Lon's Approach to Tempo

[cowboysooner]

Love Lon, but I'm not sure his approach to slow tempo works (could be the kids and not lon).

When one team is slowing the tempo and taking 30 seconds an offensive possession and double that when they get an offensive rebound, I just don't think you try and run against them. If you do, you end up spending the entire game playing defense.

I would think you would grind with them until you get a big enough lead that the score necessitates that they speed up.

Last night, the slower they got on offense, the quicker the kids wanted to play on offense. Makes for playing 2/3 of the game on defense.

I'm not a coach, for those of you that are, I would like to know about how coaches think about this issue. Pros and cons. Never to old to learn.

 

[chuckb]

The players definitely have to get used to playing defense for the entire shot clock. TCU will absolutely give them fits if they don't and games tend to slow down, not speed up, as they get toward the end. If the team can't defend for 30 seconds, they're going to have a difficult time winning tough, close games late.

 

[Boomer!Sooner!]

I was curious to see when a team would do this against us. It only works if the team is hitting shots and they couldn't miss in the first half leading to the game being close. So credit to them. I am not sure we will see a ton of teams do this, but definitely a possibility.

I think as a team with tempo, you have to keep it and play your game. I was hoping to see us press and trap more last night to try to speed them up. Doolittle would have been a game changer last night pressing. If we would have been able to go up 10-15 points I think they would have stopped doing what they were doing because there is no way they would have ever caught up.

 

[BCSooners]

Love Lon, but I'm not sure his approach to slow tempo works (could be the kids and not lon).

When one team is slowing the tempo and taking 30 seconds an offensive possession and double that when they get an offensive rebound, I just don't think you try and run against them. If you do, you end up spending the entire game playing defense.

I would think you would grind with them until you get a big enough lead that the score necessitates that they speed up.

Last night, the slower they got on offense, the quicker the kids wanted to play on offense. Makes for playing 2/3 of the game on defense.

I'm not a coach, for those of you that are, I would like to know about how coaches think about this issue. Pros and cons. Never to old to learn.

Play your game, don't play to the other teams strengths. If they tried to grind with them OU would have more than likely been out of sync and with no post presence on offense it wouldn't have been good imo.

 

[CoachTalk]

Love Lon, but I'm not sure his approach to slow tempo works (could be the kids and not lon).

When one team is slowing the tempo and taking 30 seconds an offensive possession and double that when they get an offensive rebound, I just don't think you try and run against them. If you do, you end up spending the entire game playing defense.

I would think you would grind with them until you get a big enough lead that the score necessitates that they speed up.

Last night, the slower they got on offense, the quicker the kids wanted to play on offense. Makes for playing 2/3 of the game on defense.

I'm not a coach, for those of you that are, I would like to know about how coaches think about this issue. Pros and cons. Never to old to learn.

Here is my take. We play fast as a team. Almost 70 a game for HS Boys basektball.

Other teams want to try and slow and grind us. We dont want the other team to dictate tempo. If we slow it down, that doesnt suit us as a team and advantage to the opponent.

Id assume LK and staff doesnt want 50-60ppg, they want to outscore others, and make them play our game. We arent a half court team. Staff has recruited athletes to get out and run and play fast.

 

[CoachTalk]

Play your game, don't play to the other teams strengths. If they tried to grind with them OU would have more than likely been out of sync and with no post presence on offense it wouldn't have been good imo.

Winner!

 

[coolm]

I wouldnt try to milk the clock on them and match them. not at all. BUT, that said, you still have to value possessions more with their slow it down tempo imposed. Fewer possessions means you can't afford t/o's. But that is the key on the other side as well ... THEY also can't afford t/o's. So I limit the long downcourt passes unless it's a clear breakaway and overplay the passing lanes even more. This should pick up our number of possessions, give us a chance for more breaks, and somewhat negate the stifling of our athletic advantage they accrue by slowing it down.

It takes some maturity. Thats why they could get away with it. Trae and others will see later on if this is done to be a tad more selective in their long outlet passes and cheat a bit more off the weak side.

 

[CoachTalk]

I wouldnt try to milk the clock on them and match them. not at all. BUT, that said, you still have to value possessions more with their slow it down tempo imposed. Fewer possessions means you can't afford t/o's. But that is the key on the other side as well ... THEY also can't afford t/o's. So I limit the long downcourt passes unless it's a clear breakaway and overplay the passing lanes even more. This should pick up our number of possessions, give us a chance for more breaks, and somewhat negate the stifling of our athletic advantage they accrue by slowing it down.

It takes some maturity. Thats why they could get away with it. Trae and others will see later on if this is done to be a tad more selective in their long outlet passes and cheat a bit more off the weak side.

Dont think you understand. We arent going to slow the pace. Thats not how this team is built.
Of course you should value the ball, but if we slow down then that does negate what the staff is trying to do.

Make them speed up and take shots they normally dont take

 

[oudna]

Play fast

I think trying to press UNT might have helped early

 

[Stikboy]

If OU is so hell bent on tempo then they need to press more. That's really the only way to force the issue. Allowing teams to walk the ball up uncontested isn't going to work.

 

[BCSooners]

If OU is so hell bent on tempo then they need to press more. That's really the only way to force the issue. Allowing teams to walk the ball up uncontested isn't going to work.

You really don't have to press since there is a shot clock, maybe pressure some in the full court but don't sell out on it. If you over pressure good grind out teams then they'll shoot layups & open shots all night. With a shot clock just let them shoot a bad shot once the clock goes down.

Of course in Oklahoma high school you have to press & trap more bc there is no shot clock.

 

[Stikboy]

You really don't have to press since there is a shot clock, maybe pressure some in the full court but don't sell out on it. If you over pressure good grind out teams then they'll shoot layups & open shots all night. With a shot clock just let them shoot a bad shot once the clock goes down.

Of course in Oklahoma high school you have to press & trap more bc there is no shot clock.

OU tried that last night and allowed a by most accounts terrible team to hang around at home. OU isn't good at half court defense either.

 

[BigDLamb]

Play your game, don't play to the other teams strengths. If they tried to grind with them OU would have more than likely been out of sync and with no post presence on offense it wouldn't have been good imo.

This 100%

 

[coolm]

Dont think you understand. We arent going to slow the pace. Thats not how this team is built.
Of course you should value the ball, but if we slow down then that does negate what the staff is trying to do.

Make them speed up and take shots they normally dont take

I certainly do understand. I wasn't saying to slow ourselves down at all. I was saying to value the possessions more because we lost 3 on horrid outlet passes. Coach said the same thing. I'm not suggesting we slow down though. Offensively we play our game and defensively overplay the lanes a bit more to gain a few more possessions. thats all I am saying. I do understand.

 

[SoonerinNC]

The way NT played last night is exactly why some mid-major teams upset the favorites in the NCAA tournament. Shorten the game and if you can hit the shots then you have a chance. If you try to run against the more athletic teams no chance.

I thought our defense lacked intensity in the first half last night. Of course they were insanely hot. Second half a different story and their shooting percentage dropped from over 50% to around 30%.

We did make some bad down court passes and particularly to the rim for dunks. On the whole not a bad game re turnovers. I am still concerned that our offense relies too much on Trae. Also we tend to lose defensive control once the ball gets inside. I think some of that is because we are trying to block so many shots. Sometimes it is better to maintain a tough position with hands up and do a good job of weakside adjustments. That provides a much better rebounding position than if everyone is flying through the air to block a shot.

 

[tooney]

The way NT played last night is exactly why some mid-major teams upset the favorites in the NCAA tournament. Shorten the game and if you can hit the shots then you have a chance. If you try to run against the more athletic teams no chance.

I thought our defense lacked intensity in the first half last night. Of course they were insanely hot. Second half a different story and their shooting percentage dropped from over 50% to around 30%.

We did make some bad down court passes and particularly to the rim for dunks. On the whole not a bad game re turnovers. I am still concerned that our offense relies too much on Trae. Also we tend to lose defensive control once the ball gets inside. I think some of that is because we are trying to block so many shots. Sometimes it is better to maintain a tough position with hands up and do a good job of weakside adjustments. That provides a much better rebounding position than if everyone is flying through the air to block a shot.

I agree.....it seemed like our bigs would try to help a teammate who was guarding a drive to the basket by trying to block the guy's shot; they missed the block and the guy they were supposed to be guarding would rebound and hit the follow. I think that happened three or four times last night.

And I agree that we need to play uptempo.....it means most of the time, the ball is going to be with the pg. You slow the game down.....and it takes the ball away from the best decision maker on the floor.

This team is best when TY has the ball....he's taken over the last two games.
The rest of the team needs to learn how to hit a jump shot. Our wings have been terrible lately. And Brady is going to need to start hitting his shots if we have any chance.

JMO

 

[pnkranger]

I don't know that the answer is to press more, but I do think the answer is:

stick with your guns offensively and ratchet up the on ball pressure to keep it moving. Letting a guy stand still with the ball at halfcourt for 12 seconds is what kills you. Make them move the ball and increase the opportunities for them to make mistakes, which allows us to push tempo (and requires them to do the same to keep up).

It was a great game because Trae had to make some adjustments to playing a halfcourt game. He responded well, which is a great sign.

 

[BCSooners]

OU tried that last night and allowed a by most accounts terrible team to hang around at home. OU isn't good at half court defense either.

Then they need to shore up their halfcourt defense. Not going to be able to press good teams, most teams actually pressure full court to slow the other team down.