First Ten Minutes

[jester]

The first ten minutes of this game were downright scary, especially compared to the high caliber play last week...and helped set the tone for Ohio.

1. Guards were letting 3's fly with no one under the basket in rebounding position, rather than settle for a good shot.
2. Monroe was getting the ball (good!) but instead of passing out of the double/triple teams, was trying to take it himself, and turned the ball over on at least three occasions.
3. Silly turnovers, the type when concentration is lacking - an out of control drive here, a good feed that someone lost unguarded underneath the basket there...
4. Austin was on the court, but had no body language or game. Deferred to everyone else (which at that pt was only Wright I guess).
5. No box outs. At all really.
6. No help defense/rotations...it's as if they had lost this concept overnight.

I give Ohio credit for taking our guys off the bounce, creative finishes, making threes (a lot without too much pressure)...but this is one of those games where the other team did very little right from the get-go, gave the other team confidence, and barely managed to correct those mistakes for the rest of the game. Overall they were agressive and then we were constantly on our heels patiently looking for a good shot opportunity to come our way.

...and obviously we are wondering why/how they could come out that way tonight of all nights, with so little swagger and concentration and execution - or maybe we are who we are this year - and I'll never understand it...

[HometownHoya]

Basketball is a team game. All of our problems tonight stemmed from each player being selfish and not playing TEAM ball. Our offense requires teamwork. All defenses require teamwork. At least 90% of the team is returning.

[757hoyafan]

Who was out there playing selfish?

[3xhoya]

I did not see selfishness. I saw lack of effort in the beginning, not being prepared and then playing scared for the rest of the game.

[jester]

I don't know about selfish...but Ohio did a great job driving hard and finding different shooter open. Of course, they were open b/c guys were constantly coming in to protect the layups. I def had flashes back to Conley taking it to the hole and Cook on the outside - this game had a similar feel to it in that they really forced the issue both ways with their agressiveness. But overall team D was not great.

[OldHoyafan]

Bottom line, this team all except Wright mailed it in tonight especially on defense. As Ohio players turned the corner with no one stopping them before they got to the basket . They got cought looking ahead at having to play Tenn., Ohio State and Kansas in successsion and thought they could just show up toniight for the win. I love JT3 but as I looked down the bench that he recruited I saw no one that he could put in to light a spark under these guys either on defense or offense. Having said that, sometimes a coach has to realize that he as coach may have to be a catalyst for his team. Sometimes they just can't figure it out themselves ,so you have to do someting drastic, i.e. purposely get a technical, pull all five starters and play zone defense for a couple of minutes, play a trapping defense for a couple of series just to show team a different look, or send someone like Henry in the game and tell him to give a hard foul anytime guard drove the lane. Make them shoot from foul line but send the message that there will be a price to pay for trying to drive the lane. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Thats what was happening tonight and the team needed a catalyst to shake them out of their stupor. It was not going to come from the bench so the coach had to be it, and unfortunately III had no arrows in his quiver or chose not to use them.

[Z]

Mar 18, 2010 21:43:36 GMT -5 OldHoyafan said:

Bottom line, this team all except Wright mailed it in tonight especially on defense. As Ohio players turned the corner with no one stopping them before they got to the basket . They got cought looking ahead at having to play Tenn., Ohio State and Kansas in successsion and thought they could just show up toniight for the win. I love JT3 but as I looked down the bench that he recruited I saw no one that he could put in to light a spark under these guys either on defense or offense. Having said that, sometimes a coach has to realize that he as coach may have to be a catalyst for his team. Sometimes they just can't figure it out themselves ,so you have to do someting drastic, i.e. purposely get a technical, pull all five starters and play zone defense for a couple of minutes, play a trapping defense for a couple of series just to show team a different look, or send someone like Henry in the game and tell him to give a hard foul anytime guard drove the lane. Make them shoot from foul line but send the message that there will be a price to pay for trying to drive the lane. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Thats what was happening tonight and the team needed a catalyst to shake them out of their stupor. It was not going to come from the bench so the coach had to be it, and unfortunately III had no arrows in his quiver or chose not to use them.

couldn't agree more. when the answer is a tentative benimon, i dont want to know the question. this loss is on JTIII.