(12-07-2017 09:18 PM)ttgwm02 Wrote:  Here's the problem with shooting. It is like gambling. It is inconsistent and unpredictable. Defense, on the other hand, is reliable.

The problem with this theory is that our defense has proven unreliable.

Given the makeup of this year's team, defensive proficiency is a chimera not worth pursuing. You would need to put Burchfield and Rowley on the deep bench, possibly swap out Loewe for Cohn and maybe Williams for Milon. Is there any scenario where that gives us a better chance of winning?

Perhaps the argument is that we should have built our roster with a defense-first philosophy. As a basketball purist, I like that approach and during what little (very little) coaching I did, I practiced it.

I also believe that is what Shaver tried to do the first years at W&M (and what he did do in his very successful tenure at H-SC).

There is another mid-major coach I really like: Scott Cherry at High Point.

You can look at Cherry and Shaver and imagine they both had to make a similar decision early in their careers at their respective institutions. Both knew they wouldn't get 4 or 5-star recruits or out-talent the opposition. Should they go for athletes or skilled basketball players (realizing that if a recruit was both, he would not be available to them)?

Cherry went with the athletes; Shaver with skilled players. High Point plays great defense but when you watch them on offense they set the game back 30 years. W&M plays a type of offense very well but does similar damage to the game of basketball on the defensive end.

I actually think both coaches made the right decisions for the recruiting profile of their schools.

So I can get frustrated with the defense here but I really get frustrated with the harping on it on our boards. We do not have the players to stop dribble drives which is the first fundamental of defense. We are very limited in size and will never match teams like Towson on the boards (which is the second fundamental of defense.) Fortunately we have had good point guard play recently, cutting down on turnovers, which are naturally going to be high given the nature of our offense. And that is the third fundamental of defense.

If we ever get there under Shaver, it will be with a bare modicum of satisfactory defense but a lot of effort at it, like the last two minutes of the first half of the Marshall game, which keyed our win in that game.

If that is not the way for us to succeed, we need to move on from Shaver, tear down what he has achieved and start anew.

FT data analysis aside, the fundamental shooting form of our top six this year is far better than three of the four players we lost, and the form of one of those returning players is greatly improved. Results follow fundamentals and will replicate.

One additional factor: my eye test continues to tell me that, to a man, this year's team is better conditioned than last year. Too often last year I noticed winded players despite the higher player rotation. Hard to shoot well when your legs are drained. It's, also, a key reason why some teams close games out, and some can't.

Nathan commented in his recent postgame interview about the importance of the team getting good sleep on this three road game swing. Don't recall ever hearing that kind of player stated attention to rest/eating prep made in the past. That's a big deal in performance, as well as, avoiding sickness, if players have bought into that discipline.





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