@South Florida

[waterhead]

All TC has to do to be effective is take care of the ball. distribute it to our scorers and knock down 3's at his career %.

I would be happy with this too!

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I can agree with you about Evans. Our go to play in close games last year was to clear out and let Troy put his shoulder down and go to the bucket on a one way course. He's not going to break any ankles with dirty crossovers but he was somewhat effective at getting to the rack with his signature straight line drive.

Even this year against Tulsa it worked at the end. I think it would be good to let him do this every once in a while even when the game is not on the line. We have the inside out game we can go to but this adds another dimension to our team. Starting Evans at the top of the key and having him make one move and go to the rack would potentially get even better results than Troy but we haven't really tried it. We continue to let Evans try fancy dribble moves from the wing only to get stymied (ala Thomas) and pass the ball to someone else.

These guys aren't Jordan so we need to simplify the plan for them. Make one move and go!

With Washington, Clark, Cumberland and Evans we really do not need to force offense. If he hits them at his career rate we could have won the game. Just execute. TC was missing wide open shots. Him forcing his way to the basket is not the answer. Make the wide open shots!!!! He is not the best scoring option on this team. Trying to make him something he is not will only hurt the team in my opinion. When teams are doubling our Bigs our wings need to hit a few wide open looks. When Clark and Washington post up and get single coverage they need to convert. Sunday Gary Clark did not. We have effectively ran our offense to the tune of a 22-3 record. We were terrible shooting the ball on Sunday.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

A bit of context.

Game 1 against SMU our big 3 of TC, Washington and Clark hit 18-25 shots. We were also out rebounded by 10

Game 2 they were 6-25.
We were outrebounded by 1.

We got good looks and failed to hit any shots. The first half we were knocking down shots and SMU was doubling the post. In the second half they adjusted and they were on occasion doubling Washington and single covering Clark. In the first half Gary was finding KJ and Evans (who started out on fire and went cold) out of the double team. In the second half Gary was getting singled covered and was ineffective against it. Couldn't hit a shot over either shoulder.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I guess I could have put all that in the SMU thread. Sorry guys!!

Need a bounce back game from a few of our guys. Without some consistent scoring across the board we will be hard pressed to advance even with our good defense. We held SMU to 60 at their place.

Cats can't look beyond anyone. That hasn't been a problem for us as our record says we usually beat the teams we should beat. What we need is the team firing on all cylinders.

 

[GarradJ21]

Some positives to think about going into South Florida from out past 3 games:

Free throw shooting: As a team we are 21/26 80.1%

KJ 3 point shooting: 8/17. 47%

Asst/TO from our PG position: 21 assists to 1 turnover out of Caupain and Jennifer.

 

[waterhead]

With Washington, Clark, Cumberland and Evans we really do not need to force offense. If he hits them at his career rate we could have won the game. Just execute. TC was missing wide open shots. Him forcing his way to the basket is not the answer. Make the wide open shots!!!! He is not the best scoring option on this team. Trying to make him something he is not will only hurt the team in my opinion. When teams are doubling our Bigs our wings need to hit a few wide open looks. When Clark and Washington post up and get single coverage they need to convert. Sunday Gary Clark did not. We have effectively ran our offense to the tune of a 22-3 record. We were terrible shooting the ball on Sunday.

I'm not concerned about our home shooting Waite. I just looked at TeamRankings website and we are 55th in shooting % on the whole. However, we are a full 11 points worse on the road than we are at home. Of those ranked ahead of us in shooting % only 2 others were 10 points worse or more on the road. There were more teams shooting better on the road than there were shooting 10 points worse on the road. The average difference seemed to fall around 3% from home to road. We are 8% points worse than that. I had to go down to #184th ranked Stetson to find a team shooting worse on the road as a %. We are the worst shooting road team in the top 183. We are at 40%.

I don't know if it's jitters or what...but it's miserable. Not changing a thing and just hoping we make more shots doesn't seem like the best answer to me.

 

[waterhead]

I'm not concerned about our home shooting Waite. I just looked at TeamRankings website and we are 55th in shooting % on the whole. However, we are a full 11 points worse on the road than we are at home. Of those ranked ahead of us in shooting % only 2 others were 10 points worse or more on the road. There were more teams shooting better on the road than there were shooting 10 points worse on the road. The average difference seemed to fall around 3% from home to road. We are 8% points worse than that. I had to go down to #184th ranked Stetson to find a team shooting worse on the road as a %. We are the worst shooting road team in the top 183.

I don't know if it's jitters or what...but it's miserable. Not changing a thing and just hoping we make more shots doesn't seem like the best answer to me.

By the way last year we were even worse on the road as a shooting % at 39%. So this problem is not an anomaly.

I don't know how we expect to win tournament games when they aren't played in our arena? We need to adjust our game plan on the road a little bit to see if we can get some more balls in the bucket.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

All TC has to do to be effective is take care of the ball. distribute it to our scorers and knock down 3's at his career %.

I believe Caupain is a 31% 3 pt shooter the past 2 seasons.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I believe Caupain is a 31% 3 pt shooter the past 2 seasons.

Jake what was his percentage heading into this year? Seems his ineffectiveness this year could pulling down his career norm.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

By the way last year we were even worse on the road as a shooting % at 39%. So this problem is not an anomaly.

I don't know how we expect to win tournament games when they aren't played in our arena? We need to adjust our game plan on the road a little bit to see if we can get some more balls in the bucket.

WH I have to believe most teams shoot worse on the road. Oh and by the way everyone is on the road in the tourney. Except UCONN. LOL!!!

How do you want to adjust?

Let me ask you a question. if you were guarding TC how would you play him. Without hearing your answer I would guess you would give him a ton of room until he showed you he could make a shot. If our wings don't make a few shots we will never get the ball inside. We will be doubled teamed to death. We are not changing who we are at this point in the season. We are a inside out team for better or worse. We may vary a bit on the strengths of the competition but as of now we are who we are. We had open looks against SMU. Clark was single covered in the second half and TC was wide open on several shot attempts. If we are to go far in the tourney those guys will need to find there stroke. TC putting his head down and forcing his way in the lane is not going to happen. Good teams make shots.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Jake what was his percentage heading into this year? Seems his ineffectiveness this year could pulling down his career norm.

FR 32.8%
SO 40.8%
JR 32.4%
SR 29.6%
Career 33.3%

He took 2.2 per game as a SO compared to 5.2 last year and 3.9 this year.

 

[waterhead]

Bottom line is we haven't seen any significant improvement in player ratings or efficiency in 3 years from our seniors Troy and KJ. Troy has improved his assist to turnovers over the years but that means he has fallen off in other areas too. His rebounds were excellent early but have fallen off to well below his norm lately.

Clark hasn't changed much either but he was well above average in PER from the start. He's a stat machine even when not scoring big and he doesn't drop off in big games. Evans has made a significant jump and so has Kyle.

Come on seniors!! This is your swan song...we need you to up your game on offense to make a run. Strap up them laces and dig deep! Troy played very well in big games last year as a whole...it's time to tap into that mentality again. KJ? Just make a couple 3's and play killer D!

We can do this!! Right??

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

FR 32.8%
SO 40.8%
JR 32.4%
SR 29.6%
Career 33.3%

He took 2.2 per game as a SO compared to 5.2 last year and 3.9 this year.

I would settle for his career norm. Making some open 3's is going to be crucial.

 

[waterhead]

WH I have to believe most teams shoot worse on the road. Oh and by the way everyone is on the road in the tourney. Except UCONN. LOL!!!

How do you want to adjust?

Let me ask you a question. if you were guarding TC how would you play him. Without hearing your answer I would guess you would give him a ton of room until he showed you he could make a shot. If our wings don't make a few shots we will never get the ball inside. We will be doubled teamed to death. We are not changing who we are at this point in the season. We are a inside out team for better or worse. We may vary a bit on the strengths of the competition but as of now we are who we are. We had open looks against SMU. Clark was single covered in the second half and TC was wide open on several shot attempts. If we are to go far in the tourney those guys will need to find there stroke. TC putting his head down and forcing his way in the lane is not going to happen. Good teams make shots.

Maybe you didn't read my previous post...we are MUCH worse than even your average team on the road. Our road shooting % was worse than every team in the top #183 for overall shooting %.

Troy putting his head down and driving was our main play to close out games last year and a few times this year. Not sure why you don't think it's not going to happen. We just beat Tulsa with that play. We use it all the time when the clock is running down. If that is the play we call to close out games (or short clocks)...why wouldn't we use it during the middle of a game?

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Bottom line is we haven't seen any significant improvement in player ratings or efficiency in 3 years from our seniors Troy and KJ. Troy has improved his assist to turnovers over the years but that means he has fallen off in other areas too. His rebounds were excellent early but have fallen off to well below his norm lately.

Clark hasn't changed much either but he was well above average in PER from the start. He's a stat machine even when not scoring big and he doesn't drop off in big games. Evans has made a significant jump and so has Kyle.

Come on seniors!! This is your swan song...we need you to up your game on offense to make a run. Strap up them laces and dig deep! Troy played very well in big games last year as a whole...it's time to tap into that mentality again. KJ? Just make a couple 3's and play killer D!

We can do this!! Right??

Really hard for me to judge TC based solely on his numbers because of the position he plays. On one hand I expect his scoring to be down this year because we have more scoring weapons then we have had in the past. That said, his shooting has fallen off some. KJ is KJ! Need both to find their strokes down the stretch. Them making some shots is a big key to getting Clark and Washington man coverage inside. If teams are forced to play them guys without doubling we can play with just about any team out there. If KJ,TC and Evans can find their shot down the stretch we should be a tough out. If not we will struggle. I don't care how you change the offense if our wings don't knock some shots down it will be a short tourney. Teams are not going to guard them until they prove they can make a few shots. Hard for me to believe we are 22-3 and all of a sudden we are going to start running up and down the floor in transition. As you say our seniors need to step up and play well.

 

[cincyguy13]

I don't understand the walking the ball up at times. I never have. We aren't even started the offense till 18 seconds on the clock. I don't know if it's a Troy thing or mick. Sometimes the offense does look more smooth with JJ. Not saying he is as a player as Troy

 

[waterhead]

I would settle for his career norm. Making some open 3's is going to be crucial.

After SMU I would easily settle for 33.3%...lol!

It's not Troy...it's our team road shooting performance that is really bad. Unfortunately all tourney games are on the road.

We need to get our heads out of our butts and stop relying on the comfortable surroundings of 5th 3rd and play good offensive basketball on the road. All I can think of is "Man Up!". There are no excuses! A vast majority of NCAA basketball teams are outperforming us on the road (in terms of shooting %)...even the bad teams.

Our D travels very well!!!!!!

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Maybe you didn't read my previous post...we are MUCH worse than even your average team on the road. Our road shooting % was worse than every team in the top #183 for overall shooting %.

Troy putting his head down and driving was our main play to close out games last year and a few times this year. Not sure why you don't think it's not going to happen. We just beat Tulsa with that play. We use it all the time when the clock is running down. If that is the play we call to close out games (or short clocks)...why wouldn't we use it during the middle of a game?

One of the games he won for us was a top of the key jumper. he got a rebound put back on another. We had trouble closing out games all last year. Quite frankly TC is not our best option. Frankly we really don't have that player as of yet.

 

[justinhub2003]

Bottom line is we haven't seen any significant improvement in player ratings or efficiency in 3 years from our seniors Troy and KJ. Troy has improved his assist to turnovers over the years but that means he has fallen off in other areas too. His rebounds were excellent early but have fallen off to well below his norm lately.

Clark hasn't changed much either but he was well above average in PER from the start. He's a stat machine even when not scoring big and he doesn't drop off in big games. Evans has made a significant jump and so has Kyle.

Come on seniors!! This is your swan song...we need you to up your game on offense to make a run. Strap up them laces and dig deep! Troy played very well in big games last year as a whole...it's time to tap into that mentality again. KJ? Just make a couple 3's and play killer D!

We can do this!! Right??

Troy has improved his Offensive Rating Year over year ever single year.
Fr:105.6
Soph: 108.6
JR: 109.5
SR: 113.6

He is also at a all time in his career in Offensive rating in Conference play at 114.

Kenpom has the top 5 players in our conference listed; here is there OFF rating
1. Semi Oejele: 124.8
2. Rob Gray: 115.4
3. Dedric Lawson: 112.3
4. Kyle Washington 109.8
5. Sterling Brown: 113.2



Troy has the 3rd best Offensive rating of any PG in our league and is only behind Shake Milton and Alani Moore from Temple. And Alani Moore's is only higher because his usage is 13% compared to 19% from Troy.

Troy has a better Assist to TO ratio than both those players.

He had a bad game but Troy generally gets it done when he has to. But to paint a picture that he isn't improving overall offensively is just wrong

 

[waterhead]

Really hard for me to judge TC based solely on his numbers because of the position he plays. On one hand I expect his scoring to be down this year because we have more scoring weapons then we have had in the past. That said, his shooting has fallen off some. KJ is KJ! Need both to find their strokes down the stretch. Them making some shots is a big key to getting Clark and Washington man coverage inside. If teams are forced to play them guys without doubling we can play with just about any team out there. If KJ,TC and Evans can find their shot down the stretch we should be a tough out. If not we will struggle. I don't care how you change the offense if our wings don't knock some shots down it will be a short tourney. Teams are not going to guard them until they prove they can make a few shots. Hard for me to believe we are 22-3 and all of a sudden we are going to start running up and down the floor in transition. As you say our seniors need to step up and play well.

Hey, if Troy pulls down 7 boards and dishes out 6 assists to 1 turnover I can live with a 3 for 12 shooting night here and there. I am definitely not trying to put this all on Troy...but he's in a funk so it's time for him to come out of it.

He's a gamer so I am optimistic this can happen.