This will be repetitive from the main board, but I have to get some posts up before I can be active on the rest of the forum so...here are my thoughts - from a "rookie", a long time reader and fan, first time poster.
PS – This will be VERY Long
Depth: Let's state the obvious - we started the year with 6 BE caliber players, Yakwe who was a ?, a frosh in Trimble, and Amar who was a known commodity (not a good one.) Since then we have lost our Point Guard, number 2 scorer, number 1 fast break threat, number 1/2 playmaker and number 1/2 on ball pest on defense...all one person - Lovett. I cannot state how important this loss has been and I'll get into it more below. Trimble has been a nice surprise. He can shoot, spread the floor, hustles on D, and crashes the boards. But at the end of the day, you cannot play in the Big East with middle of the pack talent, only 6 guys, and expect to win the majority of your games. If Brad Stevens is coaching, that could be a different story. Speaking of coaching, let me give you a breakdown of both sides of the ball and where the coaching could improve.
Defense: We play a man to man concept that should be buoyed by our speed, quickness, and length. If you look at our starting five, we have 4 guys 6"5 or taller, and Ponds. All are athletic and have long arms. It makes sense that we play this type of man to man. Our issue (besides depth and getting tired), is that we aren't drilled enough on the fundamentals of this team concept. Some examples:
1. Side Pick and Roll defense - we play what many teams call "Down" or “ICE” here. When a side pick and roll is about to be set it is the screener's mans job (lets say Owens) to scream DOWN. The player guarding the ball then turns his body parallel to the sideline, forcing the ballhandler away from screen towards the sideline/hoop. Owen's would position himself between the sideline and the paint, high enough so that ballhandler can’t take one dribble in and shoot, but low enough he won’t get blown by. Whoever guards the opposite corner is in the middle of the paint guarding the slip from the screener. And whoever guards the man on the other side of the wing/top of key should be ready to “stunt” (a quick help and recover) the screener if he pops for a jumper. See this link below. Focus on the force away from screen, the position of the big man guarding the screener, and the two help guys.
=12&v=50uYLu-XpKA
We do this well in the beginning of the game, get tired, and then fall apart quickly. We stop forcing them away from the screen and when you do that everything breaks quickly. The team is in position expecting the screen not to be used and when the ballhandler is able to use it and get middle, the defense is already beat. A lot of open threes we give up aren’t a result of overhelping, but of letting the guy even use a screen from the other side of the court.
Other times we force the ballhandler away from the screen, but the help defenders aren’t in correct position. Usually it’s the stunt guy. The screener will pop (big man on Creighton killed us yesterday with this.) It’s the job of the stunt man to guard the pop for a quick second to let our defender recover. Marvin Clark is good at this. Watch next game and you will see him almost fake to guard a screener if he pops to the top of the key. Michigan State runs this defense, so it makes sense that he has it down.
2. Another fundamental we struggle with is strong side help defense. When an offensive player is driving the left side of the lane, it is NOT the job of the player guarding the guy in the left corner to help. This happens ALL the time and is a basic man to man principle. Simon is the worst at this. He loves to gamble and sometimes it pays off, but he also loves helping, losing his man and thus giving up open threes and layups. This is something that should be preached from day 1 and they still don’t have it down.
3. Simple transition defense. Some of this is probably fatigue, but some is pure lack of communication. This can only get better with practice, and from watching our in game performance, it doesn’t look like this is practiced enough.
4. Individual scouting. Every player should know the tendencies of a teams top 8 rotation players; who’s a shooter, who pump fakes and goes left etc. It’s the assistant coaches job to cut the film and create a write-up with details on every player. I have no idea if this is done, but I do know that the players aren’t defending like they have one or know it. Yes, it’s hard, but between the five on court, and bench, someone should always be communicating a guys tendencies when he checks in, catches the ball etc. Watching the game it looks like the players know the scouting for 1-2 players, but halfway through a possession after we’ve switched screens a few times (because we’re tired), we don’t know the scout and wind up leaving shooters open (i.e. big man on Creighton who is only known for shooting 3s…)
5. Finally, and I don’t know if this is a right call or not, but knowing we only have 6 rotation guys, I’m surprised we haven’t played more zone. Duke had a short rotation the past few years and only played a 2-3. Xavier (similar length and speed to us) plays a 1-3-1 25% of the game. Gives our defenders a rest and the offense sees something different. Would we give up more 3s? maybe – but they shouldn’t be as open as they have been. Would rebounding be more of an issue than it already is – possibly. But at 0-9, the fact that it hasn’t been tried is a questionable.
Offense:
Everyone talks about our “pro-style” offense and they aren’t wrong. I’d say at least half the time we aren’t running a set, and it’s mainly pick and rolls from the top of the key or side. These possessions regularly lead to poor shots (those 30 foot threes with 3 seconds on the shot clock) or turnovers. BUT, there are reasons we do this. It allows the kids to play basketball, to have a sense of freedom, to create, and to feel involved on offense. Our issue is that we don’t have many playmakers and shot makers.
You will have noticed that when Ponds has the ball in his hands and Owens sets a screen for him, the defense doubles Ponds and pushes him back towards half court or the sideline. Usually Ponds is able to kick it out to an open Owens. That’s what Shamorie should be doing. And in an ideal situation St Johns now has 2 seconds to make a play with a 4 on 3 advantage. But Owen’s isn’t a playmaker; he’s hoisting those 17 footers and isn’t making as many as earlier this year. He misses the open pass when he catches it every time so if he’s not shooting it, he just passes it back out to Ponds or opposite wing.
If you watched the Creighton game last night this happened EVERY possession we didn’t have a set run and Ponds had the ball. Now, why didn’t we have someone else set the screen for Ponds so a playmaker could catch that slip pass to attack 4 on 3? I DON’T KNOW. Simon, ok, the defense probably just switches the screen and the plays dead. But Ahmed and Clarks guys probably trap Ponds. Are they the best playmakers – no, but damn they can shoot and put the ball on the floor to get to the rim. This needs to happen more and shocked it hasn’t already.
The other issue is a Ponds pick and Roll with Simon on the floor makes the paint too crowded. No one pays attention to him or Owens on the 3 point line. And to be fair no one pays much more attention to Ahmed. Clark can stroke it and defense hold to him, and Trimble even more so. Whenever he caught the ball the Creighton bench was screaming “shooter.” Not having the players that can hit the open three ball really makes it hard to get good looks from the NBA pro Style PnR offense. If we still had Lovett, it could look 100% different. He allowed us to swing the ball around and attack quickly with another playmaker.
At the end of the game last night Simon took over by playing up top Pick and Roll with Owens. Simon always went to the right, and he was surround by our three best (gulp) 3 point shooters (Clark, Ahmed, Trimble.) The spacing helped, and I think the fact that Creighton hadn’t practiced against this action helped. I’d like to see this a bit more. Let Ponds play off the ball (and not run towards it!), let Simon try to create some more, and let Ponds spot up for catch and shoot 3s or quick catch and drives. Hopefully he gets out of his Carmelo, catch, jab, jab, jab tendency soon.
Otherwise, we do run some offensive sets. Some decent actions to create some mismatches, lobs, flare screens etc. However it seems like after we go through the first possession, the set dies. It also doesn’t look like we run them hard, or crisp. Screens are always weak or set for fouls, cuts are slow. Handoffs aren’t taken with the speed to attack. Again, some is fatigue, but these are the small things in practice that need to be stressed.
Overall, here’s where I stand. We need more talent and more playmakers period. That will always help an offense. That will always help with fatigue. I am hoping that the combination of Dixon, Keith and the 2018 Frosh who seem semi polished with a high basketball IQ, help in these departments. It then comes down to our coaching staff, and can they really start to drill into these kids. Make them truly learn the team defensive concepts and master the help side, strong side, rotations, and transition. From there, on offense, the staff needs to really focus on the little things that makes a play work. Anyone can google sets from Brad Stevens and put them into the playbook. The beauty is knowing who should be in what position, the timing of the movements, the angles to set the screens etc. Every detail counts.
Mullen shouldn’t be on the hot seat. His first year is a wash. His second should be considered one as well – he had transfers and sophomores who were overrecruited to fill out the first year roster. This is his first year with a seasoned roster, and by seasoned I mean no player has more than 2 years’ experience (don’t give me Amar, Yakwe, and Owens as a frosh at Tenn.) He finally has some BE talent. The issue is it’s only 6 guys. There’s more coming next year and that will be the year to judge. And it should be judged on his growth as in game coach, from X&O adjusting to clock management and use of timeouts, and by his record. If next year this team is 0-9 again with the roster expected…then we have problems.
God Bless America and God Bless St Johns.
PS – This will be VERY Long
Depth: Let's state the obvious - we started the year with 6 BE caliber players, Yakwe who was a ?, a frosh in Trimble, and Amar who was a known commodity (not a good one.) Since then we have lost our Point Guard, number 2 scorer, number 1 fast break threat, number 1/2 playmaker and number 1/2 on ball pest on defense...all one person - Lovett. I cannot state how important this loss has been and I'll get into it more below. Trimble has been a nice surprise. He can shoot, spread the floor, hustles on D, and crashes the boards. But at the end of the day, you cannot play in the Big East with middle of the pack talent, only 6 guys, and expect to win the majority of your games. If Brad Stevens is coaching, that could be a different story. Speaking of coaching, let me give you a breakdown of both sides of the ball and where the coaching could improve.
Defense: We play a man to man concept that should be buoyed by our speed, quickness, and length. If you look at our starting five, we have 4 guys 6"5 or taller, and Ponds. All are athletic and have long arms. It makes sense that we play this type of man to man. Our issue (besides depth and getting tired), is that we aren't drilled enough on the fundamentals of this team concept. Some examples:
1. Side Pick and Roll defense - we play what many teams call "Down" or “ICE” here. When a side pick and roll is about to be set it is the screener's mans job (lets say Owens) to scream DOWN. The player guarding the ball then turns his body parallel to the sideline, forcing the ballhandler away from screen towards the sideline/hoop. Owen's would position himself between the sideline and the paint, high enough so that ballhandler can’t take one dribble in and shoot, but low enough he won’t get blown by. Whoever guards the opposite corner is in the middle of the paint guarding the slip from the screener. And whoever guards the man on the other side of the wing/top of key should be ready to “stunt” (a quick help and recover) the screener if he pops for a jumper. See this link below. Focus on the force away from screen, the position of the big man guarding the screener, and the two help guys.
=12&v=50uYLu-XpKA
We do this well in the beginning of the game, get tired, and then fall apart quickly. We stop forcing them away from the screen and when you do that everything breaks quickly. The team is in position expecting the screen not to be used and when the ballhandler is able to use it and get middle, the defense is already beat. A lot of open threes we give up aren’t a result of overhelping, but of letting the guy even use a screen from the other side of the court.
Other times we force the ballhandler away from the screen, but the help defenders aren’t in correct position. Usually it’s the stunt guy. The screener will pop (big man on Creighton killed us yesterday with this.) It’s the job of the stunt man to guard the pop for a quick second to let our defender recover. Marvin Clark is good at this. Watch next game and you will see him almost fake to guard a screener if he pops to the top of the key. Michigan State runs this defense, so it makes sense that he has it down.
2. Another fundamental we struggle with is strong side help defense. When an offensive player is driving the left side of the lane, it is NOT the job of the player guarding the guy in the left corner to help. This happens ALL the time and is a basic man to man principle. Simon is the worst at this. He loves to gamble and sometimes it pays off, but he also loves helping, losing his man and thus giving up open threes and layups. This is something that should be preached from day 1 and they still don’t have it down.
3. Simple transition defense. Some of this is probably fatigue, but some is pure lack of communication. This can only get better with practice, and from watching our in game performance, it doesn’t look like this is practiced enough.
4. Individual scouting. Every player should know the tendencies of a teams top 8 rotation players; who’s a shooter, who pump fakes and goes left etc. It’s the assistant coaches job to cut the film and create a write-up with details on every player. I have no idea if this is done, but I do know that the players aren’t defending like they have one or know it. Yes, it’s hard, but between the five on court, and bench, someone should always be communicating a guys tendencies when he checks in, catches the ball etc. Watching the game it looks like the players know the scouting for 1-2 players, but halfway through a possession after we’ve switched screens a few times (because we’re tired), we don’t know the scout and wind up leaving shooters open (i.e. big man on Creighton who is only known for shooting 3s…)
5. Finally, and I don’t know if this is a right call or not, but knowing we only have 6 rotation guys, I’m surprised we haven’t played more zone. Duke had a short rotation the past few years and only played a 2-3. Xavier (similar length and speed to us) plays a 1-3-1 25% of the game. Gives our defenders a rest and the offense sees something different. Would we give up more 3s? maybe – but they shouldn’t be as open as they have been. Would rebounding be more of an issue than it already is – possibly. But at 0-9, the fact that it hasn’t been tried is a questionable.
Offense:
Everyone talks about our “pro-style” offense and they aren’t wrong. I’d say at least half the time we aren’t running a set, and it’s mainly pick and rolls from the top of the key or side. These possessions regularly lead to poor shots (those 30 foot threes with 3 seconds on the shot clock) or turnovers. BUT, there are reasons we do this. It allows the kids to play basketball, to have a sense of freedom, to create, and to feel involved on offense. Our issue is that we don’t have many playmakers and shot makers.
You will have noticed that when Ponds has the ball in his hands and Owens sets a screen for him, the defense doubles Ponds and pushes him back towards half court or the sideline. Usually Ponds is able to kick it out to an open Owens. That’s what Shamorie should be doing. And in an ideal situation St Johns now has 2 seconds to make a play with a 4 on 3 advantage. But Owen’s isn’t a playmaker; he’s hoisting those 17 footers and isn’t making as many as earlier this year. He misses the open pass when he catches it every time so if he’s not shooting it, he just passes it back out to Ponds or opposite wing.
If you watched the Creighton game last night this happened EVERY possession we didn’t have a set run and Ponds had the ball. Now, why didn’t we have someone else set the screen for Ponds so a playmaker could catch that slip pass to attack 4 on 3? I DON’T KNOW. Simon, ok, the defense probably just switches the screen and the plays dead. But Ahmed and Clarks guys probably trap Ponds. Are they the best playmakers – no, but damn they can shoot and put the ball on the floor to get to the rim. This needs to happen more and shocked it hasn’t already.
The other issue is a Ponds pick and Roll with Simon on the floor makes the paint too crowded. No one pays attention to him or Owens on the 3 point line. And to be fair no one pays much more attention to Ahmed. Clark can stroke it and defense hold to him, and Trimble even more so. Whenever he caught the ball the Creighton bench was screaming “shooter.” Not having the players that can hit the open three ball really makes it hard to get good looks from the NBA pro Style PnR offense. If we still had Lovett, it could look 100% different. He allowed us to swing the ball around and attack quickly with another playmaker.
At the end of the game last night Simon took over by playing up top Pick and Roll with Owens. Simon always went to the right, and he was surround by our three best (gulp) 3 point shooters (Clark, Ahmed, Trimble.) The spacing helped, and I think the fact that Creighton hadn’t practiced against this action helped. I’d like to see this a bit more. Let Ponds play off the ball (and not run towards it!), let Simon try to create some more, and let Ponds spot up for catch and shoot 3s or quick catch and drives. Hopefully he gets out of his Carmelo, catch, jab, jab, jab tendency soon.
Otherwise, we do run some offensive sets. Some decent actions to create some mismatches, lobs, flare screens etc. However it seems like after we go through the first possession, the set dies. It also doesn’t look like we run them hard, or crisp. Screens are always weak or set for fouls, cuts are slow. Handoffs aren’t taken with the speed to attack. Again, some is fatigue, but these are the small things in practice that need to be stressed.
Overall, here’s where I stand. We need more talent and more playmakers period. That will always help an offense. That will always help with fatigue. I am hoping that the combination of Dixon, Keith and the 2018 Frosh who seem semi polished with a high basketball IQ, help in these departments. It then comes down to our coaching staff, and can they really start to drill into these kids. Make them truly learn the team defensive concepts and master the help side, strong side, rotations, and transition. From there, on offense, the staff needs to really focus on the little things that makes a play work. Anyone can google sets from Brad Stevens and put them into the playbook. The beauty is knowing who should be in what position, the timing of the movements, the angles to set the screens etc. Every detail counts.
Mullen shouldn’t be on the hot seat. His first year is a wash. His second should be considered one as well – he had transfers and sophomores who were overrecruited to fill out the first year roster. This is his first year with a seasoned roster, and by seasoned I mean no player has more than 2 years’ experience (don’t give me Amar, Yakwe, and Owens as a frosh at Tenn.) He finally has some BE talent. The issue is it’s only 6 guys. There’s more coming next year and that will be the year to judge. And it should be judged on his growth as in game coach, from X&O adjusting to clock management and use of timeouts, and by his record. If next year this team is 0-9 again with the roster expected…then we have problems.
God Bless America and God Bless St Johns.
