UMass game
- Thread starter Ulla1
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Nobody and I mean nobody can tell me if this year's recruiting class is good or not. Only time and wins will tell. Any team's fans that live on the hope of the next years recruiting class is sad and a pretty negative statement on the status of the program.
I see what you are saying, but on the other hand what we have recruited for next year would be starting on this current team. That tells me it's an improvement.
It was a really smart play to have Buck and Sherod at the game sitting by Wesson. Hopefully, they all got along. Just watching Buckingham a bit, that kid even watching a game carries a confidence about him.
Wesson can't sign until April. Could certainly commit, though I still fear he's holding out for an OSU offer that could still come.
Hopefully he was impressed enough by his visit that he sees we're a great option, and maybe we try to ratchet up the pressure a bit to make the decision.
Hopefully he was impressed enough by his visit that he sees we're a great option, and maybe we try to ratchet up the pressure a bit to make the decision.
You know that the head Coach is not the primary recruiter. Surely you wouldn't attempt to put forth that there hasn't been a change recently.
OSU appears to have only one spot left. I can't imagine they are saving it for Wesson.
I concur. I just don't see how one can credit the recruiting but then not know whom to assign credit to.
Mooney is responsible for all bad things that occur in the program, right? Recruiting, strategy, free throw shooting and everything else, right? Would he not deserve praise when one or more of those items seemingly go well - not "whomever"?
You do recall the article after Buckingham committed where he credited, Jamal, right?
I do not have any recollection of that, senator. I do recall that he landed such luminaries as Sparrow, however.
A lot of posters on here want to blame every issue we have on Mooney. That's fine, but he should also be credited for positives, such as bringing in Monte and Nick. You can't have it both ways.
I think Mooney has been more hands-on in recruiting and it's paying dividends. The staff recruiting has sucked, with the exception of Lewis, in my estimation.
They picked up 2 Power Forwards and have one spot left for a 6'9" 350 lb Center from Hargrave.
They haven't stated option B, or C.
He should get 100% credit for the program - good & bad. He is at the top of the chain. That just goes with the territory.
Awesome to have recruits in the house - both basketball and football - as well as prospect Wesson. Last night's game was one to enjoy and the baby race was very entertaining - didn't know if the baby race was a "metaphor" for the present condition of our program with the very hesitant approach by most of the babies who did not want to leave the "comfort" of the parent who was closeby to take off and go for the gold of the parent at the half court line..............
He certainly got credit for when things went well= a 10 year contract worth 10m+.
Credit will be awarded after they arrive and show they are as good as we all hope.
Lol true, but half the fun at the mid-major level is the unknown & anticipation. Like having a lottery ticket or a two year old race horse. Nice to have some thoroughbreds coming back into the barn.
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+1 Stork! Stork noted...
"1 - We went to either a 2-3 or 2-1-2 defense, which our players played SO much better than they have played the match-up zone. If we stick with something like this, it won't take our freshmen until their junior years to please Coach Mooney, and we won't SUCK on defense like we did against Davidson and George Mason. The 30-second-clock has moved our match-up zone out to the land of the dinosaur, in my opinion."
To me the biggest area we need to "start over" with is our defense and the fact that we never have even made an effort to change it up, to disrupt the other team. It is great to see that we may be starting to look at, and teach, some alternatives. I hope we don't stop with a single alternative, either. Our kids should be smart enough to be able to learn 3 or four defenses, including a "box & 1," which works really well when the other team has ONE realy good player. U-Mas was a perfect box&one team. Congrats to the coaches for two things:
1. For trying out at least one new defense, and making the other team adjust,
2. For some really creative and likely effective recruiting tactics, like having our commits show up for the same game a Andre Wesson, our clear #1 target. This makes our recruiting look like we have a clear plan, and we are going for it on an "All-in" basis. I love to see the focus, and the clear message we are sending to Andre. He can have no doubts that he is our #1 recruit, and he soon will see that he is NOT the #1 recruit for teams like Ohio State. Very nice recruiting effort by our coaching staff!!!
"1 - We went to either a 2-3 or 2-1-2 defense, which our players played SO much better than they have played the match-up zone. If we stick with something like this, it won't take our freshmen until their junior years to please Coach Mooney, and we won't SUCK on defense like we did against Davidson and George Mason. The 30-second-clock has moved our match-up zone out to the land of the dinosaur, in my opinion."
To me the biggest area we need to "start over" with is our defense and the fact that we never have even made an effort to change it up, to disrupt the other team. It is great to see that we may be starting to look at, and teach, some alternatives. I hope we don't stop with a single alternative, either. Our kids should be smart enough to be able to learn 3 or four defenses, including a "box & 1," which works really well when the other team has ONE realy good player. U-Mas was a perfect box&one team. Congrats to the coaches for two things:
1. For trying out at least one new defense, and making the other team adjust,
2. For some really creative and likely effective recruiting tactics, like having our commits show up for the same game a Andre Wesson, our clear #1 target. This makes our recruiting look like we have a clear plan, and we are going for it on an "All-in" basis. I love to see the focus, and the clear message we are sending to Andre. He can have no doubts that he is our #1 recruit, and he soon will see that he is NOT the #1 recruit for teams like Ohio State. Very nice recruiting effort by our coaching staff!!!
Totally agree, Oldie. I can't imagine that it's that difficult to teach D-1 basketball players the basics of a zone defense, whether it's a 2-3 or the 3-2 we've been using. Here's how you do it: "Cover this 10x10 spot on the floor." There. Did that really take us half a year to figure out and then implement? Our normal defense is more complicated. A zone defense is not. But better late than never – at least he is showing the willingness, finally, to try something new. And the fact that it has worked should empower him to try some more new things.
Is Mooney's defense really that hard to learn? Have been hearing this for years but not sure I believe it.
What makes it difficult to learn is the same thing that makes it difficult to attack. You have to determine who is going to switch on who without it being obvious. Notice when it isn't done right, two defenders switch to one perimeter player leaving a second one unguarded.
When done properly an under 6 ft guard can defend a 6'9" player because the ball handler has to dribble 3 times to pass, and still has to pass to someone other than the 6'9" player before the new ball handler can pass to the 6'9" player by then everyone has switched again.
When it is not done properly it can look downright silly.
The question is, is it always worth using that defense?
No shame in my game. This is how we lost. GW played a fine, desperate game, and we missed a lot of bunnies. If GW had made free throws, they would've had a more comfortable win. But hey, we didn't lose to Mason!
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I think it is worth it when it can be executed well, but that just isn't going to happen this year. Mooney has recently started to throw in different defenses and it worked wonderfully against UMass. That could be because UMass is really bad though.
The questions you need to ask are:
1) Is this defense right for my personnel?
2) Is this defense right for the offense we are facing?
I think the answer to (2) doesn't matter if the answer to (1) is no, and this year the answer to (1) is no.
The defense has historically been very good and very difficult even for good teams to score against. We have regularly been in the upper tier of the NCAA with it.
None of that means anything if we aren't playing it well. I still don't know if this year is due to personnel, lack of familiarity with it, 30-second shot clock, freedom of movement rules, etc., etc., etc...I just know it's not working.
Mixing in alternate defenses doesn't mean we abandon it entirely of course. But good to have some options.
None of that means anything if we aren't playing it well. I still don't know if this year is due to personnel, lack of familiarity with it, 30-second shot clock, freedom of movement rules, etc., etc., etc...I just know it's not working.
Mixing in alternate defenses doesn't mean we abandon it entirely of course. But good to have some options.
No way to I abandon our core defense, it has been very effective, sans this year. However, adjustments should have been made much earlier than they were given our inability to execute the defense this year.
Even if we are executing perfectly, I think you still teach your team on another defense that they can hop into when the game situation warrants.
Lord knows, how much trouble we have sometimes adjusting to a zone, you would think we would want to throw that same wrinkle at other teams.
Even if we are executing perfectly, I think you still teach your team on another defense that they can hop into when the game situation warrants.
Lord knows, how much trouble we have sometimes adjusting to a zone, you would think we would want to throw that same wrinkle at other teams.
We should have learned a zone a long time ago, if only to play it against our offense in practice. Maybe then we wouldn't look so clueless against it during actual games!
I can think of many many games where changing to a zone D would have possibly changed the outcome throughout the last 4 years and likely won us enough games to dance. It has been the biggest beef I and many have had w CM. Too bad its too late this year.
Thank you for saying this that I think. i have a not very nice time when I was talking to him when he was here but that is life and we all want happy.
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