Gwmayhem wrote:

How could you not love Amir backing in his smaller defender and then flipping the ball in the basket?  

 

My first thought when I saw him do this was did we hire Patrick Steeves as a YMCA game consultant?  I feel like with his injury history, Amir should've just watched the tape of 17-18 Steeves.  

Last edited by GW0509 (2/27/2023 10:13 am)

Gwmayhem wrote:

Two traits that start at the top.  First, this team does not panic.  Blow a big lead and have to go to overtime?  No problem.  On Saturday, it was about giving up all of those offensive rebounds which resulted in a small halftime deficit.  No panic, simply make it a point of emphasis to reduce LaSalle's second chances.  Second, player development.  It's about improving.  Defensive gameplan for LaSalle:  Don't worry about Amir on offense.  How could you not love Amir backing in his smaller defender and then flipping the ball in the basket?  Defensive gameplan:  Let Lindo shoot from 3.  The result:  Ricky takes zero 3's and goes 7-7 from the floor.  Integrate Hunter more into the offense:  The result:  back-to-back career highs in scoring.  Convince James how the ball will be in his hands practically every offensive possession of every game, so he can either try to score 40 a night taking lots of bad shots in the process, or help run an efficient offense that will lead to more winning.  On Saturday, James carried the team in the first half, with both points and assists, and then allowed his teammates to rise to the occasion along with him in the second half.

It bears repeating...7 of the top 8 guys were on last year's team.  EJ, Keegan and Daniel have been out for months.  Jabari never played.  Max has replaced Brayon and Joe.  The coaching staff is new.  This team was not at all supposed to increase its win total.

On the other hand, CC inherited a group of veteran guys.  Players playing in their 3rd, 4th and 5th years of college basketball.  And by and large, guys who had done far more losing than winning during their college careers.  Maybe this could work.  A severely limited bench brought about by injuries and in all likelihood, a major difference in talent from the starters would result in playing these veteran guys a ton.  The team could ill afford foul trouble so one essential key to coaching them is to not allow themselves to get into foul trouble.  This would mean allowing easy baskets rather than challenging many shots.  So, the offense would need to be dynamic enough to win a bunch of shoot-outs.  Mission accomplished.

 

Good to see Amir score, as he has made some incalculable contributions to wins with his defense.
   This post does provide insight into the difference this year.
When we play as a team, we have a much better chance, despite some individual talents that can be great or even awesome at times. But these players are not great or on every game, so everyone on a very limited team needs at least a chance to contribute. And learning their roles is key, which CC seems to make a difference this year, with player's maturity and strategy coming into play.
   As Mayhem pointed out, Ricky doing his thing rather than shoot 3-pointers leads to greater scoring.And Ricky himself points out that his blocking out (something that at times, still can be lacking from his teammates) helps Max garner rebounds. Though Max himself is to be greatly credited for rebounds and all-around effort and key scoring.
James has naturally matured in a tremendous way that even his eye-popping stats don't fully reflect.
When Brendan drives one on one, as he is doing a lot more, good things often happen. Qwanzi is learning that he can use his size to greater advantage.
  At least some of our big lead swoons have come when the team share the ball strategy has been abandoned and clock management is discarded for quick 3-point attempts or 1 on several opponents attempts to score quickly.
    But overall, we are playing a lot smarter and make more strategic adjustments. You can tell from the post-game interviews that CC understands our weaknesses--and in a refreshing way isn't afraid to talk about them. And seems, so far, to know how to use our strengths. 
   Also compared to last year, as Mayhem noted, we lost both highly regarded and at times, big scorers in Joe and Brayon. But it appears to be addition by subtraction in more team play. And even though we lost two players and gained one (with EJ injured early), Max, as freshman really seems to more than make up for it.
    Who knows what the next games and the next years will bring from GW and CC?
Yet, as of today, the change appears to be marked and heartening to GW fans.
   

Last edited by jf (2/27/2023 12:13 pm)