball off screens. i am not asking for an innovative princeton offense. just set some f'in screens and get players moving. by setting an off ball screen you automatically have 3 offensive players(ball handler, screen-er and cutter) movement and thus allow spacing, create mismatches and passing lanes and better shots.
No more excuses.

So you never coached one game and you claim you can out coach a guy with 14 years of NBA experience. Sorry, I don't buy it. I bet you missed the screen that Nolan set when he actually blocked a cutting OC. I'm not kidding, he must not have recognized the difference in uniform colors! Nolan and EW wouldn't be getting minutes on most mid major programs at this stage of their career if ever. TO has some skills but they come and go. DD and NG are inconsistent. I like their play but they are far from BE stars at this stage. But even when they play well, they, and the rest of the team have to compensate for the lack of quality big men!

I like your explanation of running sets and plays. You've done a lot of reading and have a passion for the sport! I just think you are weak in understanding the fundamentals of human competence and incompetence. Some people are physically adept but team uncoordinated. They can't anticipate what their team members or opposing team players are doing at the lightening speed required to do the things you are talking about. There are only four players on this UConn team who I can comfortably say are able to do this: SN, RJE and RB for sure and NG possibly. I'm betting OC gets it before this season is over. I"m not sure about DD and I'm sure TO will struggle. Not much hope for Nolan or EW even if G-d coached them. And there lies the problem. If TO gets in foul trouble forget anything complex from EW or Nolan. Things got really ugly when both DD and TO were out!!

 

[FeedTheDove]

Looking at the 2 foul yank rule comments.. The only problem i had with it that made me cringe when he took DD out was at that point in the game DeAndre was the most active player on the floor grabbing rebounds and making things happen on offense. After he was taken out things got pretty rough.

 

[bfair]

So you never coached one game and you claim you can out coach a guy with 14 years of NBA experience. Sorry, I don't buy it. I bet you missed the screen that Nolan set when he actually blocked a cutting OC. I'm not kidding, he must not have recognized the difference in uniform colors! Nolan and EW wouldn't be getting minutes on most mid major programs at this stage of their career if ever. TO has some skills but they come and go. DD and NG are inconsistent. I like their play but they are far from BE stars at this stage. But even when they play well, they, and the rest of the team have to compensate for the lack of quality big men!

I like your explanation of running sets and plays. You've done a lot of reading and have a passion for the sport! I just think you are weak in understanding the fundamentals of human competence and incompetence. Some people are physically adept but team uncoordinated. They can't anticipate what their team members or opposing team players are doing at the lightening speed required to do the things you are talking about. There are only four players on this UConn team who I can comfortably say are able to do this: SN, RJE and RB for sure and NG possibly. I'm betting OC gets it before this season is over. I"m not sure about DD and I'm sure TO will struggle. Not much hope for Nolan or EW even if G-d coached them. And there lies the problem. If TO gets in foul trouble forget anything complex from EW or Nolan. Things got really ugly when both DD and TO were out!!

One response.. I said I never coached a D1 game and being a great player or having NBA experience has very little correlation with necessarily being a good coach. More specifically a teaching coach with non pros (NBA coaching is a bit different than college). Some of the best coaches never played in the NBA or NFL and so on. I am sorry if I am not more clear about my general sentiment...

We do not run, in my opinion, a consistent team offense and look lost as a team often in the half court set. I am not concerned with how our players score the ball or not, but the general fundamental offensive design is not there. When it is and all five players look to be on the same page (out of a few time outs) we get great shots and have much more success. Waiting to start the offense with to much dribbling and no movement causes rushed possessions and bad shots.. that's all I am saying. lets run some offense.

and yes I can coach a better offense than I see from the team now nd it has nothing to do with the players.

 

[ctchamps]

One response.. I said I never coached a D1 game and being a great player or having NBA experience has very little correlation with necessarily being a good coach. More specifically a teaching coach with non pros (NBA coaching is a bit different than college). Some of the best coaches never played in the NBA or NFL and so on. I am sorry if I am not more clear about my general sentiment...

We do not run, in my opinion, a consistent team offense and look lost as a team often in the half court set. I am not concerned with how our players score the ball or not, but the general fundamental offensive design is not there. When it is and all five players look to be on the same page (out of a few time outs) we get great shots and have much more success. Waiting to start the offense with to much dribbling and no movement causes rushed possessions and bad shots.. that's all I am saying. lets run some offense.

and yes I can coach a better offense than I see from the team now nd it has nothing to do with the players.

I enjoy your bb analysis. It is frequently well thought out and informative. I'm uncomfortable with your judgmental tone. It comes off as arrogant. You could be the best coach in the world for all I know, but to state things in the manner you choose as an anonymous poster really puts you in a bad light imo. And I don't believe I'm alone in this thinking. If we knew your real identity and watched your progress in the coaching ranks and you end up being a Coach K or Brad Stevens or a Bobby Knight then I would reconsider. Otherwise you're just another guy with good ideas that fails to execute them. In many ways this is kind of like the team you can't stand watching - you are just standing around.

I disagree with you're premise that failure by players to execute is the result of poor coaching. It can be, but doesn't alway have to be. Sometimes the onus is on the players. Are coaches to blame for accepting players that don't pan out. Certainly although even on this issue I have reservations because scouting has no way of determining if X players skills can work with Y players skills and if all the individual players coming in bring a collective great product. Furthermore a coach often must make a choice to select a player before knowing how all the players he is looking at will choose. Sometimes they are hoping another player they are recruiting will offset a weakness of the first player. But if that second player chooses another school they don't overcome that weakness. In other words recruiting is frequently hit or miss.

If you disagree with me on this last point fine. But certainly there is no argument that can be made that this current group of players are KO players. And for reasons that have been exhausted in other posts next year has been handicapped for KO as well.

 

[bfair]

I enjoy your bb analysis. It is frequently well thought out and informative. I'm uncomfortable with your judgmental tone. It comes off as arrogant. You could be the best coach in the world for all I know, but to state things in the manner you choose as an anonymous poster really puts you in a bad light imo. And I don't believe I'm alone in this thinking. If we knew your real identity and watched your progress in the coaching ranks and you end up being a Coach K or Brad Stevens or a Bobby Knight then I would reconsider. Otherwise you're just another guy with good ideas that fails to execute them. In many ways this is kind of like the team you can't stand watching - you are just standing around.

I disagree with you're premise that failure by players to execute is the result of poor coaching. It can be, but doesn't alway have to be. Sometimes the onus is on the players. Are coaches to blame for accepting players that don't pan out. Certainly although even on this issue I have reservations because scouting has no way of determining if X players skills can work with Y players skills and if all the individual players coming in bring a collective great product. Furthermore a coach often must make a choice to select a player before knowing how all the players he is looking at will choose. Sometimes they are hoping another player they are recruiting will offset a weakness of the first player. But if that second player chooses another school they don't overcome that weakness. In other words recruiting is frequently hit or miss.

If you disagree with me on this last point fine. But certainly there is no argument that can be made that this current group of players are KO players. And for reasons that have been exhausted in other posts next year has been handicapped for KO as well.

I agree with your points as well and certainly players performance impacts offensive success - of course. And I dont mean to sound arrogant - its more frustration and concern for the team. I think we can do a better job (with current personal) in our set offense by establishing a TEAM offensive stratagy in the half court. Out of time outs yesterday we got into an offensive set early in the shot clock and every time got a good look and had a balanced court. This is true. So there is something to be said for this. right?

 

[ctchamps]

I agree with your points as well and certainly players performance impacts offensive success - of course. And I dont mean to sound arrogant - its more frustration and concern for the team. I think we can do a better job (with current personal) in our set offense by establishing a TEAM offensive stratagy in the half court. Out of time outs yesterday we got into an offensive set early in the shot clock and every time got a good look and had a balanced court. This is true. So there is something to be said for this. right?

Yep! And I'll use that point as an argument that these players are coached well but struggle to retain what coaches have taught them in practice because it hasn't become second nature with them yet!

Just a heads up! I'm coaching you on the way to approach this forum. You got talent. You just need to channel it differently. Everyone gets frustrated with losses or bad play. There are just better and worse ways of expressing our frustrations. Same as there are better and worse ways for player movement, shooting mechanics, boxing out and so forth.

We're all opinionated here. And this forum has opted for a lot of leniency with how members can express themselves. That's a wonderful thing. I don't want to come off looking like I'm censuring you. I'm not.
I'm hoping to help you understand that if you continue to post in the manner you are currently posting there will be a lot of people who will try to marginalize you. And no matter who we are, very few of us are comfortable when popular opinion turns against us.

Stick with suggestions how you would run plays if you were coaching the team without the derogatory remarks that our coaches don't know how to coach or without making yourself out to be smarter than everyone else. Everyone loves ideas. No one loves to be made to grovel in ideas and many of us are uncomfortable when someone is abusive to others, even when that abuse is meant to be caring. Just my suggestions to a fan who has some otherwise good ideas.

 

[bfair]

Yep! And I'll use that point as an argument that these players are coached well but struggle to retain what coaches have taught them in practice because it hasn't become second nature with them yet!

Just a heads up! I'm coaching you on the way to approach this forum. You got talent. You just need to channel it differently. Everyone gets frustrated with losses or bad play. There are just better and worse ways of expressing our frustrations. Same as there are better and worse ways for player movement, shooting mechanics, boxing out and so forth.

We're all opinionated here. And this forum has opted for a lot of leniency with how members can express themselves. That's a wonderful thing. I don't want to come off looking like I'm censuring you. I'm not.
I'm hoping to help you understand that if you continue to post in the manner you are currently posting there will be a lot of people who will try to marginalize you. And no matter who we are, very few of us are comfortable when popular opinion turns against us.

Stick with suggestions how you would run plays if you were coaching the team without the derogatory remarks that our coaches don't know how to coach or without making yourself out to be smarter than everyone else. Everyone loves ideas. No one loves to be made to grovel in ideas and many of us are uncomfortable when someone is abusive to others, even when that abuse is meant to be caring. Just my suggestions to a fan who has some otherwise good ideas.

Understood. And I am full on the KO bus I just wish they would make this a point. I am still not sure our starting 5 isn't capable of retaining basic motion sets they learn (hopefully) in practice and running them during a game. . On the other hand, our ft shooting is much better than years passed.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Yep! And I'll use that point as an argument that these players are coached well but struggle to retain what coaches have taught them in practice because it hasn't become second nature with them yet!

Just a heads up! I'm coaching you on the way to approach this forum. You got talent. You just need to channel it differently. Everyone gets frustrated with losses or bad play. There are just better and worse ways of expressing our frustrations. Same as there are better and worse ways for player movement, shooting mechanics, boxing out and so forth.

We're all opinionated here. And this forum has opted for a lot of leniency with how members can express themselves. That's a wonderful thing. I don't want to come off looking like I'm censuring you. I'm not.
I'm hoping to help you understand that if you continue to post in the manner you are currently posting there will be a lot of people who will try to marginalize you. And no matter who we are, very few of us are comfortable when popular opinion turns against us.

Stick with suggestions how you would run plays if you were coaching the team without the derogatory remarks that our coaches don't know how to coach or without making yourself out to be smarter than everyone else. Everyone loves ideas. No one loves to be made to grovel in ideas and many of us are uncomfortable when someone is abusive to others, even when that abuse is meant to be caring. Just my suggestions to a fan who has some otherwise good ideas.

Vegas has put the odds @ 4/1 that the poster is Brian Fair a high school basketball coach. "Brian" does have a tendency to be a bit hypersensitive but I really enjoyed the intelligent dialogue between you/fleudslipcon (a Boneyard legend in his own right) and the aforementioned "Brian".

 

[bfair]

Let me say this. I love ko but the best coach for the next 20 years is a guy you may have heard of and who from why I hear from a good friend would be interested.


Coached at Wagner last year!

 

[ctchamps]

Understood. And I am full on the KO bus I just wish they would make this a point. I am still not sure our starting 5 isn't capable of retaining basic motion sets they learn (hopefully) in practice and running them during a game. . On the other hand, our ft shooting is much better than years passed.

That's the beauty of the season. This is the developmental stage. Hopefully there is a upward trend to development. I've seldom seen this. Only those seasons where the players have been playing 2 or 3 years with one another and where there is a sprinkling of superstars, along with very good players and good support players does a season go well from the beginning to end. That was the sophomore KEA and junior RH year (1998-99 season) or the 2004 season.

Otherwise there are a lot of bumps in the road with WTF losses or teams that should be easy to beat staying close. If you have tapes or if you go to the UConn website look at the progress of JL his freshman year! It wasn't always pretty. So expect something similar from DD and OC. Yes DD is a sophomore in grade but last year he hardly played and because he was caring for his sister who had cancer he was significantly distracted.

If you understand human nature the way you understand the dynamics of the game you could end up being a terrific attribute to this forum, or maybe someday, an incredible coach.