Lets Face Facts

[Washingtonian]

Even *if* the Miami player only scored because he has NBA talent, he's playing a team in Florida stacked with NBA talent, so it's a wash. Also, he needs to be put in that situation to be successful in the first place.

Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein 8m
Amazing how different Miami looked last night when it went small. Hurricanes will be there right for an NCAA bid if they use a 4G lineup.

 

[Pablo]

Remember during the 2004-05 season when Larranaga would use a 4-guard lineup of Tony Skinn, Lamar Butler, John Vaughn, Gabe Norwood, & Jai Lewis. Jai outweighed each of the other players by about 100 lbs.

Why not try a 4-guard lineup here now in certain situations?

 

[wijg]

Remember during the 2004-05 season when Larranaga would use a 4-guard lineup of Tony Skinn, Lamar Butler, John Vaughn, Gabe Norwood, & Jai Lewis. Jai outweighed each of the other players by about 100 lbs.

Why not try a 4-guard lineup here now in certain situations?

What would be your 4 guards?

 

[Pablo]

What would be your 4 guards?

Right now, it would be Marquise Moore, Patrick Holloway, Vaughn Gray, & Isaiah Jackson.

 

[GSII]

Something tells me Hewitt doesn't experiment that "far out".

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Remember during the 2004-05 season when Larranaga would use a 4-guard lineup of Tony Skinn, Lamar Butler, John Vaughn, Gabe Norwood, & Jai Lewis. Jai outweighed each of the other players by about 100 lbs.

Why not try a 4-guard lineup here now in certain situations?

Tony Skinn could drive and shot 34% from the arc.
Lamar Butler could drive and shot 38% from the arc.
John Vaughn could drive and shot 34% from the arc.
Gabe Norwood could drive and shot 38% from the arc (on open looks).

This group also played solid team defense, each could handle the ball, and were all capable of taking over on any given night if one got hot.

I like the concept, but don't think we have the horses.

 

[gmujim92]

Watching this Manhattan team against UMass, you get a glimpse of how pretty a motion offense can be when it's well-coached.

Jaspers just executed a perfect back screen for an alley-oop and the UMass defenders had no clue what hit them.

They also space the floor beautifully, enter the ball into the post at will and set effective screens to free up shooters.

I remember when we used to do stuff like that.

 

[couchcoach]

Something tells me Hewitt doesn't experiment that "far out".

Cousin, i find you?

 

[gmujim92]

Manhattan just ran an amazing alley-oop off an inbounds and got a dunk to tie the game against UMass with 0.2 seconds left.

Coaching, folks. It makes a HUGE freaking difference.

 

[KAOriginal]

Coaching, folks. It makes a HUGE freaking difference.

The other night someone said he should play "his guys" since he's not getting production from the upperclassmen..."His guys."

That person had to be reminded they are ALL his guys now....

 

[gmujim92]

Not going out on a limb here, but I think if we had swapped coaches with Manhattan prior to last season, we would've finished in the top half of the A-10.

There's just a "look" that well-coached teams have, that we don't.

 

[JBiggs]

That's Masiello, right?

Didn't he take a job offer from a BCS school that later found out he didn't actually have a degree from UK? I think he's a sought after guy, but that situation was bizarre.

 

[liem.le.3388]

Yup that's him

 

[wijg]

Right now, it would be Marquise Moore, Patrick Holloway, Vaughn Gray, & Isaiah Jackson.

I know it is not a perfect analysis, but if I assume Thompson is the 5th guy and extrapolate their numbers for 40 minutes, I get a scoring average of 69 points a game. We averaged 69.5 last year, so that is pretty much a wash. Our opponents scored 72 per game. Now, maybe the 4 guard lineup will result in some synergy to boost the scoring, but I suspect rebounding will suffer and I don't see that line up being stellar on defense (Gray and Holloway). Additionally, someone is likely to be mismatched (in the bad way) on most plays.

Maybe it would work, but I don't think it is a slam dunk by any means.

 

[Pablo]

I know it is not a perfect analysis, but if I assume Thompson is the 5th guy and extrapolate their numbers for 40 minutes, I get a scoring average of 69 points a game. We averaged 69.5 last year, so that is pretty much a wash. Our opponents scored 72 per game. Now, maybe the 4 guard lineup will result in some synergy to boost the scoring, but I suspect rebounding will suffer and I don't see that line up being stellar on defense (Gray and Holloway). Additionally, someone is likely to be mismatched (in the bad way) on most plays.

Maybe it would work, but I don't think it is a slam dunk by any means.

Actually, I suggested using the 4-guard lineup in certain situations - not on a full time basis.

 

[wijg]

Actually, I suggested using the 4-guard lineup in certain situations - not on a full time basis.

Understood, and that is why I said it was not a perfect analysis, but it is much easier to compare things when you have a full game view of things.

Nonetheless, what situations do you see it working in?

 

[Pablo]

Nonetheless, what situations do you see it working in?

You may want to go small with a 4-guard lineup to deploy full-court pressure defense, to improve the spacing and movement in your motion offense, to get another 3-point scorer in the lineup, to match up better with your opponent's lineup, or due to foul trouble of your frontcourt players.

 

[Patriotsince81]

We are currently 13th in the A10 in FT percentage at 53.7% and 13th in FG percentage at 36.6%. Those numbers will have to improve dramatically if we are going to keep games close, yet alone have a chance to win.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Dead last in assists doesn't bode well either.

 

[gmutom]

Dead last in assists doesn't bode well either.

Low FG percentage and low assists often go hand in hand since you obviously can't get an assist on a missed attempt, but your point remains in that we need to move that ball more to get better shots.

I'm happy we finally changed from that's year's horrible system, but I'm still seeing way too much one-on-one play and players standing around without the ball. I'm all for creating mismatches as often as possible, but it's kind of a bad omen when one of our best offensive players (Jenkins) doesn't seem to be thriving in the new system thus far.