31-11 free throws, direct result of

[sweetdaddy]

style of offense, not cheating refs. our o is way too perimiter oriented, with our best players out of scoring or rebounding position. why the h hibbert and green are at the top of the key, passing and setting picks is something i will never understand. s.c was bringing it inside on us all night and when you do that you draw fouls, when you pass the ball around for 3's all night and you're not hot all night, you lose, and that's what happened to us last night and down the stretch when we lost 5 games in a row. if you want consistency, you must go inside 1st, not shoot jumpers all night. i know i've said it enough, but i can't stand this offense, it's not our guys' strengths.

[SFHoya99]

The 11 FTs is directly related to how we run the offense, not necessarily the offense itself. There have been games this year where we have gone inside, and the low post factors in many versions of the Princeton.

We have not seen an end state of this offense yet.

The 31 opponents' FTs has nothing to do with our offense and is a much bigger problem.

As for where out talent is, that's a joke. Jeff is a very good player, but he isn't Mike Sweetney. Against taller and stronger players he has struggled down low. And Roy -- when 1/3 of your post opportunities end in a turnover, that's not a good option.

I love our potential, and hope we go inside more in the future, but I think you're completely off base on those two points.

[GUHoya07]

Just wondering if you actually saw the game? Because if you were there and did you would realize that it also did have quite a bit to do with the refs.

[CAHoya07]

I'm not sure if this had THAT much to do with the refs, 007, although I was not there. Teams have been going to the free throw line much more than us all year long. This game was a good example of it. I'm not sure if this is a byproduct of the Princeton-style offense, but it's definitely an issue. We need to get more phsycial down low on both ends of the floor, there's no doubt about it. Free throws (and points in the paint) are good inidcators of how physical a team plays. And we are not that.

[sweetdaddy]

no, our o has nothing to do with our opponent's ft's but what i'm saying is it didn't have to be that big a disparity. only 11 ft's is a sign of a soft, perimeter oriented o. heck if we shot even 18-20 ft's we win that game. watch the games this weekend and watch down the stretch (the last 7-10 mins of a close game) how many times players either penetrate to get inside or pass the ball inside. down the stretch, we just kept shooting 3's and mishandling the rock(another issue alltogether) and we won't win consistently like that. green and hibbert both ahve shown that they could be dominant inside, but some games we totally go away from them. green is a no-brainer for the pros, and with developement hibbert will be too. all you need to do is go back and watch the dame game in which hibbert was almost scoring at will, and you mean to tell me he couldn't do the same vs a s.c team who's tallest player was 6'9? c'mon. the problem is they don't go inside to these guys enough to get them a rhythm, they would rather fire up 3's with inconsistant shooters. we will win games just like we did this season, but there is no way we should have lost last night nor should we have lost 5 straight, but that's what happens when you depend on the outside shot, your team will have no consistency. we lost to fricken providence in a must win game because of that style we play of outside 1st. i'm not saying that we should totally trash the o, because i do like the passing game, but just not the whole game that's all.

[sweetdaddy]

GU,
yes i was there and there were some questionable calls, but they were both ways. they were at home so you know they would get a few more b/c of the atmosphere ( not fair but true). but to have that big a disparity is a direct result of our style offense. the less you go inside the less chance you have of going to the line.

[kchoya]

sweetdaddy said:

i know i've said it enough, but i can't stand this offense, it's not our guys' strengths.

I don't know if making 9 posts is enough to "say it enough."

[Dhall]

None of us are in the huddle, but I would have to think that the players are not told "shoot the three, forget about getting it to the post". The problem is that we don't have a guard skilled enough to penetrate and dish or who draws enough attention from a defense that it leaves post players wide open.

When we had Alonzo Mourning, we often lost games because we just didn't get him the ball. That wasn't his fault and it wasn't JTII's fault - it was a result of the same issue we have now: Joey Brown and crew weren't enough of a supporting cast.

Let's hope our guard play improves because that will directly result in better chances for Roy and Jeff. When you look at Illinois, you see guys like Augustine having terrific games because the guards are so good.

[schoya]

I was at the game also. When our players went inside, their shots were either blocked or our players were fouled (which was not called most of the times in the 2nd half). Most of the times, SC players went inside and scored or was fouled (which should have been noncalls if the refs were calling the game evenly). There was definitely a difference in how the game was called in the 2nd half.

[][-][ 0 `/ /-\ 5]

I think the thing to debate is not the overall difference between free throws, 11 for us is not horrible, its the fact that they got a lot of calls and 31 free throws. Ive heard that they got a lot of crap calls while we got nocalls but needless to say we were bound to shoot less than them.