Coaching staff grade for Northeastern game......

F

finalfourbound

Member
 F!!!!!!!

Probably one of the worst coached games I've seen since the Norm era. What's up with calling 2 time-outs a minute before the media timeout? What's up letting one guy continually shot wide open 3's? What's up with being down 15 with 6 to play & taking the shoot clock down to 5 on 3 consecutive possessions?

We got manhandled by this team today on our home turf!!! Nothing short of embarrassing. We supposedly have an "all-star" coaching staff, but after watching todays game I'd have to think otherwise.

Thursday night should be interesting.....
 
i won't lay this on the coaching. yes, it was a complete embarassment...as bad as it gets...but the coaches didn't blow numerous layups and shots in the paint. that's what killed us. the coaches didn't blow rebounds.

this team is too thin...and too young to compete with even decent mid majors. 
 
 Our guys are young & in desperate need of guidance. Nuri is still learning the system. M o is learning there are no nights off at this level & Gift is learning to assert himself down low. What I have a hard time buying is our lack of preparation & game plan for todays game. I sat behind the bench for todays game & couldn't believe my eyes/ears.
 
 Our guys are young & in desperate need of guidance. Nuri is still learning the system. M o is learning there are no nights off at this level & Gift is learning to assert himself down low. What I have a hard time buying is our lack of preparation & game plan for todays game. I sat behind the bench for todays game & couldn't believe my eyes/ears.
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What part of the game plan was off? I'm embarrassed by today but when I looked at Northeastern they were a bad 3 pt shooting team. Of course anyone who plays us looks like world beaters from downtown so I can't fault them if they dared the team to shoot. They were a very good rebounding team and that held up.
 
Here's what was wrong with the game plan:

When we play a weaker D1 team, the plan has been to stay in the zone for as long as possible. During the first two games, we fell behind, then went man and overwhelmed the opponent. Yesterday, we stayed zone until under the 10 minute mark of the second half. By then, Northeastern had the confidence that they could win, and our guys didn't play man with an intensity that put any pressure at all on the ball. We looked tired and once an inferior opponent realizes that they can win a game, you are in a situation that you never should have been in.

Our zone is horrible. We are slow to the ball, are horrible at anticipating ball rotation. On nearly every defensive set we leave asomeone wide open in the weak side corner. Once the ball goes there, the forward low in the zone rushes to cover, interior defense crumbles, and the now strong side guard also scrambling to the corner leaves a man open at the wing or top. The result - open outside shots or passes inside for layups.

Couple the fact that we played zone for way, way too long of a time with the incessant attempt to penetrate no matter what the defense gave you, and it was just a horrible game. Early on both Harrison and Lindsay sliced up the Northeastern defense with their superior athletic ability. Those guys both have the ability to shake their own man, and then the next guy who picks them up. Once Northeastern realized that they collapsed inside, jammed up the middle, got some help from the refs, and we were done.

GG is showing that he is not a polished offensive player at this point. He shows way too much ball and goes to the hoop even when jammed up, getting himself tied up, blocked, or stolen. Our other gods (guards) got no respect from the refs, and incidental and not so incidental contact didn't elicit whistles. Phil Greene has no hesitancy to shoot from the outside, but doesn't appear to be a money shooter. Our lack of ball movement, along with the fact that we stand aorund far too much on offense also did us in.

All in all it was a bad game plan to stay zone so long. It was kind of disrespecting the opponent. Had we played zone this long aginast Arizona and Texas A&M, we would have gotten blown out of those games. Good shooters of not, if you allow any D1 player to find a spot, and square up wide open, you are suddenly going to make a poor shooter look like Alan Houston.

Bad game plan, and lack of adjustments thinking they could pour it on in time. If our bench wasn't so thin, I'd give Dunlap an F minus. Instead he gets and F plus - still failing, but the shallow bench gets him a pass on playing zone for anything more than the first half.
 
Here's what was wrong with the game plan:

When we play a weaker D1 team, the plan has been to stay in the zone for as long as possible. During the first two games, we fell behind, then went man and overwhelmed the opponent. Yesterday, we stayed zone until under the 10 minute mark of the second half. By then, Northeastern had the confidence that they could win, and our guys didn't play man with an intensity that put any pressure at all on the ball. We looked tired and once an inferior opponent realizes that they can win a game, you are in a situation that you never should have been in.

Our zone is horrible. We are slow to the ball, are horrible at anticipating ball rotation. On nearly every defensive set we leave asomeone wide open in the weak side corner. Once the ball goes there, the forward low in the zone rushes to cover, interior defense crumbles, and the now strong side guard also scrambling to the corner leaves a man open at the wing or top. The result - open outside shots or passes inside for layups.

Couple the fact that we played zone for way, way too long of a time with the incessant attempt to penetrate no matter what the defense gave you, and it was just a horrible game. Early on both Harrison and Lindsay sliced up the Northeastern defense with their superior athletic ability. Those guys both have the ability to shake their own man, and then the next guy who picks them up. Once Northeastern realized that they collapsed inside, jammed up the middle, got some help from the refs, and we were done.

GG is showing that he is not a polished offensive player at this point. He shows way too much ball and goes to the hoop even when jammed up, getting himself tied up, blocked, or stolen. Our other gods (guards) got no respect from the refs, and incidental and not so incidental contact didn't elicit whistles. Phil Greene has no hesitancy to shoot from the outside, but doesn't appear to be a money shooter. Our lack of ball movement, along with the fact that we stand aorund far too much on offense also did us in.

All in all it was a bad game plan to stay zone so long. It was kind of disrespecting the opponent. Had we played zone this long aginast Arizona and Texas A&M, we would have gotten blown out of those games. Good shooters of not, if you allow any D1 player to find a spot, and square up wide open, you are suddenly going to make a poor shooter look like Alan Houston.

Bad game plan, and lack of adjustments thinking they could pour it on in time. If our bench wasn't so thin, I'd give Dunlap an F minus. Instead he gets and F plus - still failing, but the shallow bench gets him a pass on playing zone for anything more than the first half.
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Did not see this game But based on our others agree with you. However I said numerous times use the zone only when necessary. Also get off the chasing and use the Syracuse 3-2 zone thinkk it defends the 3 ball better from even the corners. But to implement it you really need a big shot blocker in the middle Hope we pick up one soon and oh yes foul shooting I said yesterday how good UCONN wa even drummond was good at the foul WE will not match up well with most BE school they all have a big center Hope we get one for Xmas otherwise a lng dissapointing season a head
 
You rest in a zone when you are an out of shape 40 something playing in a rec league. In a great zone, you are actually working much harder than in a man, anticipating and reading ball movement, making penetration very difficult while also covering the wings and corners. At this level they played much better in a man against ranked competition than in a zone vs. weaker competition. I know what the coaching staff is trying to accomplish, but yesterday they cost themselves a win by treating a game that counts as the classroom.



 you can't play man with just six players..no way.
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 you can't play man with just six players..no way.
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TOTAL B.S.

The NE team also plays mostly 7-8 players per game. Their scouting report was "SJ will stick to a zone", find the open man....and take a shot. It was that simple. Had the coaches not been following Lavin's instructions from his living room, perhaps coach Dunlop may have experimented. We will never know.

Some games, especially at home, even an amateur observer such as me would throw a man at NE for the first 5 minutes to throw off their obvious game plan.

Finally, the only threat was Joel Smith.......you tell me you do not assign a dedicated player to stop him?
 
All in all it was a bad game plan to stay zone so long. It was kind of disrespecting the opponent. Had we played zone this long aginast Arizona and Texas A&M, we would have gotten blown out of those games. Good shooters of not, if you allow any D1 player to find a spot, and square up wide open, you are suddenly going to make a poor shooter look like Alan Houston.

Bad game plan, and lack of adjustments thinking they could pour it on in time. If our bench wasn't so thin, I'd give Dunlap an F minus. Instead he gets and F plus - still failing, but the shallow bench gets him a pass on playing zone for anything more than the first half.
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Believe it or not, we played zone against 'Zona for like 90%-95% of the game. 'Zona hit 14 treys against us and 12 or 13 of those were against our zone. Not to mention, we were actually up by 8 against 'Zona while playing MOSTLY zone. We played some 1-2-2 and a bit of man during our run versus 'Zona. We actually had 'Zona off-balanced in (guess what) a zone (1-2-2). Yes, we played some man, but the majority of the game was played in zone.

So, I doubt we would've gotten blown out versus 'Zona playing zone, when it seems most of the game we played some sort of zone.    
 
 We went into man very early yesterday. A lot earlier than we normally do. Usually you don't see us Man until the 2nd half but not yesterday.
 
Their game plan worked. We made no adjustments during the game. 
 
 Its dissapointing to think every team we played shoots the 3 with a better % than we do We have to ge moving an bring in a big shot blocker
 
 We went into man very early yesterday. A lot earlier than we normally do. Usually you don't see us Man until the 2nd half but not yesterday.
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If SJ cannot play man against a Northeastern, we cannot play it against ANY team in the Big East. After 3 treys, one would think we switch ASAP and get every player involved in the game sooner rather than later.

Of course when your hands are tied to freshman mood swings, and you do not have experienced juniors as NE had yesterday your fate is sealed. If anything, what Amir will provide this team is a seat on the bench for that player that is sleepwalking in a game. Yesterday it was Moe Harkless.
 
I don't know what game you were watching Moose. We didn't go to man defense until under the 10 minute mark. It may have appeared to you to be a man by the way the guards on top picked up the ball somewhere between midcourt and the top of the key, but it was a zone.

 We went into man very early yesterday. A lot earlier than we normally do. Usually you don't see us Man until the 2nd half but not yesterday.
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I don't know what game you were watching Moose. We didn't go to man defense until under the 10 minute mark. It may have appeared to you to be a man by the way the guards on top picked up the ball somewhere between midcourt and the top of the key, but it was a zone.

 We went into man very early yesterday. A lot earlier than we normally do. Usually you don't see us Man until the 2nd half but not yesterday.
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Just went back and watch up till first TV timeout again. 2nd Northeastern possession sure looks like man. What do you call it then when the guards are up on their defenders between the 3 line and halfcourt? It didn't last long. Then again most of the time it was a mini fast break against us. The problem lies in those fast breaks our guys don't know where to go once it settles. Man would cure that ill.

I don't have the stomach to watch more of this game. 
 
I sympathize about watching the mess. We'd have guards pickup high, but if you watch the rotation, defenders are playing an area, not a player. When players cut across the court, defenders are switching, not following. It was a zone.

In any event, we'd both agree that defense has been horrible. I'm not even a proponent of straight up man to man (some may remember that Looie loved the man and hated the zone), but when something isn't working you have to switch things up. We didn't do that on Saturday.

I don't know what game you were watching Moose. We didn't go to man defense until under the 10 minute mark. It may have appeared to you to be a man by the way the guards on top picked up the ball somewhere between midcourt and the top of the key, but it was a zone.

 We went into man very early yesterday. A lot earlier than we normally do. Usually you don't see us Man until the 2nd half but not yesterday.
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Just went back and watch up till first TV timeout again. 2nd Northeastern possession sure looks like man. What do you call it then when the guards are up on their defenders between the 3 line and halfcourt? It didn't last long. Then again most of the time it was a mini fast break against us. The problem lies in those fast breaks our guys don't know where to go once it settles. Man would cure that ill.

I don't have the stomach to watch more of this game. 
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FWIW I thought Northeastern was a fine team that was coached very well and that played very well. Their conference is not a bad conference (VCU, anyone?). They came in prepared to play, showed no fear whatsoever, and took it to SJU in every phase of the game. At halftime we had something like 5 offensive boards to something like 18 for NE. They were probably taller than us at every position, but more than that they hit the boards hard on both ends of the floor. They were able to find their shooters (as many teams do against us) and their shooters were hot (also as often happens against us). I frankly enjoyed watching them play.

I tend to disagree that this was a coaching issue in terms of game strategy. My sense watching the game was that we would have gotten beaten by about the same score whether they played man or zone. If you want to criticize the staff, then perhaps the criticism would be that the team was not ready to play this opponent. They were apparently expecting a repeat of the St. Francis game, and Northeastern was a whole different level.

However, I think that is more on the players than the staff, and it's part of the learning process for this group that they can't take any game for granted.

I frankly think the staff has a tough job here. You knew (or should have known) coming in that they did not have enough experience, height, or depth. Their job has gotten tougher as it has turned out that the player they expected to be their star cannot dominate on the offensive end because he doesn't have a jump shot and doesn't have a PG mentality. So a half-dozen games into the season they have already had to make a switch at point guard to a player with a lot less experience who is still feeling his way around the position. It's the same thing up front, where the big man they hoped would be serviceable pulled a vanishing act for 3 and half games (although he stepped it back up in the second half yesterday). Meanwhile their other big, who is probably their most talented player is still trying to figure out where he fits in on both ends of the floor.

You all need to relax and enjoy what there is to enjoy, which is watching this group develop. Yes, they're only going to win 11 games. This year, the wins and losses aren't what it's about. If they are better individually and as a team in February, then the season has been a success, and next year you can start worrying about the record.
 
Games like this are to be expected this year. Hard to force feed experience. Got to improve where we can and reinforce that learning. It's a slow painful process. Look to the future. This is not going to be a postseason year for SJU BB. 
 
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