PJ Star's take on UMKC disaster - 'A Step Backward'

[it's boogie time]

Here's my quick summary with many of the thoughts being posted in this thread:

Offensive problems - They can't shoot. It doesn't matter what system you run if you can't make jumpshots and you miss bunnies.

Defensive problems - Chuck Buescher isn't around anymore. How many times do we need to see the center pick up a foul 25 feet from the hoop.

Transition problems - It's hard to push the ball after a miss when you can't get the defensive rebound.

 

[Bradleyguy10]

Did anyone see the comment "Perhaps they were still drunk" at the bottom of the article. I don't even know what that's supposed to mean.

If it's referring to sunday morning then it's completely irrelevant considering the team was in Florida during that time.

 

[ph]

I am fine with SM playing with pain if it is Feb/March but in Nov, there is no reason for a player who is injured to play. And even if he does play, and it was pretty apparent pretty early he could not move, it is on the coaching staff to shut him down and not put an injured player who is not capable of helping play.

Im all for toughness but somewhere along the line... and yesterday it was pretty early you take the high road and sit the injuried player.

Exactly. I also did not hear what Sam's play brought to the game


They need to get the games on DirecTv. Since I only had the radio call, I only heard Snell repeat, "Sam got beat", "Sam got beat", "Sam got beat" and for variety, "Sam got beat, again" or "Sam got beat, badly"
It's hard to be upbeat about Sam M playing through pain when you keep hearing that.

 

[Chico]

Great comments. I have always wondered why Les thinks the "little" lineup has been so good. We got to the NIT and CBI with it, so let' recruit to that style! As if those two meaningless tournements are some kind of high bar to set our sights at!!! Why recruit to a style that got the team to the NIT and CBI? The Sweet 16 team had size, why not recruit to that? I have said it from day one when Coach Les arrived that we will be a 3 guard team until he leaves and we may not see a MVC crown because of it. Well, Les has been here how long and I am right so far? Nobody can disput that. Any MVC titles using a small lineup? Any great NCAA runs with a small lineup? And don't anybody give me that garbage about 21 wins 3 years in a row. Without the bogus CBI last year BU would not have had 21 wins.

UMKC was a small team from a small insignificant conference. We should be able to outsize and out muscle a team like that. That game was a disgrace. On a side issue, I REALLY think Les misses Coach Buesher (don't have the time to look up the right spelling) much more than anyone is willing to admit. UMKC... UW-Platteville... I would not be surprised if BU goes 0-3 in this tourney. What would make me believe that they will win a game? All the team can do is run fast and jump high. That makes for a couple highlights per game--big deal. A made 10 foot jumper counts the same as a high flying dunk.

I could go on and on, but I am sure my post is borderline anyway and probably ready to get deleted, but I have one more thing to add. Why is WE all at once a CENTER??? Why can't we play WE and Collins/Sam S. at the same time? Is he that bad? Are all the bigs Les has recruited that bad or has he failed to develop them into players that can at least contribute 10-15 minutes of decent time? I am soooo frustrated. For you Cool-aide drinkers out there, I have a question: if Jim Les had never played for Bradley and was not one of the past "darlings" of BU's basketball hertitage, would you not be asking for his head right now? And for you moderators out there, try to resist the urge to delete this post!

Moderators, please don't delete Geothedog's post. He is the only one to ever have a post deleted. NOT. Most of us have had posts deleted, but don't harp on it every post we submit.

 

[tornado]

there hasn't been even one post deleted since the BU game yesterday

 

[Scouter]

Moderators, please don't delete Geothedog's post. He is the only one to ever have a post deleted. NOT. Most of us have had posts deleted, but don't harp on it every post we submit.

Agreed, Chico. GTD needs a chill pill when it comes to censorship on this board. Just roll with the Funches, GTD.

 

[ER3]

Exactly. I also did not hear what Sam's play brought to the game


They need to get the games on DirecTv. Since I only had the radio call, I only heard Snell repeat, "Sam got beat", "Sam got beat", "Sam got beat" and for variety, "Sam got beat, again" or "Sam got beat, badly"
It's hard to be upbeat about Sam M playing through pain when you keep hearing that.

Sam was horrible - again - defensively yesterday...but he did score 16 points...We may have scored 30 points as a team if he didn't play significant minutes yesterday...with all of these broken-shot jumping jacks we have on our roster right now.

The coaching staff needs to stop putting Sam in a position where he can only fail. If you have a guy that struggles in a man-to-man defensive set, stop continually putting him on an island and providing no help for him. Learn how to teach your team to play a zone defense, learn how to run a double teamer over to help Sam when they isolate him, make sure a big will always be there to help if he gets beat. Something. Anything.

How many times do our guards need to get beat 1-on-1 before the coaching staff makes some sort of adjustment? The fact that we have been watching this same weakness from this team over and over again with no tangible adjustment made from the coaching staff is troubling, to say the least.

 

[BradleyBrave]

Sam was horrible - again - defensively yesterday...but he did score 16 points...We may have scored 30 points as a team if he didn't play significant minutes yesterday...with all of these broken-shot jumping jacks we have on our roster right now.

The coaching staff needs to stop putting Sam in a position where he can only fail. If you have a guy that struggles in a man-to-man defensive set, stop continually putting him on an island and providing no help for him. Learn how to teach your team to play a zone defense, learn how to run a double teamer over to help Sam when they isolate him, make sure a big will always be there to help if he gets beat. Something. Anything.

How many times do our guards need to get beat 1-on-1 before the coaching staff makes some sort of adjustment? The fact that we have been watching this same weakness from this team over and over again with no tangible adjustment made from the coaching staff is troubling, to say the least.

Great point. Why he drew their leading scorer is a mystery. But let's not only point the finger at Sam. I think a bigger culprit are the other four guys on the floor who don't seem to grasp the concept of helpside defense, stopping the ball, and forcing the outside shot. A hallmark of SIU's defense and even Jim Molinari's BU defense was to cut down all penetration. I know specifically that Coach Mo's philosophy was that they would rather give up a 3 anyday rather than anything in the lane. With a longer 3-point line, I can't see why we wouldn't adopt a similar philosophy. Clearly, with the layup drills we've been witnessing, we haven't.

 

[Braves4Life]

Moderators, please don't delete Geothedog's post. He is the only one to ever have a post deleted. NOT. Most of us have had posts deleted, but don't harp on it every post we submit.

Agreed, Chico. GTD needs a chill pill when it comes to censorship on this board. Just roll with the Funches, GTD.

AMEN! I'd question my own intelligence if I kept getting "all" of my posts deleted and came back for more. Time to let it go.......... OR GO.

 

[georgethedog]

Moderators, please don't delete Geothedog's post. He is the only one to ever have a post deleted. NOT. Most of us have had posts deleted, but don't harp on it every post we submit.

...

 

[georgethedog]

AMEN! I'd question my own intelligence if I kept getting "all" of my posts deleted and came back for more. Time to let it go.......... OR GO.

You guys just need to chill. I'm just having fun. With the exception of a few, there is a total lack of a sense of humor on this board. Does anyone know what "tongue and cheek" comments mean? Do you really think I give a _____ if my posts get deleted. Get real. Go ahead and take your frustrations out on me if it makes you feel better about yourself.

 

[georgethedog]

Because traditional centers with low post skills grow on trees and its easy to get them to come play in the valley.

How about getting a few 6'7" - 6'8" kids and playing them at once. I think many MVC schools have done this in the past with great success.

 

[SFP]

Exactly. I also did not hear what Sam's play brought to the game


They need to get the games on DirecTv. Since I only had the radio call, I only heard Snell repeat, "Sam got beat", "Sam got beat", "Sam got beat" and for variety, "Sam got beat, again" or "Sam got beat, badly"
It's hard to be upbeat about Sam M playing through pain when you keep hearing that.

You should have heard me! Sam is letting his guy go baseline again and again. Sam just did not get beat but it's hard for him to get definsive help if he is getting beat on the baseline. You need to shut the baseline side down and make the player go to the middle where the help can get to a lot easier. If the guy is coming from the middle then you have to scout the player to see which side he favors and call out help to that side.

Also what was SS doing way out pass the arc and getting that foul. The refs called a girls game but our guys never seemed to get that the refs were calling a tight game. Either the coaches didn't communicate that right away or our guys have a terrible basketball IQ.

 

[BUFAN]

there hasn't been even one post deleted since the BU game yesterday

Tornado, I, BUFAN am disappointed and quite frankly insulted... I promiss to make it up to you... Believe me you will still have your day...

 

[Rusty 54]

How about getting a few 6'7" - 6'8" kids and playing them at once. I think many MVC schools have done this in the past with great success.

It seems like we are halfway there. The second half of the sentence is where we lack.

However, I seen to recall a lot of complaining in the past when our centers stood 6'6 and 6'7. Would a 4 of the same size help? Probably, but if we do come across a bcs school with a big center...

 

[amckillip]

Do people really not understand why we recruit to the system we do? Getting players like Sommerville and POB is not something a coach can expect to do at BU. Look how many great big men go to mid-majors? Name 10 Great centers in the NBA, you can't do it. The game is evolving, great big men don't exist anymore, the few who have them are tons better, but putting in people because there 6' 9" or above but without skill will not win you games. JL recruits to the system we run now, not because he thinks its the best system, but it's the best system for BU. If we could get big men like Hibbery, and Love, and Hansborough, and Oden, we'd run a traditional system, but we can't. So JL does what he can. There are far more good guards than big men, so JL takes those and makes an offense that works with that. I understand people want to go the NCAA every year and win the Valley often, but thats a lot harder than some here seem to think. Remember, this game isn't played in a vaccuum, JL's actions aren't the only thing thats controls what happens, Altman is one heck of a coach, SIU is a perrenial contender, etc. Am I happy with this year's team? OF COURSE NOT. But do I think guys liek AT and WE should be starting? No. Personally, I like having a team on the court that has a chance to win, and those guys don't give us that.

 

[ph]

Do people really not understand why we recruit to the system we do? Getting players like Sommerville and POB is not something a coach can expect to do at BU. Look how many great big men go to mid-majors? Name 10 Great centers in the NBA, you can't do it. The game is evolving, great big men don't exist anymore, the few who have them are tons better, but putting in people because there 6' 9" or above but without skill will not win you games. JL recruits to the system we run now, not because he thinks its the best system, but it's the best system for BU. If we could get big men like Hibbery, and Love, and Hansborough, and Oden, we'd run a traditional system, but we can't. So JL does what he can. There are far more good guards than big men, so JL takes those and makes an offense that works with that. I understand people want to go the NCAA every year and win the Valley often, but thats a lot harder than some here seem to think. Remember, this game isn't played in a vaccuum, JL's actions aren't the only thing thats controls what happens, Altman is one heck of a coach, SIU is a perrenial contender, etc. Am I happy with this year's team? OF COURSE NOT. But do I think guys liek AT and WE should be starting? No. Personally, I like having a team on the court that has a chance to win, and those guys don't give us that.

I fully understand that guards are easier to get than bigs, and we will usually have better guards than bigs. What I do not understand is why teams like Plattville and UMKC can get more out of their "lesser" big men than our staff.

That's the flaw in our system. Instead of a KISS big man approach (Where you only tell a big dumb guy, "You. Own. Inside.") We think we need our bigs to play as highly stilled, intelligent players that run all around, Set screens outside, help guards on D, and make split-second decisions that are the difference in playing well or poorly and we know what's happened.

 

[georgethedog]

I fully understand that guards are easier to get than bigs, and we will usually have better guards than bigs. What I do not understand is why teams like Plattville and UMKC can get more out of their "lesser" big men than our staff.

That's the flaw in our system. Instead of a KISS big man approach (Where you only tell a big dumb guy, "You. Own. Inside.") We think we need our bigs to play as highly stilled, intelligent players that run all around, Set screens outside, help guards on D, and make split-second decisions that are the difference in playing well or poorly and we know what's happened.

ph, that was well stated! Especially the part about Platteville & UMKC getting more out of there "bigs" than we get out of ours when it should be obvious that our bigs should be better by default (otherwise why recruit them). Great post!

 

[georgethedog]

Do people really not understand why we recruit to the system we do? Getting players like Sommerville and POB is not something a coach can expect to do at BU. Look how many great big men go to mid-majors? Name 10 Great centers in the NBA, you can't do it. The game is evolving, great big men don't exist anymore, the few who have them are tons better, but putting in people because there 6' 9" or above but without skill will not win you games. JL recruits to the system we run now, not because he thinks its the best system, but it's the best system for BU. If we could get big men like Hibbery, and Love, and Hansborough, and Oden, we'd run a traditional system, but we can't. So JL does what he can. There are far more good guards than big men, so JL takes those and makes an offense that works with that. I understand people want to go the NCAA every year and win the Valley often, but thats a lot harder than some here seem to think. Remember, this game isn't played in a vaccuum, JL's actions aren't the only thing thats controls what happens, Altman is one heck of a coach, SIU is a perrenial contender, etc. Am I happy with this year's team? OF COURSE NOT. But do I think guys liek AT and WE should be starting? No. Personally, I like having a team on the court that has a chance to win, and those guys don't give us that.

I can agree with your post with one caveat. If we are going to be guard oriented, then we better sign guards that can SHOOT instead of just run and jump.

 

[Bravesfan]

Oh dear! When our coach says he did not have this team ready to play, that's not good! Although something tells me that the players did not exactly have a pleasant night after the game. I would not want to be in that locker room after the game!

Let's hope the team at least takes Florida Gulf Coast seriously and plays up for the game instead of playing down to their level. Get this game and a tough match remains against Richmond who has shown some toughness already this year. That could actually turn out to be a solid win if we get that game as well.