Tom and Gemini, I think you are both right (or wrong depending on how you look at it). The total points (of course we have to have more than the other team) or how they are distributed amongst players does not matter nearly as much as how efficient (per possession) the team is. Each team gets the same number of possessions per game (it can only be off by at most 2 per game depending on who gets it last each half and the way the possession arrow falls for the second half). So it is only a matter of how effective you are at using the possessions you get.
It is much more important how many points you score per possession or how you limit their scoring per possession on the defensive end. You have to be good on one side or the other (would be great if you were on both) to win games. We are not good at either end. We are currently ranked 145 on both ends of the court. vcu was mentioned earlier. They are bad on the offensive end much like us (104) but since they are so good on the defensive end (6) they end up winning most of their games. St. Louis is an even better example. They are ranked 166 on offense but they are ranked number 2 on defensive efficiency.
You don't have to be great on both ends, but you do have to be either great on one end or decent on both ends to be successful. We are, unfortunately, neither. Others have said this before, but we seem to have no identity as a team. We don't seem to focus on good O or D. What is really disappointing is that over his GT days, Hewitt's teams were typically good on the D side and not the O side. The O side has remained the same at Mason, but the good D has not materialized at Mason. I fear this is where the difference in having NBA talent at GT and not at Mason is showing up. If you have superior athletes (relative to your opponents), you are less likely to get burnt in a man D.
That is what I always saw was the fatal flaw in the Westhead logic. He did not focus on being efficient on either end. He just wanted quantity of shots on the offensive end and no effort wasted on the defensive end. It seemed like he did not realize that each team gets the ball (effectively) the same number of times in a game. If he had at least concentrated on something else, like rebounding (which increases your efficiencies on both ends), then his plan might have worked.
