It all makes sense now

I remember when we hired Howland I talked with a UCLA buddy of mine. The same thing kept being brought up: ?Howland?s coaching style is effective but it?s very frustrating to watch?. At the time we had been so bad under Ray that I didn?t care what it looked like, as long as we won that?s all that mattered. I brushed what he said off at the time but now it?s clear as day. Howland?s style can be extremely effective but damnit it makes for the worst entertainment. Even when we win it feels like we lose. It?s obvious we don?t practice much at half court set offense?s. We are trying to play lock down defense and push in transition. I really think we are going to have a solid team this year and I truly think we will compete for the SEC next year. You see the team growing and really starting to click but it?s still a terrible style of basketball to watch. I think once we as a fan base can embrace our coach?s philosophy and what we are trying to do, there will be much more enthusiasm and support for this team. I keep having to remind myself how bad we were under Ray and realize how far we have come. It is a bit concerning that our shooting has dropped off so much but hopefully that picks up. I think 2019 is the year though. I know a lot of these points get brought up all the time but I really think we are about to start seeing everything pay off. Just something I was thinking about today and thought I?d share.

To me what is so difficult to watch are all the bricks (and sometimes air balls) we throw up at the basket from guys that are supposed to be shooters. No matter what style of offense you run you still have to eventually be able to put the ball in the basket. Not sure I need to blame Howland's offensive coaching for guys not being able to stick the ball in the basket, even when getting good looks, when I assume they have been shooting the ball for most of their lives.

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Originally Posted by maroonmania

To me what is so difficult to watch are all the bricks (and sometimes air balls) we throw up at the basket from guys that are supposed to be shooters. No matter what style of offense you run you still have to eventually be able to put the ball in the basket. Not sure I need to blame Howland's offensive coaching for guys not being able to stick the ball in the basket, even when getting good looks, when I assume they have been shooting the ball for most of their lives.

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One thing I wonder is if the coaching staff is trying to fix the guys shooting mechanics then it can throw them off until they get used to the new motion. I hope it is just temporary and the guys start hitting some shots otherwise it is going to be a long year.

There seem to clearly be some changes to shooting mechanics but my biggest gripe is that we are the worst team I've seen about moving without the basketball. We got almost nothing off of cuts and stuff. I've seen church league offenses move much better than we do.

And now that I've seen it for 3 years I have no hope of it getting fixed.

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Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe

One thing I wonder is if the coaching staff is trying to fix the guys shooting mechanics then it can throw them off until they get used to the new motion. I hope it is just temporary and the guys start hitting some shots otherwise it is going to be a long year.

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You can’t fix a shot that’s been repped he same way since they were 3 years old. It’s like telling Hunter Spence to swing the bat correctly. Think it’s likely too late.

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Originally Posted by Political Hack

You can’t fix a shot that’s been repped he same way since they were 3 years old. It’s like telling Hunter Spence to swing the bat correctly. Think it’s likely too late.

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Are you saying that just because a player has been doing something wrong their whole life that a coach shouldn't try to improve that player? If that's the case, why do we even have a coach?

Was nice watching them drop in those H.S.highlight films when they signed. We've gone from shaggy sheep to a pile of wool ready to be processed for nice sweaters and gloves.

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Originally Posted by Political Hack

You can’t fix a shot that’s been repped he same way since they were 3 years old. It’s like telling Hunter Spence to swing the bat correctly. Think it’s likely too late.

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Hunter Renfroe has changed his swing a good bit. If you change something then it isn't necessarily going to work for you which is probably what Hunter Spence has done. I know that Howland was talking about the equipment they have to work on the shot arc. It could just be that our guys are in a horrible slump.

Howland has always been a defensive minded coach. It sucks that we got him as soon as the Rule Changes came into place, because those UCLA teams used to be in folks jockstraps which isn't really allowed anymore.

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Originally Posted by Political Hack

You can’t fix a shot that’s been repped he same way since they were 3 years old. It’s like telling Hunter Spence to swing the bat correctly. Think it’s likely too late.

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Agree with Hack. You can tweak a little, but if you can shoot, you can shoot.

Same with a QB and accuracy. You can tweak it some, but an inaccurate QB is like a one legged man.... he's always gonna have a limp. Only concern I have with Fitz, his accuracy.

I have always believed if a kid can't really shoot as a freshman, he never really will.

Yeah. There’s greater shooters and then there’s everyone else. We don’t have an Allen Houston or JJ Reddick on this team. Defense and the transition game is going to be who we are. We have a lot of athleticism and some good defenders. It would be nice to improve our shooting, and we certainly can to an extent, but you can’t teach a kid how to shoot. You can sometimes teach them how to hone it.

Lamar is a streak shooter. When’s he on, he’s on fire. When he’s not he needs to focus on kicking it out more. Q and Nick are both good shooters but they’ll have off nights and sometimes struggle to find their shots. Ado is a defensive specialist. That leaves us two options really to just absolutely take over night in and night out and until they do it our half court offense will continue to struggle.

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Originally Posted by maroonmania

To me what is so difficult to watch are all the bricks (and sometimes air balls) we throw up at the basket from guys that are supposed to be shooters. No matter what style of offense you run you still have to eventually be able to put the ball in the basket. Not sure I need to blame Howland's offensive coaching for guys not being able to stick the ball in the basket, even when getting good looks, when I assume they have been shooting the ball for most of their lives.

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It’s sort of how I look at Fitz, he’s never going to be a great passer if being asked to run as much as he does, takes a different mindset and attitude to be a pocket passer vs true dual threat. Hard to explain, it just is. I look at our basketball team the same way- when your main focus is defense and transition and most of your energy and focus is spent on the defensive end of the court you aren’t going to be as good of a shooting/offensive team. The key is finding a team that can bring it on both ends but there aren’t many. Teams that can find the sweet spot on both offense and defense go on to win National Championships.

Remember even with this easy schedule, Rick Ray would be 5-5 right now...... (if that)

Howland is the Jackie Sherrill of college basketball.

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Originally Posted by maroonmania

To me what is so difficult to watch are all the bricks (and sometimes air balls) we throw up at the basket from guys that are supposed to be shooters. No matter what style of offense you run you still have to eventually be able to put the ball in the basket. Not sure I need to blame Howland's offensive coaching for guys not being able to stick the ball in the basket, even when getting good looks, when I assume they have been shooting the ball for most of their lives.

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What gets me screaming at the TV, is lack of rebounds. We’ll take a shot, ball in the air, and nobody is even positioning themselves to go for the ball (including the shooter)! I really really really wanna see some ‘blocking out’ and ‘following your shot’. Am I the only one that aggravates?

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Originally Posted by ChillbillyRock

What gets me screaming at the TV, is lack of rebounds. We’ll take a shot, ball in the air, and nobody is even positioning themselves to go for the ball (including the shooter)! I really really really wanna see some ‘blocking out’ and ‘following your shot’. Am I the only one that aggravates?

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No, this has driven me crazy as well.