1) When you give 8 minutes of effort in a 40 minute game, you don't deserve to win. I liked the 8 minutes, but if we had pushed that hard from the start, we win by 20. We got screwed at the end by our own scorekeeper by showing we were down by 1. I'm convinced that is why Shake forced that last shot instead of listening to Jank call for a timeout. But that that doesn't excuse the lack of effort for 32 minutes of the game. We deserved to lose based on that effort alone. And don't forget we played horribly in the UCF game, so it is really 4 bad games in a row.
2) Jank is too chill. The team has taken that personality. Larry would have ripped the team a new one ten minutes into the game and again at halftime. Just my opinion.
3) We aren't running effective or enough pick and roll. Instead we rely completely on isolation.
4) We don't have a backside rebounding presence which bailed us out if drives didn't work last year. Second chance points are a major issue right now on both ends of the court, but on the offensive end more than we realize. When Shake drives and 3 come to meet him, someone has to be free on the backside to gobble up the board and put it back. It isn't happening.
5) Agau just doesn't have it right now. He is out of place athletically, and doesn't impact the game on offense or defense. He had two nice rebounds. But was a complete liability on the defensive possession at the end of the first half, for example. I know Ray fouls a lot. I get it. But at least the energy is there and the rebound potential is there on both sides of the court. He needs to get more time until Agau is right.
6) Our rebounding is atrocious. We have some length, but no physicality and no athleticism. It is an effort thing. Even Jarrey doesn't muscle a board. He uses his length. It will kill him in the NBA. Shake should be a monster on the boards for his assignment, but he isn't physical either. Ben does a solid job, but Whitt and McMurray are not. Ray's physicality would set a tone and help this out, I believe. We need more "junkyard dog" out there, it is a big miss from Ben and Sterling.
7) Simple recipe - whomever Foster is guarding pulls him outside. Then dribble in and take a shot. Foster is our shot block presence and the only rebounder. Take him out of the equation and things get a lot easier.
McMurray is slow defensively, and our help defense and size inside isn't good enough to cover for it. He isn't *bad* defensively. But he is just a little slow with anticipation, and it exposes the fact that we have zero inside presence to help him out. We made a little of our run when he was in before foul trouble, but when Eli came in we started getting more stops.
There are things that can be done to fix things. DEMAND effort on the defensive end, even at the risk of foul trouble. Yank players if they aren't balling out, we have more depth than we are taking advantage of. PLAY RAY - I know that is probably going to be controversial, but he showed he can board in Canada and some in the non-conference. His energy is needed, and we need the size. RUN THE OFFENSE - show at the foul line, run a pick and roll, but get out of the isolation game. Teams aren't helping anymore on the drive, so we have to crash the board on the backside and try to finish instead of passing the ball back out. Use McMurray like the Pistons used Vinnie Johnson. Throw him out there and let him shoot. If he is on, keep him in, and if he is off, pull him because the offensive flow isn't right and he isn't as strong on the defensive end.
Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:17 pm