Originally posted by fan2011:
Originally posted by MrTbone:
Concur, but CM has basically said if a guy can do the things he wants him to do (shoot, dribble, pass) then his measurables don't matter that much. I think that's a somewhat flawed philosophy but I don't coach bball.
I don't find the philosophy flawed. Despite having short guards we have been a top 50 defense (points allowed per possession) the past two years. We had the shortest player in the A10, and he was a first-teamer. We also had the 3rd shortest player, and he was voted 6th man of the year. The guards we have had have been extremely valuable to the team, their size didn't matter.
Here are the average heights of all A10 teams this past season (weighted by playing time) and their national rank
[ 1] La Salle 77.8 inches (37)
[ 2] GW 77.5 inches (58)
[ 3] Bona 77.4 inches (77)
[ 4] GMU 77.2 inches (107)
[ 5] SJU 77.2 inches (108)
[ 6] SLU 76.9 inches (136)
[ 7] UMass 76.6 inches (185)
[ 8] Fordham 76.5 inches (194)
[ 9] VCU 76.5 inches (199)
[10] URI 76.4 inches (217)
[11] Dayton 76.0 inches (267)
[12] Duquesne 76.0 (268)
[13] Davidson 75.9 (277)
[14] Richmond 75.7 (302)
Notice that the top 5 teams from this past year are all in the bottom 6 in terms of height. In the A10 height is not what makes a team good, in fact the teams that have chosen to focus on recruiting height seem to be worse. We can be very good with short guards if those short guards are good, and Mooney seems to have a knack for finding this type of guy.
This post was edited on 4/19 9:48 PM by fan2011