My feeling is that they need to either be ALL in or forget it for this year. They haven't been the aggressor lately, they've been the hunted and played like it to me. If you're going to press full court, PRESS full court to get steals/cause havoc and live with the consequences-especially against good teams or mix in some zone looks with token pressure but still be aggressive by nature. Hawks have been caught in between in my mind and too tentative to go ahead and play full tilt-on both ends of the floor. Hawks seemed better earlier in the year when they played a lot of guys and just sold out playing hard and having FUN. It looks to me like they need a vocal leader out there!

Where to go? Well, I'm like a lot of you guys. I like a rim protector in there at the back end if you're gonna press like playing Chuck more because he plays with fire. If you're gonna play 94 feet, play 94 feet and get some serious traps going either early in the corner or at the time line. We've just been going through the motions hoping for an uptempo game. And, we didn't event get a high tempo game last game.

If UNCW wants to get to the big stage and advance again, they need to look BIG not small. We have seen the template and have seen it over the years with mid/high majors that go on a run. You have to be able to stop some freaking body at some point in the paint in the half court. That's just the way it is. You have to have enough mobile size at the back end to get stops.

Bill, think cacock can be effective getting the ball in the low post with his back to the basket? Doesn't seem like they are feeding him that much.

(02-04-2017 11:37 AM)CaptLou Wrote:  Bill, think cacock can be effective getting the ball in the low post with his back to the basket? Doesn't seem like they are feeding him that much.

Yes, I think so. But we can't ONLY rely on Cacock in the paint. We need to have more cutting and dribble drives to the hole. I think over the last 6-7 games we've seen our FG% be so low because teams are content to get beat by Cacock on occasion and just contest our threes as much as possible. We have to keep defenses honest, and definitely haven't been doing that.

Just go back to the Clemson game and I have to think other coaches have used the same basic game plan against the Hawks. Beat them off the dribble,score dish for the bunny or kick to the three ball. It all starts out front with guys not guarding.

It's more important we get our offense on track then our defense. We're a four guard lineup for offensive purposes, not defense. Tonight, the Hawks's did exactly as I hoped. Flemmings driving the ball, drawing fouls and being very aggressive trying to score. Ingram looking less to score and getting everyone involved. When we drive to the basket and collapse the defense, good things happen. Flemmings back on track is HUGE, and the emergence of Fornes is as well.

Our starting lineup is now 6'0", 6'4", 6'5", 6'5" and 6'7". That's should help on defense and rebounding, although Fornes biggest weakness right now is defense. He'll get there though.

Still for the life of me can't figure out why Chuck doesn't get any time. Today would have been a good time to try him on the court alongside Cacock.

Fornes emerging was huge because he is the future 2 man. Kid has a beautiful jumper and I thought he defended better tonight. Richmond looked good in his few minutes out there. He defends (from what I saw tonight) and is quick. We look better when we are quick and aggressive.

82 couldn't possibly disagree more. Defense is something you CAN control and you CAN consistently play it every game. We are a good offensive team but will still have off nights. We should know this, the wainwright -brownell era we were Always In games because our defense never let up even on off nights offensively.

Yep, we need to improve defensively to be the team that we all want.

(02-04-2017 09:37 PM)Seahawkhoops Wrote:  82 couldn't possibly disagree more. Defense is something you CAN control and you CAN consistently play it every game. We are a good offensive team but will still have off nights. We should know this, the wainwright -brownell era we were Always In games because our defense never let up even on off nights offensively.

Our defense is only going to be so good with a 4 guard lineup. If defense was our primary path to victory, we'd go big at the 4/5 slot, and we don't. Of course defense is important, but our recent woes have been due to an offense based on jumpers and 3 pointers. We stopped driving and using the kickout to get our shots, and instead were playing one on one ball. Flemmings quit being aggressive on offense and became primarily a 3 point shooter. That is NOT what made him the pre season POY candidate. He is a smooth driver and slasher and he stopped doing that. Last night, he was fearless on the drive and was looking to take his man off the dribble drive.

Our offense got on track, and we hit 60+% from the floor, that allowed us to get in our press a lot more. THAT is our best defense.

82 when we have issues guarding it has almost nothing to do with having a 4 guard lineup! The only exception I can think of was for a bit in the Drexel game and the Clemson game. Other than that it's when they don't move their feet and get beat off the dribble. Theoretically with a 4 guard lineup we should be BETTER at that as we have quicker guys at at least. 3 of 5 positions

(02-05-2017 08:03 AM)Seahawkhoops Wrote:  82 when we have issues guarding it has almost nothing to do with having a 4 guard lineup! The only exception I can think of was for a bit in the Drexel game and the Clemson game. Other than that it's when they don't move their feet and get beat off the dribble. Theoretically with a 4 guard lineup we should be BETTER at that as we have quicker guys at at least. 3 of 5 positions

Theoretically, you're wrong! If that were the case, why isn't everyone playing a four guard lineup to improve their defense? Futhermore, our 4 guards are small, especially at the top. For the whole year, we've started a 6'0" and 6'2" pg and 2 guard, and their backups were both 6'0" tall. That's DivII size guards. They can be shot over, posted in the paint and they can be driven on by bigger, stronger guards, and every coach knows that. Watch a game if you want proof. You can move your feet all you want, but when a bigger player gets a step on your 6'0" guard, it leaves your lone big man(and ours is only 6'7") to defend the rim without fouling.

Keatts has made a strategic decision that our scoring ability at all spots will result in more offense than our opponents. That's why we do what we do, not for a defensive advantage.

I agree with 33 in this aspect. Next year we are going to be a lot bigger at every position. We may have a 6'0" pg in Talley or Richmond, but we're going to be 6'4" or taller everywhere else. Our defense and rebounding are going to take a huge leap. But, not this year. This year we have got to rely on scoring.

Our freshman recruits are 6'5", 6'5" and 6'8". Our transfers are 6'1" 6'6" and 6'7". Not to mention, we have the top rated incoming class in the CAA, so the quality is there with the size.

Not saying defense isn't important, but we are not built to be a strong defensive team this year, we're built to score. Hopefully, next year our defense will improve with an increase in size at every position. We will NOT have a 6'5" player at the four spot, and our 1-2 spots will not both be 6'0" tall.

Next year

PG- Talley or ? 6'0"
2- Fornes -6'4"
3 - Bryce - 6'5"
4- ? Elmore 6'8", Cuthbertson 6'7", Cole 6'8"
5 Cacock - 6'7"

That is a roster than has the size to defend at every position.

Lol a bigger player shouldn't get a step that's the point! And no teams wouldn't go 4 guards because bigger teams would post them up. Fortunately for us there isn't many teams in our league that can do that. The old saying that defense wins championships is legit. Better defense leads to easier offense

Um, our defense(besides the press) has not been good since Keatts arrived, but we have won championships with great offense. So your statement does not align with the facts in our case. As a small team with four guards, better offense leads to easier defense(the press), because we can't press if the ball doesn't go in the basket.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this subject, but the facts for THIS team are that we go as our offense goes, not our defense. And last night we blew out a team because of offense, not defense. And our last two defeats were because of our offense falling apart, not our defense.

So there.....:-)

You have to defend at some point if the other team has better players but I agree that in the end great offense beats great defense every time in basketball. Would be nice to be great on both ends but those teams are few and far between. If what you are good at is banging the 3 ball we all know the deal with that. Some nights you make them and the love fest is on but when you don't-might be a long night against good teams. The press is all about cheap baskets that don't require any real offensive skill but has all nothing to do with guarding guys who are in a scoring position. I have no idea how much time they spend on half court defense but they are not real good at it. So they have to score big numbers and they have done that very well.

I've seen Elmore in a few games this season so far and I'm wondering how he fits in the system. He's big, sure, but he doesn't run the floor with athletic speed or anything like what we've become used to. What are everyone's thoughts so far on Elmore?

He looked like he was athletic enough and you could tell that he was giving 100% on D. I like that he was fired up. And if you noticed, the entire bench stood up when he shot the 3....that's a good sign on a # of fronts.

(02-05-2017 12:27 PM)CoastGuardHawk06 Wrote:  I've seen Elmore in a few games this season so far and I'm wondering how he fits in the system. He's big, sure, but he doesn't run the floor with athletic speed or anything like what we've become used to. What are everyone's thoughts so far on Elmore?

He might have a role with UNCW but I doubt seriously he is a factor anytime soon. He is an average D1 athlete for sure but he can shoot the ball so maybe that is his role-stretch 4. Seems to be more of a W&M type player as a CAA guy. You never want to see players transfer but he seems like a fish out of water at UNCW.