Max Hooper
- Thread starter redmanwest
- Start date
So you think he gets the start Saturday, over say Ndiaye, or Felix :blink: ? Or will Max have a bad week of practice and be riding the pines until either late in the first half or maybe sometime in the second.
Or will Lavin have another "premonition"on game day and five minutes before the team leaves the locker put Marco's name on the board as one of the surprise starters? :huh:
beast of the east
Active member
I'm curious as to just what you've seen from Max to indicate he has basketball IQ? I mean, I know he went to Harvard, but I don't think you can major in basketball there, and I haven't seen any heady stuff that would indicate he is heads and tails above his teammates.
I can tell you exactly what happened yesterday - we sucked. No wait, if we played a team that sucked, we'd still have lost big. And if we played the team that lost to the team that sucked, we would have lost to the losing team. I'd cancel practice on Monday, and ask each guy to just sit at his locker for two hours and visualize the success they want to have on the court. Then I'd practice again on Tuesday, and never mention Saturday's game, or watch a tape of it.
Yes, I have Phil Jackson channeling me.
I'll go as far back as the Fordham game where everyone scored but Khadim Ndiaye and Tyler Walston (remember that name...I hear he's starting against Villanova) At Georgetown he was one for five...Xavier he was zero for one...Columbia he was two for three (so, admittedly, he missed only one shot in those two games. He was zero for zero against Syracuse, which was another game with no misses. He was one for four against San Francisco and one for three against Youngstown State.
I don't want to pick on a guy who Lavin called this summer the most improved player he's ever coached. Branch is far from our problem. I didn't say he shouldn't play, I said he shouldn't play when the M & M boys were on the court.
Class of 72
Active member
Branch has become an unmitigated disaster running the offense. His only role should be to bring up the ball and distribute but he just refuses to do so. Rysheed Jordan has better skills and natural instincts but has become a second thought at the point while we suffer Pointer, Harrsion or Phil bringing up the ball. There are no defined roles and the players appear totally confused as to the role they are assigned from game to game. They were on the same page against Syracuse yet the poorly structured practices leave them lost for the next opponent. Some of that is low basketball IQ but it requires motivation and some ass kicking. I am hoping what we saw in DC was more tough love than coaching incompetence.
Do not remember but think he had Marco and Hooper playing together for 1 minute
So you think he gets the start Saturday, over say Ndiaye, or Felix :blink: ? Or will Max have a bad week of practice and be riding the pines until either late in the first half or maybe sometime in the second.
montyaloofah
Active member
Max Hooper/Marco Bourgault is our version of Steve Novak. Difference is, we are not getting them involved. Have a deep threat on the floor you need to close out on. We need to balance out athletes and shooters better
beast of the east
Active member
Steve Novack is a 6'10 power forward, but I get your point regarding three point shooting. I was thinking you meant Steve Kerr. Hardly matters if we are talking legitimate three point threats. The big difference is that neither Marco or Max have yet to ring up threes that mattered with a shred of consistency. You can say it doesn't matter, but there's a big difference pulling the trigger on a three when the game is on the line, and when it's garbage time.
For his part, I loved that Max played within himself, and didn't go nuts hoisting up shots after he nailed the first three. A lot of bench players with something to prove would have fired indiscriminately, and Max actually passed the ball, and played within himself. Really nice job by Hooper, but it was still garbage time.
They've only gone to hooper once when a game was actually close. In the first half of the Columbia game, hooper drained it. My problem is they never went to him again. If a streaky shooter hits his first of the game, you need to go back to him and see if he can hit another, and another, and get on a roll.
My problem is our team doesn't understand that. They don't pass him the ball and during timeouts Lavin clearly doesn't tell them to. It's frustrating, and I know hooper isn't our savior, but if the guy hits his first three, especially when you are a poor outside shooting team, why don't you go back to him to see if he can hit another? It's baffling to me.
If he can shoot from the outside, he's got to get time. I don't care if he's not the greatest defender, can't create his own shot, or whatever, if you can shoot from the outside on this team, you have to be in the game. And if Lavin doesn't realize that, I give up.
Ths idea of savior is a little ridiculous, I don't think anyone thinks the kid will be a savior. But, IMO, it is a no-brainer to give the kid extended minutes, not cameos, to see what he can do. Why? Because we have given extended minutes for 2-3 years to our Top 100 rated "athletes" and it has been a disaster. You just cannot play today's college basketball without shooters and he is our best (only) option at this point.
beast of the east
Active member
Jack,
That is totally false. When Hooper has been in games that mattered, I'm not sure he has hit a single three point shot. I can tell you my guess was that his shots were a little rushed - he certainly didn't stroke a single one of them, and there is a feel that a very good shoot has in those game situations. He had it on Saturday, but that was almost like batting practice or an exhibition game - long after the outcome was settled.
Max's usage is just one example of things that were expected to be done with our personnel (and discussed at great length) but have not been done at all.
Max as a stretch the floor shooter who would have value even when he wasn't taking/making shots because of the driving lanes he'd create...he hasn't exactly capitalized on his opportunities, but for the most part if he misses his first shot (and definitely his second) he's done for the day. Which is kind of the catch 22 of a guy like Max (you need him to make shots in limited opportunities), but there is a middle ground here, or at least there was supposed to be.
Orlando as a versatile stretch 4 who we could run the offense through out of the high and mid posts...a little bit in late November and early December, but he has mostly spent his time floating around the 3 point line.
The list goes on. Part of this seems to be on the players for not playing as expected (or perhaps too much was expected from them), but certainly part of this is the staff not putting our personnel in the best position to succeed by maximizing their strengths. We are hardly getting any of the tactical advantages out of our players' specific strengths that we thought we would.
Max as a stretch the floor shooter who would have value even when he wasn't taking/making shots because of the driving lanes he'd create...he hasn't exactly capitalized on his opportunities, but for the most part if he misses his first shot (and definitely his second) he's done for the day. Which is kind of the catch 22 of a guy like Max (you need him to make shots in limited opportunities), but there is a middle ground here, or at least there was supposed to be.
Orlando as a versatile stretch 4 who we could run the offense through out of the high and mid posts...a little bit in late November and early December, but he has mostly spent his time floating around the 3 point line.
The list goes on. Part of this seems to be on the players for not playing as expected (or perhaps too much was expected from them), but certainly part of this is the staff not putting our personnel in the best position to succeed by maximizing their strengths. We are hardly getting any of the tactical advantages out of our players' specific strengths that we thought we would.
Personally I think Bourgault is a better shooter and I wonder why we don't bring him in more often. In fact, put both of them in the backcourt and draw some of the defense out so that our bigs can penetrate the paint more easily. Just makes sense to me. Double threat.
JackofVirginia
Active member
Similar to Novak on the Knicks the opposition overplays Hooper. If our illustrious, "no idea" coach, doesn't set some picks or plays for him then we don't pass to him. I don't think I really have seen one of our point guards penetrate, draw Hoover's defensive player and pass back to him. Maybe I'm wrong.
beast of the east
Active member
Personally, I think we are overdoing the Max thing. Can he shoot? Yes? Can he shoot the lights out of the basket in the dark, in the freezing cold, with his pajamas on, with boxing gloves on? No. A deadeye shooter with somewhat limited athletic skills in the Big East has to come in ready to play, and after a couple of touches, be ready to drill shots. If he doesn't make open threes, he's a liability to have on the court - not a rebounder, a great defender, a jumper, or speedster. These guys no what they are getting into. Sharpshooters often get just one shot to hit their mark, and in essence when either of these guys begin making shots with regularity, they will stay in the game.