greekdeac2011
Well-known member
What on earth is going on?? I don't even know if [redacted] stooped to this level
We are in a huge conundrum here folks, Manning has had enough time and needs to go YET who here wants to see Wellman hire another basketball coach? I sure don't
12 years ago?!
What on earth is going on?? I don't even know if [redacted] stooped to this level
I’m not saying we should be good or that we have players in the right places, but, we should have enough talent any given year to easily beat the likes of Liberty and Drake.
I know others have said this, but watching last night I finally understand why Manning plays such weird (ie terrible) rotations early in the season. I think it is because he always adjusts what we do based on what the other team is doing (rather than dictating). This tends to be more dramatic in non-conference since its usually smaller teams etc.
Drake played basically 4 guards and a "center." Their strategy with each possession was to push it hard up floor and try to beat our bigs. If not, they then worked it around and around until they finally got a 3 point shot on a smaller guard or backdoor cut etc late in shot clock.
Manning felt comfortable playing Moore/Sarr on their "center" since that player couldn't really shoot, hence all of the extra minutes. However, he essentially played 4 guards the entire game. This included large stretches where Chaundee was 2nd tallest player. I'm sure the thinking was that playing guards was best way to limit their fast breaks and 3 point shots. Manning went into season thinking our guards were our best players (maybe they are) so one can see how he could fall into this trap.
However, playing 4 guards actually hurt us way more than it "helped" contain their offense:
1. A huge % of the made 3s were directly shot over Wilbeken. Even when he closes out reasonably he is just too easy to shoot over. I can't for the life of me understand why Manning can't see this with his own eyes or at minimum look at the stats. He is truly having an awful senior year, but this problem has always been there.
2. Many of the 3s were shot with a guard in reasonable position---they were just shot over a 5'10"-6'2" player.
3. Once again our rebounding was nowhere near where it should have been---mainly because Moore is only player over 6'5" and often only other player over 6"3". They got multiple second chance points and we rarely had easy put backs on offensive side. We literally should have been able to chuck up shots in the lane and feasted with offensive rebounds (like the Ish/Farouq team used to do).
Lastly, I don't think Manning is a horrible coach. But, I think his chosen strategy for this year has failed miserably. He has stayed the course through 3 games, will he make dramatic changes?
I would play Crawford, Woods, Brown, Sarr, and Moore together. Don't care if we get beat a few times. We force other team to deal with two 7 footers. For once be the team dictating. Never have more than 2 guards in game. Play Melo/Mitchell/Okoke/SJM so that we always have length at PF/C