Watched 2014 F8 MSU at MSG game today

[superjohn]

On the other hand, it looked like our competition wasn't used to playing against teams like that. Easy to scout, but the players aren't used to defending it. When the players can hit shots that is.

Sure it can work but as VaHuskyFan points out you need incredibly high talent and otherworldly guards to pull it off.

 

[CTBasketball]

This thread hits on what I think is a huge issue for us right now. KO’s offensive philosophy requires an incredibly high level of talent and poise to work. It worked in 2014 because we had two guards who were otherworldly, and Giffey who shot the lights out from 3.

It was hero-ball then, but we had heroes to make it work. Napier was basically Superman the whole tournament.

What we have now is hero-ball with several players who are merely good to very good, and the result is a mess.

KO needs elite players to win, and he needs to win to attract elite players. My fear is that after two losing seasons, that challenge is turning into a Catch-22.

We either need to (1) somehow bring in guys who can PLAY like Bazz and Boat or (2) ditch the NBA philosophy and switch to an offense that creates open looks through sets and ball movement. I don’t think (1) is happening, at least in the near term, and I haven’t seen anything to suggest that (2) is on the table with KO.

This might be one of the better posts on here lately.

 

[upstater]

Sure it can work but as VaHuskyFan points out you need incredibly high talent and otherworldly guards to pull it off.

This is why I posted the thread in the first place. Not much has really changed (other than the players on the floor).

The big problem I have is the incredibly bad ballhandling. I mentioned this after the Tulane game as well. Sure, they handled Tulane, but the ballhandling was atrocious that game. After that it's the defense.

 

[temery]

The big problem I have is the incredibly bad ballhandling.

I’m fairly certain this is behind the low assist numbers. My guess is Ollie has told them to pass sparingly, and he’d be right.

 

[temery]

This might be one of the better posts on here lately.

That’s what happens when someone thinks before posting.

 

[3rdbass]

All I can tell you is that Nolan and freshman Brimah were the only ones inside for that 2014 game, and the ball hardly ever went in there. It was a carbon copy of this year's offense. I have to say, I was very surprised, because I remembered it being a much smoother offense. The reason I probably remember it like that is because Boat and Bazz could hit more shots, and they weren't getting the ball stripped, and they could get to more spots on the court.

I was just mentioning that Daniels was our inside threat and he posted up quite often. Not sure about the Michigan st. Game in particular but he was used in that role quite often during the season as he did play the power forward position most of the time. This year we have nobody who can do that to keep offenses honest.

 

[boog204]

I know I'm piling on, but I always felt the KO coaching genius narrative in 2014 was highly overrated. He was an excellent motivator as he tapped into Boat giving everything and instilled such confidence in Bazz but I never felt like he did anything that extravagant. I do not count doubling Adrien Payne as some sort of brilliant philosophy. That was basketball 101. We were unbelievably fortunate to, first and foremost, have Boat on the court to destroy the opponents point guard and completely disrupt their offense. Boat rendered Wilbekin, Appling, and Harrison utterly useless and neutralized Deandre Kane. Boat's D was otherworldly for that stretch. As a whole, we were bulldogs who were tougher than our opponents. But, let's not forget, we were one typical Amida play away from being bounced against St Joe's and KO not having a job here. We were outplayed that game.

Offensively, we had the best player in the country who could create, take, and make any shot imaginable from nearly any range, angle, etc. Boat, when on, was unguardable and had enormous testiculos, and then we had a guy who was 6-9 and could hit 3's against bigger players or score creatively in the post against smaller ones. We had three guys who could ISO and create offense. We have one now.

The offense was more or less the same; I do not remember a lot more useful screen-roll scenarios where DD and Giff were the screeners and they could fade into open space. Do you remember all of the behind the back passes from Bazz to Giff early in the year? Only difference now is nowhere near the talent level and for some unforeseen reason, KO insists on having a non-basketball player be the primary screener which only encourages an opponent to double the ball and make our offense stagnant.

 

[TKs]

2011 & 2014 NC's were both basically won on D & clutch guard play ( & 1 big that could score). We were the best Defensive team in the tourney both years.

 

[UConnJim]

I looked at the box score today. UConn had 8 assists and 8 TOs in the game, shot 34.7%, 22.7% from 3PT, 95.5% FTs and forced 16 TOs. Bazz was 4/9 from 3 PT and the rest of the team was 1/13.

Our three big men (Nolan, Brimah, and Olander) played a combined 40 minutes and had 4 points (took 4 shots), 4 rebounds, 6 fouls, 1 block and 1 assist.

We won because we took care of the ball, played good D on the ball with forced TOs, made our free throws, and had Bazz.