Coaching

I know a lot of us are fed up with Norm, and some have been for a long time. Terrible loss yesterday but I think most of us agree that we have a decently talented team so I'm willing to let this season play out and see what happens when Mase comes back, but this is probably Norm's last chance.

That being said there are 4 things that are driving me nuts about this team, and surprise, they're just about all 80% coaching. Just wanted to see what you guys think...

1.) Breaking the press  Anyone who watched the game yesterday had to be pulling their hair out. I know Boothe was out but there was no excuse for the way we were trying to break the press. When Stith was out and Hardy was running the point, the only two players we had in the backcourt were Hardy and the inbounder, which was Burrell or Brownlee! And Hardy, who was supposed to be the point guard, would continually and IMMEDIATELY pass the ball to the power forward, even when there was no pressure! Asure fire recipe for disaster, and it was and it was never corrected by our coach.

Let's face it, we're going to face a a lot better team with much better guards that are going to KILL us by pressing us if we continue with this. Breaking the press is very simple and I've yet to see us do it. Guards in the backcourt imbounding the ball, big man flashes to the middle just over halfcourt, he gets it and DOESNT PUT IT ON THE FLOOR! He hholds it and the guards streak up the wings for an outlet, you beat the press by passing, not dribbling come on Norm.

2.) Inbounds plays under the basket. Have we ever run one? With the ball under the basket you need to at least try to set something up, no double screens for Hardy? All we do is have someone run back to halfcourt and lob it back to reset EVERY TIME. heck, even omar cook in his first game drew up a winning in-bounds play.

3.) Beating the zone. Providence zzoned us th whole game and while we are  much better equipped to beat it than in the pass, we're still going to see it a ton. Our basic offense against a zone is to swing it around hte perimeter. You have to beat the zone inside out. Granted Burrell was out for the last couple weeks, but seeing Norm put Coker in the high post while Brownlee was on the floor drove me nuts. Brownlee is the PERFECT player to help beat the zone. Get him the ball at the foul line, he's a midrange threat to turn and pop, can put the ball on the floor and is a good enough passer to kick it back out quickly or feed the low post. Burrell is also pretty good there but I think Brownlee is perfect. Yesterday Burrell was the only one flashing around the middle in the zone and we never got it to him.

4.) Subsitutions.. This is a tricky thing, but it seems that Norm just doesn't have a feel for who's playing well. How many times have we seen a player make a brilliant play only to be yanked by Norm in the nvery next possession? It just doesn't make sense. It's almost as if it's CYO and at the 8:00 minute mark, it's Bobby's turn to play.

What do you guys think? Agree? What else do you guys see?

As for breaking the press, we rarely if ever passed the ball to the post to move the ball up the court. Thats the easiest way to break  it

I know a lot of us are fed up with Norm, and some have been for a long time. Terrible loss yesterday but I think most of us agree that we have a decently talented team so I'm willing to let this season play out and see what happens when Mase comes back, but this is probably Norm's last chance.

That being said there are 4 things that are driving me nuts about this team, and surprise, they're just about all 80% coaching. Just wanted to see what you guys think...

1.) Breaking the press  Anyone who watched the game yesterday had to be pulling their hair out. I know Boothe was out but there was no excuse for the way we were trying to break the press. When Stith was out and Hardy was running the point, the only two players we had in the backcourt were Hardy and the inbounder, which was Burrell or Brownlee! And Hardy, who was supposed to be the point guard, would continually and IMMEDIATELY pass the ball to the power forward, even when there was no pressure! Asure fire recipe for disaster, and it was and it was never corrected by our coach.

Let's face it, we're going to face a a lot better team with much better guards that are going to KILL us by pressing us if we continue with this. Breaking the press is very simple and I've yet to see us do it. Guards in the backcourt imbounding the ball, big man flashes to the middle just over halfcourt, he gets it and DOESNT PUT IT ON THE FLOOR! He hholds it and the guards streak up the wings for an outlet, you beat the press by passing, not dribbling come on Norm.

2.) Inbounds plays under the basket. Have we ever run one? With the ball under the basket you need to at least try to set something up, no double screens for Hardy? All we do is have someone run back to halfcourt and lob it back to reset EVERY TIME. heck, even omar cook in his first game drew up a winning in-bounds play.

3.) Beating the zone. Providence zzoned us th whole game and while we are  much better equipped to beat it than in the pass, we're still going to see it a ton. Our basic offense against a zone is to swing it around hte perimeter. You have to beat the zone inside out. Granted Burrell was out for the last couple weeks, but seeing Norm put Coker in the high post while Brownlee was on the floor drove me nuts. Brownlee is the PERFECT player to help beat the zone. Get him the ball at the foul line, he's a midrange threat to turn and pop, can put the ball on the floor and is a good enough passer to kick it back out quickly or feed the low post. Burrell is also pretty good there but I think Brownlee is perfect. Yesterday Burrell was the only one flashing around the middle in the zone and we never got it to him.

4.) Subsitutions.. This is a tricky thing, but it seems that Norm just doesn't have a feel for who's playing well. How many times have we seen a player make a brilliant play only to be yanked by Norm in the nvery next possession? It just doesn't make sense. It's almost as if it's CYO and at the 8:00 minute mark, it's Bobby's turn to play.

What do you guys think? Agree? What else do you guys see?

You could have just written Norm is a bad basketball coach
My favorite part was the timeout with 10 seconds left in the shot clock. We then passed the ball from side to side ending with Horne heaving a two handed 35 footer for an airball and shot clock violation. My question is was that the play Norm designed? I think it was.

This team cannot win without Boothe, it's that simple.  I've been saying it all year, but all the experts want to blast the one kid on our roster that can break a press.

Norm's coaching is terrible.  There is no way around it.  He is one of three worst coaches in the conference and that is sooooo hard to pull off when Fred Hill and Wainwright are in that category.

Norm's strength first year was actually the inbounds plays.  We were nasty, but that went the way of the hi-low offense. 

I have to agree.

Boothe needs to handle the rock.
Stith unfortunately, isn't ready.

TURNOVERS...TURNOVERS.....TURNOVERS. We have a an eight point lead with the ball ball the Turnover on the next five possessions!!!! Crazy.