Four guard look

M

Marillac

Active member
Thoughts?

It is tough to take away too much since it was a D-2 team with not a lot of height, but I thought the four guard look with Pointer (assuming Obekpa would take over when healthy) at center was terrific. The ball movement was the best we've seen in a long time and Harrison was killing it on the boards--even more than he usually does.

What I liked best were the mismatches it creates if teams stay in man-to-man. Jordan looks great down low and his abilty to post up smaller pg's and kick to shooters might be something to explore further. He knack for the ball and athletic abilty will allow him to snag a bunch of boards against boards in that lineup. If they play a SF or PF on Jordan or Harrison, take them to the perimter and they are toast. If they play a smaller guy on either, post'em up.

If they go zone, we've got our best shooters in there.
 
I like it. We're not built like a traditional team with role players at each spot. But we do have a number of guards who bring an interesting mix of skills. I'd rather see us use our strengths in a creative way than fight a losing battle trying to pretend we have more talent up front than we do.
 
The four guard look worked very well for Villanova a few years ago
A big concern would be rebounding but our guards are pretty good at that
I've always been a believer in putting your five best players on the court
If your best players are guards, roll the dice and play them
 
The four guard look worked very well for Villanova a few years ago
A big concern would be rebounding but our guards are pretty good at that
I've always been a believer in putting your five best players on the court
If your best players are guards, roll the dice and play them
Click to expand...

One problem would be they will be picking up more fouls due to their
rebounding responsibilities.Big gamble against tall talented centers and forwards
 
Thoughts?

It is tough to take away too much since it was a D-2 team with not a lot of height, but I thought the four guard look with Pointer (assuming Obekpa would take over when healthy) at center was terrific. The ball movement was the best we've seen in a long time and Harrison was killing it on the boards--even more than he usually does.

What I liked best were the mismatches it creates if teams stay in man-to-man. Jordan looks great down low and his abilty to post up smaller pg's and kick to shooters might be something to explore further. He knack for the ball and athletic abilty will allow him to snag a bunch of boards against boards in that lineup. If they play a SF or PF on Jordan or Harrison, take them to the perimter and they are toast. If they play a smaller guy on either, post'em up.

If they go zone, we've got our best shooters in there.
Click to expand...

Just as long as people stop referring to dom as a guard. Cant stand that. But yes, I love the idea of playing our four guards with obekpa.
 
I think you're likely to see a lot of the exact group that gave us that run on Saturday, if Obekpa gets into foul trouble.
 
The four guard look worked very well for Villanova a few years ago
A big concern would be rebounding but our guards are pretty good at that
I've always been a believer in putting your five best players on the court
If your best players are guards, roll the dice and play them
Click to expand...

One problem would be they will be picking up more fouls due to their
rebounding responsibilities.Big gamble against tall talented centers and forwards
Click to expand...


True, but what choice do we have?

From what I have seen from our other frontcourt choices in the 2 exhibition games, I'll take my chances with the 4 guards. Who else do we have that might be any better? Nobody, IMHO!!
 
I think this goes under the heading of "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Or you could go with something about making virtue out of necessity, if you prefer.

IMHO it's more like a conversation about how the hole in the hull of the Titanic isn't really THAT big, but then again I"m a "glass half empty" guy.
 
I liked it a lot.
- playing off the ball let's Greene get his feet set, and hes a much more reliable shooter from the set than off the dribble
- Our switches on picks were substantially better. Probably because the team didn't have to think about it, just switch on everything. There are no mismatches to avoid when you are switching from Dangelo to Branch or Rysheed to Phil.
- The ball movement was crisper. (Which I credit to Branch being in the game). I'm willing to sacrafice some rebounding if it means more efficient offense. Mainly because I don't know how many points those extra 2 rebounds, and theoretically better post defense, would translate to if Amar or Jones were in the game.

You won't be able to use this lineup extensively against every team. But if Obekpa is healthy, this should be the lineup we use till somebody forces us out of it.

Also, and I'm not exaggerating, Harrison is the best rebounder on this team. And it's not close.
 
The thing is that, without Keith Thomas, we don't figure to be a very good rebounding team regardless of who we have in the game. I trust Harrison and Jordan going after the ball playing the three and four for us more than I trust Alibegovic (right now) or Jones. We might as well create mismatches on the other end of the floor with four guards.

Watching Jordan and Harrison operating down low reminded me of the 1998-2000 teams for the first time since. Those guys are warriors. I know it was just a mid-level D-2 team, but Jordan looked really good in there kicking to the guards. Put a big on him...say good night on a drive from the perimeter. Put a smaller guard on him and he'll post them up all day.
 
The thing is that, without Keith Thomas, we don't figure to be a very good rebounding team regardless of who we have in the game. I trust Harrison and Jordan going after the ball playing the three and four for us more than I trust Alibegovic (right now) or Jones. We might as well create mismatches on the other end of the floor with four guards.

Watching Jordan and Harrison operating down low reminded me of the 1998-2000 teams for the first time since. Those guys are warriors. I know it was just a mid-level D-2 team, but Jordan looked really good in there kicking to the guards. Put a big on him...say good night on a drive from the perimeter. Put a smaller guard on him and he'll post them up all day.
Click to expand...

In the second half Saturday I told my pal we've found our PF, DLo.
 
The thing is that, without Keith Thomas, we don't figure to be a very good rebounding team regardless of who we have in the game. I trust Harrison and Jordan going after the ball playing the three and four for us more than I trust Alibegovic (right now) or Jones. We might as well create mismatches on the other end of the floor with four guards.

Watching Jordan and Harrison operating down low reminded me of the 1998-2000 teams for the first time since. Those guys are warriors. I know it was just a mid-level D-2 team, but Jordan looked really good in there kicking to the guards. Put a big on him...say good night on a drive from the perimeter. Put a smaller guard on him and he'll post them up all day.
Click to expand...

In the second half Saturday I told my pal we've found our PF, DLo.
Click to expand...

He was an animal!
 
Not that I have any history off the top of my head to back me up, but four-guard offense makes me nervous that a team could look unstoppable all season, then get bounced by a mid-major in the tournament, because those teams live on guard play.
 
The thing is that, without Keith Thomas, we don't figure to be a very good rebounding team regardless of who we have in the game. I trust Harrison and Jordan going after the ball playing the three and four for us more than I trust Alibegovic (right now) or Jones. We might as well create mismatches on the other end of the floor with four guards.

Watching Jordan and Harrison operating down low reminded me of the 1998-2000 teams for the first time since. Those guys are warriors. I know it was just a mid-level D-2 team, but Jordan looked really good in there kicking to the guards. Put a big on him...say good night on a drive from the perimeter. Put a smaller guard on him and he'll post them up all day.
Click to expand...

Was also thinking of the 1998-9 team that lost in the elite eight. Artest, Barkley, Bootsie, Postell and Ty Grant. Other bigs were Senior JC transfer Albert Richardson, 6'9" with limited skill and 6'8" Freshman Donald Emmanuel hanging on the perimeter. Sixth man was usually 6'7" Reggie Jessie but he mad more bone head plays than Dom. So when Ty Grant (6'8") was out for a long stretch at the end of the season the 5th spot was filled most of the time by Jessie, or 6'3" Chudney Gray or 5'11" Colin Charles and Ron Artest defended the post. There was so much interchangeability on the floor that it created constant mismatches. We won a ton of games and lost a heartbreaker to Ohio State in the Elite Eight. Scoonie Penn had a great game for them but so did our guys. The thing that ultimately killed us was 7 blocks by Ohio State's 6'11" Ken Johnson We had no answer. So yeah we need a big guy but you can go a long way with a small lineup. Not saying the talent is the same but if our guys step up they could make some noise with this group playing small.
 
Not that I have any history off the top of my head to back me up, but four-guard offense makes me nervous that a team could look unstoppable all season, then get bounced by a mid-major in the tournament, because those teams live on guard play.
Click to expand...

That would be a nice problem to have. We should only be so lucky Ljsa, to have a great regular season and lose in the 1st round. I think we would all sign up for a repeat of 2010.
 
Not that I have any history off the top of my head to back me up, but four-guard offense makes me nervous that a team could look unstoppable all season, then get bounced by a mid-major in the tournament, because those teams live on guard play.
Click to expand...

That would be a nice problem to have. We should only be so lucky Ljsa, to have a great regular season and lose in the 1st round. I think we would all sign up for a repeat of 2010.
Click to expand...

Ha, true. But I was thinking it would be a loss to a team like Akron or Toledo, and not Gonzaga.
 
The thing is that, without Keith Thomas, we don't figure to be a very good rebounding team regardless of who we have in the game. I trust Harrison and Jordan going after the ball playing the three and four for us more than I trust Alibegovic (right now) or Jones. We might as well create mismatches on the other end of the floor with four guards.

Watching Jordan and Harrison operating down low reminded me of the 1998-2000 teams for the first time since. Those guys are warriors. I know it was just a mid-level D-2 team, but Jordan looked really good in there kicking to the guards. Put a big on him...say good night on a drive from the perimeter. Put a smaller guard on him and he'll post them up all day.
Click to expand...

Was also thinking of the 1998-9 team that lost in the elite eight. Artest, Barkley, Bootsie, Postell and Ty Grant. Other bigs were Senior JC transfer Albert Richardson, 6'9" with limited skill and 6'8" Freshman Donald Emmanuel hanging on the perimeter. Sixth man was usually 6'7" Reggie Jessie but he mad more bone head plays than Dom. So when Ty Grant (6'8") was out for a long stretch at the end of the season the 5th spot was filled most of the time by Jessie, or 6'3" Chudney Gray or 5'11" Colin Charles and Ron Artest defended the post. There was so much interchangeability on the floor that it created constant mismatches. We won a ton of games and lost a heartbreaker to Ohio State in the Elite Eight. Scoonie Penn had a great game for them but so did our guys. The thing that ultimately killed us was 7 blocks by Ohio State's 6'11" Ken Johnson We had no answer. So yeah we need a big guy but you can go a long way with a small lineup. Not saying the talent is the same but if our guys step up they could make some noise with this group playing small.
Click to expand...

I see how you can make a comparison from a size standpoint, but not only is this team far less talented top to bottom, they have a far lower collective basketball IQ. Not to mention the fact that the 98-99 team played like a finely tuned machine and this group has yet to show that they are capable of doing anything close.
 
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