What I want for Christmas

[Scythe]

Warning: I am taking my kids to a Disney movie at lunchtime, so I might be in bad mood when I return. haha

Eeek...best of luck...

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

Well Tom, to be fair, it doesn't get much simpler than "The rest of you guys, give the ball to Sherrod and get the F out of the way."

Tom, you can't tell me that the offense wasn't run through Sherrod in the second half. What happened to us not being successful unless we had a reincarnation of Jason Kidd at Cal at the PG position?

 

[EXpatriot13]

What I want for Christmas:

1. A full-time job (post grad life sucks, but not as much as the job market).
2. For Mason to build an early lead in a game (i.e. Northern Iowa) on a more regular basis.
3. For Mason to play defense.
4. For Arledge to come back and provide another inside presence (Copes will be rusty/foul out of every game and J2 is soft).
5. An 8-4 record when the Diamond Head Classic ends.
6. For board members to stop having pissing matches with one another after every single comment - opinions are great, arguing/wining is not.

 

[KAOriginal]

What I want?

ESPN to offer Hewitt $1.5M a year right now to be an analyst......

 

[gmubrian]

Before I get started, don't misinterpret this as a defense of Hewitt's performance so far. We are almost halfway through his 5 year contract and I have not seen a significant improvement in the play of our team. I would have hoped that this year we would have already started to look better given our level of experience. Maybe it is coming later in the season but I am definitely getting worried about all the fears of those who have analyzed his days at GT. He is, obviously, the captain of the ship and will need to be held accountable (or I hope credited) for the end results of this season and the next two seasons.

That being said, I have trouble identifying the specific criticism of what Hewitt is doing by those on the "fire Hewitt" bandwagon. I admit to knowing nothing about coaching, so I like to follow the discussions to try to learn something. The issue is that the complaints/tirades seem to be schizophrenic. Some complain that the plan needs to be simplified. When it is suggested that the plan is pretty simple, you complain he is being paid to much for such a simple plan. Then it is suggested by one of you that Hewitt should unleash the guys and just let them play, and then another complains that the problem is that he is just letting the guys play. One of my favorite (sarcasm) complaints is that he is too rich and not trying because of that. There are many coaches who have been paid a lot more than Hewitt and they are still putting every ounce of effort into it... The problem with most of these complaints seems to be that they are not based on something specific and more out of frustration with him so it is more lashing out rather than criticism of a specific action.

Can I make a suggestion? For those that want to lash out at Hewitt, rehash his days at GT over and over, tell us you told us so (even though we did not hire him). as well as those that want to debate those points, can we create a "Should he/will stay or should he will/go thread". For the other threads, especially game day threads, can we keep the complaints and rebuttals to what we actually see happen (instead of reading into everyone's minds). You may think that he sucked at GT, and that may be true, but what does that have to do with a game thread? That was years ago.

I actually enjoy reading criticism of actual actions (by coaches and players) that is going on in the game. Some of you seem to know a lot about basketball and coaching, but the legitimate points get lost in the Hewitt hate rants or when you are using your crystal ball to read what he or the players are thinking or feeling.

If I recall correctly, I have only seen a couple of criticisms that fall into criticisms of specific actions (or non-actions) of Hewitt's during games:
-He has not utilized the zone to make up for some to the deficiencies our team has displayed on defense
-He keeps sticking with the press when it seems to be hurting us

Are there other specifics (that I could actually go and look at video tape and be like, well, yeah that does look like the case)? If so, what are they? What would you have done differently?

So, I request that we keep the Hewitt bashing (and defense?) to a single thread for that. Sort of like a hate thread for a specific topic If you are going to refer to his GT or Sienna days, then it likely belongs there. If you are going to be reading his mind or referencing how much he is paid, it belongs there. I understand that people need to vent from time to time, but it seems to be dragging every thread into the same debate over and over again.

Then we can keep the game threads to discussions of what is actually going on (or not going on) in the game itself.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

Brian, I would add that he runs an overly complicated offensive system (various reads for each player at different times) that requires a PG the skill level of which GMU will never be likely to attain.

 

[gmubrian]

Lawdog, I have read the criticism that his offensive system is too complicated before, and I have some honest questions about it for you and others.

Is it generally accepted that his offensive system is more complicated than the average college basketball offensive system?

What do you see happening on the court that tells you that this is actually a problem? I ask this second question because while there is the occasional confused appearance to the plays, a lot of times it is poor execution I see as well (particularly missed layups...).

Some (possibly you Lawdog, but I apologize if not since I am too lazy to look it up at the moment) have suggested letting the guys be more free to just play. Wouldn't what you describe be closer to that than a pretty rigid and small number of plays?

 

[kane]

I'd like a Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.

 

[gmujim92]

Brian, I don't think that it's so much that Hewitt's offense is much more complex than other systems.

It's a motion offense that requires all 5 players to read the defense and react accordingly. You spread the floor to open driving lanes. Where the ball moves, who screens and who cuts to the basket are all predicated on what the defense does.

That's really not much different in principle than what Beilein runs at Michigan or Coach K runs at Duke.

But if everybody isn't on the same page and reading the defense the same way, it's very easy for the offense to bog down and lose its effectiveness.

Unfortunately, it's almost as if our offense has only one objective: get to the basket and score at all costs.

We have versatile bigs who can play away from the basket, but we rarely run pick-and-pops. We set high ball screens to create penetration, but our guys are almost always driving to score instead of drawing the defense and creating wide-open shots for teammates.

It's a big reason why we get so few assists -- it's almost NBA-style, break down your man and score the ball.

Despite our defensive woes, we have a lot of offensive talent on this team. I just don't think it's being used very well.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

I want a Gibson Les Paul Signature T in the gold finish.

 

[phoenix-arizona]

One of those 54 per cent gmu female students!

 

[gmutom]

Despite our defensive woes, we have a lot of offensive talent on this team. I just don't think it's being used very well.

Jim, just to further this discussion, what offense do you think would work better with our personnel? Coach L ran a motion offense, which to me was more often than not a motionless offense.

We don't have the balhandlers to do a dribble-drive motion offense. We can't run a high-low offense, because we really have no big men other than Copes on occasion who can score in the post. And I doubt our players would be able to pick up something as complex as the Triangle or Princeton offense, especially since they couldn't stop the latter all last night.

One thing we seem to be getting better at is penetration, especially with the new foul rules. It's just tough to run any kind of offense when we have no low-post threat at all. I don't think Copes will be a savior by any means, but he at least gives us a presence that teams have to be aware of.

 

[GSII]

I wouldn't say 'let em play'. He could structure the offense better. Scrap this NBA style offense. Start by looking down low at your big man and see if he can't get a high percentage shot. If you get your big going, it gets the rythym going for kick out threes and penetration. Currently, Hewitt thinks he is walking into a church league game with Div I players who are simply better, more athletic etc. But they're not. On defense, if you're going to press, at least throw in a surprise trap to create more nervousness for the offensive player. Last night when Princeton in bounded, it went to a weak dribbler. We weren't able to steal it, but with a trap deep in the back court you could of forced a steal or bad pass, if not you have time to sprint back on D.

 

[gmujim92]

One of those 54 per cent gmu female students!

Are you saying you want a half-man, half-woman?

 

[GSII]

Brian, I would to the list, that Hewitt does a poor job of setting the tone when mistakes happen. If guys make stupid mistakes he needs to get in their face about it and sit em down. Instead, he lets them play.

 

[gmutom]

Brian, I would to the list, that Hewitt does a poor job of setting the tone when mistakes happen. If guys make stupid mistakes he needs to get in their face about it and sit em down. Instead, he lets them play.

So you must have thrilled that Holloway only played five minutes last night, because Hewitt was obviously sending a message by benching one of our top reserves in a game in which we were already three players down?

 

[gmujim92]

Jim, just to further this discussion, what offense do you think would work better with our personnel? Coach L ran a motion offense, which to me was more often than not a motionless offense.

We don't have the balhandlers to do a dribble-drive motion offense. We can't run a high-low offense, because we really have no big men other than Copes on occasion who can score in the post. And I doubt our players would be able to pick up something as complex as the Triangle or Princeton offense, especially since they couldn't stop the latter all last night.

One thing we seem to be getting better at is penetration, especially with the new foul rules. It's just tough to run any kind of offense when we have no low-post threat at all. I don't think Copes will be a savior by any means, but he at least gives us a presence that teams have to be aware of.

Tom, the great thing about Coach L's offense is that it's predicated on sharing the ball and moving the defense to create open shots.

I think if Coach L was still coaching this team, with Copes suspended and JA hurt, he would've had Marko playing in the post instead of spending so much time away from the basket.

Marko is our best post player on offense, and being able to feed the post was always a staple of our offensive sets under Coach L. Getting the ball to the low block (even if you don't always look to score from there) forces the defense to react and often opens up shots elsewhere.

Our current offense is too reliant on creating driving lanes for one-on-one moves.
It's not consistently effective because, as you pointed out, we don't guys who can handle and finish well enough to make defenses pay. What good is getting layups if you miss 7-8 every game?

We have two guys in Gray and Holloway whose specialty is shooting the 3. Instead of always driving to the basket looking to score, I think our offense would be better served by an increased emphasis on drive and kick, plus more emphasis on playing inside-out.

That, and scrapping our press/man-to-man in favor of an active 2-3 zone, would give us the best chance to win, IMHO. I just don't think we have the personnel to successfully play the way Hewitt wants us to play.

 

[gmutom]

We have two guys in Gray and Holloway whose specialty is shooting the 3. Instead of always driving to the basket looking to score, I think our offense would be better served by an increased emphasis on drive and kick, plus more emphasis on playing inside-out.

I'm definitely with you here. Although we don't have the dominant low post players Evans, Lewis, Thomas and Pearson, I think we can play inside-out with dribble penetration.

We have six guys capable of hitting the 3 — Sherrod, Allen, Edwards, Holloway, Gray and Marko — so I agree we should look to get the ball back out when the lane is taken away rather than throwing up circus shots.

 

[GSII]

So you must have thrilled that Holloway only played five minutes last night, because Hewitt was obviously sending a message by benching one of our top reserves in a game in which we were already three players down?

Did he play 5 mins b/c of a mistake? Im not sure. Alot of times his rotations are mind blowing.

 

[gmutom]

Did he play 5 mins b/c of a mistake? Im not sure. Alot of times his rotations are mind blowing.

He had two turnovers, so I'm pretty sure that had something to do with it.