wildturkey
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Good news and bad news today!
The Good news: We had a shot to win.
The bad news: Everything else.
This game pretty much went exactly how I thought it would. @WVU against a Bob Huggins coached team, regardless of record, is a tough place to play. He coaches his teams well and they typically play good defense. And my fears after watching our guys play came true today. Against a good defensive team, we'll struggle to score. That's exactly what happened today. We need to play with pace, quick tempo and quick shots. WVU took that option away almost all game. They did a good job of slowing our guys down and turning it into a halfcourt game. The result? A LOT of dribbling on the outside with nothing productive to show for it. The 3s we did manage to get were also contested pretty well and some were just flat out forced by us in panic moves when we started to get down.
At the start of the 2nd half, I thought we did (Green specifically) did a good job trying to push the pace again. We'd spurt out on a little run but as soon as we got a decent cushion, we let off the gas. Not sure why either because it played right into WVU's hands. We desperately need a couple of bread and butter half court sets to run when the game stalls out. We simply cannot rely on the ball handler (Brown, Green, whoever) to dribble out the shot clock, run a high screen with Raines, and pray we find enough room for a mid range shot. Its too late to install anything complex but anything will do at this point. Some inside out stuff where we post up a big and swing out to the weak side for an open look, a screen where the big actually rolls to the basket, anything to get the focus away from the ball handler. There's just too much standing around by our guys when the game slows down.
Defensively, I thought we did ok minus that massive defensive lapse at the end of the game. I thought the gameplan was ok. We packed the paint because all season WVU has shot poorly but we were a little slow to react once that Noreen guy started hitting outside shots. After he hits two, its time to ignore the scouting report and put a hand in his face. And I'm not sure how the fuck you blow that game ending lay up. I just saw it once so I'm not sure who all was involved but our guard (Rankin?) got beat which isn't the end of the world, but there was zero help. The defender behind him was totally turned around and Green jumped away from the guy to guard the 3 point shot instead of stopping the ball. I realize its a split second decision so its easy to criticize, but I hope going forward, JJ teaches them to stay with the ball. Play the percentages Green! Take away the lay up. If your man hits the 3, so be it. Also, rebounding sucked ass and it was mostly because of lack of effort. Go up and get the ball, don't wait for it to come to you. I saw several plays where Raines, Joey, whoever stayed planted on the ground and let WVU work their way in to get the ball.
There's no such thing as a good loss but we should have plenty on tape to learn from. The game probably shouldn't have been as close as it was (WVU still shot pretty poorly, they should have been up more) but if we tightened up a few areas, this could have been a W.
And finally, holy shit does Bob Knight like shot fakes or what? Every 5 minutes was like a lecture on the effectiveness of a good shot fake. Poor John Schiambi. They can't pay him enough to babysit Grandpa Knight and his redundant commentary.
The Good news: We had a shot to win.
The bad news: Everything else.
This game pretty much went exactly how I thought it would. @WVU against a Bob Huggins coached team, regardless of record, is a tough place to play. He coaches his teams well and they typically play good defense. And my fears after watching our guys play came true today. Against a good defensive team, we'll struggle to score. That's exactly what happened today. We need to play with pace, quick tempo and quick shots. WVU took that option away almost all game. They did a good job of slowing our guys down and turning it into a halfcourt game. The result? A LOT of dribbling on the outside with nothing productive to show for it. The 3s we did manage to get were also contested pretty well and some were just flat out forced by us in panic moves when we started to get down.
At the start of the 2nd half, I thought we did (Green specifically) did a good job trying to push the pace again. We'd spurt out on a little run but as soon as we got a decent cushion, we let off the gas. Not sure why either because it played right into WVU's hands. We desperately need a couple of bread and butter half court sets to run when the game stalls out. We simply cannot rely on the ball handler (Brown, Green, whoever) to dribble out the shot clock, run a high screen with Raines, and pray we find enough room for a mid range shot. Its too late to install anything complex but anything will do at this point. Some inside out stuff where we post up a big and swing out to the weak side for an open look, a screen where the big actually rolls to the basket, anything to get the focus away from the ball handler. There's just too much standing around by our guys when the game slows down.
Defensively, I thought we did ok minus that massive defensive lapse at the end of the game. I thought the gameplan was ok. We packed the paint because all season WVU has shot poorly but we were a little slow to react once that Noreen guy started hitting outside shots. After he hits two, its time to ignore the scouting report and put a hand in his face. And I'm not sure how the fuck you blow that game ending lay up. I just saw it once so I'm not sure who all was involved but our guard (Rankin?) got beat which isn't the end of the world, but there was zero help. The defender behind him was totally turned around and Green jumped away from the guy to guard the 3 point shot instead of stopping the ball. I realize its a split second decision so its easy to criticize, but I hope going forward, JJ teaches them to stay with the ball. Play the percentages Green! Take away the lay up. If your man hits the 3, so be it. Also, rebounding sucked ass and it was mostly because of lack of effort. Go up and get the ball, don't wait for it to come to you. I saw several plays where Raines, Joey, whoever stayed planted on the ground and let WVU work their way in to get the ball.
There's no such thing as a good loss but we should have plenty on tape to learn from. The game probably shouldn't have been as close as it was (WVU still shot pretty poorly, they should have been up more) but if we tightened up a few areas, this could have been a W.
And finally, holy shit does Bob Knight like shot fakes or what? Every 5 minutes was like a lecture on the effectiveness of a good shot fake. Poor John Schiambi. They can't pay him enough to babysit Grandpa Knight and his redundant commentary.
