Finding the balance between Xs & Os and recruiting

[ouchmyknee]

There's still a lot of the season left so anything can happen, but even going back to the first few games it's been glaringly obvious that this team is horrific offensively. Part of that is the result of what appears to be poor roster construction. Maybe we can give Pike a pass there since our top 2 returning players bailed at the last second. But, the other part comes down to Xs & Os.

The move to smaller faster guards, in theory, should've brought drastic improvement to our offense. But for that to happen, you'd need to build an offensive strategy that took advantage of what smaller faster guards are good at - pushing tempo, driving to the basket, drawing fouls, and passing out to the wings for open 3s. Our guards are doing none of those things. None.

Because of this, you end up with a team where your wings are floating around the court with no intention or forcing themselves to create their own shot. Hyatt can't do that and Gavin just isn't being given the ball enough and when he gets his opportunity he's being too unselfish.

So what gives?

It seems like this staff is missing a coach who understands modern offense or at the very least is just not effective in installing an offense that fits our personnel. For as good as our coaches have been recruiting, it seems that coaching offense fell off the job description.

I don't think anyone would argue with our assistant's ability to recruit, but for us to truly be taken serious we need some type of offensive identity. If I'm Pike, I look to add someone to the staff whose only job is to focus on developing and implementing a strategy that will allow us to have a chance to actually compete in a dogfight.

I don't know who this offensive guru would replace (though I have some ideas), but we simply can't have an entire staff of ace recruiters without at least one coach who is an ace Xs & Os guy.

 

[NickRU714]

See my tag line.
Obviously the ideal situation is recruit great players and also coach them to win big.


If you are recruiting highly but then lose based on coaching deficiency, that won't continue to attract good players.
"Yes we flamed out with great talent. But trust us - it'll be different this time."
Players aren't going to sign up for a bad team or situation.

However, if you win based on coaching up lesser talent- recruiting will organically improve.
Players are attracted to winning.
"Look at what we did with those guys. You are much better. Think of what we could do with you."

 

[Nycrusupporter]

This team has issues with both roster construction and the offensive “system”, a term I use very loosely because their is no system or philosophy.

The problem with our smaller, faster guards is that they can’t shoot. Teams will give them room to shoot 3s in order to take away the driving lines and will dare them to beat them. And because they are small, even though they get more space, opponents are still able to close out and disrupt their shooting.

Pike has seemingly fallen in love with iso basketball. That works when you have a Carmelo Anthony type talent, you can even win National Championships, and may work great with Dylan and Ace next year, but this current team does not have players who can create their own shots and beat defenders one on one.

We are not doing obvious things that would play better with the skills of the players. We play almost no pick & roll with Cliff, which he has had success in the past, and instead he is running to block to post up on virtually every possession. We set almost no screens to free up Gavin and Hyatt to get them better, open looks.

Pike had 3 months to get this team ready to play, and it is hard to understand what he has doing because this team looks lost on the court, and no one seems to know what their role is.

 

[RUDivision]

This team is playing g worse simply because of coaching and lack there of.

Cliff is not the center piece of any offense. He has bad hands, no touch, no go to post move, does not block out or rebound.

Pike decided to make Hyatt the centerpiece of the offense or have a large role in it? Andre Hyatt, really the same guy who could not find the floor last year. Who gives up on defense, hangs his head, and shows no heart.

He have small back court but a very fast back court. He heard all preseason of a 12 sec shot clock and running up and down the court. WHY have we come out walking the ball up and spending 25 sec to throw the ball to Cliff who clearly is not the answer.

We closed the season strong with high pick and roll Cliff and DS. Where the hell has that been? It puts Cliff on the move opens up the floor and would free up
Shooters like Noah and Gavin. Let Noah run pick and roll but someone needs too.

Still can not make layups or foul shots. Pike had had multiple teams, players, and none of them have been successful making layups or free throws. Thats coaching.

Playing two many ppl and hard to get into a rhythm so hopefully the staff finds its 8 guys with others becoming situational players.

Gavin an absolute stud coming out of high school and you can obviously see the talent but what is the staff doing to give him confidence or put him in positions to be successful? Why does our staff struggle to get players shots?

I attend the games and watch Pike run last years Defense and more concerning last years offense. He tries to speed up but once there is one bad possession Pike reverts back to last years style:

The team definitely is struggling but this falls at the feet of Pike and the staff. Either they evolve and change or we won’t win 11 games.

Highlight our strengths.

 

[zappaa]

This team is playing g worse simply because of coaching and lack there of.

Cliff is not the center piece of any offense. He has bad hands, no touch, no go to post move, does not block out or rebound.

Pike decided to make Hyatt the centerpiece of the offense or have a large role in it? Andre Hyatt, really the same guy who could not find the floor last year. Who gives up on defense, hangs his head, and shows no heart.

He have small back court but a very fast back court. He heard all preseason of a 12 sec shot clock and running up and down the court. WHY have we come out walking the ball up and spending 25 sec to throw the ball to Cliff who clearly is not the answer.

We closed the season strong with high pick and roll Cliff and DS. Where the hell has that been? It puts Cliff on the move opens up the floor and would free up
Shooters like Noah and Gavin. Let Noah run pick and roll but someone needs too.

Still can not make layups or foul shots. Pike had had multiple teams, players, and none of them have been successful making layups or free throws. Thats coaching.

Playing two many ppl and hard to get into a rhythm so hopefully the staff finds its 8 guys with others becoming situational players.

Gavin an absolute stud coming out of high school and you can obviously see the talent but what is the staff doing to give him confidence or put him in positions to be successful? Why does our staff struggle to get players shots?

I attend the games and watch Pike run last years Defense and more concerning last years offense. He tries to speed up but once there is one bad possession Pike reverts back to last years style:

The team definitely is struggling but this falls at the feet of Pike and the staff. Either they evolve and change or we won’t win 11 games.

Highlight our strengths.

We can’t play defense or rebound.
We lose even if we play well offensively

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Did RU look good after 10 games last year.....???? What was so drastically different in the 1st 10 games last year was Sacred Heart, Central Connecticut State, Columbia and then when we played Temple, it looked no different than it did vs Princeton a month ago.

Then we scored 61 at Miami and then had 63 vs Indiana, 43 Seton Hall and not much to be excited about on offense then either.

If we have a prototype 2 to 3 dozen coaches who run great offense, my guess is they have better players at guard, at forward and off the bench.

Is Mag an offensive focused player.....what about Cliff......Mulcahy was never an offensive player and while Caleb excelled defensively, he was very inconsistent on offense, at best.

The best or most complete offensive player Pike has recruited, is RHJ, 2nd is Geo Baker and 3rd would be Jacob Young. Outside of those 3 players, everyone else had to be coached up OR has glaring holes in their games. Doesn't mean you can't win, it actually just comes down to recruiting offensive talent.

I think Simpson shows he has most of the tools to be a complete offense player and Gavin has shooting range, but needs to put the ball on the floor and show he can extend his arms to shoot and drive slash. He has shown signs of that.

I think Bailey, Harper and Sommerville ALL land in the "complete offensive player" category. I also think Jeremiah Williams is complete as well.

I know Fernandes is undersized, but he can actually score. We now have to see if these players can work as a team.