PJ Star's take on UMKC disaster - 'A Step Backward'

[georgethedog]

AMEN! I'd question my own intelligence if I kept getting "all" of my posts deleted and came back for more. Time to let it go.......... OR GO.

You guys just need to chill. I'm just having fun. With the exception of a few, there is a total lack of a sense of humor on this board. Does anyone know what "tongue and cheek" comments mean? Do you really think I give a _____ if my posts get deleted. Get real. Go ahead and take your frustrations out on me if it makes you feel better about yourself.

[georgethedog]

Because traditional centers with low post skills grow on trees and its easy to get them to come play in the valley.

How about getting a few 6'7" - 6'8" kids and playing them at once. I think many MVC schools have done this in the past with great success.

[SFP]

Exactly. I also did not hear what Sam's play brought to the game


They need to get the games on DirecTv. Since I only had the radio call, I only heard Snell repeat, "Sam got beat", "Sam got beat", "Sam got beat" and for variety, "Sam got beat, again" or "Sam got beat, badly"
It's hard to be upbeat about Sam M playing through pain when you keep hearing that.

You should have heard me! Sam is letting his guy go baseline again and again. Sam just did not get beat but it's hard for him to get definsive help if he is getting beat on the baseline. You need to shut the baseline side down and make the player go to the middle where the help can get to a lot easier. If the guy is coming from the middle then you have to scout the player to see which side he favors and call out help to that side.

Also what was SS doing way out pass the arc and getting that foul. The refs called a girls game but our guys never seemed to get that the refs were calling a tight game. Either the coaches didn't communicate that right away or our guys have a terrible basketball IQ.

[BUFAN]

there hasn't been even one post deleted since the BU game yesterday

Tornado, I, BUFAN am disappointed and quite frankly insulted... I promiss to make it up to you... Believe me you will still have your day...

[Rusty 54]

How about getting a few 6'7" - 6'8" kids and playing them at once. I think many MVC schools have done this in the past with great success.

It seems like we are halfway there. The second half of the sentence is where we lack.

However, I seen to recall a lot of complaining in the past when our centers stood 6'6 and 6'7. Would a 4 of the same size help? Probably, but if we do come across a bcs school with a big center...

[amckillip]

Do people really not understand why we recruit to the system we do? Getting players like Sommerville and POB is not something a coach can expect to do at BU. Look how many great big men go to mid-majors? Name 10 Great centers in the NBA, you can't do it. The game is evolving, great big men don't exist anymore, the few who have them are tons better, but putting in people because there 6' 9" or above but without skill will not win you games. JL recruits to the system we run now, not because he thinks its the best system, but it's the best system for BU. If we could get big men like Hibbery, and Love, and Hansborough, and Oden, we'd run a traditional system, but we can't. So JL does what he can. There are far more good guards than big men, so JL takes those and makes an offense that works with that. I understand people want to go the NCAA every year and win the Valley often, but thats a lot harder than some here seem to think. Remember, this game isn't played in a vaccuum, JL's actions aren't the only thing thats controls what happens, Altman is one heck of a coach, SIU is a perrenial contender, etc. Am I happy with this year's team? OF COURSE NOT. But do I think guys liek AT and WE should be starting? No. Personally, I like having a team on the court that has a chance to win, and those guys don't give us that.

[ph]

Do people really not understand why we recruit to the system we do? Getting players like Sommerville and POB is not something a coach can expect to do at BU. Look how many great big men go to mid-majors? Name 10 Great centers in the NBA, you can't do it. The game is evolving, great big men don't exist anymore, the few who have them are tons better, but putting in people because there 6' 9" or above but without skill will not win you games. JL recruits to the system we run now, not because he thinks its the best system, but it's the best system for BU. If we could get big men like Hibbery, and Love, and Hansborough, and Oden, we'd run a traditional system, but we can't. So JL does what he can. There are far more good guards than big men, so JL takes those and makes an offense that works with that. I understand people want to go the NCAA every year and win the Valley often, but thats a lot harder than some here seem to think. Remember, this game isn't played in a vaccuum, JL's actions aren't the only thing thats controls what happens, Altman is one heck of a coach, SIU is a perrenial contender, etc. Am I happy with this year's team? OF COURSE NOT. But do I think guys liek AT and WE should be starting? No. Personally, I like having a team on the court that has a chance to win, and those guys don't give us that.

I fully understand that guards are easier to get than bigs, and we will usually have better guards than bigs. What I do not understand is why teams like Plattville and UMKC can get more out of their "lesser" big men than our staff.

That's the flaw in our system. Instead of a KISS big man approach (Where you only tell a big dumb guy, "You. Own. Inside.") We think we need our bigs to play as highly stilled, intelligent players that run all around, Set screens outside, help guards on D, and make split-second decisions that are the difference in playing well or poorly and we know what's happened.

[georgethedog]

I fully understand that guards are easier to get than bigs, and we will usually have better guards than bigs. What I do not understand is why teams like Plattville and UMKC can get more out of their "lesser" big men than our staff.

That's the flaw in our system. Instead of a KISS big man approach (Where you only tell a big dumb guy, "You. Own. Inside.") We think we need our bigs to play as highly stilled, intelligent players that run all around, Set screens outside, help guards on D, and make split-second decisions that are the difference in playing well or poorly and we know what's happened.

ph, that was well stated! Especially the part about Platteville & UMKC getting more out of there "bigs" than we get out of ours when it should be obvious that our bigs should be better by default (otherwise why recruit them). Great post!

[georgethedog]

Do people really not understand why we recruit to the system we do? Getting players like Sommerville and POB is not something a coach can expect to do at BU. Look how many great big men go to mid-majors? Name 10 Great centers in the NBA, you can't do it. The game is evolving, great big men don't exist anymore, the few who have them are tons better, but putting in people because there 6' 9" or above but without skill will not win you games. JL recruits to the system we run now, not because he thinks its the best system, but it's the best system for BU. If we could get big men like Hibbery, and Love, and Hansborough, and Oden, we'd run a traditional system, but we can't. So JL does what he can. There are far more good guards than big men, so JL takes those and makes an offense that works with that. I understand people want to go the NCAA every year and win the Valley often, but thats a lot harder than some here seem to think. Remember, this game isn't played in a vaccuum, JL's actions aren't the only thing thats controls what happens, Altman is one heck of a coach, SIU is a perrenial contender, etc. Am I happy with this year's team? OF COURSE NOT. But do I think guys liek AT and WE should be starting? No. Personally, I like having a team on the court that has a chance to win, and those guys don't give us that.

I can agree with your post with one caveat. If we are going to be guard oriented, then we better sign guards that can SHOOT instead of just run and jump.

[Bravesfan]

Oh dear! When our coach says he did not have this team ready to play, that's not good! Although something tells me that the players did not exactly have a pleasant night after the game. I would not want to be in that locker room after the game!

Let's hope the team at least takes Florida Gulf Coast seriously and plays up for the game instead of playing down to their level. Get this game and a tough match remains against Richmond who has shown some toughness already this year. That could actually turn out to be a solid win if we get that game as well.

[SaintLouBrave22]

i am fine with sm playing with pain if it is feb/march but in nov, there is no reason for a player who is injured to play. And even if he does play, and it was pretty apparent pretty early he could not move, it is on the coaching staff to shut him down and not put an injured player who is not capable of helping play.

Im all for toughness but somewhere along the line... And yesterday it was pretty early you take the high road and sit the injuried player.

bingo!

[SaintLouBrave22]

There is no Summerville, O'Bryant, Franklin, Ruffin, Boogie, or even Tuaui (?) on this team, not to mention Crouch who couldn't crack the lineup at that point. AW is a nice player but hurt, and Theron comes and goes. Beyond that I'm not real sure what's here. This team couldn't win 11 of 12 even if they were all against Ill-Chicago.

We have the players as far as I'm concerned....

Right now, the coaches are not making the right decisions and certainly not helping the progression of the players

Examples:

• Theron Wilson playing the 4
• David Collins starting
• Sam Maniscalco even playing w/ his injury
• Sam M. and Eddren playing at the same time
• Trying to play Will at the 5 when clearly he is a 4 or maybe even a 3
• The ridiculous guard oriented motion offense when our guards aren't great outside shooters
• poor coaching on man to man defense
• poor substitution patterns

BASICALLY----not putting our players in a beneficial position to compete and win games

I could go on and on, but really, we all know its there...we just don't have the players to run the Ruffin to Crouch type system...

And we certainly don't have the on the ball defenders like Ruff or Tauai or even Salley (at times) that can stop poor execution in half court man to man sets...

Some things that desperately need to be done:

a) Insert Will Egolf at the 4; rotate him and Taylor Brown

b) Place Theron at the 3 where he will be more confident and effective

c) Have Darian and Eddren fight it out for point position because we should be sitting Sam til he is completely healthy...no sense in getting him further injured and runing his confidence in November

d) Start Sam Singh...he's earned that much

e) Go to a more traditional box or post offense and get the ball to the short baselines and inside more often, which would be much easier to do w/ Will in alongside Sam, David, or Anthony

f) Either back off the on-ball pressure in the man to man or go to a 2-3 matchup zone...I apologize as I've figured out a 1-3-1 won't work w/ this team as we don't have a great point man to rotate....

g) Either stop the pointless token backcourt press OR actually work to implement a legitimate trapping defense and extend it

Ok...so this may seem like a lot, but really it wouldn't be too hard to fix in a short time...

[ER3]

I am fine with SM playing with pain if it is Feb/March but in Nov, there is no reason for a player who is injured to play. And even if he does play, and it was pretty apparent pretty early he could not move, it is on the coaching staff to shut him down and not put an injured player who is not capable of helping play.

Im all for toughness but somewhere along the line... and yesterday it was pretty early you take the high road and sit the injuried player.

I guess I don't fully agree with this.
Maniscalco scored 16 points and was the only offensive player that hit any shot outside of 4 feet yesterday...We needed him to play on offense yesterday or we might have scored 30 points and gotten beat by 40 by UMKC.
Did he get beat on defense? Yes. Did he get isolated on their best player and get taken to the rack repeatedly? Yes. Did his foot injury limit his mobility on defense? I'm sure it did.

But to me, I can't fully blame Maniscalco and I certainly don't want him on the bench yesterday. The coaching staff knew his mobility on defense would be limited yesterday...are they completely incapable of making adjustments to keep Sam out of those isolation situations where he was getting beat? You need him on the floor for his offensive potential...so, are the coaches so inept that they can't figure out how to play some zone with Maniscalco in the game to protect him from getting exposed? They can't draw up a basic 2-3 zone, a box and 1, or a triangle and 2 to keep him away from the one-on-one situations that he clearly is struggling with right now?
We supposedly spent the entire pre-season working on defense, and all we are capable of playing is one defense? The same hyper-aggressive, gambling, overplaying man-to-man? That's it? We have one defensive scheme and we are completely incapable of doing anything else? We have a guy in foul trouble, a guy getting beat one-on-one over and over, etc. and we are completely unprepared and unable to switch into any kind of zone whatsoever? I just don't get it. Here's a news flash to the coaching staff...make an adjustment! This current "deflections or bust" defensive scheme simply can't work when your bigs don't play helpside defense and the guard that keeps getting isolated on their best player has a bad wheel. Recognize that and make an adjustment that gives us a chance to succeed! That's Coaching 101, IMO.

[Bradleyguy10]

I don't understand why some are calling for WE to be a 3 all of the sudden. Was it not this board that was soooo bitter and angry about Will playing around the 3pt line last year so much? He NEEDS to be a 4 and it's ridiculous to think that guy should be a 3. I agree he can't be a 5 and be the only "big" out there but a 3??? Really?

Secondly, I have been one to say that TW needs to be a 3 over and over again. However the more he plays this season the more I'm starting to disagree. The man is our top rebounder why can't he be a 4? Because of his size?? Who cares he's pulling in more rebounds than a 7 footer he can play the 4 and get a double double if his offense is on. Which leads me to my last point about him NOT being a 3. I do not think he has taken a 3pt shot YET this season. A 3 needs to have an overall skill and overall threat. He clearly isn't confident and isn't trusted to take 3pt shots so why should he play the 3 if he's making all his points in the paint or 10-15 feet out anyway. I'm not sure why he isn't taking 3's this year since he wasn't terrible last year, but the fact of the matter is...he isn't taking them.

Lastly, there are some saying that WE and AT can't contribute this year, and I'm TIRED of hearing people say it so matter of factly. How in the world can you know if they aren't ready? They have played hardly at all. Practice is different then games and if they bring more intensity than DC then I say bring them on and take your chances because we now are certain of what we are getting from DC in game situations......not much.

Bring on the firing squad.

[shaunguth]

Oh dear! When our coach says he did not have this team ready to play, that's not good!

Yes.....especially when there was a full week to get ready for this game!