Sooner04
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 15, 2009
- Messages
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I ask because I had a real hard time finding good offensive ball in the NCAA Tournament. Butler and West Virginia had two of the worst shooting performances in NCAA history during their runs to Indianapolis and both make the Final Four. Butler has huge scoring droughts in both of their games over the weekend yet win one and come within an eyelash of winning the other.
I'm no basketball zen master or anything, but I think I've got a pretty good feel for what I see. And what I see is not good defense, it's bad offense. Purdue's got the ball in a tie game against eATMe with the clock running out. There are no screens, there are no cuts. Just a guy dribbling up top, and he ends up falling down and no shot is even attempted.
It seems like more and more coaches are being hired who are slaves to defense and neglect anything that resembles an intelligent offense. I'm ALL FOR good defense, but I'd like to see some guys make some shots. In my opinion, you can take any good athlete and turn him into a good defender, but a great offensive game is more of a blessing. That's why Bruce Bowen can be called a lockdown defender while hitting about 40% of his free throws. Defense can be taught, but the blessing, the gifts, they come from upon high when it comes to putting the ball into the hoop.
The NBA and the NCAA game are two different animals, but it seems to me that NCAA coaches are trying to implement parts of the NBA game into the college level. All it's doing is mucking things up. I'm seeing more isolations than ever, but that doesn't appear to be working. The shot clock is longer and the lane is more narrow. There's no room to operate down there.
Butler came within a Hayward fadeaway of having the lead with five seconds to go. That's remarkable, but even more remarkable is how they got there by throwing up nothing but bricks. Observe:
Game 1: 23/50 (46.0%)
Game 2: 18/50 (36.0%)
Game 3: 21/52 (40.4%)
Game 4: 21/46 (45.7%)
Game 5: 15/49 (30.6%)
Game 6: 20/61 (32.8%)
That's 118/308 for 38.3%. They missed 75 of their 110 shots in the two Final Four games and damn near won the championship. How is that possible?
Will we ever see really good offensive teams again? Players who can hit shots in both the mid-range and from deep? I'm not advocating a return to the "ole" mindset where we hurry you into a shot so we can get the ball back. I'd just like to see some guys put the ball in the bucket for a change.
Seems like those days are a distant memory.
I'm no basketball zen master or anything, but I think I've got a pretty good feel for what I see. And what I see is not good defense, it's bad offense. Purdue's got the ball in a tie game against eATMe with the clock running out. There are no screens, there are no cuts. Just a guy dribbling up top, and he ends up falling down and no shot is even attempted.
It seems like more and more coaches are being hired who are slaves to defense and neglect anything that resembles an intelligent offense. I'm ALL FOR good defense, but I'd like to see some guys make some shots. In my opinion, you can take any good athlete and turn him into a good defender, but a great offensive game is more of a blessing. That's why Bruce Bowen can be called a lockdown defender while hitting about 40% of his free throws. Defense can be taught, but the blessing, the gifts, they come from upon high when it comes to putting the ball into the hoop.
The NBA and the NCAA game are two different animals, but it seems to me that NCAA coaches are trying to implement parts of the NBA game into the college level. All it's doing is mucking things up. I'm seeing more isolations than ever, but that doesn't appear to be working. The shot clock is longer and the lane is more narrow. There's no room to operate down there.
Butler came within a Hayward fadeaway of having the lead with five seconds to go. That's remarkable, but even more remarkable is how they got there by throwing up nothing but bricks. Observe:
Game 1: 23/50 (46.0%)
Game 2: 18/50 (36.0%)
Game 3: 21/52 (40.4%)
Game 4: 21/46 (45.7%)
Game 5: 15/49 (30.6%)
Game 6: 20/61 (32.8%)
That's 118/308 for 38.3%. They missed 75 of their 110 shots in the two Final Four games and damn near won the championship. How is that possible?
Will we ever see really good offensive teams again? Players who can hit shots in both the mid-range and from deep? I'm not advocating a return to the "ole" mindset where we hurry you into a shot so we can get the ball back. I'd just like to see some guys put the ball in the bucket for a change.
Seems like those days are a distant memory.