Mens Basketball Strategy

[cheewgumm]

What if we made a conscience decision to not shoot as many 3s. I think we have to hit them to win in the long run by what if we just attacked the rim and played nasty D.

We have the players to do it. I think it?s be super effective with this team.

What?s wrong with that plan?

[mparkerfd20]

Nothing. But much like last year it'll take about 16 games to figure that out.

[HoopsDawg]

We need to shoot 3's. What we need to avoid is settling for 3s and taking bad 3s early in the possession.

[chef dixon]

You can't win in todays game without shooting decently from the 3.

HoopsDawg nailed it. We were taking really bad and early 3s in the first half v Arizona State and they were cleaning up on the boards.

[TXDawg]

The problem is we have a group of very talented individuals that have no concept of playing as a team. The result is two dribbles, no pass, jack up a step-back three.

We did it for 75% of last season and it seems to be continuing this season. Gonna be a long year, fellas.

[RougeDawg]

The biggest problem is effort. If we give half of the 2nd half effort, the 1st half we win easy. There were a dozen rebounds in the first half we stood there and they led to about 17 points for AZ State. A few times in the first half we had 3-4 guys closer to the rebound and did not get the ball. In the 2nd half we played with effort and quickly closed the gap. There are not many teams that will beat us if we play with effort for 49 minutes. Seems like a recurring theme under Howland and I do not know how to fix it.

[Ari Gold]

The game has changed. EVERY TEAM shoots more than a normal amount of 3s
We had open looks that first half and just didn’t knock any down. We made those same shots in the 2nd half
Get stops on defense, limit 2nd chance baskets and limit turnovers for easy baskets
There’s 3 keys that are far more important than how many 3s we take

[Ari Gold]

The biggest problem is effort. If we give half of the 2nd half effort, the 1st half we win easy. There were a dozen rebounds in the first half we stood there and they led to about 17 points for AZ State. A few times in the first half we had 3-4 guys closer to the rebound and did not get the ball. In the 2nd half we played with effort and quickly closed the gap. There are not many teams that will beat us if we play with effort for 49 minutes. Seems like a recurring theme under Howland and I do not know how to fix it.

Listen to every coach that is trailing at halftime and they all say the same thing basically , we have to pick up or intisity in the second half. It’s not just a Howland issue

[Irondawg]

Listen to every coach that is trailing at halftime and they all say the same thing basically , we have to pick up or intisity in the second half. It’s not just a Howland issue

I agree to some extent, but it's a recurring problem for this group. To put this in NBA terms - too often when I watch this team we are playing at meaningless NBA regular season effort. That's been most of this year and the first half of ASU. Meaning most of the people above are right. We're settling for mediocre to poor shots, not moving the ball well and playing sluggish defense. And we can get away with that some because we're pretty talented.

But we don't play enough NBA playoff intensity games and if we underachieve and end up on the bubble I believe it will be exactly because in too many games we didn't play with enough effort and/or take a ton of poor shots. It won't be because of lack of talent.

[WSOPdawg]

What blows my mind is the # of WIDE-OPEN shots we miss yet whenever our opponent is wide open, the shot seem to be nothing but net.