I donāt think anyone would argue that Lutz didnt know how to get shooters in position better than Sanchez.
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Iām optimistic. As always, recruiting and player retention are keys. Since we arenāt able to see games in person, its impossible to even guess what team attitude is, even though some on this board, who are smarter and more clairvoyant than I have concluded that guys are unhappy and that Ron has ālost the locker roomā.
Like most teams, we need rebounding and shooters. Williams, Young, etc are fine. Iāve seen enough improvement from Supica to think our bigs can develop under this coaching staff.
Just an uneducated opinion.
Supica looks like the same guy who arrived here 4 years ago to me. The improvement in stats is nominal outside of FT shooting.
I am with 4ever on this one. I donāt jump for joy at our offense, but honestly guys are getting good open shots. Lots of times just missing them. In the UAB debacle, we had great shots from 3, they just were terrible looking shots. I dont think the kids have given up, I just think we have bad mentality and fail to have the desire and passion needed to compete consistently. I think having no fans is hurting us at home. Look at our home/away split last year. The only thing missing is fandom and I think these guys thrive off that. I think where Sanchez needs to work is getting the players hyped to play.
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We arenāt a poor shooting b-ball team. At 45.6% we are 82nd overall.
It all goes back to number of possessions. We have so few that it puts undue pressure to score and to defend.
I think Threadgill looks uncomfortable for the same reason Brice does at times. On offense we work the clock down and each possession is HUGE because we purposely on restricting the offensive side of the ball. The structured slow down nature has kids playing tight and afraid to make mistakes which ironically just prompts more mistakes and poor shots. We just need a more organic flowing offense and some set plays - honestly I think we can stay in the system just stop burning clock let the kids run the offense as soon as we cross half court
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Burning the shot clock and limiting possessions made more sense Sanchezās first year when we had Jon Davis and some other guys. Now we have more guys capable of scoring so it does seem like we should try to score earlier in the shot clock. Maybe they do but I donāt understand why the pack line and this slow down offense have to go together. I guess itās to save energy to play defense but you also limit your own possessions and chances to score.
It doesnāt seem to me that weāre āburning clockā so much as looking for easy backdoor cuts and wide open shots from moving the ball around the perimeter early on. If the opposing team plays OK defense, itās unlikely that these will be available (may be one reason we look bad toward the end of games, when opposing teams ramp up their defense). When the opposing team is playing poor D or just not well-set up to cover the cuts, we look pretty good. We do use screens, but our guys donāt seem to often set effective ones and seem to slip the screen more often than other teams do. Where we struggle most is late in the clock when players seem to slow down or stand watching whoever has the ball and everyone tightens up. Attacking on the dribble earlier could help with that to keep people moving.
Some quick plays to run could help too, particularly if we can shift into them when the offense is struggling. But running them well does involve a trade-off. I do think Sanchez is still trying to help players learn what to do, particularly given the number of new players. 20 years ago or more, relying on a system like this is a solid plan that likely pays off in program development and future success. But with the way players transfer now, I donāt know if this is likely to work if we keep having to start over with so many players.
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I agree. Itās not that we should look to take a shot quickly, but take the good look when we have it. We pass up open looks earlier in the shot clock and that i donāt understand. We should as a team understand what a good shot is and take them when we have them.
A good look is going to have a higher probability of going in than another look 10-15 seconds later that may not be as good and certainly has more pressure on the shooter. Since our style limits possessions, we should optimize the outcome of those we have.
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Exactly ! That was my point.
I agree with most of the recent posts. Iāve never been a proponent of running the shot clock down. Other than it limits the number of possessions of the opponent. That may be good against a superior team but once you have some horses to compete I think itās counterproductive and puts more pressure On a shot with the clock winding down. So I agree, a little more run and gun would for one take some of that tentativeness away. PS I donāt agree that Lutz put us in good positions for shots. There was a lot of poor shot selections and poor ball movement while teams were killing us from the perimeter . I like Lutz as a person and alum of our school but not sold on him as a great coach.
Totally agree on your Lutz assessment.
The offense is not set to just burn clock other wise we would pull back from a 2 on 1 fast break. The objective is running it to find the best shot. Experience will tell these guys when the best shot is and maybe they wonāt pass up on the better shot even if it is early. As far as number of possessions, the defense is the driving force there. While it may be pressure on our offense I think it is more on the opposing offense who typically sees more possessions in a game. Our offense is built to look for the best shot because it is a limited possession game.
Lutz knowing how to get the guys open for a 3 was often times Plavich, Jobey, or Leemire shooting one from 6 feet behind the arc. Also, I have rarely seen a player make the most of a screen more than Jobey. I give that credit to Jobey and not so much Lutz.
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I think the play Lutz drew up for Plavich from nearly half court to win at Indiana was genius. 
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I am still pissed about that Indiana game. I was going to be there and check another basketball temple off the list but Charlotte-Douglas was socked in with a snow storm and I had to watch it on TV. On the positive side we won that game, instead of losing like a bunch of chumps like we did with Belmont Abbey.
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no way on Supica. He is much better now than he was 3 years ago. In fact, he is clearly better to me this season than he was even last year. Much more aggressive and finishing much better in traffic.
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Totally agree. Historically it takes time for us to develope big men . Supica is no exception
Heās gone from 6 points 5 boards his freshman year to 8 points 6 boards this year. Heās nominally better.
He is much better. If you dont see that, Iām not sure youāre even watching. He is shooting about 8% better from the field and has improved his ft % from 49% to over 80%. He is better on D as well.
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I mentioned his better FT% but nothing else shows heās much better.
Edited- His BPM is better. He was -5 his first year and is now .1
So you are correct. He has gotten better.