[quote="Making Plays" post=403334][quote="Logen" post=403301][quote="Making Plays" post=403291][quote="Logen" post=403281][quote="Making Plays" post=403276][quote="Logen" post=403274][quote="Making Plays" post=403250][quote="Logen" post=403191][quote="Making Plays" post=403168][quote="Mean Gene" post=403159]That might have been the worst defensive game I’ve ever seen a CMA team play.[/quote]
That's what happens when you don't get much time to practice and have a team full of newcomers, it's going to be a learn as you go season, not only for the Johnnies but for other teams as well. This season due to covid is going to be absolutely crazy and unpredictable. There will be some teams with no practice for 2 weeks after a positive test going into a game. There's already been a few upsets tonight.
This just happened.
https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1331781117607809026[/quote]
Disagree, St. Peter’s had 10 practices going into the game and lost two top players from last year to transfer. Getting beat consistently off the dribble is not from lack of practice. Defense is desire and starts with taking pride in keeping your man in front of you. Protecting the rim and help rotation should be second nature at this level and we showed neither. I believe it was Mean Gene who pointed out, just a horrible defensive game.[/quote]
The post I was responding to was the guy was saying this was the worst defensively he's ever seen a CMA team play. The reason for that as I posted was because lack of practice time due to covid and 5 of his top 10 players are newcomers.
CMA's 40 minutes of hell defense takes a lot of practice and organization, despite what some people think, it's not just him running guys out there and pressing and something that's learned in a few practices, it takes a lot of time and communication to get those rotations down, even the highest of IQ newcomers take a while to pick it up, that's why you always hear CMA joke when he has a lot of new players that it's going to probably be 10 minutes of hell and 30 minutes of what the hell, because he knows it takes a while for kids to pick it up. I don't care if the other team only had 1 practice together, if guys haven't fully picked up the defense yet, it's not going to look good no matter who the opponent is, a lot of guys were out of position tonight, as they get more experience in the system that will get cleaned up.[/quote]
The breakdowns on defense and the non-existence of help were of the manner I wouldn’t expect to see in a decent pickup game. Sorry but I disagree that lack of practice had anything to do with what I saw tonight.[/quote]
Well you know more than the coach then about his own players, because he literally echoed what I was saying in the post game press conference. Said it's a weird year with practice restrictions and everything due to covid, referenced guys being out due to injury, not having exhibition games to work things out, and it being a different environment without fans, said guys have got to get use to that and said as a coach he has to take all that into consideration, and they will learn from it and get better.
Also, if you think they looked worse than a decent pick-up game, that tells me you didn't watch any other college basketball games today. There were several upsets and there were teams that were suppose to be really good not look good at all today. #15 West Virginia looked horrible in the second half of their game and blew a 12 point lead to South Dakota State and it was a 4 point game with under 2 minutes left. #22 UCLA get blew out by San Diego State, Pitt lost to St. Francis, Kansas State lost to Drake. It's going to be an odd year, the shortened practice schedule is without a doubt affecting teams.[/quote]
I don’t care about OTHER games, their relevance to our game escapes me because I never once discussed the outcome of ours; what I was commenting on was our inability to apply BASIC keep your man in front of you, don’t constantly dive for steals, and help when a teammate is beaten DEFENSE. I saw the game, I know the game, and I know what I saw. If you think our coaches didn’t have time to teach principles a decent middle school team understands, that’s what you think, I disagree. Other games or CMA’s press conference has no bearing on what I saw and my opinion of it. My last word because as many have posted, it was one game, we escaped, and we move on. But if we play that poorly going forward, which I don’t think we will, and depend on Cole to shoot 5 of 6 from 3 consistently, which he won’t; it is going to be a less than enjoyable season.[/quote]
So basically, you don't care what the coach says, how other teams looked on opening night, and don't care about the circumstances going on around the country, in your opinion that's the worst pick up game, middle school basketball you've ever seen and nothing can change your mind on that. Gotcha.... Happy Thanksgiving![/quote]
No, I don’t care about coach speak one bit, nor other games when talking about OUR game. You see, I am perfectly content in making up my own mind, you know, using my ability to think and deciding for myself. Not sure why anyone would consider doing it any other way but I guess some people need to be told what to think or use completely irrelevant data to fit their spin on things; I’m not one of the them.[/quote]
I get it now, you're one of those I'll believe whatever I want I don't care what the actual facts are type of guys, and anybody that doesn't think like you is a sheep.
It's the first game of the season during a pandemic, in a limited off-season, with 5 newcomers, new environment without fans in the crowd, and the team is without it's best player, those are actual facts, that's not coach speak, those things actually have an impact on a team's performance. Anyways this is getting redundant, my last response to you on it, I honestly should have stopped responding when you started comparing it to a middle school basketball game.[/quote]
And that is all relevant to the final score, but has absolutely nothing to do with poor fundamental defense collectively across the board and it being due to a lack of practice. Funny St Peters didn’t suffer from the same malady. I am not a spinmeister, you obviously are, we just disagree and you can’t accept that but just keep trying to get me to change my mind which isn’t going to happen. I know basketball, I don’t need to watch a press conference to learn about it. And for the record, I coached HS ball and the overwhelming majority of middle schoolers came understanding and able to apply the very basic defensive tenets I described within the confines of their athletic abilities.
To close though, I sincerely appreciate the insight you have provided on CMA’s approach, especially to recruiting, you were on the money there. We have beat this to death and we just disagree on this point. There is nothing wrong with that. Have a Happy Thanksgiving
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