Lost in the oppressive fog generated by yet another late season February loss was the recognizable fact that CMW and our Dogs finally settled on a competent O scheme and ran smart, designed sets the entire game. At no point did our Offense resemble an intramural league contest at the rec center. The players seemed clear and confident in their assignments and almost every half-court play involved multiple off-ball wing screens or smart ball screens.
It was remarkable to see us running sets that mirrored what Auburn was running - the zoom. The actions allowed both Broome and Newell to receive the ball in space with room to operate creatively. Their older star Broome outscored our Asa by 11 points and it was no coincidence that 11 points was also the margin of victory for Auburn.
We had several admirable stretches, including an impressive final stretch in the final quarter from the 5:00 minute mark until 3:00 minutes remained in the game. Each team swapped baskets off well-executed set plays. It made me think that we were at long last executing at a whole new level of efficiency. It's a shame that it took until February to happen, but fans would be remiss if we failed to acknowledge that the open full week of practice was put to good use by the staff.
THE GOOD:
1. We played well enough to win against most SEC teams. The staff somehow avoided our normal second half opening drought by fooling our players into playing poorly in the opening minutes but playing well after exiting the half-time locker room. Had we avoided opening the game by allowing a 9 point deficit, this contest would have been an even match for the entire game and been decided on the final possession just like it shook out in Athens.
2. Our O was the healthy opposite of the formless hero-ball we relied on versus LSU. The roster stayed within the designed schemes to search patiently for a good shot. Auburn seemed caught a bit off guard by our reliance on zoom and seemed to expect us to run even more high ball screen actions than we did. Auburn hedged and effectively doubled the ballhandler (usually Demory) on each high ball screen but was relatively unsure how to defend the off-ball screens and wing actions.
3. We effectively cut to the basket when we got the ball down low. We will score more off these cuts in upcoming games if we keep this up as few opponents have a tandem D combo that protects the rim as effectively as Broome and Cardwell
THE BAD:
1. While we admirably ran the zoom schemes faithfully and patiently, we still need to run our screens and cuts more crisply and hit our cutters more effectively as they head into the lane.
2. Our lack of creative baseline inbounds plays under our basket remains a mystery.
3. My biggest concern remains our use of Silas Demory as the ballhandler who initiates the wing pass to start the zoom actions. Auburn smartly doubled Demory at each opportunity, whether it was when he was dribbling coming off the high ball screen or also when Silas was piddle-dribbling up high preparing for a zoom wing off-ball screen actions just after he crossed the half-court line. Why do we allow teams to force turnovers and disrupt our O so easily by allowing them to double our best guard scorer who may not be our best ball-handler?
Why do we not instead shift Demory off-ball into the high-wing area around the free throw line extended and allow him to receive that first pass initiating the offense? That would deprive the opponent of the opportunity to double Demory and would free Silas up to accept a dribble hand off exchange while already moving at high speed toward the lane? Silas would get more shot opportunities and would become the distributor for lobs and pocket passes to an already-in-motion Asa Newell in what would be a 3-man action instead of merely a 2-man high post pick and roll set by Newell rolling down a crowded lane to the rim.
Moving Silas off-ball requires CMW to commit to trusting either Lawrence with the ball more or inserting Savo who is familiar with zoom principles from his heavy experience in international play. CMW has a history of loyally trusting his chosen PGs.
White appears to have doubled down on sinking or swimming with warrior Silas handling the ball as was again demonstrated with his late game clear out decisions trusting Silas to create his own shot. With only 1:56 left in the game and maybe again at 0:46, CMW waived for the other 4 players to clear out the middle of the court for our PG to operate one-on-one. Although operating without being double-teamed, our PG was unable to convert on either opportunity.
Recent results would indicate the reality that taking the ball out of Silas hands would better give us more opportunities for both Silas and Asa to get open shots. The Hawks do something similarly counter-intuitive with Trey Young against teams like the Knicks and Celtics who like to jump him with double-teams as soon as Trey crosses the half court line to cause turnovers and make sure Trey does not get an early open 3 attempt.
By moving Trey off-ball and having him stationed in the deep corner early in the shot clock, they create pin down screen opportunities that allow him to receive the ball without a defender hanging on him and that allows him to operate much closer to the basket in open spaces that would not otherwise be there for him had he been in possession of the ball at the half-court line. The same principles apply to Silas when other teams smartly elect to defend him with double-teams like Auburn and Tenn did.
THE UGLY:
It's refreshing to note that there wasn't anything ugly about the game other than our continuing inability to find players not named Asa or Blue who consistently make a 3-point shot. Recruiting is the only cure for that illness.
It was remarkable to see us running sets that mirrored what Auburn was running - the zoom. The actions allowed both Broome and Newell to receive the ball in space with room to operate creatively. Their older star Broome outscored our Asa by 11 points and it was no coincidence that 11 points was also the margin of victory for Auburn.
We had several admirable stretches, including an impressive final stretch in the final quarter from the 5:00 minute mark until 3:00 minutes remained in the game. Each team swapped baskets off well-executed set plays. It made me think that we were at long last executing at a whole new level of efficiency. It's a shame that it took until February to happen, but fans would be remiss if we failed to acknowledge that the open full week of practice was put to good use by the staff.
THE GOOD:
1. We played well enough to win against most SEC teams. The staff somehow avoided our normal second half opening drought by fooling our players into playing poorly in the opening minutes but playing well after exiting the half-time locker room. Had we avoided opening the game by allowing a 9 point deficit, this contest would have been an even match for the entire game and been decided on the final possession just like it shook out in Athens.
2. Our O was the healthy opposite of the formless hero-ball we relied on versus LSU. The roster stayed within the designed schemes to search patiently for a good shot. Auburn seemed caught a bit off guard by our reliance on zoom and seemed to expect us to run even more high ball screen actions than we did. Auburn hedged and effectively doubled the ballhandler (usually Demory) on each high ball screen but was relatively unsure how to defend the off-ball screens and wing actions.
3. We effectively cut to the basket when we got the ball down low. We will score more off these cuts in upcoming games if we keep this up as few opponents have a tandem D combo that protects the rim as effectively as Broome and Cardwell
THE BAD:
1. While we admirably ran the zoom schemes faithfully and patiently, we still need to run our screens and cuts more crisply and hit our cutters more effectively as they head into the lane.
2. Our lack of creative baseline inbounds plays under our basket remains a mystery.
3. My biggest concern remains our use of Silas Demory as the ballhandler who initiates the wing pass to start the zoom actions. Auburn smartly doubled Demory at each opportunity, whether it was when he was dribbling coming off the high ball screen or also when Silas was piddle-dribbling up high preparing for a zoom wing off-ball screen actions just after he crossed the half-court line. Why do we allow teams to force turnovers and disrupt our O so easily by allowing them to double our best guard scorer who may not be our best ball-handler?
Why do we not instead shift Demory off-ball into the high-wing area around the free throw line extended and allow him to receive that first pass initiating the offense? That would deprive the opponent of the opportunity to double Demory and would free Silas up to accept a dribble hand off exchange while already moving at high speed toward the lane? Silas would get more shot opportunities and would become the distributor for lobs and pocket passes to an already-in-motion Asa Newell in what would be a 3-man action instead of merely a 2-man high post pick and roll set by Newell rolling down a crowded lane to the rim.
Moving Silas off-ball requires CMW to commit to trusting either Lawrence with the ball more or inserting Savo who is familiar with zoom principles from his heavy experience in international play. CMW has a history of loyally trusting his chosen PGs.
White appears to have doubled down on sinking or swimming with warrior Silas handling the ball as was again demonstrated with his late game clear out decisions trusting Silas to create his own shot. With only 1:56 left in the game and maybe again at 0:46, CMW waived for the other 4 players to clear out the middle of the court for our PG to operate one-on-one. Although operating without being double-teamed, our PG was unable to convert on either opportunity.
Recent results would indicate the reality that taking the ball out of Silas hands would better give us more opportunities for both Silas and Asa to get open shots. The Hawks do something similarly counter-intuitive with Trey Young against teams like the Knicks and Celtics who like to jump him with double-teams as soon as Trey crosses the half court line to cause turnovers and make sure Trey does not get an early open 3 attempt.
By moving Trey off-ball and having him stationed in the deep corner early in the shot clock, they create pin down screen opportunities that allow him to receive the ball without a defender hanging on him and that allows him to operate much closer to the basket in open spaces that would not otherwise be there for him had he been in possession of the ball at the half-court line. The same principles apply to Silas when other teams smartly elect to defend him with double-teams like Auburn and Tenn did.
THE UGLY:
It's refreshing to note that there wasn't anything ugly about the game other than our continuing inability to find players not named Asa or Blue who consistently make a 3-point shot. Recruiting is the only cure for that illness.
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