Assuming all continues as it has through 4 games, 2 distinct areas jump out to me as needing improvement for next week to be competitive.
- DEFENSIVE POSITIONING/ROTATIONS: Someone already noted this, but this squad so far appears to equate defense with steals. We see way too may gambles with no help behind, or more relevant, not much concept of WHEN TO GO FOR THE STEAL, notably when there will be help to cover. Steal attempts with no backside help have been a regular occurrence. Defensive rotations are thus part of this issue. With newcomers, especially freshman, this concept takes time and we are seeing it. Defense is being played by INDIVIDUALS and not as a TEAM, and that has been the issue. From memory, it appeared that Martini is the only one to date who has appreciated the team D concept and rotations/positioning. The good news: If you need a coach to instill D concepts, we have it. The issue is whether these concepts can be grasped and put into effect before or at Vegas, or whether this will be something down the line.
- SHOT SELECTION: This has been a real issue, and not surprising with so many newcomers, and especially freshman. This is also something we should expect to get better, but to compete next week, it will need to be improved. To note, the freshman are the main issues, and considering the level of competition, their talent has overcome any issues. Better teams may not allow that to happen. Somerville has been a pleasant surprise in so many ways, and a player that can be built around. That being said, he needs to be careful about becoming a "black hole". In the last few games when the ball has gone in to him, the first thought I said aloud was...it's not coming out. And it hasn't. Noticed that movement mainly stopped too when the ball went in to him. That needs to change. Bailey and Harper-they appear antsy when not shooting soon enough. Ace had one forced shot off the side/top of the backboard he appeared to take because he had not had the ball much to that point. Harper similarly forces drives when he doesnt see many shots for a period. To be expected with freshman. TO BE CLEAR, they should take the same or more shots than they did last night. BUT look how successful it was for Ace when it came mostly in the flow of the offense. The key or Pike is to get them to move and look for shots within the flow. Derkacs too. He has been excellent in effort, individual D and a good deal of passing/distribution a la Mulcahy. But he can easily fall into lower level bully ball he could do against smaller and less talented teams. That wont work in the B10. He needs to continue to distribute and not fall into trying to muscle up drives, and let the offensive flow work. Shot selection was always going to be hard on a team led by freshman with so many newcomers. BUT the pieces may be there for it to work. Hayes and martini have shown good spot up efforts at times-the ball just needs to go in AND out. Williams needs to be figured out how to be used in a flow as to date it's been strained. Do expect shot selection to get better as time goes on, but again to compete next week it's an area that will need to take the next step.
