11-12-2009, 08:30 AM
November 11, 2009
Obviously the premise of everything we are doing in practice right now is done in an effort to get better on the defensive end. As I said after Sunday’s game, I’ve known for 19 practices that we’ve needed to get better defensively. I do feel like we are making progress, although it is coming at a slower pace than I would like. But it’s different with every team and certainly isn’t unexpected with us having six new guys.
We’ve made a lot of improvement on our initial rotations to get the ball stopped from a defensive standpoint. Where it’s really important for us to take another step now, is on our second and third rotations. We also need to improve on containing the basketball. We want to pressure the ball to a level where you don’t lose containment, and that is different with every player. Someone like Lionel Foster can pressure and maintain containment at a higher level than one of our post players. That’s the area from a coaching standpoint that we are constantly harping on. Right now we are losing too much containment. Too often the ball is going to the paint off the dribble and breaking us down defensively, which puts added pressure on our second and third rotation. With that being said, you know you have to be sound from a defensive standpoint to cover those rotations and we aren’t right now. That was my biggest concern when we returned to practice on Monday.
As I’ve said all along, I do feel like we have a chance to be a good basketball team in time. When exactly that will happen is unknown right now. I do know this though, we have to become more solid defensively and become a better rebounding team to get where we want to go.
I’ve said this numerous times, but I really believe that we are going to score the ball better than we did last year. I thought that was evident on Sunday with us shooting 49 percent as a team. Our problem Sunday wasn’t on the offensive end. Granted, we had 20 turnovers and need to limit that, but our biggest area of concern was on the defensive end.
As crazy as this is to say, with where my concerns have been through our first 19 practices and our lack of being able to sustain defensive intensity and focus, we may look back in time and say that this was the best thing that could have happened to us.
If you look back two years ago, Michigan State lost an exhibition to Grand Valley State and went on to advance to the Sweet 16. That same year, Ohio State lost an exhibition game and went on to win the NIT. Not to say that we’re going to have that kind of success this season, but this stuff happens unfortunately. The deciding factor will be how we use this adverse situation to grow as a team.
And I’m certainly not taking anything away from Jeff Morgan and his program. He does a phenomenal job and this is why I’ve chosen to play them over the last couple of years. I want to play an exhibition game against a team that I know is going to be well coached and is going to challenge our guys. That’s what Harding is every year. They had some injuries last year and we beat them by 12. In 2005 it was a six-point game. I like playing Jeff’s teams for that reason. You can’t just show up and get a win. You have to bring some mental intensity, toughness and focus to the court or you’re going to get beat.
As we talked coming into the year, Solomon Bozeman is someone that we feel can get the ball to the paint off the dribble and get to the foul line. He is a very good free-throw shooter, which he showed on Sunday by making 13-of-14. I thought Mike Smith’s effort on the offensive end was also encouraging. Mike to this point has been our most solid defensive guy from a shell-principle standpoint. Not that he’s been perfect, but he’s been the best to this point. As I told our guys Monday while watching the game tape, everyone from 1-to-12 needs to raise the bar in terms of expectations of self on the defensive end. We can’t pin our shortcomings on one or two guys, it is everybody. I think our guys realize that and that’s one of the things that’s encouraging to me. They weren’t sitting in the locker room pointing fingers after the game on Sunday. Each one had the mindset in practice on Monday to take responsibility from an individual standpoint and work on improving.
At this point, I think it is really important for us to continue to look at ourselves. Obviously, we’ll spend a lot of time going over Ole Miss from a scouting standpoint and go over their personnel with our guys, but I think we need to be much more concerned with how we defend and rebound instead of getting too caught up in our opponents right now. Obviously there will always be several things we will try to take away from our opponents in a scout, but I don’t think we can get spread so thin thinking about Ole Miss that we lose our core from a defensive and rebounding standpoint.
Ole Miss, in my opinion, is going to be a top-25 team this year. They’ve got phenomenal guard play with two guys making the SEC preseason team. They are a very good offensive rebounding team and will be very difficult to guard off the dribble. They’re also very well coached. Andy Kennedy does a great job coaching them. They had all those injuries last year and they still went 7-9 in the SEC and 16-15 overall while advancing to the NIT.
With that said, our main focus has to be to continue to make strides everyday. That is one of the oldest coaching clichés in the book, but it has never been more fitting than right now.
We’re heading to Oxford on Thursday. After that we hit the road to take on Tulsa on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 1 p.m., in a game which will be televised by ESPN as part of the network’s 24-hour College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. We’ll return home on Wednesday, Nov. 18 against St. Gregory’s and I hope everyone can make it out to the Jack Stephens Center that night.
Lastly I would like to thank UALR Sports Information Director Joe Angolia. Joe does a great job of promoting the program and has been instrumental in getting my website up to date more often.
Obviously the premise of everything we are doing in practice right now is done in an effort to get better on the defensive end. As I said after Sunday’s game, I’ve known for 19 practices that we’ve needed to get better defensively. I do feel like we are making progress, although it is coming at a slower pace than I would like. But it’s different with every team and certainly isn’t unexpected with us having six new guys.
We’ve made a lot of improvement on our initial rotations to get the ball stopped from a defensive standpoint. Where it’s really important for us to take another step now, is on our second and third rotations. We also need to improve on containing the basketball. We want to pressure the ball to a level where you don’t lose containment, and that is different with every player. Someone like Lionel Foster can pressure and maintain containment at a higher level than one of our post players. That’s the area from a coaching standpoint that we are constantly harping on. Right now we are losing too much containment. Too often the ball is going to the paint off the dribble and breaking us down defensively, which puts added pressure on our second and third rotation. With that being said, you know you have to be sound from a defensive standpoint to cover those rotations and we aren’t right now. That was my biggest concern when we returned to practice on Monday.
As I’ve said all along, I do feel like we have a chance to be a good basketball team in time. When exactly that will happen is unknown right now. I do know this though, we have to become more solid defensively and become a better rebounding team to get where we want to go.
I’ve said this numerous times, but I really believe that we are going to score the ball better than we did last year. I thought that was evident on Sunday with us shooting 49 percent as a team. Our problem Sunday wasn’t on the offensive end. Granted, we had 20 turnovers and need to limit that, but our biggest area of concern was on the defensive end.
As crazy as this is to say, with where my concerns have been through our first 19 practices and our lack of being able to sustain defensive intensity and focus, we may look back in time and say that this was the best thing that could have happened to us.
If you look back two years ago, Michigan State lost an exhibition to Grand Valley State and went on to advance to the Sweet 16. That same year, Ohio State lost an exhibition game and went on to win the NIT. Not to say that we’re going to have that kind of success this season, but this stuff happens unfortunately. The deciding factor will be how we use this adverse situation to grow as a team.
And I’m certainly not taking anything away from Jeff Morgan and his program. He does a phenomenal job and this is why I’ve chosen to play them over the last couple of years. I want to play an exhibition game against a team that I know is going to be well coached and is going to challenge our guys. That’s what Harding is every year. They had some injuries last year and we beat them by 12. In 2005 it was a six-point game. I like playing Jeff’s teams for that reason. You can’t just show up and get a win. You have to bring some mental intensity, toughness and focus to the court or you’re going to get beat.
As we talked coming into the year, Solomon Bozeman is someone that we feel can get the ball to the paint off the dribble and get to the foul line. He is a very good free-throw shooter, which he showed on Sunday by making 13-of-14. I thought Mike Smith’s effort on the offensive end was also encouraging. Mike to this point has been our most solid defensive guy from a shell-principle standpoint. Not that he’s been perfect, but he’s been the best to this point. As I told our guys Monday while watching the game tape, everyone from 1-to-12 needs to raise the bar in terms of expectations of self on the defensive end. We can’t pin our shortcomings on one or two guys, it is everybody. I think our guys realize that and that’s one of the things that’s encouraging to me. They weren’t sitting in the locker room pointing fingers after the game on Sunday. Each one had the mindset in practice on Monday to take responsibility from an individual standpoint and work on improving.
At this point, I think it is really important for us to continue to look at ourselves. Obviously, we’ll spend a lot of time going over Ole Miss from a scouting standpoint and go over their personnel with our guys, but I think we need to be much more concerned with how we defend and rebound instead of getting too caught up in our opponents right now. Obviously there will always be several things we will try to take away from our opponents in a scout, but I don’t think we can get spread so thin thinking about Ole Miss that we lose our core from a defensive and rebounding standpoint.
Ole Miss, in my opinion, is going to be a top-25 team this year. They’ve got phenomenal guard play with two guys making the SEC preseason team. They are a very good offensive rebounding team and will be very difficult to guard off the dribble. They’re also very well coached. Andy Kennedy does a great job coaching them. They had all those injuries last year and they still went 7-9 in the SEC and 16-15 overall while advancing to the NIT.
With that said, our main focus has to be to continue to make strides everyday. That is one of the oldest coaching clichés in the book, but it has never been more fitting than right now.
We’re heading to Oxford on Thursday. After that we hit the road to take on Tulsa on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 1 p.m., in a game which will be televised by ESPN as part of the network’s 24-hour College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. We’ll return home on Wednesday, Nov. 18 against St. Gregory’s and I hope everyone can make it out to the Jack Stephens Center that night.
Lastly I would like to thank UALR Sports Information Director Joe Angolia. Joe does a great job of promoting the program and has been instrumental in getting my website up to date more often.