If we pressed for a full game you can kiss goodbye Harrison's 30mpg, and Sampson and Obekpa would need a lot more rest too. And then you're playing more of the game with your best players on the bench.
Basketball is not a track meet. Even the teams that play at the fastest tempos still end up scoring most of their points in the half court. Do you think if we press for 40 minutes all of a sudden we'll get 30 steals and score 50+ points off breakaway dunks?
Not going to happen. And in the process we'll pickup a ton of fouls and give up probably just as many open 3's or layups because we're stretched so far.
The press is a weapon, and it certainly looks like one Lavin should use more often; but we'll still only go as far as our half-court offense and defense take us.
You can slice it a lot of different ways, but at the end of the day almost every basketball team ends up playing 80% of possessions in the halfcourt.
Press or not, that's what needs to improve.
Stop penetration when we're on defense, and get some penetration on the other end so we're not settling for long 2's.
That cannot be repeated enough.
I think they definitely need to start out in it though. We can't afford to sit around and not play for the first 5-10 minutes in the game.
I agree. A jumpstart will be the next step deployed by the staff.
I know the talk has gone back and forth about whether or not this year's team will underperform its generally acknowledged talent level, but I think taking a step back to reflect on the fits and stops of this year's squad is wise.
We mostly know some weaknesses (3 pt. shooting, perimeter D) and strengths (transition play, D in the block) of the guys at this point, but another point not fully considered as we go on is that Coach Whitesell is still getting acclimated to this team as well. Sure, he watched film like mad, keenly observed all practices, and walked through player/team breakdowns with coach and the staff. But at the end of the day, you have to mostly rely upon in game observations. I believe Coach Whitesell's contributions will be felt more as the season progresses. Good coaching staffs will adjust style of play to their team's strengths, and the board knows this full well.
Rumble in the Garden had this Majerus quote in their August piece on oach Whitesell: "He's the top assistant coach, that's definitive," Majerus said after appointing him to the second seat in the Billikens' program. "He's the offensive coordinator, the defensive coordinator, the special team guy, the sideline outs. Not to detract from (Jim) Crews or Tanner (Bronson), Jim has got total responsibility for every aspect of the program. Others have aspects for specific parts."
Let the coaching STAFF (Coach Lavin is not on an island) do their thing, and let's see if they can successfully play on the strengths of this squad. One thing I've noticed in limited viewing - the guys still play very , very hard after the rough starts - there's definitely no quit in this team. That's an intangible I really like about any team - tenacity. I want these guys to keep coming in waves at their opponent often.