I wanted to start a new thread where we can just discuss the team, and not Major’s unfortunate situation.
The team is 6-7 (0-1) right now. We have two road games coming up this week.
There was already talk about changing the starting lineup I’m curious to see if Ryan does this.
I’m also very curious to see how the bench changes and how he coaches.
Will we see more zone. Will we still see slow starts.
The situation is crappy but Charlotte bball just got a little more interesting, I’m hopeing Major gets his health in order to have a long fufilling life.
I am not sure that we will see much changes this week, but as the season progresses we may see some different things. I hope the starting lineup changes this week as well. We are in a conference where we don’t need a 6-10 and a 6-8 on the floor together. I want to see more Benny this week as well. He has disappeared.
I would like to see more use of the press defense, and even more trapping in the half court. Our players are at their best when in transition, so trying to create more transition baskets through pressure defense would be a plus. Also, we have more longer, interchangeable players now as opposed to in the past, so more pressure with greater overall team size has always seemed logical to me.
[quote=“Niner_Alum_2000, post:5, topic:29307”]I am not sure that we will see much changes this week, but as the season progresses we may see some different things. I hope the starting lineup changes this week as well. We are in a conference where we don’t need a 6-10 and a 6-8 on the floor together. I want to see more Benny this week as well. He has disappeared.[/quote]I wouldn’t mind seeing more Benny, but when he’s on the floor, teams know he’s there to shoot. If he can’t get open to shoot, he doesn’t really provide much.
However, more time on the floor reduces the notion that he is there just to shoot. I have seen him take someone on the drive and make a two. He needs some floor time and Blakely still needs to get some spurts.
However, more time on the floor reduces the notion that he is there just to shoot. I have seen him take someone on the drive and make a two. He needs some floor time and Blakely still needs to get some spurts.[/quote]More time of the floor is more time he could be giving up baskets to the other team.
He’s a defensive liability on a team that already struggles with defense.
However, more time on the floor reduces the notion that he is there just to shoot. I have seen him take someone on the drive and make a two. He needs some floor time and Blakely still needs to get some spurts.[/quote]More time of the floor is more time he could be giving up baskets to the other team.
He’s a defensive liability on a team that already struggles with defense.[/quote]
Not taking a shot at you here NN, but I am so tired of hearing this excuse about Benk, especially when most of our players aren’t worth a flip on defense either and provide LESS offense. Its not like he would be taking minutes from some great defensive stoppers.
[quote=“Universal, post:12, topic:29307”]Benk is 6’7, I think he could guard a PF just as effectively as TWill.[/quote]PF’s in CUSA are athletic, Benny is in no way cut out for that.
However, more time on the floor reduces the notion that he is there just to shoot. I have seen him take someone on the drive and make a two. He needs some floor time and Blakely still needs to get some spurts.[/quote]More time of the floor is more time he could be giving up baskets to the other team.
He’s a defensive liability on a team that already struggles with defense.[/quote]
Not taking a shot at you here NN, but I am so tired of hearing this excuse about Benk, especially when most of our players aren’t worth a flip on defense either and provide LESS offense. Its not like he would be taking minutes from some great defensive stoppers.[/quote]The difference though is most of our other defensive liabilities can create for themselves. Benkovich is a spot up shooter. If he can’t get off his man for the open shot, then he doesn’t really provide anything at all for us.
I don’t want to replace a defensive liability that can score with a defensive liability that can’t get open to shoot the ball.
The book is out on Benkovich. Just don’t lose him and you can shut him down.
Offense isn’t our problem right now. We’re in the top 25% in the nation for scoring…and that is with us struggling to score for the first 25% of every game.
Would I like to see Benk get more minutes? Sure. I just don’t think it fundamentally changes things for us.
Benkovich was brought here to be a three point shooter. Woods hits 3’s at a greater clip than Benkovich and he can do so much more. Benk’s decline in minutes is more a product of Woods being awesome than Benk being bad.
However, more time on the floor reduces the notion that he is there just to shoot. I have seen him take someone on the drive and make a two. He needs some floor time and Blakely still needs to get some spurts.[/quote]More time of the floor is more time he could be giving up baskets to the other team.
He’s a defensive liability on a team that already struggles with defense.[/quote]
Not taking a shot at you here NN, but I am so tired of hearing this excuse about Benk, especially when most of our players aren’t worth a flip on defense either and provide LESS offense. Its not like he would be taking minutes from some great defensive stoppers.[/quote]The difference though is most of our other defensive liabilities can create for themselves. Benkovich is a spot up shooter. If he can’t get off his man for the open shot, then he doesn’t really provide anything at all for us.
I don’t want to replace a defensive liability that can score with a defensive liability that can’t get open to shoot the ball.
The book is out on Benkovich. Just don’t lose him and you can shut him down.
Offense isn’t our problem right now. We’re in the top 25% in the nation for scoring…and that is with us struggling to score for the first 25% of every game.
Would I like to see Benk get more minutes? Sure. I just don’t think it fundamentally changes things for us.
Benkovich was brought here to be a three point shooter. Woods hits 3’s at a greater clip than Benkovich and he can do so much more. Benk’s decline in minutes is more a product of Woods being awesome than Benk being bad.[/quote]
Lets just agree to disagree. I think he is no worse at either end of the floor than some of our other guys and I’m not sure which one of our guys “routinely” create offense for themselves. Henry does, when he decides he wants to. Williams tries but is so limited offensively its rare that he actually looks legit doing it. I will give you Woods and Dorn look pretty adept though. Also, perhaps it says something about the other guys/coaches if we can’t run sets to get our “shooters” open. It seems that most teams have shooters that can somehow get open (and not just by creating their own shots). Why can’t (or don’t) we?
Major is not going to coach again and Odom will finish out this year as the coach, and then a new head coach will be chosen. Major is too sick to be a head coach and needs to do something less stressful that won’t kill him. Charlotte has insurance to buy out a coach’s contract in a situation where a coach is too sick to perform his duties and that is what this situation has become. The school can’t afford to have a coach who has to keep taking long leaves of absence because of health and Major can’t afford to risk his life.
[quote=“919R, post:15, topic:29307”]Lets just agree to disagree. I think he is no worse at either end of the floor than some of our other guys and I’m not sure which one of our guys “routinely” create offense for themselves. Henry does, when he decides he wants to. Williams tries but is so limited offensively its rare that he actually looks legit doing it. I will give you Woods and Dorn look pretty adept though. Also, perhaps it says something about the other guys/coaches if we can’t run sets to get our “shooters” open. It seems that most teams have shooters that can somehow get open (and not just by creating their own shots). Why can’t (or don’t) we?[/quote] I agree that Benkovic isn’t that much worse defensively than our other guys. But he’s enough worse that opposing coaches immediately try to attack him on D off the dribble. Maybe they are just trying to get him off the court to limit his hot shooting, but I think they’ve seen some things on tape that suggest he’s a bigger liability than our other players.
We also always play zone with him out there, though our zone has been much much better than man-to-man and might be another big reason we struggle early (starting out in man before switching to zone). The zone probably works to protect the freshmen on D, but it could be the more effective way to play. Or maybe some guys play better in man-to-man while other player combos work in zone, but I haven’t noticed any point this season our man-to-man has been better than the zone since maybe the first couple of games.
