SF V.J. King (Louisville Commit)

[mauconnfan]

I'd rather watch Terrence Samuel turn the ball over 50 times a game than watch UVA pound it at the top of the key for 34 seconds.

If he wants to go there and play in that offense have fun.

The one thing you respect about a kid who chooses Bennett and UVA is he is pretty grounded. I mean they know going in this is the polar opposite of Syracuse. You will play defense and you will play it every second to your max plus. So while I agree they're offense isn't pretty they have kids who buy in to a plan and one that has been pretty successful as of late.

 

[CTBasketball]

The one thing you respect about a kid who chooses Bennett and UVA is he is pretty grounded. I mean they know going in this is the polar opposite of Syracuse. You will play defense and you will play it every second to your max plus. So while I agree they're offense isn't pretty they have kids who buy in to a plan and one that has been pretty successful as of late.

I agree there however some top recruits would prefer a more up-tempo offense. It highlights their skills more and is all-around more fun to play in. We'll have to see where King lies.

 

[Dynasty]

I have this strange confidence with King, I think we are good.

Do you have sources?

 

[boog204]

I agree there however some top recruits would prefer a more up-tempo offense. It highlights their skills more and is all-around more fun to play in. We'll have to see where King lies.

Virginia averaged more points per game than we did last year (65.3 to 64.2)... While Virginia clearly plays a more methodical half-court than we do, we aren't exactly a running or up-tempo team anymore. The last 6 years have essentially revolved around a stud point guard taking contested shots.

 

[aceboon]

Virginia averaged more points per game than we did last year (65.3 to 64.2)... While Virginia clearly plays a more methodical half-court than we do, we aren't exactly a running or up-tempo team anymore. The last 6 years have essentially revolved around a stud point guard taking contested shots.

I mean I get that Kemba/Bazz/AJ/Boat were the centerpieces of their teams offensively, but if the offense is what you described then certain guys don't exist. I know your statement isn't meant to be taken at its literal sense, but in 2014 we had an offense built around high ball screens and shooters spread out over the court, DeAndre doesn't have the type of tourney he had if it was just all about Bazz playing hero ball, same with Lamb in 2011. Having that one guy who could take bail out shots at the end of shot clock situations is pretty much essential to any team that wants to win in basketball, but I wouldn't reduce the last 6 years or so to just that.

 

[Candyman]

Virginia averaged more points per game than we did last year (65.3 to 64.2)... While Virginia clearly plays a more methodical half-court than we do, we aren't exactly a running or up-tempo team anymore. The last 6 years have essentially revolved around a stud point guard taking contested shots.

This is true but only because we've lacked an inside game since Adrien and Thabeet left. Kemba, Bazz and Boat had no one to throw the ball in the post to and let them do their thing. Instead it always came back out and they had to take the shot.

 

[boog204]

I guess my point is if I'm a wing guy, I wouldn't say our offense is as appealing as it once was (I know offense as a whole is pretty putrid in CBB). While I wouldn't signify our PGs as playing pure "hero" ball, a vast amount of our possessions relied on them making and taking tough, tough shots.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I guess my point is if I'm a wing guy, I wouldn't say our offense is as appealing as it once was (I know offense as a whole is pretty putrid in CBB). While I wouldn't signify our PGs as playing pure "hero" ball, a vast amount of our possessions relied on them making and taking tough, tough shots.

By necessity, not design.

 

[boog204]

By necessity, not design.

Truth... But will we be able to sell that to a top wing guy when we have basically 6 years of replication of this necessity? The original context of all this is someone basically saying that King is going to have choose between playing in a half-court system like Virginia or an up-tempo system like us or 'Ville. I don't think we've been an up-tempo team since, what, 2009?

 

[mauconnfan]

Truth... But we will be able to sell that to a top wing guy when we have basically 6 years of replication of this necessity? The original context of all this is someone basically saying that King is going to have choose between playing in a half-court system like Virginia or an up-tempo system like us or 'Ville. I don't think we've been an up-tempo team since, what, 2009?

C,mon I read all the time where kids like the way we run! LOL.....I guess they don't get home from practice that much for last years first halves huh?

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Truth... But we will be able to sell that to a top wing guy when we have basically 6 years of replication of this necessity? The original context of all this is someone basically saying that King is going to have choose between playing in a half-court system like Virginia or an up-tempo system like us or 'Ville. I don't think we've been an up-tempo team since, what, 2009?

During that time frame, we've also had a wing player drafted in the lottery and could have another on the roster as we speak.

And Louisville may play a "faster" game in the sense that they try and speed it up with their press. But their offense has a tendency to be just as much of a mess as ours. And what wing players are they parading around as success stories?

 

[mauconnfan]

During that time frame, we've also had a wing player drafted in the lottery and could have another on the roster as we speak.

And Louisville may play a "faster" game in the sense that they try and speed it up with their press. But their offense has a tendency to be just as much of a mess as ours. And what wing players are they parading around as success stories?

Scary thing is without points off their defense in which as you say they look to be speeding up, they're offense was really stagnant last year a lot. But they do take full advantage of their defensive scheme to get more shots than a lot of teams or at least it seems.

 

[boog204]

During that time frame, we've also had a wing player drafted in the lottery and could have another on the roster as we speak.

And Louisville may play a "faster" game in the sense that they try and speed it up with their press. But their offense has a tendency to be just as much of a mess as ours. And what wing players are they parading around as success stories?

Louisville's offense is putrid... Never said it was any good.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Lousisvilles offense is terrible. It's masked by their pressure defense

 

[KembaStepback]

Scary thing is without points off their defense in which as you say they look to be speeding up, they're offense was really stagnant last year a lot. But they do take full advantage of their defensive scheme to get more shots than a lot of teams or at least it seems.

Plus they have had some solid bigs the last few years. (Dieng and Harrell). Russ Smith was basically Boatright. Very talented undersized guard. They haven't had a solid 2/3 other than him in a long time.

 

[James]

Truth... But will we be able to sell that to a top wing guy when we have basically 6 years of replication of this necessity? The original context of all this is someone basically saying that King is going to have choose between playing in a half-court system like Virginia or an up-tempo system like us or 'Ville. I don't think we've been an up-tempo team since, what, 2009?

its not about being 'uptempo', its about putting prospects in the best position to utilize their respective skill set. scan the nation, not alot of freshman were as an integral part of a teams offense/defense as hamilton was. Virgina runs a system offense and defense, its hard for individual talent to really 'pop' out of that type of landscape.

also i take umbrage with the idea we've won tourney games on contested shots by pgs. Look at 2011, lamb exploded on the scene as a pro prospect because calhoun (along with one of his lead assistants KO) were drawing up sets to close games with lamb that made him look like reggie miller. Then in 2014 KO had daniels at every spot on the floor doing what ever he wanted. Basically at this point the offense and defense is personnel driven; KO is very familiar with lineup on/offs etc.

 

[CTBasketball]

Virginia averaged more points per game than we did last year (65.3 to 64.2)... While Virginia clearly plays a more methodical half-court than we do, we aren't exactly a running or up-tempo team anymore. The last 6 years have essentially revolved around a stud point guard taking contested shots.

The last time we had a dominant front court was 08-09, we could score at will down there with Thabeet, Adrien, Stix, and sometimes Edwards. However, from 2010-2014 we had really good guard play. We ran really good sets that were designed to get guards open looks, that's still good offense. Last year we watched Boatright pound the ball at the top of the key and take contested shots every possession.

 

[Mano]

Hopefully King will look at our team and think he can/will be the guy to open up the offense and take over things on the wing. And last year we would've been a much better scoring team if ANYONE outside of Boat and to a lesser extent AB and RP could shoot.

 

[Candyman]

Its also very hard to score when your one and done on the offesnsive end. UConn was one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the country last year.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Its also very hard to score when your one and done on the offesnsive end. UConn was one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the country last year.

We were slightly below average. The national average for offensive rebounding last year was 31%, and we were at 30%.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I hope we fly down the court in transition and after a basket... I think we can do that and if we arent able to we'll have the talent and maturity to run the offense in the half court

 

[Candyman]

We were slightly below average. The national average for offensive rebounding last year was 31%, and we were at 30%.

Per the NCAA stats website http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/857/p6, for offensive rebounds per game UConn was ranked 269 out of 345 D1 schools. Maybe that number doesnt tell the whole picture but its still pretty bad for a Major D1 school.

Maybe Ollie was sacrificing off rebounds for defense but I don't think that was the case. I think it was the lack of size and off rebounding ability by our bigs.

 

[tzznandrew]

Per the NCAA stats website http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/857/p6, for offensive rebounds per game UConn was ranked 269 out of 345 D1 schools. Maybe that number doesnt tell the whole picture but its still pretty bad for a Major D1 school.

Maybe Ollie was sacrificing off rebounds for defense but I don't think that was the case. I think it was the lack of size and off rebounding ability by our bigs.

Offensive rebounds per game is a really bad statistic to use, since it doesn't account for pace, or the number of shots that were available to be rebounded.

If, for instance, a team missed only one shot per game on average, and rebounded that shot every time, they would be last in offensive rebounds per game.

Not particularly illuminating stat.

 

[Candyman]

Offensive rebounds per game is a really bad statistic to use, since it doesn't account for pace, or the number of shots that were available to be rebounded.

If, for instance, a team missed only one shot per game on average, and rebounded that shot every time, they would be last in offensive rebounds per game.

Not particularly illuminating stat.

Like i stated that stat probably doesnt tell the whole picture but its still pretty bad.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Like i stated that stat probably doesnt tell the whole picture but its still pretty bad.

Why even use it when there are better stats available? ORB%, which I already cited, shows UConn as below-average, but only marginally. They were at 30.1%, which ranked 218th in the country. That's not great, but when you actually look at what's happening, it's not having much of an impact on the game. Wisconsin, ranked at 139, was at 32.1%, meaning that, for every 100 available offensive rebounds, they got two more than UConn. That comes out roughly to one extra possession every other game.

 

[Candyman]

The bottom line is we were a very poor offensive rebounding team last year. Your stats even back that up.

Wisconsin offensive efficiancy was also way better than UConn's. That offense was so fun to watch UConn was ugly to watch at times. So for a team like that maybe off rebounding won't impact them as much but it will impact a team that struggles to score for long stretches.

Even Ollie himself said many times about how offensive rebounding has hurt this team. My original point being that we were a very poor offensive rebounding team and this added to us scoring at a low rate.

 

[CallMeBruce]

The bottom line is we were a very poor offensive rebounding team last year. Your stats even back that up.

Wisconsin offensive efficiancy was also way better than UConn's. That offense was so fun to watch UConn was ugly to watch at times. So for a team like that maybe off rebounding won't impact them as much but it will impact a team that struggles to score for long stretches.

Even Ollie himself said many times about how offensive rebounding has hurt this team. My original point being that we were a very poor offensive rebounding team and this added to us scoring at a low rate.

No, they don't. The stats say that UConn was slightly below the national average in ORB%, and they also say that this had a minimal impact on the team's success. The difference between UConn and an average ORB team is one possession every four games. The difference between UConn and a "good" team like Wisconsin is one possession every two games. Offensive rebounding wasn't even in the neighborhood of our biggest problems last year.

 

[Candyman]

No, they don't. The stats say that UConn was slightly below the national average in ORB%, and they also say that this had a minimal impact on the team's success. The difference between UConn and an average ORB team is one possession every four games. The difference between UConn and a "good" team like Wisconsin is one possession every two games. Offensive rebounding wasn't even in the neighborhood of our biggest problems last year.

I couldn't disgaree with you more. Offensive rebounding and rebounding in general was def up there in one of our biggest problems. I love the quotes around good like Wisconsin wasn't really good it was just me.

 

[Matt1010]

I couldn't disgaree with you more. Offensive rebounding and rebounding in general was def up there in one of our biggest problems. I love the quotes around good like Wisconsin wasn't really good it was just me.

Wisconsin had a incredibly efficient offense and really can't be compared to us at all. They were arguably the best offense in college basketball IMO. Rebounding in general was a problem for us last year, but it certainly wasn't our only issue. The team was fundamentally flawed and it showed on the court.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I couldn't disgaree with you more. Offensive rebounding and rebounding in general was def up there in one of our biggest problems. I love the quotes around good like Wisconsin wasn't really good it was just me.

So you think that losing one possession every four games was one of the team's biggest problems last year? Because that's exactly what you're saying here.