jgisland
Club Member
Be warned, this is long, I got carried away.
I read this blog post the other day about the “Spacing Effect” a shooter gives the offense. How shooters pull out defenders who could otherwise help on penetration or flood the paint for defense and rebounding. While this isn't groundbreaking basketball theory I immediately thought about CU, how much of CU’s offensive struggles are because of this, this lack of an outside shooter. So I went back and re-watched the Georgia and CSU games, it is amazing how quickly this became apparent. In the CSU game from the opening tip their PG (I refuse to learn his name) who was guarding Tomlinson would immediately double the post on every entry pass, leaving Nate open, this happened with the Mayor, Ski and Adams as well. They paid little attention to our guards roaming round outside, this completely clogs up the middle, prevents penetration and makes cutters and screens less effective. I have been harsh about Simba, but maybe his struggles are in large part due to the fact that he is being doubled every time he touches the ball. Dufault has played pretty well, but watch him in the post, he is nearly always doubled and has to work very hard to get to the rim. Levi’s presence on the court last season I think really helped open things up for Higgins and Burks and that is really lacking this year, teams always had to know where Levi was on the court.
There could be a dynamite shooter on this team just waiting to unleash their fury, but figuring that doesn’t happen right away what should CU do?
Pace – CU plays nearly right at the national average of pace. While I think the average pace factor will come down once conference play hits CU needs to push the pace and get out on the break. Dre, Ski, the Mayor and Chen have all showed the can finish in transition, so we just need to see more of it. This is Boyle’s style, so I am sure he is preaching this.
Motion Offense – While Boyle does employ a “motion offense” guys aren’t exactly running off of screens all over the place. It is more down screens and flashes to the high post then a true motion offense. I really think their needs to me more movement in the half court, guys end up standing around on the off side way too often.
I read this blog post the other day about the “Spacing Effect” a shooter gives the offense. How shooters pull out defenders who could otherwise help on penetration or flood the paint for defense and rebounding. While this isn't groundbreaking basketball theory I immediately thought about CU, how much of CU’s offensive struggles are because of this, this lack of an outside shooter. So I went back and re-watched the Georgia and CSU games, it is amazing how quickly this became apparent. In the CSU game from the opening tip their PG (I refuse to learn his name) who was guarding Tomlinson would immediately double the post on every entry pass, leaving Nate open, this happened with the Mayor, Ski and Adams as well. They paid little attention to our guards roaming round outside, this completely clogs up the middle, prevents penetration and makes cutters and screens less effective. I have been harsh about Simba, but maybe his struggles are in large part due to the fact that he is being doubled every time he touches the ball. Dufault has played pretty well, but watch him in the post, he is nearly always doubled and has to work very hard to get to the rim. Levi’s presence on the court last season I think really helped open things up for Higgins and Burks and that is really lacking this year, teams always had to know where Levi was on the court.
There could be a dynamite shooter on this team just waiting to unleash their fury, but figuring that doesn’t happen right away what should CU do?
Pace – CU plays nearly right at the national average of pace. While I think the average pace factor will come down once conference play hits CU needs to push the pace and get out on the break. Dre, Ski, the Mayor and Chen have all showed the can finish in transition, so we just need to see more of it. This is Boyle’s style, so I am sure he is preaching this.
Motion Offense – While Boyle does employ a “motion offense” guys aren’t exactly running off of screens all over the place. It is more down screens and flashes to the high post then a true motion offense. I really think their needs to me more movement in the half court, guys end up standing around on the off side way too often.
