When you look at the kids they are bringing in (if you know Barns' history) you start to see where they are going with their strategy, a little. I think.
I thought last year and watching last night reinforced it, that on the offensive end they want to run an up tempo, outside oriented offense predicated on spreading the floor and generating tempo. I've seen some statistical studies that show this is a strong strategy, based on the idea that if you can make a high percentage of threes, you should shoot as many of them as possible. Shoot the quick three or drive it early in the shot clock. Very little inside set offense. I didn't see one play last night to dump it inside, not one post-up. Last year it looked like to me they taught the outside stuff for about half the season, then put in a little of inside stuff later in the year.
On defense, they seem to want to really speed it up with pressure on the ball. Interestingly they worked the press some last night, even trapped a few times. It looked like he did it to speed up the tempo. I'm a big fan of the press, so I liked that. Using it takes advantage of athleticism and it is something that teams can be coached up to excel at. The whole thing on D is pressure the outside, go for turnovers, rebound like a mother, push it up the court every chance you get.
This should be fun to watch, at least.
If this is their strategy, then their recruiting makes more sense. I'm not letting them off the hook for not being more aggressive in going after higher-ranked players, but they have brought in a group of players who should fit this style very well. Extremely athletic. Evans is not bad, but he stood out like a sore thumb athletically. Everyone else can run and jump like crazy. You need bigs who can run and work outside, shoot jump shots and drive, not back to the basket guys. Schofield, if he was just a tad taller, would be prototypical for this kind of team, will be a star even so. Evans will do well in his year here, has a nice drive game. It also makes the Kent recruitment make more sense. On the outside, you want extreme athletes who are smart and will take coaching because you have to get them to a point where they can shoot the three reliably and understand/execute pressure principles. We have that in spades. I'm really interested in watching Phillips this year - he really has all the tools they are looking for, so how does his game evolve.
I'm not saying we are going anywhere exciting from a wins/loses standpoint this year, but I'm starting to think those coaches have a good plan. We will see if they can make it happen..
I thought last year and watching last night reinforced it, that on the offensive end they want to run an up tempo, outside oriented offense predicated on spreading the floor and generating tempo. I've seen some statistical studies that show this is a strong strategy, based on the idea that if you can make a high percentage of threes, you should shoot as many of them as possible. Shoot the quick three or drive it early in the shot clock. Very little inside set offense. I didn't see one play last night to dump it inside, not one post-up. Last year it looked like to me they taught the outside stuff for about half the season, then put in a little of inside stuff later in the year.
On defense, they seem to want to really speed it up with pressure on the ball. Interestingly they worked the press some last night, even trapped a few times. It looked like he did it to speed up the tempo. I'm a big fan of the press, so I liked that. Using it takes advantage of athleticism and it is something that teams can be coached up to excel at. The whole thing on D is pressure the outside, go for turnovers, rebound like a mother, push it up the court every chance you get.
This should be fun to watch, at least.
If this is their strategy, then their recruiting makes more sense. I'm not letting them off the hook for not being more aggressive in going after higher-ranked players, but they have brought in a group of players who should fit this style very well. Extremely athletic. Evans is not bad, but he stood out like a sore thumb athletically. Everyone else can run and jump like crazy. You need bigs who can run and work outside, shoot jump shots and drive, not back to the basket guys. Schofield, if he was just a tad taller, would be prototypical for this kind of team, will be a star even so. Evans will do well in his year here, has a nice drive game. It also makes the Kent recruitment make more sense. On the outside, you want extreme athletes who are smart and will take coaching because you have to get them to a point where they can shoot the three reliably and understand/execute pressure principles. We have that in spades. I'm really interested in watching Phillips this year - he really has all the tools they are looking for, so how does his game evolve.
I'm not saying we are going anywhere exciting from a wins/loses standpoint this year, but I'm starting to think those coaches have a good plan. We will see if they can make it happen..
