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GolfDiveNCougsI guess I mean, what things can coaching adjustments MASK, if not fix, in the next 21 hours? I'd almost have to believe that the free throw percentage, by the end of the game, was as much mental as anything. True, we're not shooting very well this year from the line, but that game was just redonkulous. Don't know if a different mindset would help there, likely would, but I also don't know if there's much that can be done on that front before tipoff tomorrow.
It sure seems like the team simply doesn't have an identity this year. I'm actually scared that the rest of the team have resigned themselves to be the supporting cast of a superstar this year. Nothing sends a team game to the crapper faster. Sure, Jimmer was there last year, but for some reason it felt different. Can't describe it. Maybe it was that we had a pig-headed JT to offset it, maybe our ability to be more run-n-gun diffused some of the "Jimmer-pressure," either on him by the team, or on the team because of his presence. I can't help but wonder if our inability to really break into last year's frenetic pace early isn't making the team timid. We sure seem to have defaulted to half court sets in which the guys watch Jimmer dance for half the shotclock, then try to patch something together in the final 10 or so. I didn't think JT and Haws really did that much more for us than what we've got now, but maybe they did. KC isn't a Haws-type shooter, he's a slasher, but again, that's not as effective in an open-court style as a kid who can knock down any shot off a dribble or fastbreak kickout. And it's a foregone conclusion that our ferris-wheel-o-the-four-spot isn't as mobile as JT, to say nothing about shooting. Who knows. One thought I had regarding Charles, is that he may be burned out. Hear me out on this one. I realize that most of our guys had intense summer schedules, but I'd be willing to bet that playing in the World Championships for one's country would be a bit more physically and emotionally draining than your average D-1 ball player's summer. That could explain the lack of intensity, the defensive blunders, the freethrows (at least today). Interestingly, iirc, Charles was mostly a 2 on his national team, and that seems to be the role he's defaulting to this year more than the power-3 we're used to getting out of him. He's shooting (and making) a decent amount of 3's. Maybe that's just another symptom of burnout, defaulting to what he WAS doing then, rather than transitioning to be the player his team needs him to be now. I dunno.
Maybe we have to figure out how to be consistent in the half court in order to open up the fastbreak (I have to say, USF's coach did a GREAT job of getting his team back on defense. I noticed that a LOT. If they even sniffed a fastbreak, 5 dudes in green were TEARING back down the court). Still, FOUR fastbreak points??? I thought this was BYU basketball.
So what CAN we fix by tomorrow? We've already got one strike against us, a post-player down, and tired out from an emotional double overtime. Pace? Court spacing? Enya on the ipod before the game??? Throw me a bone to help give me the faith that we'll see a team we recognize tomorrow!
It sure seems like the team simply doesn't have an identity this year. I'm actually scared that the rest of the team have resigned themselves to be the supporting cast of a superstar this year. Nothing sends a team game to the crapper faster. Sure, Jimmer was there last year, but for some reason it felt different. Can't describe it. Maybe it was that we had a pig-headed JT to offset it, maybe our ability to be more run-n-gun diffused some of the "Jimmer-pressure," either on him by the team, or on the team because of his presence. I can't help but wonder if our inability to really break into last year's frenetic pace early isn't making the team timid. We sure seem to have defaulted to half court sets in which the guys watch Jimmer dance for half the shotclock, then try to patch something together in the final 10 or so. I didn't think JT and Haws really did that much more for us than what we've got now, but maybe they did. KC isn't a Haws-type shooter, he's a slasher, but again, that's not as effective in an open-court style as a kid who can knock down any shot off a dribble or fastbreak kickout. And it's a foregone conclusion that our ferris-wheel-o-the-four-spot isn't as mobile as JT, to say nothing about shooting. Who knows. One thought I had regarding Charles, is that he may be burned out. Hear me out on this one. I realize that most of our guys had intense summer schedules, but I'd be willing to bet that playing in the World Championships for one's country would be a bit more physically and emotionally draining than your average D-1 ball player's summer. That could explain the lack of intensity, the defensive blunders, the freethrows (at least today). Interestingly, iirc, Charles was mostly a 2 on his national team, and that seems to be the role he's defaulting to this year more than the power-3 we're used to getting out of him. He's shooting (and making) a decent amount of 3's. Maybe that's just another symptom of burnout, defaulting to what he WAS doing then, rather than transitioning to be the player his team needs him to be now. I dunno.
Maybe we have to figure out how to be consistent in the half court in order to open up the fastbreak (I have to say, USF's coach did a GREAT job of getting his team back on defense. I noticed that a LOT. If they even sniffed a fastbreak, 5 dudes in green were TEARING back down the court). Still, FOUR fastbreak points??? I thought this was BYU basketball.
So what CAN we fix by tomorrow? We've already got one strike against us, a post-player down, and tired out from an emotional double overtime. Pace? Court spacing? Enya on the ipod before the game??? Throw me a bone to help give me the faith that we'll see a team we recognize tomorrow!