It’s getting exhausting hearing that the game has passed Roy by or that you cant win games in this offensive system
the beauty of the game is that every strategy has its pros and cons and especially in the tournament you see all the games with conflicting styles going against each other
make no mistake, you can win running ANY system, it comes down to how well you execute it and how well your players mesh into it. This year we basically had one reliable shooter in Walton and our bigs had zero range outside of the paint, essentially turning our halfcourt offense into a quarter court offense. When weve surrounded our big men with shooters and teams couldnt pack in the paint weve seen how effective the offense can be. The same people whining about having to go to small ball are the same people that were probably complaining 3 years ago when we ran into Texas A&M and their 2 big men and we got slaughtered because we had to answer for them. This system that everyone seems to think is outdated was in back to back title games 4 and 5 years ago and was in the mix for another one two years ago. You look at all 3 of those teams and the 2 biggest differences are those teams had multiple shooters and the big men could extend their range out to at least 15 feet. This year we had one reliable shooter and essentially 4 centers. As important as point guard is, having a legitimate “stretch” big plays just as important a role. Go back through every successful team weve had and look at the 4 position and the skillset. Marvin/Jawad both had stretch 4 skills. The Hansbrough/Thompson pair was essentially 2 power forwards, Zeller/Henson pair both had great mid range skills for bigs, Brice/Meeks same deal and having Luke Maye be a legit 3 point threat was key too
this year was a bad mix of personnel, Im not ready to burn Roy at the stake yet. Find legitimate point guards (not combo scorers) surround them with shooters on the wing, and hope whichever bigs that come back develop a reliable mid range game
side note having more versatile bigs will also help alot on the 3 point defense as well. Need to have at least 1 big capable of being able to switch at the top of the key
the beauty of the game is that every strategy has its pros and cons and especially in the tournament you see all the games with conflicting styles going against each other
make no mistake, you can win running ANY system, it comes down to how well you execute it and how well your players mesh into it. This year we basically had one reliable shooter in Walton and our bigs had zero range outside of the paint, essentially turning our halfcourt offense into a quarter court offense. When weve surrounded our big men with shooters and teams couldnt pack in the paint weve seen how effective the offense can be. The same people whining about having to go to small ball are the same people that were probably complaining 3 years ago when we ran into Texas A&M and their 2 big men and we got slaughtered because we had to answer for them. This system that everyone seems to think is outdated was in back to back title games 4 and 5 years ago and was in the mix for another one two years ago. You look at all 3 of those teams and the 2 biggest differences are those teams had multiple shooters and the big men could extend their range out to at least 15 feet. This year we had one reliable shooter and essentially 4 centers. As important as point guard is, having a legitimate “stretch” big plays just as important a role. Go back through every successful team weve had and look at the 4 position and the skillset. Marvin/Jawad both had stretch 4 skills. The Hansbrough/Thompson pair was essentially 2 power forwards, Zeller/Henson pair both had great mid range skills for bigs, Brice/Meeks same deal and having Luke Maye be a legit 3 point threat was key too
this year was a bad mix of personnel, Im not ready to burn Roy at the stake yet. Find legitimate point guards (not combo scorers) surround them with shooters on the wing, and hope whichever bigs that come back develop a reliable mid range game
side note having more versatile bigs will also help alot on the 3 point defense as well. Need to have at least 1 big capable of being able to switch at the top of the key