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What are the forseable improvements that our team needs to be successful this upcoming season??

Seven?

ZiggyZoomba wrote:Seven?

Yeah, seven. No doubt about that.

Also, a healthy Eric Marcshall who doesn't commit a foul every 2 damned minutes. Same for Otis Pork.

Hopefully, Jak hit the weight room and got some upper body strength. He'll execute more consistently with added muscle.

Hopefully, Miller found a cave in the mountains of Tibet and meditated long and hard on why his free throw shooting is so shitty. If he doesn't improve big time, he'll costs us games this year.

It'd be nice if Madlock shows up a lot less green this year. Larson's a hazard to himself and others out there.

Moten came along nicely last year. Maybe this year he'll mix in a few rebounds and loose balls.

BleedOrange wrote:
Hopefully, Miller found a cave in the mountains of Tibet and meditated long and hard on why his free throw shooting is so shitty. If he doesn't improve big time, he'll costs us games this year.

Although I think Nate is first team all MAC this year, you sir, hit the nail on the head.

1) We need to shoot better, whether its through improved mechanics, getting better shots or taking better shots. I read an article where former Kent coach Jim Christian credited much of their success to their emphasis on shooting. As a means of comparison, they were 37% from 3 while we were 31% over the course of the season. We beat Kent not so coincidentally when shooting 52% from 3 point range. I know Coach Orr is fond of saying that your shooting percentage shouldn't determine your winning percentage, but it certainly doesn't hurt to actually make shots at a decent clip.

2) We need to play more people and make more use of our bench. Division I basketball allows for 13 scholarship players per year. Kent had ten players averaging double digit minutes, Akron had nine and we had just seven. We need someone to step up and play some quality minutes whether it's one of the returnees or an incoming freshman.

JoeFalcon wrote: 2) We need to play more people and make more use of our bench. Division I basketball allows for 13 scholarship players per year. Kent had ten players averaging double digit minutes, Akron had nine and we had just seven. We need someone to step up and play some quality minutes whether it's one of the returnees or an incoming freshman.

Bobby Knight had a quote that went something like this,

"If you are playing 10 guys, you don't have 5 that are any good."

Playing lots of guys is fine.....if you have the players to do it. BG simply did not have 10 players good enough to get double digit minutes. It is also a coaching philosophy thing. Being from Dayton Brian Gregory has a rotation where he uses 9-10 guys A LOT. Ask UD fans if they like it....it will be a resounding no.

Falcon137 wrote: Bobby Knight had a quote that went something like this,

"If you are playing 10 guys, you don't have 5 that are any good."

Playing lots of guys is fine.....if you have the players to do it. BG simply did not have 10 players good enough to get double digit minutes. It is also a coaching philosophy thing. Being from Dayton Brian Gregory has a rotation where he uses 9-10 guys A LOT. Ask UD fans if they like it....it will be a resounding no.

Bobby Knight? We've been there, done that. There's certainly coaches who prefer a short bench like Coach K or Jim Boeheim, Orr's mentor at Syracuse. There's just as many who are happy to send in players in waves if they have capable personnel, like Rick Pitino and Bill Self.

You've got to have the players, and I'm hoping a year of improvement and development from the returning players combined with the incoming recruits will give us a degree of depth that was missing last year. Coach Orr even admitted the heavy minutes the starters had to shoulder took their toll down the stretch as evidenced by the last three games.

Playing lots of guys is fine, but you can't play 10 guys double figure minutes. You lose so much flow having a set rotation all the time and if 10 guys get that many minutes it comes down to that. Best case scenario is an 8 man rotation with your number 9 guy getting spot minutes. Deep benches are good for two things, injuries and practice.

Polk-I hope he can start using his size a little better and work on his lateral movement.
Larson-He is our Iron Man he takes charges and block shots. I hope this year he can get comfortable scoring around the basket a little more. We saw in the Peggy Cronin Classic last season that he has the ability to score. I just hope he plays with a little more edge this season.
Clements-With him it is bittersweet. He is a high percent free throw shooter and turnover prone. There were some games when he was awesome and some when he was lost. There were also times when he played around with the ball a little too much. I hope this year he improves his decision making.
Sims- I hope he can gain the coaches confidence this year to get more minutes. He showed some flashes of good production last year. One thing about him is that he can jump out the roof but doesn't use his ability. Just needs to gain some confidence.
Moten-Build off last season. Keep that money ball coming.
Miller-Work on free throw percentage and play with in the offense. At times he went one on one too many times and that caused alot of turnovers last season. And those turnovers usually turned into transition points. I have no problem with him exploiting mismatches just don't do in a crowd of defenders.
Jo Jak-Continue to improve at the PG spot. He needs to see the floor a little better hopefully he will do that this year. Get stronger.
Knight-Play with that assasin mentality ala Kobe Bryant. He showed off his scoring ability on plenty of occassions last season. TAKE CONTROL MR. KNIGHT PLEEEEASE!!!
Marschall-Have not seen him play before.
Madlock-Get stronger and don't look so lost.
Brown-Add some depth at the point guard position so Clements can play the two. Get penatration to work the defense.
Thomas-Heard he was a great shooter. Him and Moten in at the same time should give defenses fits.
Calhoun-Has not even shown up yet????

Falcon137 wrote:

JoeFalcon wrote: 2) We need to play more people and make more use of our bench. Division I basketball allows for 13 scholarship players per year. Kent had ten players averaging double digit minutes, Akron had nine and we had just seven. We need someone to step up and play some quality minutes whether it's one of the returnees or an incoming freshman.

Bobby Knight had a quote that went something like this,

"If you are playing 10 guys, you don't have 5 that are any good."

Playing lots of guys is fine.....if you have the players to do it. BG simply did not have 10 players good enough to get double digit minutes. It is also a coaching philosophy thing. Being from Dayton Brian Gregory has a rotation where he uses 9-10 guys A LOT. Ask UD fans if they like it....it will be a resounding no.

That approach worked for Knight at Indiana. DD followed Knight's advice and it fricken killed us in 2 ways. First, we seemed to always run out of gas as team in February. When injuries, fatigue, and foul trouble kicked in, we were always compromised. Second, good freshmen didn't get off the bench, so they'd get pissed and transfer.

If you're not playing 9-10 guys, you don't have enough good players.

$.02

It really is a personal preference thing. I'm not familair enough with Seton Hall to know what coach Orr's preference is. But last year he didn't have the horses to play that kind of system.