We started the season 4-5, and have regressed to to 2-9 the last 11 games. So what happened? Some players played worse, some bettter..... some played more, some played less... defense, coaching?
Played worse/less in Last 11 ------------ - Marcus shot 41% from the arc in the first-9, and is shooting 24.5% in the Last-11.... 15 of 61 OUCH - Rose had a 23-14 assist to turnover ratio in the first-9, 30-31 in the last-11..... Big increase in turnovers OUCH - Amadou played over 20 minutes in 7 of the first-9, he has only played over 20min in 4 of the Last 11 - StevieJ played 25mpg in the First-9, plays only 15mpg in last 11
Playing Better/More in Last 11 ------------ - Nelson avg 7ppg in first 9, and 10ppg in last-11, with more min, more shots and more assists - Kirkland avg 7ppg in first 9, and 10ppg in last-11 - Rome had a 11-18 assist to turnover ratio in the first-9, 27-22 in the last-11..... Big increase in assists
Rest of the players were about the same. It seems like the Good and Bad equal each other out, but if our leading scorer and 3-point shooter shoots 24.5% from the arc, and our PG has more turnovers than assists, then that leads to a 2-9 record. If Marcus can regain his stroke and if Nelson, Kirkland, and Rome can continue to improve, then we might be able to play the last 10 games over .500. We would need to be 7-3 to be in the running for the Top-5 bye. For that to happen we would need Rome to play to his potential and Amadou to be healthy .... or someone else give us similar or better production.
The transition to our newcomers is taking a rocky road, but I feel it should continue.
Last Edit: Jan 28, 2015 13:20:20 GMT -5 by JoeStag
All your points come down to coaching. You can blame the players all you want. But not having and showing confidence in players and removing them for one mistake and playing the slop that goes in for them for multiple minutes and mistakes, shows me that this coach is not objective, can't judge talent, and can't make the decisions necessary to win.
According to Pomeroy, our defensive efficiency has slipped dramatically. In our first 9 games we were ranked 150th defensively.... in the last 11 we played to a 250 ranking in defense.
IMO, Defense, Marcus's shooting, and Rose's turnovers have been the 3 factors to us regressing.
Last Edit: Jan 28, 2015 16:01:33 GMT -5 by JoeStag
Also stubbornness in sticking with a man to man defense which is mostly ineffective rather than switching to a zone as a game plan. Even Coach K and numerous other successful coaches have done so. It's unbelievable that we have to hire a consultant to spot and correct the obvious. Paying someone $460K and still having to baby sit him.
Also stubbornness in sticking with a man to man defense which is mostly ineffective rather than switching to a zone as a game plan. Even Coach K and numerous other successful coaches have done so. It's unbelievable that we have to hire a consultant to spot and correct the obvious. Paying someone $460K and still having to baby sit him.
Well for what it's worth, I seem to remember Carmody employing a lot of a 1-3-1 zone as a staple defense when he was at Northwestern. Not sure if that would be so easy to install right now with the Stags so late in the year, but it would be interesting to see if this type of thing might be tried. Really with that alignment however, you need length at pretty much every position, certainly something the Stags don't have when a combination of Jerome, KJ or Stevie are on the court. But we'll see if any changes are made with the acquisition of our new advisor.
All your points come down to coaching. You can blame the players all you want. But not having and showing confidence in players and removing them for one mistake and playing the slop that goes in for them for multiple minutes and mistakes, shows me that this coach is not objective, can't judge talent, and can't make the decisions necessary to win.
I am not blaming the players, just showing that the Newcomers are improving, and have played better than the existing players in the last 11 games. However, that has not resulted in more wins, matter of fact we have regressed during that time frame, and 2-9 is significantly worse than 4-5. There are multiple reasons for that, but it does look like our Defensive efficiency has significantly decreased in these 11 games.
Since it does not look like we really have not changed our defensive scheme, then the more likely scenario is that the players that are currently playing in these 11 games are not playing as good of defense as a unit. Could that be due to inexperience or they need more time or maybe that the current players are not as good in man-to-man. If thats the case, then maybe Sydney should look playing a different defense..... Zone, pressing, strict man-to-man.
Claver, I agree that are offense is still our biggest problem, however, I do feel that we now have some firepower in Marcus and Tyler. Now, the issue has turned to Ballhandling and Turnovers...... and Marcus getting his 3-point shooting back.
Some of the down turn is that teams have scouted us and know what we can and can't do.
If there is one thing our opponents have learned is that we are 0-7 when we turn the ball over more than 15 times. And in the last 3 games (losses), our turnovers have been live ball turnovers, leading to easy break-away baskets. This is another reason why our defensive stats are poor. This Live-ball turnover issue started vs Monmouth. And they lead the MAAC in forced Turnovers (15+) and Steals (7.9).... in conference games. We need to correct this by Friday vs Monmouth.
