(11-27-2019 01:54 PM)JJMonarch Wrote: Our lack of an inside scorer is killing the entire offense. No team is collapsing on us when we do get the ball in the post. When we do throw the ball in the paint the opposing team just locks down even more on our shooters. Therefore, nobody is open. We will struggle to get 55 points against everyone if our bigs don’t figure out how to score. Maybe Reece playing the 4 some will open it up a little. He at least seems to be aggressive looking to get a shot.
As much as I like Carver, it’s much like watching our offense struggle when Denzel Taylor played. Carver had the ball on a couple of possessions from about 10 feet. There wasn’t anyone within 5 feet of him and he is looking to pass. Who are you going to throw it to? We really need 5 guys that would at try to score.
I agree and it is nice to hear from someone else that sees the same issues as you and ODUBB35 have. I also agree with some of what Monarchblue has stated, especially regarding Jeff needing to be flexible in his "defensive principals".
After yesterday's game my wife and I were discussing the game and I expressed to her that I felt that with this particular team Jeff needed to play a full court press defense in order to -
1). Take advantage of his depth and wear the opponent down:
Starters - 1 Curry, 2 Godwin, 3 Green, 4 Carver, 5 Dickins
Bench - 1 Hunter, 2 Oliver II, 3 Wade, 4 Reece, 5 Ezikpe
2). To create steals in the back court and mid court that lead to easy baskets.
3). To create turnovers via 5 second counts, 10 second counts, traveling, throw aways, stepping on the sideline, and via offensive fouls.
4). To cause the opponent to use up much of the shot clock before ever getting into their half court offense.
5). To make the opponent (in some cases) play at a faster pace than they want to.
I was semi encouraged to hear Jeff's post game comments today when he said that he may have to play a little bit more full court press, although he said he didn't feel he could play it too much as he had concerns about the depth of the team. I strongly disagree with him on the depth part, especially in another 2 or 3 weeks when Oliver II will be available, and on top of that whenever Karaiskos is available he will hopefully add even more depth.
In short, I don't see ODU has having a bunch of really good outside shooters. Maybe those that have played thus far will improve in the upcoming games going forward. Maybe Oliver II will come out shooting 40% and open things up more for the other shooters to do better. Unless things improve significantly, they don't have a strong inside presence either which hurts their half court offense. In recent years when ODU also had poor shooting teams it was often said that ODU's best offense was a missed shot since they frequently got the offensive rebound and cashed in with the follow shot. That hasn't happened very often thus far this year, because they don't rebound as well, because they aren't as big and talented inside. At this point they need to get more easy shots in the form of break away layups and wide open 3 point looks as a result of 2 on 1 breaks off a steal and such. If I was the coach I would definitely try something different than what he likes to do - i.e. full court press, then drop back into a pressure/attacking half court defense. Not saying Jeff will go that route however.