Moving without the ball

Quote from: Poison on November 05, 2013, 09:30:26 AM

I left after watching Hooper and Bourgault stand around like statues at the 3 point line. I was really hoping that Hooper would be a scorer from all over the court. It seems as though this will be the only shot he'll be taking. Now we know why he didn't play at Harvard. All he does is shoot threes, and Harvard players can shoot threes, and also contribute in other ways.

It's great to have a guy that can do this, but if this is all he'll do, you get a hand in his face, and he's no longer a great shooter. He's not going by you. My advice to Hooper is to actively work on the rest of your game. Rebounding, passing, dribbling, a mid range game. A post up move. And hit the weight room. This isn't the Ivy. He's going to get thrown around like a rag doll.

I say this because I'd really like a 3 pointer shooter in the line up to encourage more man to man defenses from opponents.

If you have a guy on the floor like Hooper who's open the minute he walks in the gym, especially if he's on the floor with DLo, he can help the offense even if he doesn't hit a shot because he extends the defense.

Part of the reason SJU struggled last year was because we only had one guy- and when DLo got suspended, no guys- who had to be respected past the arc. So teams just packed in the zone against us, cut off dribble penetration without any fear that there would be a kick out to a guy who could knock down a three. With Hooper on the floor, the D either has to stretch to respect his range- opening up driving lanes and space for entry passes- or give up threes. That's huge in and of itself, regardless of how many threes he actually knocks down.

Good point. It will spread the defense out. I'm just concerned about the rest of the game. If Hooper can't defend, then we will be returning the 3 pointers he makes on the defensive end.

I think this year we are going to see a lot of different looks and lineups depending on who we are playing and who has the hot hand. For instance, I can envision a lineup of Jordan, Harrison, Hooper, Pointer and Sanchez (or Sanchez and Obekpa). For instance, need some scoring? Just have Jordan run some isolation plays and if he can't get by his man or if the D falls in on him, kicking it out to Harrison, Hooper or Sanchez for the open 3. If not, he gets an easy 2 or a "and 1" play.