Many of my thoughts will be similar to some by other posters and some I've given previously. With that being said, hear is the sum of what I believe:
Prior to the season I felt this should be a tournament team due to the quality of players returning and based on the film I watched and the reports from coaches and Dan about the abilities of our freshmen. I had two caveats 1) was barring significant injuries to any of our top players. Of course, I did not know that JP would probably not play this season. DO's injury has been the only one, of an active player, imo, that has had an impact on our record so far. And the extent of that impact is hard to evaluate due to his limited playing time, but certainly he could have made a difference in a couple of games. 2) Would CMF change his positions on playing freshmen significant minutes early in the season, and at more than one position. And would he play a more uptempo style to take advantage of the abilities of our returning players and our new guys. I stated that if HK and KPG were still getting most of the minutes after a few games( 2-3) it would have a negative effect on our jelling as a quality team. It appears that CMF has maintained his previous philosophy for the most part and it's had somewhat of a detrimental effect. IMO, we have limited our offensive capabilities by continuing our slow, deliberate style of play. Our most effective minutes thus far have been when we played uptempo.
I am encouraged, for the most part, from what I've seen of our team. KG and Yante have been consistent and our best players to this point. JJ has struggled at times for a couple of reasons. His injury and playing too much at the point. He is much more effective scoring from the 2spot, or running the point when we play open court BB. To facilitate him being able to play the 2spot CMF needs to play Turtle much more at the point and CM to play some point, but more at the 3spot. That is doubly beneficial in JJ being more effective as well as CM. He can score just s well from there and he is a much better defender than KPG or EW. Both have cost us defensively at times. KPG has helped in some games with assists and hustle and I would give him relief minutes at the 3 and 4 spots. EW has been inconsistent, but is going to improve quickly and feel he would be much more effective in an uptempo game, as would Edwards, who has also shown he needs more minutes.
Our defense has been good at times, although it would yield even better results if CMF would employ more zone. We have put our opponents in the bonus way too early in some games and combined with our inability to stop dribble penetration at times, especially late in games it has directly cost us at least two wins.
Georgia Card points out our lack of steals and based on my observations over the last few seasons we are much better at creating turnovers in halfcourt when we play zone.I believe with the new rules, along with KG flirting with foul trouble too often because of being assigned to guard the best offensive backcourt threat we must mix more zone into our defense. It could easily be the difference in making the tourney and not.
Going forward I believe JJ and CM will both improve their offensive production. I believe DO will give us a huge lift when he is back to form. I am confident Turtle, Edwards and EW will continue to improve. Most of this depends on whether CMF will use his players best assets and play more uptempo and open court basketball. And if he will allow his young guys to play through mistakes and give them the minutes they need to gain confidence. And finally, whether he will show some flexibility on defense.
To his credit CMF has brought in capable talent and as always the team is playing hard. I believe this team should be 6-1 at this point and in a strong position to be on our way to the dance. We are not primarily because of decisions by our coach. With changes I believe this is still a tourney team. We'll find out soon.
Prior to the season I felt this should be a tournament team due to the quality of players returning and based on the film I watched and the reports from coaches and Dan about the abilities of our freshmen. I had two caveats 1) was barring significant injuries to any of our top players. Of course, I did not know that JP would probably not play this season. DO's injury has been the only one, of an active player, imo, that has had an impact on our record so far. And the extent of that impact is hard to evaluate due to his limited playing time, but certainly he could have made a difference in a couple of games. 2) Would CMF change his positions on playing freshmen significant minutes early in the season, and at more than one position. And would he play a more uptempo style to take advantage of the abilities of our returning players and our new guys. I stated that if HK and KPG were still getting most of the minutes after a few games( 2-3) it would have a negative effect on our jelling as a quality team. It appears that CMF has maintained his previous philosophy for the most part and it's had somewhat of a detrimental effect. IMO, we have limited our offensive capabilities by continuing our slow, deliberate style of play. Our most effective minutes thus far have been when we played uptempo.
I am encouraged, for the most part, from what I've seen of our team. KG and Yante have been consistent and our best players to this point. JJ has struggled at times for a couple of reasons. His injury and playing too much at the point. He is much more effective scoring from the 2spot, or running the point when we play open court BB. To facilitate him being able to play the 2spot CMF needs to play Turtle much more at the point and CM to play some point, but more at the 3spot. That is doubly beneficial in JJ being more effective as well as CM. He can score just s well from there and he is a much better defender than KPG or EW. Both have cost us defensively at times. KPG has helped in some games with assists and hustle and I would give him relief minutes at the 3 and 4 spots. EW has been inconsistent, but is going to improve quickly and feel he would be much more effective in an uptempo game, as would Edwards, who has also shown he needs more minutes.
Our defense has been good at times, although it would yield even better results if CMF would employ more zone. We have put our opponents in the bonus way too early in some games and combined with our inability to stop dribble penetration at times, especially late in games it has directly cost us at least two wins.
Georgia Card points out our lack of steals and based on my observations over the last few seasons we are much better at creating turnovers in halfcourt when we play zone.I believe with the new rules, along with KG flirting with foul trouble too often because of being assigned to guard the best offensive backcourt threat we must mix more zone into our defense. It could easily be the difference in making the tourney and not.
Going forward I believe JJ and CM will both improve their offensive production. I believe DO will give us a huge lift when he is back to form. I am confident Turtle, Edwards and EW will continue to improve. Most of this depends on whether CMF will use his players best assets and play more uptempo and open court basketball. And if he will allow his young guys to play through mistakes and give them the minutes they need to gain confidence. And finally, whether he will show some flexibility on defense.
To his credit CMF has brought in capable talent and as always the team is playing hard. I believe this team should be 6-1 at this point and in a strong position to be on our way to the dance. We are not primarily because of decisions by our coach. With changes I believe this is still a tourney team. We'll find out soon.
