Just a couple comments to comments made recently and in light of today's game: 1. Nick is not a point guard or at least the point guard JJ wants. He is not suited to the slow down system at PG.He can not handle the ball well enough to play the point and as evidenced in several instances does not always make good decisions. 2. Let's not christen Charles yet. He does not appear to be a very good shooter. If Vlad goes cold in a game and Troy can be trageted to stop. Charles does not appear to be a solid third option.He is 2/13 on threes and 5/20 on all shots. 3. What is Fisher doing getting minutes. He has scored nine points in his entire career and appears to be too slow on defense. Does boxing out a few times get you minutes on this team? A player needs at least some offensive skills other than the ability to catch and pass the ball. 4. JJ recruiting: I think AMerican can recruit good players but I do not think he developes them. Look at Blake and Bersch. They were heavily recruited by several schools and both I think had offers from Holy Cross. JJ has not given either one of them much of a shot and seems more intent on not playing them than trying to develop them in any sort of way. Are they getting any better sitting on the bench for entire games. It seems JJ made the decision to not develop his freshmen but to go with transfers which further limits their development.
Good thoughts. I just want to build on your second point (Charles) a bit. Keep in mind this was only his third game - Troy's first three games or so were similarly mediocre and we started to question why he had a reputation as a three point sharpshooter. Well, he shook off the rust after that, is now shooting close to 50% from beyond the arc for games after those first three or four, and was the team's leading scorer a number of time. So I agree with you, let's not christen Charles yet, but the potential he still has to develop (keep in mind he hasn't played serious minutes in about three years) before Patriot League play is exciting. I still think we'll be a better team by then than we are now, and have a serious shot at another League title. That's what really matters.
It appears that when JJ makes his decision about a player there is no turning back. I think that our PG play would be much better if JJ would have trained and coached Blake during his fresh year and allowed him to get thru the growing pains as a freshmen. Instead, he benched Blake last year because he would not conform to JJs style of play and never gave him another opportunity. Based on the few games I saw last year Blake was a stronger and more aggressive PG than Luptak and Danny are this year. Because our PG play has been unproductive we should play Blake and Wayne because they will not do any worse than what we have seen and this could give JJ an idea of our PG situation and this could influence our recruiting for next year. Also, we should not criticize Charles. This kid has not played meaningful minutes in more than 3 years. Give him time and he will definately help us when it matters most, in March. I am concerned about our perimeter shooting percentage. Our offense appears to be heavily dependent on outside shooting but our shooters are only shooters. They cannot create shots off the dribble and we do not have or JJ does not allow our PGs to penetrate and set up our shooters to do what they do; catch and shoot. I hope JJ starts to think about who can help us when conference play starts and who can help us to compete against a top seed team in the tournament. We have a special team this year in every position but our PG position. I hope JJ try other options at the PG position to maximize team productivity this year. JJ is a very good coach and I am sure he will figure it out. But, many coaches are afraid to make changes especially when they are winning....
Was at the game tonight and read the live blog later. What people are missing when we question Lump and Tony on interior defense is this : Vlad cannot guard anybody off the dribble. He gets beat, we have to help and then give up off boards and inside out 3 pt shots. The NW game was brutal as Shurna just abused him with penetration. He is a very skilled offensive player but a below avg PL league defender. Not much we can do about it but makes you wonder why JJ doesnt try more zone. Still think we have best team in PL with 3-4 guys in our lineup who are among the best in the PL at their position.
The scouting report on Charles was never that he was a gifted shooter. I'm frankly surprised he's been shooting as much as he has overall, especially from 3. Charles was supposed to be a big, very athletic defensive specialist.
Anonymous - Hendra committed exactly one turnover last night. He's also the only one who seemed to know how to execute a fast break last night. I still don't buy that he's this terrible ball handler everyone makes him out to be. His ball handling this year is light years from what it was last year.
JJ is stuck in his ways at PG. I'll be amazed if Blake ever gets meaningful minutes. I think the same streak of confidence that makes him effective as a slasher is the same streak of confidence that will put him at odds with JJ for the rest of his AU career.
Agree that we need to give Hinkle some time to shake off the rust. He does need to improve his shot selection, though.
The obsession with JJ and point guards will never end, will it? He will play the point guard that plays defense. Period. Blake has had every opportunity to take the job, and he can't even beat out Danny. 'Nuff said. Luptak is, by far, the best defensive point guatd we have, so he's going to play, his offensive liabilities notwithstanding. Next year, the job will be wide open, and the best defensive guy from among Danny, Blake and Wayne will play. Period. As far as point guard development, how has RJ Evans developed at HC? Please.
The obsession with JJ and PGs won't end this year, NJJ, because most of us feel that the PG position is what holds this team back from being mid-major good versus Patriot League good.
NJJ you are pretty much on point. The PG competition was open since the beginning of 2009-2010 season and Steve, Danny and Blake all got a fair share of playing time to prove themselves, with Danny seeming to be the constant throughout last season and this one and Steve ultimatley getting into the mix in the 2nd half of last season and starting all games this season. Jones made it clear in pre-season comments that the PG spot was open this summer and that Steve won out at the starting spot and Danny at the back up. He has seen them for the past year and a half in practice every single day. Much more than any of us. As far as I can tell we seem to be winning with this combination, dating back to making it to the top 4 of Patriot league last year(keeping the streak alive) and going 7-4 this year out of conference thus far. A PG much like a QB in football is measured by W/L. It seems many on this board want them to score more, but the offense does not run through them, nor should it. We have many capable scorers this year (last year we didnt). These 2 run the team very well and are extremely efficient.
Ran some numbers to display my thoughts: Steve hovers around 40% from the field and 40% from 3 PT on the season with a 1.79 to 1 assist to TO ratio. Danny hovers around 40% in the same catagories - FG% and 3 PT% with a 1.8 to 1 assist to TO ratio and is at about 85% from the free throw line.
Both do not shoot much because it's not always necessary. But as the above #'s indicate, they are fairly efficient when they do. Whats necessary is running the team, being efficient and as NJJ pointed out playing defense. Which in Jone's system requires a lot of help defense and knowledge of his scheme as opposed to just locking down the man with the ball. Jones teams are historically top notch defensive teams because of the system he has in place.
Teams of the Patriot League calliber can ill afford to have PG's taking bad shots, penetrating when it's not there and turning the ball over. Perfect example of this is Colgate losing to Syracuse by almsot 70 points. Horrible PG play(bad shots and TO's) led to the Patriot league embarassment. The guards must play smart and efficiently because in comparison to out of confenece teams, Patriot League teams are usually a step below when it comes to areas such as athleticism-across the board.
At the end of the day I've been very pleased with the play from this position. Jones is a former PG at a high level and Im sure his evaluation over the last year and a half is much better than this entire board combined.
AU will more than likely lose tomorrow, but a game against a top 5 team will prove to be very helpful come conference play. Given our schedule thus far, I think the entire team has played very well and will only get better.
Good comments from Anonymous . . .7-4 is light years ahead of last year; with the only game we should have won -- Columbia -- we can write off to Vlad being out. So I remain optimistic about PL play. By the way, "watching" this game on the Mounts "Live Stats," was excruciating. If we had lost, my hopeful mood would have certainly darkened.
Let's not lose our minds about a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio for our PGs, okay? Pretty sure I was told on here by someone last week that 2.0-3.0 assist-to-turnover was minimum for a "good" PG. The two of them, together, have scored an average of 4.5 points over the first 11 games. I'm not saying I want our PG to be Troy or Vlad. Is it too much to want to see them average 8-9 points a game so that they're a legitimate scoring threat and have to be respected on the offensive end by opposing teams?
You can go ahead and tell me that given their shooting percentages they are a legitimate scoring threat and have to be respected based on their percentage. Maybe. Personally if you shoot really well but there's only a 5% chance you're going to take the shot, I'll double Vlad and let you kill me until you consistently make me pay.
Maybe that's why I'm not a D1 basketball coach.
My reflections on last night's game are coming later tonight, by the way. Don't have time to do them this afternoon.
I guess my issue, B^3, is that we have the players we have and the coach we have. Complaining about what they can't or don't do, or trying to put them in roles they're not capable of playing, isn't going to change that. We were one bad six-minute stretch from being 8-3, and having beaten everyone on the schedule we were supposed to beat. I wish we had played better against Howard, for example, but we did win. Unless we fall apart in the next four we should be--should be--9-6 or so entering PL play, and I'll take that in a minute.
We all wish Derrick Mercer were here, but he's not. As the yet-another-anonymous said above, the spot has been open for two years for anyone who wanted to grab it. Steve grabbed it with his D. And if he'll hit one or two threes a game, all to the good.
Nobody is losing their mind over the A/T ratio. It was a stat amongst many other points of evaluation that happened to be mention. Since it was the only thing you seemed to take from the post, I decided to look up Mercer's A/T ratio over his 4 years. Here's whats statsheet.com was able to provide:
No more bailout 3s. I like to see 3 pointers after quick ball movement with our feet set, body squared, and our forward toe one inch beyond the 3 pt line. An early 3 usually bails out the defense and makes it so much easier for the team to play us. A speeded up game doesn't do us any favors.
Better protection for Lump. Good alternatives in substituting for Lump seem to be dwindling. We need to react more quickly to the ball going down low so he gets some help. Some zone could help in this regard. Getting him quickie pre-planned spells might help too.
Going up top. Got Hinkle or Brewer running with you on the break? How about putting the ball up in the air? Or a weak side screen could get one of them open. Dear Santa, I'd like to see one of those slammed home.
Looking forward to seeing more and more improvement tonight, albeit under difficult circumstances.
Quote: " As far as point guard development, how has RJ Evans developed at HC? Please."
RJ Evans has not played a minute at point guard in his career at Holy Cross (or in H.S.). He is a wing who slashes to the basket - not an outside shooter and certainly not a PG.
BTW, his play this year has been hampered by playing with a sports hernia that has now forced him to the bench for the next month or more.
Just a couple comments to comments made recently and in light of today's game:
ReplyDelete1. Nick is not a point guard or at least the point guard JJ wants. He is not suited to the slow down system at PG.He can not handle the ball well enough to play the point and as evidenced in several instances does not always make good decisions.
2. Let's not christen Charles yet. He does not appear to be a very good shooter. If Vlad goes cold in a game and Troy can be trageted to stop. Charles does not appear to be a solid third option.He is 2/13 on threes and 5/20 on all shots.
3. What is Fisher doing getting minutes. He has scored nine points in his entire career and appears to be too slow on defense. Does boxing out a few times get you minutes on this team? A player needs at least some offensive skills other than the ability to catch and pass the ball.
4. JJ recruiting: I think AMerican can recruit good players but I do not think he developes them. Look at Blake and Bersch. They were heavily recruited by several schools and both I think had offers from Holy Cross. JJ has not given either one of them much of a shot and seems more intent on not playing them than trying to develop them in any sort of way. Are they getting any better sitting on the bench for entire games. It seems JJ made the decision to not develop his freshmen but to go with transfers which further limits their development.
Good thoughts. I just want to build on your second point (Charles) a bit. Keep in mind this was only his third game - Troy's first three games or so were similarly mediocre and we started to question why he had a reputation as a three point sharpshooter. Well, he shook off the rust after that, is now shooting close to 50% from beyond the arc for games after those first three or four, and was the team's leading scorer a number of time. So I agree with you, let's not christen Charles yet, but the potential he still has to develop (keep in mind he hasn't played serious minutes in about three years) before Patriot League play is exciting. I still think we'll be a better team by then than we are now, and have a serious shot at another League title. That's what really matters.
ReplyDeleteOf course, tonight's game for Troy didn't particularly help my example.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that when JJ makes his decision about a player there is no turning back. I think that our PG play would be much better if JJ would have trained and coached Blake during his fresh year and allowed him to get thru the growing pains as a freshmen. Instead, he benched Blake last year because he would not conform to JJs style of play and never gave him another opportunity. Based on the few games I saw last year Blake was a stronger and more aggressive PG than Luptak and Danny are this year. Because our PG play has been unproductive we should play Blake and Wayne because they will not do any worse than what we have seen and this could give JJ an idea of our PG situation and this could influence our recruiting for next year. Also, we should not criticize Charles. This kid has not played meaningful minutes in more than 3 years. Give him time and he will definately help us when it matters most, in March. I am concerned about our perimeter shooting percentage. Our offense appears to be heavily dependent on outside shooting but our shooters are only shooters. They cannot create shots off the dribble and we do not have or JJ does not allow our PGs to penetrate and set up our shooters to do what they do; catch and shoot. I hope JJ starts to think about who can help us when conference play starts and who can help us to compete against a top seed team in the tournament. We have a special team this year in every position but our PG position. I hope JJ try other options at the PG position to maximize team productivity this year. JJ is a very good coach and I am sure he will figure it out. But, many coaches are afraid to make changes especially when they are winning....
ReplyDeleteWas at the game tonight and read the live blog later. What people are missing when we question Lump and Tony on interior defense is this : Vlad cannot guard anybody off the dribble. He gets beat, we have to help and then give up off boards and inside out 3 pt shots. The NW game was brutal as Shurna just abused him with penetration. He is a very skilled offensive player but a below avg PL league defender. Not much we can do about it but makes you wonder why JJ doesnt try more zone. Still think we have best team in PL with 3-4 guys in our lineup who are among the best in the PL at their position.
ReplyDeleteThe scouting report on Charles was never that he was a gifted shooter. I'm frankly surprised he's been shooting as much as he has overall, especially from 3. Charles was supposed to be a big, very athletic defensive specialist.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - Hendra committed exactly one turnover last night. He's also the only one who seemed to know how to execute a fast break last night. I still don't buy that he's this terrible ball handler everyone makes him out to be. His ball handling this year is light years from what it was last year.
JJ is stuck in his ways at PG. I'll be amazed if Blake ever gets meaningful minutes. I think the same streak of confidence that makes him effective as a slasher is the same streak of confidence that will put him at odds with JJ for the rest of his AU career.
Agree that we need to give Hinkle some time to shake off the rust. He does need to improve his shot selection, though.
ReplyDeleteThe obsession with JJ and point guards will never end, will it? He will play the point guard that plays defense. Period. Blake has had every opportunity to take the job, and he can't even beat out Danny. 'Nuff said. Luptak is, by far, the best defensive point guatd we have, so he's going to play, his offensive liabilities notwithstanding. Next year, the job will be wide open, and the best defensive guy from among Danny, Blake and Wayne will play. Period. As far as point guard development, how has RJ Evans developed at HC? Please.
The obsession with JJ and PGs won't end this year, NJJ, because most of us feel that the PG position is what holds this team back from being mid-major good versus Patriot League good.
ReplyDeleteNJJ you are pretty much on point. The PG competition was open since the beginning of 2009-2010 season and Steve, Danny and Blake all got a fair share of playing time to prove themselves, with Danny seeming to be the constant throughout last season and this one and Steve ultimatley getting into the mix in the 2nd half of last season and starting all games this season. Jones made it clear in pre-season comments that the PG spot was open this summer and that Steve won out at the starting spot and Danny at the back up. He has seen them for the past year and a half in practice every single day. Much more than any of us. As far as I can tell we seem to be winning with this combination, dating back to making it to the top 4 of Patriot league last year(keeping the streak alive) and going 7-4 this year out of conference thus far. A PG much like a QB in football is measured by W/L. It seems many on this board want them to score more, but the offense does not run through them, nor should it. We have many capable scorers this year (last year we didnt). These 2 run the team very well and are extremely efficient.
ReplyDeleteRan some numbers to display my thoughts:
Steve hovers around 40% from the field and 40% from 3 PT on the season with a 1.79 to 1 assist to TO ratio.
Danny hovers around 40% in the same catagories - FG% and 3 PT% with a 1.8 to 1 assist to TO ratio and is at about 85% from the free throw line.
Both do not shoot much because it's not always necessary. But as the above #'s indicate, they are fairly efficient when they do. Whats necessary is running the team, being efficient and as NJJ pointed out playing defense. Which in Jone's system requires a lot of help defense and knowledge of his scheme as opposed to just locking down the man with the ball. Jones teams are historically top notch defensive teams because of the system he has in place.
Teams of the Patriot League calliber can ill afford to have PG's taking bad shots, penetrating when it's not there and turning the ball over. Perfect example of this is Colgate losing to Syracuse by almsot 70 points. Horrible PG play(bad shots and TO's) led to the Patriot league embarassment. The guards must play smart and efficiently because in comparison to out of confenece teams, Patriot League teams are usually a step below when it comes to areas such as athleticism-across the board.
At the end of the day I've been very pleased with the play from this position. Jones is a former PG at a high level and Im sure his evaluation over the last year and a half is much better than this entire board combined.
AU will more than likely lose tomorrow, but a game against a top 5 team will prove to be very helpful come conference play. Given our schedule thus far, I think the entire team has played very well and will only get better.
Good comments from Anonymous . . .7-4 is light years ahead of last year; with the only game we should have won -- Columbia -- we can write off to Vlad being out. So I remain optimistic about PL play. By the way, "watching" this game on the Mounts "Live Stats," was excruciating. If we had lost, my hopeful mood would have certainly darkened.
ReplyDeleteLet's not lose our minds about a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio for our PGs, okay? Pretty sure I was told on here by someone last week that 2.0-3.0 assist-to-turnover was minimum for a "good" PG. The two of them, together, have scored an average of 4.5 points over the first 11 games. I'm not saying I want our PG to be Troy or Vlad. Is it too much to want to see them average 8-9 points a game so that they're a legitimate scoring threat and have to be respected on the offensive end by opposing teams?
ReplyDeleteYou can go ahead and tell me that given their shooting percentages they are a legitimate scoring threat and have to be respected based on their percentage. Maybe. Personally if you shoot really well but there's only a 5% chance you're going to take the shot, I'll double Vlad and let you kill me until you consistently make me pay.
Maybe that's why I'm not a D1 basketball coach.
My reflections on last night's game are coming later tonight, by the way. Don't have time to do them this afternoon.
See them *collectively* average 8-9 points a game is what I should have said.
ReplyDeleteI guess my issue, B^3, is that we have the players we have and the coach we have. Complaining about what they can't or don't do, or trying to put them in roles they're not capable of playing, isn't going to change that. We were one bad six-minute stretch from being 8-3, and having beaten everyone on the schedule we were supposed to beat. I wish we had played better against Howard, for example, but we did win. Unless we fall apart in the next four we should be--should be--9-6 or so entering PL play, and I'll take that in a minute.
ReplyDeleteWe all wish Derrick Mercer were here, but he's not. As the yet-another-anonymous said above, the spot has been open for two years for anyone who wanted to grab it. Steve grabbed it with his D. And if he'll hit one or two threes a game, all to the good.
Nobody is losing their mind over the A/T ratio. It was a stat amongst many other points of evaluation that happened to be mention. Since it was the only thing you seemed to take from the post, I decided to look up Mercer's A/T ratio over his 4 years. Here's whats statsheet.com was able to provide:
ReplyDelete05-06 Season: 1.4 A/T
06-07 Season: 1.8 A/T
07-08 Season: 1.4 A/T
08-09 Season: 2.0 A/T
I'd like to think he was more than a "good" PG considering he's probably the best that has ever played here and won 2 Pat league championships.
He also played 35+ minutes every game, scored, played great defense, and was able to slash to the basket.
ReplyDeleteI get it, fine, I'll back off the PG issue.
Here's what's on my Xmas Wish list:
ReplyDeleteNo more bailout 3s. I like to see 3 pointers after quick ball movement with our feet set, body squared, and our forward toe one inch beyond the 3 pt line. An early 3 usually bails out the defense and makes it so much easier for the team to play us. A speeded up game doesn't do us any favors.
Better protection for Lump. Good alternatives in substituting for Lump seem to be dwindling. We need to react more quickly to the ball going down low so he gets some help. Some zone could help in this regard. Getting him quickie pre-planned spells might help too.
Going up top. Got Hinkle or Brewer running with you on the break? How about putting the ball up in the air? Or a weak side screen could get one of them open. Dear Santa, I'd like to see one of those slammed home.
Looking forward to seeing more and more improvement tonight, albeit under difficult circumstances.
Quote: " As far as point guard development, how has RJ Evans developed at HC? Please."
ReplyDeleteRJ Evans has not played a minute at point guard in his career at Holy Cross (or in H.S.). He is a wing who slashes to the basket - not an outside shooter and certainly not a PG.
BTW, his play this year has been hampered by playing with a sports hernia that has now forced him to the bench for the next month or more.