That is what we will be seeing for the rest of the season with Will out.
(02-24-2014 12:00 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]That is what we will be seeing for the rest of the season with Will out.
Ironically, we clearly played better in both the WKU and UTA games after Will went out with injuries. We also played very well at ULL. Not sure what that means, although it seemed to me that the other guys really turned it up a notch when they realized they didn't have Will to rely on. No way we are better without Will, but we can play quite well in spurts.
If you are relying on your Go To guy and that player is at half speed, it has to crimp your style.
We will very quickly find out what we are made of. If Gus cannot stay out of foul trouble and Josh doesn't find a shot he doesn't like, we could very easily lose out. But if we regroup and play within ourselves, we might still win a game or two.
(02-24-2014 12:11 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]If you are relying on your Go To guy and that player is at half speed, it has to crimp your style.
I think you are suggesting that we play better without an injured WN, than we do with an injured WN. I think this makes a lot of sense. Of course, we are clearly better with a healthy WN. Unfortunately, that has not been the case more often than not.
We are loads better with a healthy Will. But there is a middle ground when a team is treading water mentally that is bad news. If Will is out for the season, or virtually so, the team has to move on mentally, and that is good.
This team might be decent next season (if we stay healthy), but we absolutely have to get some depth at post, because Gus and Poulter are just to slow afoot to stay out of foul trouble.
(02-24-2014 12:30 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]This team might be decent next season (if we stay healthy), but we absolutely have to get some depth at post, because Gus and Poulter are just to slow afoot to stay out of foul trouble.
But it hard to find fault with a "Point a Minute" player!
If they use him right, he could be a player for us, but they will have to protect him on defense.
If he's going to be a player for us, or if he has to be a player for us next year, why isn't he getting some playing time, especially in games that we are being blown out of? That's when you need to be getting the guys that you're going to count on next year, some game experience.
(02-24-2014 01:43 PM)LRTrojan Wrote: [ -> ]If he's going to be a player for us, or if he has to be a player for us next year, why isn't he getting some playing time, especially in games that we are being blown out of? That's when you need to be getting the guys that you're going to count on next year, some game experience.
He will need to provide a few minutes next year, but I do not think it will be much. He is a project, and projects pay off in their upperclass years.
Actually, after a weekend to get over the situation, I am interested to see how the team does without Will. It should tell us a lot. Can James carry being The Man Inside offensively? Can Gus stay on the court? Will Ben learn when to shoot and will Josh learn when not to?
(02-24-2014 04:59 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]Actually, after a weekend to get over the situation, I am interested to see how the team does without Will. It should tell us a lot. Can James carry being The Man Inside offensively? Can Gus stay on the court? Will Ben learn when to shoot and will Josh learn when not to?
Here's my thoughts on it. James is not an offensive machine. Yes at times he can score in double digits, but he's not a potential 25 points a game player. His talents are as a shot blocker and rebounder. We will need to shift our emphasis on trying to force the ball inside on every possession, which is a philosophy I don't like anyway because you lose too many possessions without getting off a shot. Our guards will need to carry us offensively, which if you check out the games we've lost, we weren't normally killed by inside shots, we were killed from the perimeter by either the other team's guards hitting threes and by some big men who can shoot from outside as well as inside.
Let our big men rebound and score around the basket when they're open, but not by trying to force the ball inside every time. The guards control the games in college ball. Let them drive and shoot, drive and dish, drive and pull up for short jumpers, and shoot the three ball. We can win without Will because we can get more players involved in the offense. However as Pappy has said, Ben needs to take more shots, and Josh has to be more selective. The Troy game will tell us a lot about this team's future under Steve.