Official Owl Game Thread
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KES and Haywood pass it back and forth to zero offense followed by a KES contested three. We need a 8-0 or 10-2 run over the next couple mins to make this a game or it will require miraculous play to get back.
That will only happen from strong defense and good ball movement.
That will only happen from strong defense and good ball movement.
For all of us who felt we might win the AAC outright last year if we had Haywood and KES , we have found our answer. There was a reason those guys got fewer minutes as the season went on at Arkansas and Georgia Tech , became disgruntled and transferred. Maybe they will eventually show some consistency but I am worried it may not occur.
Every once in a while he gets a dumb tech but Joiner always plays with fire and intensity. He made that illegal screen based solely on his defensive intensity while everyone else was standing around. Fires up the team on a run.
Joiner coming alive right now. Good hustle. Probably too late but hopefully itll carry on to next game
Kind of wish we would play like shaka smarts vcu teams and just constantly press. Seems like good things happen when we do
We are on the edge of being in competitive situation. Anything less than double digits at the under four is usually doable. With a couple players fouled out and us in the bonus 10 or 11 would probably be very workable. We are at 13. We need stops and high offensive efficiency while making free throws to do this.
Get down by 22 and no amount of hustle will win it for you.
The strong come back prevents this from being out right DOA but its definitely life support for us now.
The opening half in particular the play of two who have to be working on some of the worst plus/minus in the conference made this mountain almost uncilmbable. Why Richie doesn't get Haywoods minutes I just don't understand. Schumate and the other freshman ok, they are freshman and Haith is conservative with them, so at first I can understand if disagree, but why not Richie?
The opening half in particular the play of two who have to be working on some of the worst plus/minus in the conference made this mountain almost uncilmbable. Why Richie doesn't get Haywoods minutes I just don't understand. Schumate and the other freshman ok, they are freshman and Haith is conservative with them, so at first I can understand if disagree, but why not Richie?
Well damn. I was excited about the game. Didn’t realize it already happened. Sounds like missing it was a blessing though.
Richie has maybe (I'm not sure he has any) 1 rebound total in the last three games...
He stands around on the perimeter waiting to shoot a three, where he has a high
percentage of missing....Right now, he can't hit, doesn't effort on rebounds, and is
not distinguished on the defensive end.......Haywood is not very good right now but
(sadly) may be the better choice--Of the two, at least....
Richie is a big, strong young man, but somehow must have an exemption in writing
that he doesn't have to move without the ball, and has total exemption on trying
to rebound or develop shots for others....
My disappointments this season have been Haywood, KES, and over the last several
games, Richie and Jackson.....*Gold was right on about our tendency to recruit players
with less than a full skill set......
Gimme Shumate....He will get you five boards, five or six points, two blocks, and
will improve each game.....That may be as good as Richie, KES, and Haywood
combined.......
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Jackson has had zero opportunity to influence a game. It reminds me of last year when we struggled till Haith finally started to make sure Jackson got major minutes. All while everyone worried because he couldn't shoot.
Jackson is getting 22 sporadic minutes a game the last five
Richie:
3 starts of five games
96 mins, 24 min avg, 20 mins last two games
Avg over 5 games: 6 pts 1.6 rebs
Haywood:
3 starts of five games
141 mins 28 min avg, 68 mins last two games
Avg over 5 games: 4pts 2.2 revs
The highest rebound total for Richie in that time period is 6 in 30 mins against WSU, the highest for Haywood is 5 in 34 mins against Houston. Haywood is also averaging a turnover plus a game and that doesn't count the terrible decisions he makes that force his teammates to turn over the ball. As Haywood has played more (Houston and Temple) while Richie has played less our performance has taken a noticable decline.
KES is even worse. There are exactly two players who should be getting less time, contribute little, and have massive negative +/-
These two players are also the ones most likely to lead us to bad offense (Haywood) or bad defense (KES). One's minutes need to go to Richie and Schumate. The others should go to Jackson and William's. Neither of those two players should see anything beyond mop up minutes until they prove they can be productive.
Haywood certainly shouldn't be getting 34 mins a game as he has the last two games. 34/40 mins in one spot on the floor went to Haywood. How anyone expects us to win playing 5 on 4 for 34 mins is beyond me.
Looking at the first half minutes of the Temple game it should be no surprise we fell behind by 16 when we essentially played one man down the entire time and three minutes with only three players because we gave so many minutes to two negative production players.
So long as Haith coddles those two we will lose and you will see Rachal and Joiner become more and more frustrated. Our young players will check out because they can't get time no matter what and some experienced players will look to use the free transfer rule to leave.
The minutes Shumate got against Temple you would think would normally go to Early. Either Early is not completely healthy yet or he just can't get it done on the defensive end as well as Shumate can. On the offensive end, it's apparent we do not have anything drawn up for Shumate. He sets screens on the perimeter and crashes the boards when a shot goes up. He's not posting up the same way Idowu and Ugboh are. There are so many similarities between FR Shumate and a FR Kevin Johnson, it's scary. Someone start working on Shumate's post move. If he can develop that 6 ft baby hook, we're in business.
Shumate is a Houston type player. No great offensive skill sets yet but flies around going for rebounds and blocks. Offensive skills will come if he works at it.
Urbancic looks great in practice and in the games he played. He is a really good rebounder, defensive player and great three point shooter. I would love to see him more in competitive game situations to see if that holds up.
Not sure on Earley. Still looks hesitant and trying to remember the system it seems or hesitant to jump on that leg. I don't know. Not the Earley I saw last year in early practices yet.
If you play more experienced but non-performing players over younger ones that
have more upside for more than half your season, and see almost zero improvement
in performance and decision making, the consequences you describe become a '
possibility.....
Also:
Team morale takes a hit...
Team performance falls off--as TU4ever2 pointed out, you can play three on five
only so long...The battle on the boards become one-sided, and your performing
players are forced into situations that is performance limiting for them as well...
On both ends of the floor......
You hate to give up on anyone, even in the short run, but that old bromide of
"Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome" applies
to PT (and personnel development) in basketball as well as in science......
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Keeping Jackson off the floor is a major failure. I don’t care if he never makes another three, Haith needs to find a way to play him 35 minutes most games
The problem with Jackson on the floor - There needs to be a complimentary guard that can shoot.
Jackson is being affected by KES and Haywood who can’t shoot...and Richie being in a slump.
Like a couple of years ago when the Shockers figured out our zone, they were the first team this season who basically just let us shoot 3’s.
Then...Memphis did it...Then Houston did it...Then Temple did it.
Gotta get back to playing amazing, hard nosed D and having Rachal and Idowu score.
Shumate needs heavy minutes. Ugboh needs none.
Jackson is being affected by KES and Haywood who can’t shoot...and Richie being in a slump.
Like a couple of years ago when the Shockers figured out our zone, they were the first team this season who basically just let us shoot 3’s.
Then...Memphis did it...Then Houston did it...Then Temple did it.
Gotta get back to playing amazing, hard nosed D and having Rachal and Idowu score.
Shumate needs heavy minutes. Ugboh needs none.
This is what Haith and several on these boards believe. I blame it on the 3 point line and the love affair of the stat nerds because of "math" as if the game is only that or that the input affects the output. For example Jayden Gardener for ECU destroys teams, doing it dominantly with the shot stat wizards tell you is the worst thing you can do a 15+ foot 2pt jumper. They point out shooting percentage ignoring that we already see stats skewing because kids practice shooting three pointers and not jump shots or free throws. As Pistol Pete's entire career proved what you practice is what you play.
I digress. In a modern team set up in which shooting is emphasized we tend to think only shooters can be effective and you must put shooters out there to cover non-shooters. This is simply in the box thinking based on what is popular now not on actual basketball.
Our best line up and the one that should be getting dominant minutes isn't based on a shooting offense, its built on two way dominance.
IMO our ideal line up/rotation:
Idowu 30
Richie 25-30
Rachal 30
Jackson 30
Joiner 25-30
We should be in our three quarters pressure most of the game. Off the bench depending on situation but in order of minutes:
Williams 20 mins
Ugboh 15-20 mins
Schumate 5-10 mins
Spot minutes in no order but as needed:
KES
Haywood
Earley
Urbanic
Jackson needs to shoot and not hesitate, but the team will spend a ton of time getting defensive stops that turn into early paint touches or transition drives. Richie can be a high volume shooter in the starting line up, while Eli offers clutch shooting. Rachal and Jackson will be free to use there athleticism to attack with Idowu in the high/mid post and acting as a distributor with his passing capabilities.
Off the bench Williams can cover the 1-3 and can offer some scoring ability if we need him to. Ugboh can rebound and protect the rim or give five fouls if we are struggling against a strong post on defense. He has got much better lately at those junk points just enough to be respectable. Schumate can serve the post in a pinch, but he and Williams have enough athletic ability to spell Jackson and Rachal and our pressure still be highly effective.
The spot minutes can serve as we need that particular skill set, have foul trouble, or where they can develop. KES serving on offense as a ball handler in a pinch, Haywood as a defensive substitute, Earley to help in the post and hopefully build his minutes, and Urbanic to get his run to see if his length and shooting can get him some more mins on the court.
