Why have the Blue Raiders regressed?
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
Without ready the article, its guard play...Its always about guard play in the NCAA. You can thrive without a big man, but you cannot make it without consisted, good guard play.
Guard play especially with a whole mess of freshman guards certainly is a major factor. Other than Upshaw, no one player appears consistent IMO. Just as or even more significantly, team chemistry and experience seems to continue to be a problem.
I'm not sure about this, but the "freshman wall" might be considered a factor by a few. When so many of those freshman are guards, maybe that could be made into an argument.
I could be wrong, but it appears that this team has bought into defense and rebounding that is so important to Kermit's teams. Offense can be downright painful to watch way too often.
I think Kermit generally got the new players to understand the motion and ball movement in the half court once Jan. came around. Throughout that early process, the players were settling tor way too many 3 pt shots. Then he started to get them to attack the basket within his halfcourt offense. They have demonstrated some ability to do that...for stretches of a game. Then the other half of games, the offense goes lame combined with freshman guards making freshman turnovers.
IMO, missing the entire year is that chemistry and flow on offense. It manifests when failing to execute when the ball gets close to the rim. I don't recall a MT team missing so many 3 ft and lay up type shots as this team this year. What comes to mind is that this team has not developed the chemistry and confidence to make that extra pass once they have penetrated close to the rim to that slashing off the ball player who the defense has turned their back on due to the penetration. This team was excellent at that during the recent 3 seasons of excellent success.
Whatever the case, the thing that bothers me is that the team seems to be going backwards as the end of the season nears. Even if MT was .500, I think most fans would be feeling a lot better about things if the team was showing signs of growth and improvement at the finish of the season. This would go a long ways towards building excitement, hope, and expectations for next season. Right now, a big question mark!
A final thought, maybe J Ivory's early season injury is not getting proper consideration. He has seemed to be stepping into that role of starting PG with flashes of incredible potential. With Ivory missing a couple of weeks early in the season, perhaps this is the effect of the new PG being at that middle of the season learning and fitting in stage rather than the starting PG with almost a whole season's experience starting to show strong consistency???
I'm not sure about this, but the "freshman wall" might be considered a factor by a few. When so many of those freshman are guards, maybe that could be made into an argument.
I could be wrong, but it appears that this team has bought into defense and rebounding that is so important to Kermit's teams. Offense can be downright painful to watch way too often.
I think Kermit generally got the new players to understand the motion and ball movement in the half court once Jan. came around. Throughout that early process, the players were settling tor way too many 3 pt shots. Then he started to get them to attack the basket within his halfcourt offense. They have demonstrated some ability to do that...for stretches of a game. Then the other half of games, the offense goes lame combined with freshman guards making freshman turnovers.
IMO, missing the entire year is that chemistry and flow on offense. It manifests when failing to execute when the ball gets close to the rim. I don't recall a MT team missing so many 3 ft and lay up type shots as this team this year. What comes to mind is that this team has not developed the chemistry and confidence to make that extra pass once they have penetrated close to the rim to that slashing off the ball player who the defense has turned their back on due to the penetration. This team was excellent at that during the recent 3 seasons of excellent success.
Whatever the case, the thing that bothers me is that the team seems to be going backwards as the end of the season nears. Even if MT was .500, I think most fans would be feeling a lot better about things if the team was showing signs of growth and improvement at the finish of the season. This would go a long ways towards building excitement, hope, and expectations for next season. Right now, a big question mark!
A final thought, maybe J Ivory's early season injury is not getting proper consideration. He has seemed to be stepping into that role of starting PG with flashes of incredible potential. With Ivory missing a couple of weeks early in the season, perhaps this is the effect of the new PG being at that middle of the season learning and fitting in stage rather than the starting PG with almost a whole season's experience starting to show strong consistency???
Our problems
1.We can't finish at the basket.
2. We can't finish at the basket.
3. Too many sloppy turnovers.
4. We can't finish at the basket.
1.We can't finish at the basket.
2. We can't finish at the basket.
3. Too many sloppy turnovers.
4. We can't finish at the basket.
We miss a lot of inside shots because we are not a talented inside scoring team. We should be shooting many more 3-pointers because that is the strength of this team, not post scoring. A team has to play a style which fits its personnel and this team simply does not have the guys who score consistently in the paint. The idea that anyone can score within 10 feet of the basket is ridiculous. The talent to do that is what made a player like LeRon Dendy or Shawn Jones a consistent post scorer. The lack of that talent is what makes a lot of other post players we have had at MTSU ineffective and/or inconsistent post scorers.
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