Maui Invitational Game #2: Ohio State

[TheRealMick]

@skyblade, I seen your post on other site. I agree and JD has got his minutes took for one of FR. Nolly has mental lapse but you can't have him off floor.

 

[brothers24]

"Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"= INSANITY!!! We need answers and lot of them now. What goes on in practice?! We have zero identity, I bet all we do in practice is run 5v5 streetball and tell everyone in the summer that we look so much better than last year and everyone is improving hahaha this team and coaching staff is laughable

 

[Queens_NYC]

Absolutely embarrassing on all accords.

Proof that the NKU loss was a not a 'fluke of a bad shooting night'.

We are a bad team.

 

[skyblade]

I'm not seeing it from Nolley. He disengages, is poor at rebounding and not that good on defense. You could argue we don't have anyone better, but we do at least have guys who will give it their all. His point-forward abilities seem to have been vastly overstated.

Nolley seems to be what Memphis fans said he was, a streaky shooter who pouts when things don't go his way.

It's hard to start two undersized guards (MAW, DDJ) a poor rebounder (Davenport) and an even worse rebounder (Nolley) and have success. Something needs to change.

 

[sedziobs]

Davenport and Nolley are basically the same player, as are MAW and Phinisee. So much of our roster is one dimensional players. We can't win with terrible guard play and only one post presence. Especially with a coach who has never had an efficient offense.

This season is already about lost. Even if we manage a miraculous turnaround, we have very few quality win chances remaining. I want to see as much of Skillings, Reed, and Hensley as possible.

I assumed Hensley was hurt, but then he played the last couple minutes?

 

[skyblade]

Davenport and Nolley are basically the same player, as are MAW and Phinisee. So much of our roster is one dimensional players. We can't win with terrible guard play and only one post presence. Especially with a coach who has never had an efficient offense.

This season is already about lost. Even if we manage a miraculous turnaround, we have very few quality win chances remaining. I want to see as much of Skillings, Reed, and Hensley as possible.

I assumed Hensley was hurt, but then he played the last couple minutes?

I think he's been benched because his rebounding has sucked. His rebound percentage is worse than Nolley's (and Davenport's). Skillings/Reed are the two best rebounding wings, so they've been getting the minutes as backups.

 

[skyblade]

Davenport and Nolley are basically the same player, as are MAW and Phinisee. So much of our roster is one dimensional players. We can't win with terrible guard play and only one post presence. Especially with a coach who has never had an efficient offense.

This season is already about lost. Even if we manage a miraculous turnaround, we have very few quality win chances remaining. I want to see as much of Skillings, Reed, and Hensley as possible.

I assumed Hensley was hurt, but then he played the last couple minutes?

And not one of them can consistently drive the ball to the basket and make a play. Our options are throw it around the perimeter or try to post up Lakhin.

MAW flashes more ability to drive than anyone else (besides Skillings), but not nearly often enough.

DDJ, Nolley and Davenport are lost if teams play them tight and dare them to drive the ball.

Lakhin is our best player, but can't carry the load by himself.

I'm on board with playing Skillings, Reed and Hensley more minutes (perhaps Ody too). It might be ugly at times, but they'll at least give it their all and get on the glass.

I'm tired of watching players (especially Davenport and Nolley) who don't play hard and don't want to battle for the ball. Wes needs to set a culture of giving it your all on every play, if that means benching Davenport and Nolley, so be it.

 

[sedziobs]

I think he's been benched because his rebounding has sucked. His rebound percentage is worse than Nolley's (and Davenport's). Skillings/Reed are the two best rebounding wings, so they've been getting the minutes as backups.

I get it, but Hensley has at least some potential with his size and athleticism. He plays hard and has two years left. Ody seems to have hit his ceiling already and Kalu is done after this year. Give me Hensley instead. I'll take some growing pains.

 

[skyblade]

I get it, but Hensley has at least some potential with his size and athleticism. He plays hard and has two years left. Ody seems to have hit his ceiling already and Kalu is done after this year. Give me Hensley instead. I'll take some growing pains.

I agree, though Ody I think has some potential. He showed some ability to finish around the rim this game and last year. His big struggle is on defense.

There were also reports that Hensley played through a bad ankle against EKU. Though you'd think if he were hurt he just wouldn't be playing at all. But maybe it's something that keeps him from going 100% and Wes figures Hensley at less than 100% isn't good enough to play.

 

[sedziobs]

I feel like Ody is a tweener who isn't strong enough for the 5 and doesn't have enough perimeter skills for the 4. Hensley is in the same boat. The roster has so many holes that's it's tough to win no matter what combo we throw out there. We really need a strategist to overcome that, but that's hopeless too.

 

[Bcatfollower]

At least we don’t have to worry about another program poaching coach Miller.

 

[TheRealMick]

And not one of them can consistently drive the ball to the basket and make a play. Our options are throw it around the perimeter or try to post up Lakhin.

MAW flashes more ability to drive than anyone else (besides Skillings), but not nearly often enough.

DDJ, Nolley and Davenport are lost if teams play them tight and dare them to drive the ball.

Lakhin is our best player, but can't carry the load by himself.

I'm on board with playing Skillings, Reed and Hensley more minutes (perhaps Ody too). It might be ugly at times, but they'll at least give it their all and get on the glass.

I'm tired of watching players (especially Davenport and Nolley) who don't play hard and don't want to battle for the ball. Wes needs to set a culture of giving it your all on every play, if that means benching Davenport and Nolley, so be it.

DDJ watches a lot also. That tells u all need to know about practice.

 

[TheRealMick]

I've been on this train since T Scott Jr yr. UC needs a new physical trainer. No way in hell JD came from powerhouse HS and been at major college 4 yrs but still look weak. Nobody on team has a football body. Cronin changed the game playing with older and physically stronger players. We got one of oldest teams in UC history but softer any team I've seen.

 

[skyblade]

A couple more games means +/- is starting to become relevant (at least for players who play a lot of minutes). Using EvanMiya +/- and possessions (which I believe is more reliable than straight +/-), our leaders with players who have played at least 141 offensive possessions (I used this cut-off to include Phinisee). This is +/- per offensive possession.

Rob Phinisee -0.06
Laknin -0.09
Davenport -0.11
MAW -0.13
Nolley -0.15
DDJ -0.17

The main takeaway is that DDJ and Nolley need to play better (or get off the court). They are supposed to be our leaders and best players, instead they are dragging the team down. Rob's is better than expected, thoough he also played less against Arizona and OSU, which probably helped prevent him being pulled down.


Guys with fewer possessions (less reliable data). Hensley strong +/- for example is mostly based on not playing much vs Arizona or OSU.

Hensley +0.17
Ody +0.10
Skillings 0.00
Reed -0.36
Kalu -0.42

The +/- per possession for Reed would be worthy of more investigation. Has he been on the floor with bad lineups or just because he has only really played against Arizona and OSU? If it stays bad it indicates that his play is negatively impacting the whole team. Kalu's +/- per possession reflects that him being on the court is a disaster, but I think we already knew that.

Our team defensive efficiency as a whole is a disaster. We have just three guys (Ody, Hensley, Phinisee) rated better than our worst rated player last year (Ody) and none of them are starters. Kenpom reflects that as well, we are 111 in AdjD, last year we were 75.

 

[cincrulz11]

I'm afraid everything is going pretty much as expected when we made the hire. We have no identity, we aren't particularly good at anything, and there is no plan to get better.


The saddest part is seeing absolutely no progression from any of the players in 2 years. They're exactly the same or they've regressed.


It is not that surprising that the roster has many holes, Miller doesn't have a "thing" that he does, so he's not going to recruit any specific type of player. He just grabs whatever is willing to come and then hopes it works out. It's not working out.

I can't think of a 5 man lineup that doesn't have major deficiencies. How are Brannen's guys still 4 of the top 5 players in year 2 with how the transfer portal is? It's frightening.

 

[sedziobs]

I still think Nolley would be our best player if we used him appropriately as a point forward. Using him like Davenport as an iso wing kills his versatility. He's not good defending wings but I think he's actually been ok on the interior, at least as good as any of the other 4s.

A lineup of DDJ/Skillings/Reed/Nolley/Lakhin might be our best combo of length, athleticism, and scoring. Interior defense wouldn't be good, but we don't have a lineup that can fix that.

 

[sedziobs]

Rob Phinisee -0.06
Laknin -0.09
Davenport -0.11
MAW -0.13
Nolley -0.15
DDJ -0.17

I'm not too surprised by this. Phinisee is very disruptive on defense and Lakhin is the only guy who's competent on both ends. I wouldn't mind seeing more of Phinisee if DDJ or MAW aren't out there with him.

 

[sedziobs]

The saddest part is seeing absolutely no progression from any of the players in 2 years. They're exactly the same or they've regressed.

This is really concerning. DDJ, MAW, and Davenport are the same players they were 2 years ago. They haven't improved their areas of weakness at all. Even the more raw athletes like Ody and Hensley haven't developed skills. Guys their size should be able to defend the perimeter, have some kind of face up offensive move, and handle the ball a bit in their 3rd/4th years. They still look like freshmen.

 

[TheLongHaul]

I'm not too surprised by this. Phinisee is very disruptive on defense and Lakhin is the only guy who's competent on both ends. I wouldn't mind seeing more of Phinisee if DDJ or MAW aren't out there with him.

This team really struggles offensively and you want to see more of someone that averages 1 point per game? Crazy! His defense is good, it's not out of this world good and he does nothing else so far that I've seen that leads me to believe he shouldn't be buried on the bench.

 

[skyblade]

This team really struggles offensively and you want to see more of someone that averages 1 point per game? Crazy! His defense is good, it's not out of this world good and he does nothing else so far that I've seen that leads me to believe he shouldn't be buried on the bench.

Yeah, it's possible to justify a guy who averages 1 point if he's 7 foot, protects the rim and rebounds like crazy. It's a lot harder to justify it for a guy who's not even 6 feet. Even though Phinisee is probably our best defender, I don't want him on the court. At least MAW brings some offense.

Of course the team also struggles defensively. So there is an argument to be made for Phinisee. I wish we had more than one guy (Lakhin) who is good on both sides of the court. When you have to decide if you'd rather put in the guys who suck on defense or the guys who suck on offense, there's no good answer.

Or maybe there is, put in the guys who play hard and with intensity and hope they figure it out.