Second look at the Dayton game...
I just finished watching our Dayton game a second time. I'm not exactly sure what our offensive philosophy is at this point. I think it looked more like a pickup game than any offense. That's not a terrible way to play if you have a couple of great ball-handling guards, some great shooters, and a strong inside game. I could see us setting a couple of back screens, trying to get the ball to a guard off a defensive rebound to start a break, and running some high screen offense. It looked like everyone tried to dribble penetrate to the basket. We often just took the first shot open and not necessarily what could have been a better shot.
Most of knew this was going to be a tough season. Never in my wildest imagination did I think we'd play this bad. Coach Johnson simply couldn't make adjustments that made any difference. Why not? I think he simply doesn't have any difference maker players at this point. If we don't get T-Ferg we won't have that great player we need to jump start the program. So far he hasn't signed. I understand all the "family issues" regarding his ceremony. It seems more and more that he simply isn't going to sign with 'Bama. If he doesn't do it today, the next chance is April 13 of next year. It seems that if a signing were going to occur today we would have heard of some function. Everytime I mention this I get burned, but it seems a legitimate question.
One key difference in coaching in the NBA and at the college level is talent. In the NBA, regardless of how bad you team might be, you still have talent. That's not so in college. When you look back at the stats, it tells a horror story. We had 20 turnovers, got outrebounded by 14, had only eight assists, and gave up 11 steals. If you need to be optimistic, then you could say we just shot the ball so poorly we couldn't win. We made only 5-20 from the three line and were only 9-17 from the line. That free throw shooting number may not drastically improve because running teams are rarely good free throw shooting teams. Fatigue is a factor there.
Our defense was horrible. I've never seen a team give up so many easy baskets from wide open looks. I am not trying to be funny when I say we are lucky they didn't shoot better than 47% or they might have scored a 100. You want to know why Bama slowed it down so much last season? They just didn't have any truly great shooters. It's ironic how much our last coach was ridiculed for low scoring games. Had the Tide tried the high scoring mode last season we wouldn't have won 10 games.
We better sit back and just "enjoy" the season. Wins are not going to come in bushels. Let's just hope that losses don't hit us like a plague of locusts. This team will get better. It might take half a season to really see any improvement. I believe Avery Johnson has what it takes to win. But the key is to find better players. One reason I am so concerned about T-Ferg was that his commitment amounts to a real break through. He still might sign. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I just finished watching our Dayton game a second time. I'm not exactly sure what our offensive philosophy is at this point. I think it looked more like a pickup game than any offense. That's not a terrible way to play if you have a couple of great ball-handling guards, some great shooters, and a strong inside game. I could see us setting a couple of back screens, trying to get the ball to a guard off a defensive rebound to start a break, and running some high screen offense. It looked like everyone tried to dribble penetrate to the basket. We often just took the first shot open and not necessarily what could have been a better shot.
Most of knew this was going to be a tough season. Never in my wildest imagination did I think we'd play this bad. Coach Johnson simply couldn't make adjustments that made any difference. Why not? I think he simply doesn't have any difference maker players at this point. If we don't get T-Ferg we won't have that great player we need to jump start the program. So far he hasn't signed. I understand all the "family issues" regarding his ceremony. It seems more and more that he simply isn't going to sign with 'Bama. If he doesn't do it today, the next chance is April 13 of next year. It seems that if a signing were going to occur today we would have heard of some function. Everytime I mention this I get burned, but it seems a legitimate question.
One key difference in coaching in the NBA and at the college level is talent. In the NBA, regardless of how bad you team might be, you still have talent. That's not so in college. When you look back at the stats, it tells a horror story. We had 20 turnovers, got outrebounded by 14, had only eight assists, and gave up 11 steals. If you need to be optimistic, then you could say we just shot the ball so poorly we couldn't win. We made only 5-20 from the three line and were only 9-17 from the line. That free throw shooting number may not drastically improve because running teams are rarely good free throw shooting teams. Fatigue is a factor there.
Our defense was horrible. I've never seen a team give up so many easy baskets from wide open looks. I am not trying to be funny when I say we are lucky they didn't shoot better than 47% or they might have scored a 100. You want to know why Bama slowed it down so much last season? They just didn't have any truly great shooters. It's ironic how much our last coach was ridiculed for low scoring games. Had the Tide tried the high scoring mode last season we wouldn't have won 10 games.
We better sit back and just "enjoy" the season. Wins are not going to come in bushels. Let's just hope that losses don't hit us like a plague of locusts. This team will get better. It might take half a season to really see any improvement. I believe Avery Johnson has what it takes to win. But the key is to find better players. One reason I am so concerned about T-Ferg was that his commitment amounts to a real break through. He still might sign. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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