Coaching Challenge

[Dhall]

This year will be JTIII's biggest coaching challenge, and I mean that in a good way. There are so many players with different skills, but none that are really great at everything. So he will need to figure out how to fit the pieces together. Lineups are simply not obvious. And he will need to make tons of adjustments during each game. In past years, it's been pretty clear who the best 5-7 players were and so it was just fiddling around the edges. For example:

- Josh brings skill and size, but is he going to be consistent and how long of a leash does he get given other possible lineups? And can he guard people?
- Hop is athletic and outstanding in spurts but sometimes really dumb with the ball
- DSR is the most experienced, best, offensive option, but is he a liability on defense relative to some of the other guards?
- Peak is a scorer, will he defend and rebound? What if his shot is not falling - how long do you stick with him?
- Trawick is all-around average, nothing spectacular, and still capable of boneheaded mistakes even at tis stage in his career
- Bowen looks greatly improved and super-athletic, so do you need him out there especially because of his experience?
- Campbell looks like a mighty good on-ball defender and maybe a shooter, ballhandler. Is he too inexperienced for crunch times in games?
- White is strong down low, but he is slow as molasses on the defensive end
- Copeland - verdict is still out of course, but he was hyped as an all-around player, so can you afford not to play him early and often
- Cameron could be best spot-up shooter, but what else will he give you?
- Mourning/Hayes: which one in a reserve role first?

[HoyaChris]

I completely disagree with the characterization of Paul White as "slow as molasses."

[johnnysnowplow]

Nov 19, 2014 18:01:54 GMT -5 HoyaChris said:

I completely disagree with the characterization of Paul White as "slow as molasses."

Kid can defend. It may take a little while for him to get up to the speed of the college game, but the kid is long and mobile with good instincts. He will be a solid defender as the season wears on. I think we've already seen flashes of his defensive potential in the first couple games, even if his overall performance on that end has been a bit inconsistent.

[sleepy]

I completely disagree with DSR being a liability compared to other guards. might have been true the first 3/4s of his freshman year. He can clearly guard with anyone on the team in the backcourt when not overly concerned with fouls, which we saw most of last year.

[tashoya]

Nov 19, 2014 18:07:47 GMT -5 johnnysnowplow said:

Nov 19, 2014 18:01:54 GMT -5 HoyaChris said:

I completely disagree with the characterization of Paul White as "slow as molasses."

Kid can defend. It may take a little while for him to get up to the speed of the college game, but the kid is long and mobile with good instincts. He will be a solid defender as the season wears on. I think we've already seen flashes of his defensive potential in the first couple games, even if his overall performance on that end has been a bit inconsistent.

There were times last night when he was guarding Jordan and did just fine. That kid is probably one of the quickest guards we'll see all year. I'm not sure which guy you're watching. His switching might not be there yet but he's going to be able to guard multiple positions.

[tashoya]

Nov 19, 2014 20:43:24 GMT -5 sleepy said:

I completely disagree with DSR being a liability compared to other guards. might have been true the first 3/4s of his freshman year. He can clearly guard with anyone on the team in the backcourt when not overly concerned with fouls, which we saw most of last year.

I agree with this. And he's better this year than he was last year already. His better conditioning has helped with his lateral quickness. And, as much as Joshua has been ripped on for his defense (not entirely unwarranted), he's miles better this year in moving his feet and getting position. I think the defense, overall, is going to be much better than last year.

[professorhoya]

Nov 19, 2014 17:44:23 GMT -5 Dhall said:

This year will be JTIII's biggest coaching challenge, and I mean that in a good way. There are so many players with different skills, but none that are really great at everything. So he will need to figure out how to fit the pieces together. Lineups are simply not obvious. And he will need to make tons of adjustments during each game. In past years, it's been pretty clear who the best 5-7 players were and so it was just fiddling around the edges. For example:

- Josh brings skill and size, but is he going to be consistent and how long of a leash does he get given other possible lineups? And can he guard people?
- Hop is athletic and outstanding in spurts but sometimes really dumb with the ball
- DSR is the most experienced, best, offensive option, but is he a liability on defense relative to some of the other guards?
- Peak is a scorer, will he defend and rebound? What if his shot is not falling - how long do you stick with him?
- Trawick is all-around average, nothing spectacular, and still capable of boneheaded mistakes even at tis stage in his career
- Bowen looks greatly improved and super-athletic, so do you need him out there especially because of his experience?
- Campbell looks like a mighty good on-ball defender and maybe a shooter, ballhandler. Is he too inexperienced for crunch times in games?
- White is strong down low, but he is slow as molasses on the defensive end
- Copeland - verdict is still out of course, but he was hyped as an all-around player, so can you afford not to play him early and often
- Cameron could be best spot-up shooter, but what else will he give you?
- Mourning/Hayes: which one in a reserve role first?

Isn't Hopkins also at the same stage in his career?

[johnnysnowplow]

Nov 19, 2014 23:29:39 GMT -5 tashoya said:

Nov 19, 2014 18:07:47 GMT -5 johnnysnowplow said:

Kid can defend. It may take a little while for him to get up to the speed of the college game, but the kid is long and mobile with good instincts. He will be a solid defender as the season wears on. I think we've already seen flashes of his defensive potential in the first couple games, even if his overall performance on that end has been a bit inconsistent.

There were times last night when he was guarding Jordan and did just fine. That kid is probably one of the quickest guards we'll see all year. I'm not sure which guy you're watching. His switching might not be there yet but he's going to be able to guard multiple positions.

Are you agreeing with me or disagreeing with me? I have no idea.

[tashoya]

Nov 20, 2014 11:22:02 GMT -5 johnnysnowplow said:

Nov 19, 2014 23:29:39 GMT -5 tashoya said:

There were times last night when he was guarding Jordan and did just fine. That kid is probably one of the quickest guards we'll see all year. I'm not sure which guy you're watching. His switching might not be there yet but he's going to be able to guard multiple positions.

Are you agreeing with me or disagreeing with me? I have no idea.

I was agreeing with you and disagreeing with the original post about PW being slow.

[dungeon ball]

Nov 19, 2014 17:44:23 GMT -5 Dhall said:

This year will be JTIII's biggest coaching challenge, and I mean that in a good way.

I'd have to say last year was JTIII's biggest coaching challenge. He lost 2 starters (Smith and Whittington), and a third (Jabril) for a significant period of time. There were 2 players on the team that could score, and all the opponents knew it. Add that to a relatively weak roster, now that's a challenge. Reggie Cameron was starting games last season. So far this season he's playing 7.5 minutes a game.

I think any coach would welcome the "challenge" of having a versatile talented roster.

[TBird41]

Nov 20, 2014 12:22:32 GMT -5 dungeon ball said:

Nov 19, 2014 17:44:23 GMT -5 Dhall said:

This year will be JTIII's biggest coaching challenge, and I mean that in a good way.

I'd have to say last year was JTIII's biggest coaching challenge. He lost 2 starters (Smith and Whittington), and a third (Jabril) for a significant period of time. There were 2 players on the team that could score, and all the opponents knew it. Add that to a relatively weak roster, now that's a challenge. Reggie Cameron was starting games last season. So far this season he's playing 7.5 minutes a game.

I think any coach would welcome the "challenge" of having a versatile talented roster.

Was just thinking this. Always easier to have talent than not have it.

[johnnysnowplow]

Nov 20, 2014 11:52:17 GMT -5 tashoya said:

Nov 20, 2014 11:22:02 GMT -5 johnnysnowplow said:

Are you agreeing with me or disagreeing with me? I have no idea.

I was agreeing with you and disagreeing with the original post about PW being slow.

Alright, I kind of thought so. The line about "I don't know which guy you're watching" was throwing me off. Bottom line, PW is a good defender now with the potential to be great.

[johnnysnowplow]

Nov 20, 2014 12:22:32 GMT -5 dungeon ball said:

Nov 19, 2014 17:44:23 GMT -5 Dhall said:

This year will be JTIII's biggest coaching challenge, and I mean that in a good way.

I'd have to say last year was JTIII's biggest coaching challenge. He lost 2 starters (Smith and Whittington), and a third (Jabril) for a significant period of time. There were 2 players on the team that could score, and all the opponents knew it. Add that to a relatively weak roster, now that's a challenge. Reggie Cameron was starting games last season. So far this season he's playing 7.5 minutes a game.

I think any coach would welcome the "challenge" of having a versatile talented roster.

Agreed. I think this year is a welcome challenge to fit all the pieces together properly, whereas last year was a "Holy sh*t, what the hell do I do now?" challenge.

[hoyasaxa2003]

That's exactly right. This year is a good "challenge" because all it means is that we have to figure out the best formula with many parts. Last year was a challenge because we didn't have many interchangeable parts, and we had the series of injuries and Smith's eligibility problem that really hurt us.

The one negative about having a strong OOC schedule and weaker conference is that most of our opportunities for marquee wins come at the beginning of the year. Thus, there's a bigger urgency to getting things in place as quickly as possible as there might have been in the old Big East. That said, that's largely because of all the freshmen this year. On a year where we have some experience (for example, next year), I think it will be less of an issue.

I just hope we can iron out enough kinks to beat Florida. I am very confident, however, that we will be a much better team in March than we are now, which isn't something that could have easily been said at this point in recent seasons.

[tashoya]

Nov 20, 2014 17:01:45 GMT -5 hoyasaxa2003 said:

That's exactly right. This year is a good "challenge" because all it means is that we have to figure out the best formula with many parts. Last year was a challenge because we didn't have many interchangeable parts, and we had the series of injuries and Smith's eligibility problem that really hurt us.

The one negative about having a strong OOC schedule and weaker conference is that most of our opportunities for marquee wins come at the beginning of the year. Thus, there's a bigger urgency to getting things in place as quickly as possible as there might have been in the old Big East. That said, that's largely because of all the freshmen this year. On a year where we have some experience (for example, next year), I think it will be less of an issue.

I just hope we can iron out enough kinks to beat Florida. I am very confident, however, that we will be a much better team in March than we are now, which isn't something that could have easily been said at this point in recent seasons.

I guess that's true to an extent. But it's also a good way to see what we've got and set the bar for what needs to be worked on to perform at a high level. I get the reasoning behind a soft preseason but, while that's fine for practice, it doesn't give the young guys a true sense of where they really are in terms of playing at a high-major level. The confidence the young guys might get from early matchups has to be tempered eventually with a dose of the reality of where the team stands in relation to other developing, higher rated teams. There are good teams in the BE even if the rankings aren't yet reflecting it. This is going to be an exciting year and I can't wait to see, win or lose, how our guys perform. I'm optimistic with regard to this group's ability to improve. As opposed to last year, the depth is great. Also, in relation to last year, this team is just what they are. We don't know their ceiling yet. For instance, no one was waiting for Lubick to develop during the year. Many of us hoped he'd take more shots but that's all it really was. Hope out of a feeling of desperation and lack of other options. We have many guys that can really make a difference this year. And that's right now. Wait until they start figuring it out and get a feel for the defensive switches and the half-court sets. Then the training wheels will be off and they'll start picking up speed. Right now, they're the roller coaster clicking up the hill. It takes a while to get to the crest but what happens next is fun.