Great guards

[SpiderK]

I just talked to a good friend of mine that has coached basketball for 25 years and is a big fan of all the state of VA college teams. He pointed out to me that UR had arguably one of the top five guard tandems in the country for the 12-13 and 13-14 seasons. He says the fact that we were still a mediocre 500 team shows how lacking our big men were. He pointed out many statistics that we are all aware of, mainly rebounding of course. His main point was that if you can't win with great guards, then you have serious flaws in your offensive approach. He really likes Mooney as a person and coach, but thinks his offensive strategy is out dated.

 

[bongturk]

It isn't outdated. We just don't have the players to run this offense correctly. This offense needs guys who know how to pass and cut, how and when to go backdoor and most importantly, how to catch and shoot an open jump shot when it comes up. Davis and Taylor, who are both horrible shooters, will never catch and shoot. ANO when he played always hesitated before shooting. The two small guards are the only players capable of catching and shooting, but because they are so short it is tougher for them to get open shots. Because he is jerked in and out so often TJ hasn't developed any rhythm at all.
This team is so poor rebounding because the big guys always are too far away from the basket and never make any effort to crash the boards.
This offense is a great offense to run if you are smart enough to recruit kids who can run it. For the last few years this" coach" hasn't been able to do that.
Why do we lose close games? Because we have guys who are afraid to shoot or can't shoot or who because no one else can or will shoot too much.

 

[SpiderK]

God forbid we adjust the offense to the players we do have.

 

[NewURfan]

The PO is outdated even Princeton don't currently run it solely anymore. That is a statement in it's own. As stated above run offense that all our current players can flourish in not just three of them. CM has to take a hit to his stubborn pride and shelf the PO for awhile.

 

[SpiderGuy]

Originally posted by NewURfan:
The PO is outdated even Princeton don't currently run it solely anymore. That is a statement in it's own. As stated above run offense that all our current players can flourish in not just three of them. CM has to take a hit to his stubborn pride and shelf the PO for awhile.

I believe what we've seen over the years is what we're going to see the next several years. Adaptability is critical, but I'd be shocked if we see much.

Coach, please prove us wrong and try a different approach. The record & stats say that what we're doing does not achieve an end of season goal - NCAA Tournament. At least I'm going to assume that's a goal and a reasonable one.

 

[spiderman]

Originally posted by NewURfan:
The PO is outdated even Princeton don't currently run it solely anymore. That is a statement in it's own. As stated above run offense that all our current players can flourish in not just three of them. CM has to take a hit to his stubborn pride and shelf the PO for awhile.

we don't run the PO. not even remotely close to the PO. haven't in a long time. I don' nderstand why anyone mentions the PO when talking about us. I guess because our coach went there.

 

[ThePhysician]

when the post comes to the elbow with his back to the basket and gets a bounce pass, it is the PO

 

[Jwilk2]

That's absurd!

 

[ThePhysician]

whats absurd?

 

[PhillySpider]

Do we run the PO?

This is an unresolvable question. No - - if you interpret the question literally to mean the PO that Pete Carrill ran and is the "classic" PO. We have advanced well beyond that at this point. Yes, however, if you interpret the question more broadly to mean is our offensive philosophy deeply rooted in many ways in that classic PO.

My answer is yes because what we do shares much philosophically with the PO. Most all motion offenses have some PO roots. Offenses based on set plays (and not so much what are broadly called "continuity offenses" that include motion offenses) have much less in common with the PO, but even then the offenses may share a lot. BAck door cuts, for example are a PO staple, but they certainly can be part of offenses that are not PO based (or even motion offense based). The other big philosophical type of offense in vogue these days is the "dribble drive" version of the motion offense and its many "dribble drive" progeny. It too shares motion and/or PO philosophies, but is also materially different than the classic PO.

So, I can't really say our offense is outdated. What I can say is that I really struggle, however, with what seems to me an overattachment to any one thing offensively or defensively (regardless of its "currentness" ). And right now (meaning for basically AT LEAST TWO SEASONS) we seem horribly overattached to one defense and one offense that simply does not fit our personnel. We have had basically this same group running the same O and the same D for nearly 2 full seasons with the same disappointing (even to the coaches) results over and over again. There are many other options on both O and D that would likely accommodate our skill sets much better and we should have long ago identified some and tried to play to the players strengths instead of our never ending (it seems) quest to plug a square peg in a round hole.

The other thing here - - and this IMHO REALLY impacts in close games - - we are not only not playing to strengths, but we are constantly asking players to do things that are clearly out of their "comfort zone". To make big plays at big times, more than anything else, players need to be doing what they are comfortable and confident doing. I see little of that. As a result, its not surprising that its the close one's (and the number of them) where we come up short!

 

[UR Fan 2]

K, I just talked to a friend of mine who has been irrelevant for a long time, call it 25 years. He feels like your posts are carrying an agenda and moreover he thinks you unworthy of responding to about any basketball matter going forward.

 

[keefusb]

We have had some great guards during the CM era (KA, Gonzo, Ced, K0, and perhaps Brothers), but great front line players have been few and far between (pre-injury Geriot and Harper are the only ones IMHO).

I will not beat the dead horse that has been our recruiting since the Sweet 16 appearance. But clearly we have not had the right combination of talent to run the schemes (offensive and defensive) that were successful in 2009-2011. Plus, we were one of the best road teams in the nation during that time, I put a lot of that on the fact that we had KA an Harper, and several other mentally tough, hard-nosed kids (Geriot, Smitty, Gonzo, even Ced).

The things that were working in the past (recruiting, offense, and defense) are not working now, and have not worked since 2011. I put that on the coaches. We have enough talent to be better than a .500 team, assuming we run schemes that fit what our guys can do, and what our opponents give us.

I think we give CM next year to get us to the post-season, and if we don't do that next year, we need to make a change.

 

[PhiDeltaSpider]

Philly, you are so right in your post.

 

[SpiderK]

UR FAN 2. LMAO