RE: LSU game
Message board was down all day.
But, back to LSU...and the year in general.
IMO, we are a zone or pressure defense away from being pretty good. Straight man to man isn't working this year any better than last year. But, last year we pressed and could go on runs to overcome our lack of man to man ability.
Where we are:
Talley and Cacock are just playing superb. But, Cacock is back to fouling far too much and too quickly, just like his freshman year. Talley is doing a great job pushing tempo and seems to have really found confidence in his shot, especially from 3. However, he needs to know when to tap the brakes as our PG and leader of the team
Fornes, Taylor and Richmond all look very good. Richmond looked the best I have seen him in awhile against LSU. Although not all automatic starters, these three need to be on the floor A LOT. Taylor and Richmond look interchangeable at this point.
Gary and Estime. Gary is definitely progressing faster than Estime. He seems to have adjusted to the speed of the game better and has confidence in his shot. I love his passing, but he telegraphs a bit too much and puts too many passes in the grasp of defenders across the middle. Minor adjustments for Gary and Estime may not be ready yet.
So, I would primarily rotate:
Talley, Taylor, Fornes, Bryan, Cacock, Richmond, Gary and Powell. And, instead of bringing in Kalina, i'd go to a 4 guard rotation with either Cacock or Bryan as the lone big man and Powell at the 4 when the bigs need a rest.
UNLESS we go zone. Then, i'd rotate Kalina into the center position. He will get eaten up in the CAA if we play man.
The fact is, we have the players to be a top 3-4 team in the CAA. But, the coaches are going to have to implement a defensive scheme other than man to get there. We still have some really good scorers, but without the press we need to play some zone to protect our bigs from fouls and stop the penetration that forces our bigs to foul.
|