Some tough realities setting in
Jan 21, 2016 10:00:10 GMT -8
baseba1111, fishinmachine, and 2 more like this
Post by beaverstever on Jan 21, 2016 10:00:10 GMT -8
This was destined to be a transition year, but I certainly was hoping we'd take advantage of GP II's senior year better than we have. But with 1/3rd of the conference play in the books, we're looking like a team that will win 1/3rd of conference games as well. On paper, this team was supposed to be a mid-conference team, so what's happened? Here's my thoughts:
- The conference is better than expected at the bottom - there's really nobody safe on any given night. OSU in particularly isn't safe because it hasn't found a consistent identity.
- Only one of our seniors is playing like a senior. Outside of GP II, the rest of the players seem to have regressed from last year. Part of this is less PT, but it's also likely due to the change in style of play, which requires that they're more efficient on offense... which they never really have been.
- And while GP II's game has generally been at another level, he still hasn't developed a signature offensive move that doesn't require him to be at the rim. As a result, he's been unable to carry the team in the clutch in a conference where the rim defenders are too good to allow him those opportunities when it counts the most. Combine that with periodically struggling mightily at the FT line, and the team ends up rudderless.
- None of our frosh came in Pac-12 starter ready on both ends of the floor, which could have enabled a smoother transition. Eubanks and Gregory are physically the closest, but offensively challenged. Tinkle, Bruce and Thompson are serious defensive liabilities due to their strength levels. Thompson and Bruce are quick and can defend the perimeter well, but is weak once in the interior. Tinkle isn't quick enough to defend the perimeter, nor strong enough to defend on the interior. For all the grief Duvivier has received on this board for his offensive struggles, he has none of these issues on the defensive end. UCLA's perimeter players really exploited this gap - we either had to defend them and struggle to score, or try to keep pace with their scoring with better perimeter scores but weaker defenders; neither was successful.
- I saw why Bruce isn't getting much PT last night. While initially he looks like he should be playing more given his offensive skills in general, he's creating no flow for the offense. That's a really bad quality from a PG, and hope that changes soon.
Unfortunately, it seems to be the fixes involve an offseason dedicated to weigh-lifting to turn things around... so really hoping I'm wrong. I do like the incoming class in that they appear to also be part of the recipe to address (on paper) - physically ready bigs in Kone and Dew, and a top-shelf PG in McLaughlin. That said, Bruce/McLaughlin/Duvivier will have huge shoes to fill in bringing the stabilizing effect that GP II has on both ends of the court. We will be extremely young next year with two seniors and one JC junior, so these guys need to really grow up fast next year to be able move up.
- The conference is better than expected at the bottom - there's really nobody safe on any given night. OSU in particularly isn't safe because it hasn't found a consistent identity.
- Only one of our seniors is playing like a senior. Outside of GP II, the rest of the players seem to have regressed from last year. Part of this is less PT, but it's also likely due to the change in style of play, which requires that they're more efficient on offense... which they never really have been.
- And while GP II's game has generally been at another level, he still hasn't developed a signature offensive move that doesn't require him to be at the rim. As a result, he's been unable to carry the team in the clutch in a conference where the rim defenders are too good to allow him those opportunities when it counts the most. Combine that with periodically struggling mightily at the FT line, and the team ends up rudderless.
- None of our frosh came in Pac-12 starter ready on both ends of the floor, which could have enabled a smoother transition. Eubanks and Gregory are physically the closest, but offensively challenged. Tinkle, Bruce and Thompson are serious defensive liabilities due to their strength levels. Thompson and Bruce are quick and can defend the perimeter well, but is weak once in the interior. Tinkle isn't quick enough to defend the perimeter, nor strong enough to defend on the interior. For all the grief Duvivier has received on this board for his offensive struggles, he has none of these issues on the defensive end. UCLA's perimeter players really exploited this gap - we either had to defend them and struggle to score, or try to keep pace with their scoring with better perimeter scores but weaker defenders; neither was successful.
- I saw why Bruce isn't getting much PT last night. While initially he looks like he should be playing more given his offensive skills in general, he's creating no flow for the offense. That's a really bad quality from a PG, and hope that changes soon.
Unfortunately, it seems to be the fixes involve an offseason dedicated to weigh-lifting to turn things around... so really hoping I'm wrong. I do like the incoming class in that they appear to also be part of the recipe to address (on paper) - physically ready bigs in Kone and Dew, and a top-shelf PG in McLaughlin. That said, Bruce/McLaughlin/Duvivier will have huge shoes to fill in bringing the stabilizing effect that GP II has on both ends of the court. We will be extremely young next year with two seniors and one JC junior, so these guys need to really grow up fast next year to be able move up.
