2017-2018 Season

[waterhead]

This is where the player questions start to develop. I want you to play fast when it is obvious you won't turn it over...lol! It's a mixed message that is extremely hard for the player to always be in the same mind frame as coach. It's hard to find that balance where the coach and PG are on the same page. With Troy coach often wanted him to push it more...but there was hesitancy for some reason. The obvious reason is that the player knew that turning it over is the main concern even when coach is screaming to push the ball.

Push the ball but don't turn it over is all I am saying...lol!! When you turn it over you were going to fast. When you walk it up you are being too careful. I will pull you for turning it over but I won't pull you for walking it up okay? It's a mixed message.

Controlled aggression is a fine line. I think Jenifer went from too fast to being too careful but careful earned him more minutes. I guess as you get into your junior year you can start to be a little more relaxed and play your game...as coach trusts you more and more. Careful has always been better with Cronin IMO.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

This is where the player questions start to develop. I want you to play fast when it is obvious you won't turn it over...lol! It's a mixed message that is extremely hard for the player to always be in the same mind frame as coach. It's hard to find that balance where the coach and PG are on the same page. With Troy coach often wanted him to push it more...but there was hesitancy for some reason. The obvious reason is that the player knew that turning it over is the main concern even when coach is screaming to push the ball.

This is why I'm happy to have Jenifer as an option along with Broome...so it isn't all on 1 guy to change the pace. Jenifer has been around the program and our core group of players and really did an amazing job last year with his AST/TO.

 

[waterhead]

Our Offensive of possession length was 18.7

Here is the teams who made the Elite 8:
UK 15.3
UNC 15.4
Kansas 15.9
Zaga 15.9
Florida 16.2
South Carolina 16.6
Oregon 16.9
Unnamed team a few miles away 17.6


So I do think that offensive talent and offensive pace is a key factor to advancing far in the tourney.

The Goal should be be about 16.5 seconds per offensive possession which is a huge jump from 18.7 but with Cane and how good we are in transition, its possible.

I think shaving 2 seconds seems very reasonable. I think we could probably shave 3 if we push more breaks and don't walk it up. We have some depth now if we are getting tired. Not every player has to get out on break either.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I think shaving 2 seconds seems very reasonable. I think we could probably shave 3 if we push more breaks and don't walk it up. We have some depth now if we are getting tired. Not every player has to get out on break either.

I don't look at this stuff a ton so idk what's a reasonable increase or not, but I feel like being 10% faster offensively is what I would ask for.

 

[waterhead]

This is why I'm happy to have Jenifer as an option along with Broome...so it isn't all on 1 guy to change the pace. Jenifer has been around the program and our core group of players and really did an amazing job last year with his AST/TO.

I think Jenifer did an outstanding job with his assist to turnover ratio. I feel like he went from one extreme to the other. This year I hope he finds a more natural place in the middle somewhere. Our PG's were among the very best in the country at ass/to ratio (probably top 5-10)...but did that come at a cost to our pace and natural flow of the game?

Hey...we won 30 games...but come tourney time we are going to need a little more free wheeling play to keep up.

 

[justinhub2003]

Oddly we regressed on length of possession from 2015-16 to 16-17

We went from from 17.9 to 18.7.. which is weird considering we felt faster last year.


It’s crazy the Troy Caupain era is over, and like mick said, his biggest concern is who is going to fill those shoes. Evans seemed like he was ready and wiling to step up.

I also went back and watched the last crosstown shootout at Cintas Center and how offensively we lacked consistently. It’s just going to be great to bring in 5 starter who can all score into the Cintas Center

 

[juckerrules]

This is why I'm happy to have Jenifer as an option along with Broome...so it isn't all on 1 guy to change the pace. Jenifer has been around the program and our core group of players and really did an amazing job last year with his AST/TO.

Best on the team

 

[waterhead]

I don't look at this stuff a ton so idk what's a reasonable increase or not, but I feel like being 10% faster offensively is what I would ask for.

I can't say with any certainty what we can shave really. But I can imagine a few scenarios that will help.

1. Walking the ball up the court. If it took Troy 7-8 seconds to get across half court when we did walk it up. Just speeding that up to 4-5 seconds saves us 3 seconds on those possessions.

2. When we set up in half court. We can stand there dribbling above the top of the key for a while waiting for players to get set up or catch their wind. Or we can get the offense set up quicker and start taking full advantage of the clock.

3. We can push more fast breaks than we are used to. Jenifer probably made more half court passes up the court in 12 mpg than Troy did at 32 mpg.

4. We can press a little more leading to quick shots from turnovers.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

On the BCJ Podcast, Justin Berg was talking about how the stats differ so much when we shoot too many 3s vs getting to the line. I'd be curious to see how many of those FT came in the last 2 minutes bc I think there's an obvious correlation between that and winning. And I'm sure the large FT numbers being referenced are in pretty much all wins. But even so, it's nice to have guys who can attack. I mean really only Evans, Cumberland, and T Moore will have a permanent green light from deep. For everyone else on the team, it has to be the right shot in rhythm.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I can't say with any certainty what we can shave really. But I can imagine a few scenarios that will help.

1. Walking the ball up the court. If it took Troy 7-8 seconds to get across half court when we did walk it up. Just speeding that up to 4-5 seconds saves us 3 seconds on those possessions.

2. When we set up in half court. We can stand there dribbling above the top of the key for a while waiting for players to get set up or catch their wind. Or we can get the offense set up quicker and start taking full advantage of the clock.

3. We can push more fast breaks than we are used to. Jenifer probably made more half court passes up the court in 12 mpg than Troy did at 32 mpg.

4. We can press a little more leading to quick shots from turnovers.

#1 and #3 could really be a big difference.

 

[waterhead]

Oddly we regressed on length of possession from 2015-16 to 16-17

We went from from 17.9 to 18.7.. which is weird considering we felt faster last year.


It’s crazy the Troy Caupain era is over, and like mick said, his biggest concern is who is going to fill those shoes. Evans seemed like he was ready and wiling to step up.

I also went back and watched the last crosstown shootout at Cintas Center and how offensively we lacked consistently. It’s just going to be great to bring in 5 starter who can all score into the Cintas Center

This could very well be due to the idea we wanted to feed the paint when we could. We didn't quite have the same urgency to feed the paint with Ellis in the game vs Washington. If we try to do this again it could keep our time of possession still a little high but we can improve in other areas for pace.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

This could very well be due to the idea we wanted to feed the paint when we could. We didn't quite have the same urgency to feed the paint with Ellis in the game vs Washington. If we try to do this again it could keep our time of possession still a little high but we can improve in other areas for pace.

We also won way more games so maybe we had our foot off the gas late in games. Dribbling out the shot clock when winning vs needing quick buckets when losing in a few games could make a difference.

 

[waterhead]

On the BCJ Podcast, Justin Berg was talking about how the stats differ so much when we shoot too many 3s vs getting to the line. I'd be curious to see how many of those FT came in the last 2 minutes bc I think there's an obvious correlation between that and winning. And I'm sure the large FT numbers being referenced are in pretty much all wins. But even so, it's nice to have guys who can attack. I mean really only Evans, Cumberland, and T Moore will have a permanent green light from deep. For everyone else on the team, it has to be the right shot in rhythm.

This would be a very interesting factor. FYI

Cumberland 5.2 FTA per 40. KJ 1.7 FTA per 40

Broome 7.2 FTA per 40 (at Sacred Heart). Troy 3.4 FTA per 40


I imagine Cane's will go down significantly but still

 

[justinhub2003]

This would be a very interesting factor. FYI

Cumberland 5.2 FTA per 40. KJ 1.7 FTA per 40

Broome 7.2 FTA per 40 (at Sacred Heart). Troy 3.4 FTA per 40


I imagine Cane's will go down significantly but still

For sure.. getting to the line should be a huge strength of this team.

Gary, Kyle, jarron and cane should all draw fouls at a pretty decent rate. And if Jake decides to be more aggressive on the dribble drive, he could pick it up too.

 

[Bearcat513]

Jon Rothstein is currently firing off all his typical UC tweets. Love the attention but damn is he corny.

 

[waterhead]

For sure.. getting to the line should be a huge strength of this team.

Gary, Kyle, jarron and cane should all draw fouls at a pretty decent rate. And if Jake decides to be more aggressive on the dribble drive, he could pick it up too.

I know we aren't a great FT shooting team but I would like Evans to be shooting as many as he can. It's also high time we address the issue of FT shooting %. Most of these guys should be able to knock down 3 of 4 with their eyes closed...especially the guards. There is no need for these players to sit there and be thinking too much over a foul shot when you have so many distractions in the background. Grab ball....shoot ball. It's a muscle memory thing. Shooting FT's should not be a concentration issue...they shoot 100's of these per week.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

https://youtu.be/8WioOEG7D1Y

Here's a GoBeaecats clip of a few of the guys. Evans sounds really excited to get going.

 

[mdchick]

Seeing Jaquan Parker and demarr Johnson who are former players as assistant coaches is pretty cool. I really feel like Kevin Johnson would be a good assistant coach as well some day, being from Cincinnati and being a very well spoken good kid....

Probably won’t ever happen but i feel like it would be a good fit.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Seeing Jaquan Parker and demarr Johnson who are former players as assistant coaches is pretty cool. I really feel like Kevin Johnson would be a good assistant coach as well some day, being from Cincinnati and being a very well spoken good kid....

Probably won’t ever happen but i feel like it would be a good fit.

I think I remember Kevin Johnson saying something about wanting to get into coaching last year.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

https://youtu.be/vlew3uFWnFs

Strength and Conditioning