...and briefly, this was about what I wanted to see vs what I actually saw.
Look, after the most recent debacle, I'll get the negative stuff out of the way first, which pretty much encompassed the whole second half:
- the encouraging defensive effort from the first half went south.
- seemingly everyone forgot how to finish at the rim
- Press Offense execution was pathetic. I dunno how many times I've posted this, but the Carolina Press-O is the best ever invented. It's beautiful in geometric elegance but you can teach it to a Middle School team. Show 1-3-1 to the ball, hit the Big in the middle of that, who catches and immediately looks opposite. All ya hafta do is make crisp flashes and crisp passes and don't hesitate and the worst you're gonna get is a Secondary Break opportunity. We did none of that well.
OK, anyway... after a slow start, there were actually some things to be encouraged by in the first half. But it took a while --- in the opening minutes we got a Fast Break opportunity in which RJ put his head down, ignored the easy loop pass to Garcia and proceeded to get his shot blocked --- we cleaned up the miss, but here we go again. Midway thru the half however, some things started to look a bit better:
- Our 20 defense looked a bit more like 22 with better effort and more challenge in the passing lanes. Also saw improved baseline help.
- I'm also noticing an emphasis on blocking out, which is helping our defensive rebounding.
- Most encouragingly, midway thru the first half we seemed to rediscover Carolina offensive principals. We moved the ball with the pass instead of the dribble, pitched ahead, and actually swung the rock on the Secondary. The resulting good shot opportunities predictably followed.
I'll say it straight-up, this spell of actual Carolina basketball happened with Caleb at the point, who was making a concerted effort to space the floor and facilitate (I would invite doubters to go re-watch that stretch). That just needs to be the default. RJ is a scorer, but as a PG it's like Nate Britt all over again, i.e., he's never seen a dribble he won't take.
Finally, Leaky did some nice things tonight, but son, you're 6'8 --- stop finessing everything at the danged rim. And I hate to say it, but Dawson is just soft at this stage. He needs to use the additional practice time coming up to learn to finish from the block.
Anyway, I wished for more, but at least there were moments. That said, between now and Dec. 1 we need to reset and try to figure out what we're gonna be about as a team...
Look, after the most recent debacle, I'll get the negative stuff out of the way first, which pretty much encompassed the whole second half:
- the encouraging defensive effort from the first half went south.
- seemingly everyone forgot how to finish at the rim
- Press Offense execution was pathetic. I dunno how many times I've posted this, but the Carolina Press-O is the best ever invented. It's beautiful in geometric elegance but you can teach it to a Middle School team. Show 1-3-1 to the ball, hit the Big in the middle of that, who catches and immediately looks opposite. All ya hafta do is make crisp flashes and crisp passes and don't hesitate and the worst you're gonna get is a Secondary Break opportunity. We did none of that well.
OK, anyway... after a slow start, there were actually some things to be encouraged by in the first half. But it took a while --- in the opening minutes we got a Fast Break opportunity in which RJ put his head down, ignored the easy loop pass to Garcia and proceeded to get his shot blocked --- we cleaned up the miss, but here we go again. Midway thru the half however, some things started to look a bit better:
- Our 20 defense looked a bit more like 22 with better effort and more challenge in the passing lanes. Also saw improved baseline help.
- I'm also noticing an emphasis on blocking out, which is helping our defensive rebounding.
- Most encouragingly, midway thru the first half we seemed to rediscover Carolina offensive principals. We moved the ball with the pass instead of the dribble, pitched ahead, and actually swung the rock on the Secondary. The resulting good shot opportunities predictably followed.
I'll say it straight-up, this spell of actual Carolina basketball happened with Caleb at the point, who was making a concerted effort to space the floor and facilitate (I would invite doubters to go re-watch that stretch). That just needs to be the default. RJ is a scorer, but as a PG it's like Nate Britt all over again, i.e., he's never seen a dribble he won't take.
Finally, Leaky did some nice things tonight, but son, you're 6'8 --- stop finessing everything at the danged rim. And I hate to say it, but Dawson is just soft at this stage. He needs to use the additional practice time coming up to learn to finish from the block.
Anyway, I wished for more, but at least there were moments. That said, between now and Dec. 1 we need to reset and try to figure out what we're gonna be about as a team...
