Here is my two cents worth on what has gone wrong so far.
1. Rebounding. I think our bigs do a good job of finding their guy and going to box him out, but after we find him we are not able to move our feet to keep position on the opponent. Or we do not move to the ball when it is coming off of the rim. We box the player out, then just sit and hope the ball bounces to us. Our guards are not getting after the long rebounds. They are standing around and expecting our bigs to get the rebound. The game is played above the rim on rebounding, you have to go and get the ball, and right now we are rebounding like a 7th grade girls team, holding our hands in the air and hoping the ball falls into them.
2. PG play. Petersen takes 7-8 seconds to get the ball into the front court against token pressure, then takes another 6-8 seconds to figure out what play we are running, so that leaves only 18-20 seconds left on the shot clock to get a good shot. Right now it is a three step process to start an offense. Step one, get the ball past half court. Step two, get the players into the right positions to run the play that has just been called on the bench. Step three, reset the play cause Jiri was not where he should have been. There is no continuation between throwing the ball in, dribbling it up and having the offense start when the ball crosses half-court. The transition time that it is taking to get from one area of the floor to the next is too long. Garrett has proven he can penetrate, but he has not proven that he can set up shots for other players through his penetration.
3. Coaching. I am not yet convinced in McDermott. I was skeptical when he got hired that he would be able to recruit Big 12 players, to me he has proven he can do that. But I am worried about his offense. There is a lot of one-on-one play, meaning, the ball goes into the post and it is the post guys job to find his shot. There is no one moving on the perimeter to get an open look on a dish out, there is no looking by the post guy to pass it out. How many times this year have we gotten a lay-up due to a cut to the basket and a good pass? Answer, you can count it on one hand. We have to be the lowest assist team in the nation. I know some of that comes onto the players hands, but some of it is also the cause and effect of our offensive scheme. Does anyone else feel that sometimes McDermott micro-manages the game, instead of just letting the players play? Morgan was on the opposite spectrum and just let the players play as they wanted, but McDermott needs to find a right mix between the two.
4. Crowd. The size of the crowd last night was great, but just to let people know, it is ok to stand up and cheer every now and then. When people did stand up, it was a race to see who get back down in the seat first. Whatever happened to standing and yelling throughout a whole defensive position? We need to remind people that there is not a five second standing over your seat rule. YOu will not have someone take your seat if you do not sit in it for fifteen seconds straight. The players keep saying how great the crowd is, but we as fans haven't even shown them half of the real Hilton Magic yet.
1. Rebounding. I think our bigs do a good job of finding their guy and going to box him out, but after we find him we are not able to move our feet to keep position on the opponent. Or we do not move to the ball when it is coming off of the rim. We box the player out, then just sit and hope the ball bounces to us. Our guards are not getting after the long rebounds. They are standing around and expecting our bigs to get the rebound. The game is played above the rim on rebounding, you have to go and get the ball, and right now we are rebounding like a 7th grade girls team, holding our hands in the air and hoping the ball falls into them.
2. PG play. Petersen takes 7-8 seconds to get the ball into the front court against token pressure, then takes another 6-8 seconds to figure out what play we are running, so that leaves only 18-20 seconds left on the shot clock to get a good shot. Right now it is a three step process to start an offense. Step one, get the ball past half court. Step two, get the players into the right positions to run the play that has just been called on the bench. Step three, reset the play cause Jiri was not where he should have been. There is no continuation between throwing the ball in, dribbling it up and having the offense start when the ball crosses half-court. The transition time that it is taking to get from one area of the floor to the next is too long. Garrett has proven he can penetrate, but he has not proven that he can set up shots for other players through his penetration.
3. Coaching. I am not yet convinced in McDermott. I was skeptical when he got hired that he would be able to recruit Big 12 players, to me he has proven he can do that. But I am worried about his offense. There is a lot of one-on-one play, meaning, the ball goes into the post and it is the post guys job to find his shot. There is no one moving on the perimeter to get an open look on a dish out, there is no looking by the post guy to pass it out. How many times this year have we gotten a lay-up due to a cut to the basket and a good pass? Answer, you can count it on one hand. We have to be the lowest assist team in the nation. I know some of that comes onto the players hands, but some of it is also the cause and effect of our offensive scheme. Does anyone else feel that sometimes McDermott micro-manages the game, instead of just letting the players play? Morgan was on the opposite spectrum and just let the players play as they wanted, but McDermott needs to find a right mix between the two.
4. Crowd. The size of the crowd last night was great, but just to let people know, it is ok to stand up and cheer every now and then. When people did stand up, it was a race to see who get back down in the seat first. Whatever happened to standing and yelling throughout a whole defensive position? We need to remind people that there is not a five second standing over your seat rule. YOu will not have someone take your seat if you do not sit in it for fifteen seconds straight. The players keep saying how great the crowd is, but we as fans haven't even shown them half of the real Hilton Magic yet.
