Inexperience or Low BB IQ...or both

[tennmike]

Some telling team statistics...

Steals - NCAA rank #297 - Failure to recognize passing lanes. Most of our steals are of the one on one variety. Real high bb IQ guys like Henefeld, Napier and El Amin had a way of smartly being in the right place more often. Even though we are athletic, we don't press well (puzzling).
Personal Fouls - #307 - Sloppy mechanics
Opponents scoring per game - #33 - We are athletic and make teams work for their points. On the flip side, we seldom use our athleticism to speed up the game. Tick off time by throwing it around the perimeter. Not much going on other than some high picks. Our wings swinging back and forth. Over reliance on individual athleticism and shot making...but we have few shot makers.
Scoring efficiency - #166 - Obviously have trouble scoring...personnel.
Assists to turnover ratio - #181 - Here again...sloppy and reliant on individual plays.

Pet peeve...we have to have the worst inbound plays ever.

We are quick to extrapolate from a few wins and conclude that we are advancing up the learning curve. I hope that is the case because our players aren't changing between now and the end of the year.

 

[Kitaman]

Wow after reading this I am with Scrappy and the other posters.

We will win all of our remaining games, and then the AAC tourney, then get an 11th seed and then win the whole tourney.

Its obviously our year and your well documented post supports that line of thinking.

 

[jibsey]

Some telling team statistics...

Steals - NCAA rank #297 - Failure to recognize passing lanes. Most of our steals are of the one on one variety. Real high bb IQ guys like Henefeld, Napier and El Amin had a way of smartly being in the right place more often. Even though we are athletic, we don't press well (puzzling).
E Personal Fouls -turn #307 - Sloppy mechanics
Opponents scoring per game - #33 - We are athletic and make teams work for their points. On the flip side, we seldom use our athleticism to speed up the game. Tick off time by throwing it around the perimeter. Not much going on other than some high picks. Our wings swinging back and forth. Over reliance on individual athleticism and shot making...but we have few shot makers.
Scoring efficiency - #166 - Obviously have trouble scoring...personnel.
Assists to turnover ratio - #181 - Here again...sloppy and reliant on individual plays.

Pet peeve...we have to have the worst inbound plays ever.

We are quick to extrapolate from a few wins and conclude that we are advancing up the learning curve. I hope that is the case because our players aren't changing between now and the end of the year.

The turnover one really stands out because they turn into points against us pretty quick. I always thought our defense is what has kept us in games and prevented blowouts.

 

[alexd]

The turnover one really stands out because they turn into points against us pretty quick. I always thought our defense is what has kept us in games and prevented blowouts.

Well, we are also #49 in FG% defense.

 

[ctchamps]

Replying to your title: YES

 

[UChusky916]

Some telling statistics that paint a partially accurate picture of the team. Let's go deeper...

Here's another gem: We're ranked 271st in average offensive rebounds per game at 9.5 per game. Teams like Louisville, Kentucky, and West Virginia live off of offensive rebounds. We're almost ALWAYS one-and-done on the offensive end. That's a killer for a team that doesn't shoot particularly well.

FWIW, our assist/turnover ratio last year was 1.06. Better than this current year's ratio of .96, but not spectacular by any means. So maybe this stat is a little over-valued? Last year's team simply shot better on the offensive end, made more 'winning' plays, and rebounded better down the stretch when it mattered.

We all know about the shooting woes this team has and the fact that there's no other consistent offensive threats outside of Boat, who is often keyed-on by the other team. Not only that, but the team simply does not make 'winning' basketball plays. 'Winning' plays do not show up anywhere on the box score, but Shabazz made so many of them for this team last year. Boat is trying to do so this year, and often does. But, he has no supporting cast to help him out. I also don't think Boat creates high-percentage opportunities for his teammates as well as Shabazz did.

The team's problems are a result of BOTH low BB IQ and inexperience. But BBIQ and experience are normally tied together. I think the bigger issue has been the team's inability to play disciplined basketball.

Ollie has not done a good job of having his team play up-tempo with high intensity while remaining disciplined. I'm HUGE fan of KO, but the off-season mentality of RUNNING and PUSHING THE BALL IN TRANSITION probably hurt this team from a developmental standpoint. So many times I feel like this team was just one or two plays away from going on a run and breaking the game open or putting it comfortably out of reac, only to watch them shoot themselves in the foot with a turnover, a key missed rebound, or a bad foul.

I have seen many folks here say that the team lacks intensity, but I disagree. Committing bad fouls and turnovers has been a staple of this team and both are big momentum-killers and totally alter the game. Once you start to commit bad fouls and turn the ball over, it's natural to play a little more passively and tentatively on both sides of the ball. You can tell the team tries hard to play tough D but also is not disciplined enough to do it without fouling or missing an assignment. This is why the team sometimes appears to play great D, but only in short spurts. But it's been near-impossible for them to get on sustained runs this year because of the constant miscues on both sides of the ball.

How many times have we seen these scenarios on the defensive end?:
-30+ seconds of good D, resulting in bad shot, but failing to secure the defensive rebound
-30+ seconds of good D, followed by poor foul which bails out the other team
-30+ seconds of good D, followed by missed assignment resulting in easy bucket

And how many times have we seen these scenarios on the offensive end?:
-Good set creates good look, missed shot, no offensive rebound
-Good job of pushing the ball in a transition opportunity, offensive foul
-Good job of pushing the ball in a transition opportunity, turnover
-Good job of pushing the ball in a transition opportunity, missed lay-up
-Good job of pushing the ball in a transition opportunity, get fouled, miss missed throws

Things often seem to snow-ball for this team as well. For instance, I've seen them play good defense for a few consecutive possessions, but they're unable to score offensively to make the other team pay. Eventually, after enough bad shots on offense, the other team gets out in transition where they capitalize for easy points.

The team's inexperience and lack of discipline is a frustrating thing to watch. I won't, however, begin to question the team's heart and intensity. I'm sure they're just as frustrated as we are. If the team can learn to play a little more disciplined, specifically Rodney Purvis and Daniel Hamilton, I still think they have a good shot at making the tournament and maybe even get an upset or two. Why do I think this? One final stat... Our field-goal percentage defense, with all of our issues, is 39.6% (47th overall) which is actually pretty decent when you consider the break-downs that they've had. Everything comes down to defense and if we can get back to UConn basketball defense, we'll have a shot. But the other factors resulting from lack of discipline may be too much to overcome.

 

[mauconnfan]

UChusky916, wow nice job. Especially agree with those who honestly believe this team isn't playing hard. As outlined in your thread you can play hard, but not smart, therefore fooling people into thinking you are not hustling, grinding or just playing hard. The late clock possession fouls have been killers quite often and if they had a stat we may lead the country. Love DHam but he's the unfortunate King of these with his little wrist and elbow hits during a shot with 2 seconds left on the clock.

Offensive rebounding and basketball IQ are many times, one in the same. It's proven time and time again by the kids who are 6'5 who can rebound with the best of them only because #1 - they want it but #2 they use their heads - reading not only the rebounder but when you believe the guy is hooting it so you can claw your way around the defender is soon important. Beating people on the weak side is a gift and predicated on thinking. Also where is he shooting it from? A guy shooting a short 8-10 footer is rarely going to have a lot of long rebounds so you need to be closer where as long jumpers you need to be boxing out with more authority without fouling so as to not get caught under the basket. The occasional forearm or hip check can go undetected too so these small little "dirty" use of the body is something the real good one's do well within the rules of the game. As KO has said, we don't "hit first" nearly enough.

And while KO and his staff would like to run more and be more disciplined when they do you only have so much to work with. #1 they have only one guy that gets it out of there fast enough and that's DHam. Facey and Brimah are both awful passers, never mind outlet passers - they're really bad. Can't run if you need to hand it off to a guard all the time and they do. Could they make better decisions, hell yeah I totally agree. But again, young kids and not very good passers or IQ's bringing the ball down with speed. TSam has made awful decisions on the fast break and even Boat has his days. This team is not gifted enough in so many areas to run so again, it's on KO and the staff to find people who can rebound, pass/outlet and finish in order for even this to get better.

It is frustrating but they're ours. Hopefully with an influx of talent in the next year or 2 we can get back to some of things we all expect to be a little better at in Storrs. And people just need to improve dammit, that's what they do here!

 

[UChusky916]

To elaborate more on my definition of 'winning' plays... Winning plays are instinctual and savvy attributes that come from experience but are also tied to BBIQ. It's not always something that can be learned.

Examples of 'winning' plays:
-knowing how a ball will bounce off the rim for the rebound
-beating your man to loose balls
-drawing contact to create fouls on offense
-not falling for shot-fakes on defense
-knowing what the other team wants to do on both sides of the ball and being one step ahead of them

If you want to quantify these types of plays with stats, use offensive rebounds, fouls drawn, fouls committed, and steals. Those are results of players making savvy/winning plays. We lack production in all of these statistical areas.

Some players (like Shabazz) had a knack for making these winning plays. I don't think we have a 'savvy' player who is capable of making these types of plays for us this year. It's a huge void left by Shabazz and it's not something that is easily replaced. Boat has done an absolutely tremendous job and it's unfair to expect him to make all of these types of plays... it has to be a group effort.

 

[tennmike]

Good comments.

So, if you have a team with certain attributes and some glaring deficiencies, what do you do to disguise/minimize your weaknesses (discipline, shooting, BB IQ) and capitalize on what you do well? The obvious thought of repeating the same behavior and expecting a different outcome. After all, you still have to win games. What is our strategy? Recruiting is big, but losing games against top tier and lower teams does not help that effort.