Best Offensive Coaches

[fan2011]

John Beilein was recently voted best offensive coach by a panel of 100 D1 coaches. The others in the top 5 were McKillop, Few, Bo Ryan and Coach K. These coaches and teams (besides K / Duke) have an interesting thing in common, they do not emphasize offensive rebounding. Most of these coaches get by with low turnover numbers and high shooting efficiency, and give up the offensive rebound to get back on defense. I think that our offensive system under Mooney has been similar in some ways to that of many of these 'best offensive coaches'.

The one thing we have been missing in recent years is the 4th and 5th scoring threat on the floor. When we only have 2 or 3 scorers on the floor we can't score efficiently but hopefully we will have more scoring threats this year and in the future.

 

[spider23]

Article does not show you that anonymous internet poster Coachfezz came in at number 11 in that poll.

 

[97spiderfan]

In fact, numbers 11-100 we're all anonymous internet posters who think they know more than established coaches. Fezz clearly is the best of that bunch though.

 

[SpiderTrap]

The thing our team has been lacking the last few years is SHOOTERS. In order to run a system like Beilein's, or Mooney's, or Bo Ryan's is that you have to guys on the floor who can shoot it from deep. Few and Coach K get by because they use athletic guys or typical post up players.

But the fact of the matter is we have not had enough shooters on the floor and have been dependent on 1-2 guys to carry the offensive load, which makes it easier for defenses to defend us.

Last season we shot 34% from 3 as a team - putting us around 200 nationally. And when you look at our roster from last season - that percentage was really carried by K0, Cline, and Shawndre. But with ShawnDre coming off the bench and Cline only playing 23 minutes a night because of defense and foul troubles - we really only had 2 of those guys on the floor at any given time. Meaning - we had 3 guys on the floor that teams were not really worried about shooting the ball.

Mooney has shown his system can work. Remember those back to back NCAA appearances and sweet 16 run. But with those teams - you had 4, if not 5 shooters on the floor most of the game. Not only does that mean we got more guys who can make shots, but also means defenses have to defend the perimeter, making it easier for smaller guys - like Anthony, Lindsay, Anderson, and now ShawnDre to drive to the lane and dish or pull up.

Without those extra shooters, teams can clog the lane, focus on 2-3 guys, and make it harder for our main scorers to get good looks.

 

[spider23]

Was just thinking about our recruiting in relation to "shooters". Is it me, or does there seem to be a renewed emphasis on recruiting shooters. Kovien, Jesse, and Julius all seem to be or have a reputation for shooting the ball. Add in Sherod and it seems like a common theme. Buckingham can shoot too, but he would seem to be one of the best all around talents we have brought in recently.

 

[sdspider]

Agreed need shooters number one. Even though we have two good defenders in Trey and Deion and our defensive stat numbers are good, it's still not enough to offset the loss on offense.
It's amazing when I think about Davidson coming in first year and winning the A10 with players all recruited at the SoCon level. But they had shooters everywhere and their offensive numbers were impressive. Made up for any lack of athleticism and lapse on the defensive end.

 

[SpiderFan]

But were those same coaches on a list of the top defensive coaches? I imagine Ryan and Coach K were...

 

[ur2K]

A poster on the a10 board posted the most and least efficient scorers in the conference last year. Not many surprises

http://www.basketballforum.com/atlantic-10-conference/610369-most-efficient-scorers-a10.html

Top 10 most efficient scorers:
1) Micah Mason - Duquense (1.39)
2) Melvin Johnson - VCU (1.28)
3) Jordan Sibert - Dayton (1.27)
4) Treveon Graham - VCU (1.25)
5) Hassan Martin - URI (1.25)
6) Yuta Watanabe - GW (1.24)
7) Jordan Barham - Davidson (1.24)
8) Dion Wright - Bona (1.23)
9) John Kopriva - GW (1.23)
10) TJ Cline - Richmond (1.23)

10 Least efficient scorers
1) Deion Taylor - Richmond (.61)
2) Shavar Newkirk - SJU (.61)
3) Nathan Ekwu - Davidson (.72)
4) Antwoine Anderson - Fordham (.72)
5) Biggie Minnis - URI (.72)
6) Trey Davis - Richmond (.73)
7) Denzel Gregg - Bona (.73)
8) Jeremiah Jones - Duquense (.80)
9) Nemenja Zarkovic - Fordham (.83)
10) James Demery - SJU (.84)

 

[keefusb]

I would say Mark Few is the best offensive coach in college basketball right now. Gonzaga consistently has one of the more efficient offenses in the country, and they have had an incredible inside/out game for many years. Think about all the great 3-point shooters (Morrison, Dickau, Pangos, just to name a few), and dominant big men (Karnowski, Sabonis, Kelly Olinyck, Sacre, etc.) they have had over the past several years.

 

[97spiderfan]

While I think there is some sample size issues with those efficiency ratings, having two of our starters among the Top 6 least efficient players in the conference is not a good thing. Hopefully, CM is able to make some correct, either less minutes for those 2 or some adjustment to Deion and Trey's game to make them less inefficient.

 

[keefusb]

The easiest way to have them improve their offensive efficiency is to keep them off the floor. The next best thing is to not have them shoot. The fact that both DT and TD are our two best defenders and are both seniors will mean that they will still see plenty of court time, and will probably not improve their efficiency numbers by very much at all.

The best thing we can hope for is that two other players who are better shooters show CM that they can play defense as well as DT and TD do, which is not very likely IMHO.

 

[SouthJerseySpiderFan]

10 Least efficient scorers
1) Deion Taylor - Richmond (.61)
2) Shavar Newkirk - SJU (.61)
3) Nathan Ekwu - Davidson (.72)
4) Antwoine Anderson - Fordham (.72)
5) Biggie Minnis - URI (.72)
6) Trey Davis - Richmond (.73)
7) Denzel Gregg - Bona (.73)
8) Jeremiah Jones - Duquense (.80)
9) Nemenja Zarkovic - Fordham (.83)
10) James Demery - SJU (.84)

Confirms what we have thought all along. Breaking down list I see where 6 players are frosh so I'll give them a pass. Minnis and Jones were juniors and played 20 and 13 minutes per game respectively. Trey got 30 a game while Deion was in for 23. Too much combined time for a single team that has tourny aspirations. As good as they might be on defense, you still need more than what they give you offensively.

If we see MW getting significant minutes and hopefully JJones with hopefully Julius or Pisto as the SF/SG tandem more than anticipated UR should be looking good record wise. With the recruits coming in next year I think CM needs to get a good look at Julius and Pisto plus getting a head start with a 3 guard offense.

Say for discussion following this year SDJ and Fore take up the 40 minutes at PG in 2016. You than have 5 players vying for the 40 SG minutes. The numbers don't add up and with not much taller frontcourt recruitment happening, three guards who can shoot from the outside would be nice.

 

[spiderman]

I think at least 2 if not 3 of those 5 guys are vying for the 40 SF minutes, too.
J Jones, Sherod, and Buckingham will likely also be competing with KoVien at the 3.

 

[fan2011]

I think the reason Deion and Trey have such low efficiency numbers is due to turnovers and free throw shooting. According to kenpom 25% of possession used by Trey are turnovers, the number is 19% for Deion. These high turnover rates destroy their efficiencies. Those are the two highest on the team in turnover percentage. They are also the highest on the team in free throw rate, which means they use a large proportion of their possessions at the line. They are both horrible free throw shooters, so this really lowers their efficiency as well. Trey's actual shooting isn't bad, he shot well above the national average from 2pt range (53% compared to an average of 48%). Deion's shooting is not great, but if they both stop shooting threes and long twos they would be a lot better. Even if they don't become better shooters, if they reduce their turnovers and improve their free throw shooting they would have reasonable efficiencies.

Also, I used the method outlined in the A10 board post to calculate efficiencies for Marshall Wood.
Freshmen: 0.84
Sophomore:0.94

Both are below the stated average of 1.02, but higher than Deion and Trey.

 

[97spiderfan]

Confirms what we have thought all along. Breaking down list I see where 6 players are frosh so I'll give them a pass. Minnis and Jones were juniors and played 20 and 13 minutes per game respectively. Trey got 30 a game while Deion was in for 23. Too much combined time for a single team that has tourny aspirations. As good as they might be on defense, you still need more than what they give you offensively."

Well said. That efficient rating confirmed what many of us saw all last year. We just need more production out of 40% of our starting 5, than what we got last year. You might be able to thrive with one of these guys on the floor, but not two of them together, playing starters minutes.

 

[97spiderfan]

Fan, I agree those numbers wouldn't look so ugly if they weren't taking and missing long jumpers, but that is the basis of our offense, swift ball movement to get a guy an open look. So, if we have two guys out there, who can't take/make those open looks when they get them, it pretty much counters the whole point of our offense.