Play at 78 rpm next year?

B

bierce

1,000+ Posts
Team will have a boatload of guards, some mid-sized forwards, Thompson, and two seniors with length but little production so far. Three of the guards have already shown they can be dynamic defenders in Div. 1 ball, and one more is coming to Austin with excellent reviews for his defense.

Maybe Chapman, Hill and Wangmene re-invent themselves over the summer. Maybe Thompson will be a dominating force at both ends. Maybe Bradley stays in the draft. Maybe Ward and Balbay don't recover from injuries. Maybe, but I don't know if any of those are likely.

If Bradley returns, and if Ward and Balbay don't have significant loss in lateral mobility, Texas's best lineups are likely to be short, athletic, and able to put immense pressure on opponents all over the floor, while having problems with post offense and defense. The conclusion should be obvious. With Wangmene, Chapman and Hill having not proven to be effective in the post on offense or defense, with the level of Thompson's play as a freshman being somewhat of an unknown, and with Johnson not having the length to be a dominating force in the paint on either end in a half court game, does Texas have a better option than to contest every inch of the 94 feet of floor on defense and turn every possession into a track meet on offense?

Of course, I never understood why that wasn't the strategy last year, particularly when Pittman disappeared mid-season.
 
Well, I think it is more of an issue of the defensive scheme than the offensive scheme, and the change to the offensive pace will result largely from attacking the ball all over the floor.
 
Barnes has had teams capable of going 94 feet before and rarely pressed, much less made it a strategy.

I won't hold my breath waiting for this.
 
I don't get why Barnes didn't do it last year or why he wouldn't this year. He used to love running and we were always known as a fast-paced team. It's weird for Ricky B to go away from that even when it's what fits the team best.
 
Barnes likes to play fast and physical, but he never seems to press or trap with any gusto. Our presses are token man presses designed to disrupt the ball handler. We tried real traps a few times early on last season, but then they disappeared.

The only conclusion I can come to, after seeing such press-friendly Horns teams collapse back into half court man-to-man or zone, is that Barnes hates giving up easy baskets too much to ever try such a strategy consistently. Ironically, last year's team seemed perfect to try a half court or full court trap defense. Instead, Barnes decided to circle the wagons. The end result was a defense that looked lost and created too few easy baskets to make up for the lapses in half court man-to-man.

I will be surprised if I see aggressive, risk-taking trap-and-rotate defense the way Roy Williams or coach K like to play. I say that because I just don't think Barnes likes to play that way with the potential of uncontested baskets. We can hope, I guess, considering the lineup for next year.
 
Hey grandpa, what is this 78 RPM of which you speak?
texasflag.gif
 
I understand why you would post this, but I don't agree that our team fits this style. First, if you can't stay in front of a man or rotate in the half court, you won't be able to do it full court.

I think Joseph, Ward, and Balby are perfect for it, but that's pretty much it. Maybe Johnson, but he isn't very long. For the press and trap system to work you have to be athletic, hard working, smart, and long. Those words don't describe a majority of our players. You also need long, lean, agile big men, hopefully ones that can change shots at the back of the press, or move well enough to trap at the top of the press. Not stiffs like Hill, Chapman, and Wangmene.

We already try to push the ball offensively, but I don't see us doing this defensively. I think it would be a disaster honestly. Maybe some half court trapping with certain lineups, but not even that would work if done long term.
 
Absent major reinvention over the summer, Hill and Chapman certainly don't fit the bill to run all over the floor and act as last line of defense in a press, but I wonder a bit about Wangmene. The point is that if Hill and Chapman aren't able to contribute significantly on either end, they won't play, and Texas will have Thompson and a bunch of 6'6"-6'7" guys playing in pairs with three guards on the floor. I fully expect to see three guards on the floor for 30 minutes a game next year if Bradley comes back.

Under those circumstances where would Texas be better off defensively? With Thompson, Wangmene, Johnson, Hamilton, and Williams trying to guard bigger opponents in a half-court game or trying to prevent them from getting the ball in a full court scramble?

I don't know, but if you labor under the assumption that those guys can't defend the basket, I don't see how things improve by asking them to defend the basket after allowing the offense to bring up the ball uncontested. To me, the solution is to prevent the other team from getting the ball anywhere near the basket. Yes, that will lead to plenty of layups and dunks opportunities for the opponents, but it's not like we didn't see a lot of those late last year, anyway.

Early last year, we could see Bradley and Balbay playing two man pressure and make the opponents burn up 20 seconds to get the ball to the three point circle. We could see their instincts (and briefly those for Ward) in anticipating passes and getting steals. If Bradley comes back, the defensive ability and depth at guard are the strongest assets the team has. Might as well maximize those assets.
 
RB has a ferrari but he leaves it in 2nd gear. If you're not going to coach them, at least turn them loose. Do a Calipari without all the slimy infractions.
 
Bierce, I understand your thought process and I agree with it in areas. I just think the full court man with Balbay, Joseph, Ward, and possibly Bradley would be far more effective than asking our guys to trap and rotate. I could possibly see a lineup of Johnson on the ball, Balbay and Joseph up front, Ward/Bradley in the middle, and Thomson in the back. But that is 5-6 guys out of 13.
 
Let's discuss lineups, assuming AB leaves. Do most of you want CJ at point and JCB or Ward off the ball? I think Johnson is set in stone at the "four" and my god hopefully that applies to Thompson at the "five." A big lineup with Jordan at the off guard would need to be zone defense because he's such a lackluster on-ball defender.

I think this sounds best:

PG: Cory Joseph
SG: J'Covan Brown
SF: Jordan Hamilton
F: Gary Johnson
F: Tristan Thompson

The best thing about the lineup has to be offense. Every guy can get his own shot, and we'd have good-great shooting depending on confidence. Penetration wouldn't be a factor, and that would likely be one of the better ball-handling teams in the country. All five guys could lead the break, essentially, although I'd prefer not to see Gary doing it.

Defense...eh. Cory is a great defender, and takes is personally a la AB. JCB, I think, is good on the ball when he is feeling it. I.e. he plays harder when he's doing well on offense. Jordan...well he's long and can strip people, plus he doesn't pick up many fouls. Gary is not a great post defender, but TT is very good and is an excellent shot blocker as well. Defense all-around would not be great, so I doubt we'll see Rick employ this as the starting lineup. Thoughts?
 
Going on what Barnes likes and past rotations I would expect to see

PG- Balbay
SG- Ward
SF- Hamilton
PF- Johnson
C- Thompson

I think Barnes would rather put another guy at the 3 for Hamilton, but can't b/c of our lack of size at the 4. The obvious problem with this is offense.

What I would like our lineup to look like:

PG- Joseph/Balbay/Lucas
SG- Brown/Ward
SF- Hamilton/Williams
PF- Johnson/Chapman
C- Thompson/Wangmene/Hill

The obvious problem with this is defense. Brown and Hamilton can't guard anyone. I just like the idea of these guys being REALLY tough to guard on offense, and then bringing in Ward and Balbay to wear people down with their pressure.

I still won't get very excited about this team until we sign another PF that can rebound and block shots, while providing at least some offense.
 
When the wheels started to come off last year, I actually suggested us changing to an up tempo (40 minutes of hell) game plan. And, that may still be our best option for next year.

Basically, let 4 guys wreak havoc as our opponent attempts to bring the ball up and leave one of our bigs (Champion, Hill, Wangmene) back in the lane to swat at anything that gets by our press.

Let our most of our offense come off turnovers and fast breaks - because we are gonna suck in a half-court offense.
 
J'covan Brown is too talented not to start. He will be in the starting lineup unless his attitude keeps him out of it. He is our best offensive guard, and one of our best passers. With all of the hype Avery Bradley had coming into last year, I think Brown had the better overall season. But attitude and grades will determine whether Brown reaches his potential. Hope he can walk the line.
 
Brown may be talented, but he didn't play worth a damn last year with non-existent defense, poor shooting, next to no dribble penetration, and seemingly no desire to push the ball up the floor. Brown's idea of a fast break was to take the ball to the three point circle and flip it behind his back to someone behind him. His idea of a good pass is a behind the back bounce pass to someone on the perimeter.

I wouldn't start Brown until he shows devotion to defense and learns how to move both with and without the ball to create opportunities instead of floating around the perimeter. He has talent, but he needs to concentrate, make better decisions, and use his legs more.
 
Barnes is Barnes unless he has an epiphany and becomes offensive minded. I do not think that will happen.

Barnes will go with defense just like last season no matter what is going on.

If Dog is 90 % back from his injury and ready to run the point , I believe that Barnes starts him at PG.

Balbay defense and experience,
Joseph at the SG another ball handler and defense,
Hamilton SF /PF
Johnson PF/ SF
Thompson C/ PF

The 3-4-5 spots will all play different positions when Barnes goes to the 3 headed player on the bench .

When Dog goes out Joseph slides to the 1 and Brown is the SG. If Brown does not eat himself to the end of the bench.

Balbay, Joseph, Hamilton, Tristan, Johnson, Ward, will play a lot of minutes per game. Brown , Chapman, Hill,Wang will play less then 7-8 minutes per game.

I hope that Barnes has a rotation of 7-8 players that plays most of the game and 2-3 players that will play spot minutes due to fouls and for rest times .
We will see. I do not expect anything new from Barnes. Rinse, dry and repeat.
 
3ball - betting the success of our half-court offense on the pop-roll of two true freshmen. Sorry, I'm not counting on it.

Further, from what I've heard, Tristan isn't a polished weapon on offense. More of a work in progress, relying on athletism. So, an uptempo style amay be a better use of his skills.

Finally, by half court offense, I meant an actual offense - with plays, movement, .... and unless I"m mistaken Barnes is still our head coach.

I'll stand by my statement. we're likely to suck in the half-court. So, we need to be more up tempo.
 
I'm not betting on our half court offense being better just because of Joseph and Thompson being good in the pick and roll/pop. It'll be better because:
Balbay and Mason won't be on the court at the same time. Dex won't clog the paint.
Brown and Hamilton will be a year older and hopefully less selfish.
Joseph can shoot.
We can put 5 people on the offensive end that are tough to guard instead of 3.

Also, our team avg. 81.2 ppg last season so they were either fast paced or very good in the half-court. I'll agree that it was the later, but that didn't require them to full-court press. Barnes has always liked to push the ball.

I'll stick with my opinion that we will be a lot better in the half court. We may not have the same type of talent, but I think the talent we will have fits together better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top