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I give it to Coach L

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AmherstCane said:
Suspect he’s trying to both motivate the bench guys and speak honestly about why they’re not getting more burn.

Can’t say why he didn’t break down the starters like he did the bench… but he’s clearly not happy with how the team is playing and starters are doing most of the playing so I’m quite certain he’s not ok with them. I think he’s just taking a different approach with the bench vs the starters.
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Biggest issue going into the season was the starting unit (specifically Wooga, Pack and Omier) thinking NBA. Jim mentioned this very early on. Effort is lacking, too. We should be playing scramble defense and trying to get going as much as possible going in transition offense. Casey and Watson are better running. We are getting killed in the half court and the lack of effort is killing us. Cleveland's defense is lacking, too and he has been a disappointment on the offensive glass.

Hopefully Jim has their attention now.
 
gacaneaddict said:
it's annoying listening to Coach talk about how small we are, when he didn't address size in the portal.

Like this is on you Coach L.
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We didn’t have the money to get a big (and satisfy all other commitments) who would have actually made the team better.

Fortunately with Matt he wanted to come here because he and his family really believe that L is the best coach to develop Matt’s game for the next level.

Canes Connection is open for business if you want to help solve that.
 
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Pentagon Cane said:
Biggest issue going into the season was the starting unit (specifically Wooga, Pack and Omier) thinking NBA. Jim mentioned this very early on. Effort is lacking, too. We should be playing scramble defense and trying to get going as much as possible going in transition offense. Casey and Watson are better running. We are getting killed in the half court and the lack of effort is killing us. Cleveland's defense is lacking, too and he has been a disappointment on the offensive glass.

Hopefully Jim has their attention now.
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All good points… I would only say my impression was Cleveland’s activity on the defensive boards is more of a disappointment than the offensive boards (but I could be wrong there).

The issue with a scramble defense is that we’re letting opposing guards blow right by us so extending and trapping will just exacerbate the problem… I think.
 
AmherstCane said:
All good points… I would only say my impression was Cleveland’s activity on the defensive boards is more of a disappointment than the offensive boards (but I could be wrong there).

The issue with a scramble defense is that we’re letting opposing guards blow right by us so extending and trapping will just exacerbate the problem… I think.
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Correct. My son's high school team played scramble and switch D..
Problem is that it requires commitment from everyone on the floor to provide consistent effort throughout the game... or at least until you had a big enough lead to ease off.
I am not sure if this team has the maturity or the will to do that night in and night out. That's where a couple of bigs who can protect the rim and get rebounds can help others get a breather without going 100 mph all game.
 
caneworld said:
Correct. My son's high school team played scramble and switch D..
Problem is that it requires commitment from everyone on the floor to provide consistent effort throughout the game... or at least until you had a big enough lead to ease off.
I am not sure if this team has the maturity or the will to do that night in and night out. That's where a couple of bigs who can protect the basket and get rebounds can help others get a breather from going 100 mph all game.
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Yeah I think the problem is that our roster (length and athleticism) is best suited for a scramble and switch defense… but our guys aren’t consistently getting good enough defensive position (collapsing and helping are exacerbating the issue) and aren’t consistently giving max effort on the defensive end.

But I’m not sure that that we have the length necessary for us to effectively zone against good teams that can shoot the ball… also it takes time to learn a zone that is effective at this level so I don’t think it’s something that could be easily implemented (and, again, we SHOULD be a scramble and switch team based on our starting 5).
 
AmherstCane said:
We didn’t have the money to get a big (and satisfy all other commitments) who would have actually made the team better.

Fortunately with Matt he wanted to come here because he and his family really believe that L is the best coach to develop Matt’s game for the next level.

Canes Connection is open for business if you want to help solve that.
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So you're telling me we couldnt get a role big? No one would be willing to come here and play for a final 4 team? I find that extremely hard to believe.
 
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gacaneaddict said:
So you're telling me we couldnt get a role big? No one would be willing to come here and play for a final 4 team? I find that extremely hard to believe.
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Couldn’t get a big who was good enough to make the team better.

Just getting a 7 footer doesn’t make the team better. They have to be able to run, defend, rebound, etc… there are a lot of tall guys playing college basketball and most of them wouldn’t make us a better team.
 
gacaneaddict said:
it's annoying listening to Coach talk about how small we are, when he didn't address size in the portal.

Like this is on you Coach L.
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I agree. There are MANY good bigs out there playing at all levels of schools. The Goldin kid -- 7 footer from Russia -- up at FAU comes immediately to mind. Isn't FAU like his third school? He's a real force. BC's Quinten Post is another standout.
 
hotshot said:
I agree. There are MANY good bigs out there playing at all levels of schools. The Goldin kid -- 7 footer from Russia -- up at FAU comes immediately to mind. Isn't FAU like his third school? He's a real force. BC's Quinten Post is another standout.
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Nwoko was rated the 16th best center in his class and he’s barely playable right now.

Goldin is one in a thousand. He was also a key ingredient in his mid major team making the final four.

There absolutely are not MANY available 6’10+ post players who can, run, rebound, and defend at a high level in college basketball.

Edwards, who is good but not great (an example of someone that would probably make us better), left Syracuse for a NIL bag at WVU. We didn’t have those kind of funds available to buy a big on the market. Anyone who we could have gotten would be a reach/project who would expect to play and be a locker room problem if they didn’t get the minutes they expected.
 
AmherstCane said:
Nwoko was rated the 16th best center in his class and he’s barely playable right now.

Goldin is one in a thousand. He was also a key ingredient in his mid major team making the final four.

There absolutely are not MANY available 6’10+ post players who can, run, rebound, and defend at a high level in college basketball.

Edwards, who is good but not great (an example of someone that would probably make us better), left Syracuse for a NIL bag at WVU. We didn’t have those kind of funds available to buy a big on the market. Anyone who we could have gotten would be a reach/project who would expect to play and be a locker room problem if they didn’t get the minutes they expected.
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You're right. We needed a big who would accept not being an offensive focus on this team but who would embrace rebounding and defending the lane effectively. Someone much more ready to make those limited but important contributions than Nwoko is as a young player with potential. Thinking along the lines of a slightly bigger version of the Murphy kid we brought in to play PF minutes a few seasons back.
 
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Cleveland hasn’t replaced Miller. Not the same player around the basket. He needs to improve his footwork and passing.
 
I think coach L put a LOT of faith in Nwoko as our big off the bench and he’s simply not ready.

Obviously freshman take time to adjust but it is noticeable that ours always seem nervous/trying not to make a mistake - Wooga/Benz in 21, Aj Casey still, George has shown this, and Nwoko can hardly catch passes, misses dunks, etc.

Something about our direction/play style is causing a little too much thinking/trying not to strike out for our younger players
 
CanesHoopsman said:
I think coach L put a LOT of faith in Nwoko as our big off the bench and he’s simply not ready.

Obviously freshman take time to adjust but it is noticeable that ours always seem nervous/trying not to make a mistake - Wooga/Benz in 21, Aj Casey still, George has shown this, and Nwoko can hardly catch passes, misses dunks, etc.

Something about our direction/play style is causing a little too much thinking/trying not to strike out for our younger players
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Simplifying gives up schematic advantage. Not simplifying makes it harder for younger/less experienced players.

L’s system gives the players a tremendous amount of freedom offensively but is based upon the players understanding what they need to do based on what the other team is doing… which can be harder for young guys. Also, a switching man defense with help concepts can take some time to get acclimated to.
 
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There's only so much you can assess as fault of the bench. Last year AW was often awful and even my fave Sir Beverly had limited excellence in motion, yet we prevailed highly overall.

So what then about our obviously talented starters this season? Maybe Cleveland isn't as mobile or laterally quick or sure-handed as Miller (and we seem to forget Wong's turnovers and dryspells despite his great leadership and playmaking)...but this is a good-5. Yet they mostly don't seem to operate as a well-oiled machine, even on offense, and on defense and rebounding makes one gag. I will refrain from terms like nil-envy but it just desn't look like they play well together. The effort is lacking at times and the execution is often far from good. I hope Coach L can shake and bake some teamplay into them, and soon.
 
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