While I think the talent gap is eaggerated, I don’t really see “coaching gap”. Given our personnel, we should be vulnerable to a half court, feed the post offense. We have covered up that weakness in personnel by trapping defense and weak side held. We have also been burned when teams beat the trap or get those second chances because we haven’t blocked out because of the weak side help. But I think that that is more eecution (either great eecution by our opponents or poor eecution on defense) than coaching. Similarly, given our personnel, we should be vulnerable to a 23 or match up zone, but we have consistently have had disciplined and effective offense schemes against those zones. That patience and discipline against the zone (more than we had under Jarvis or Penders) is a result of coaching.

Don’t get me wrong, I think we are the best team in the A10, and when we play to our potential one of the 25 best teams in country. It just seems like the hype of our “talent” advantage has gone to our heads. We win when we play smothering defense and create easy baskets. If we come out with less energy than the other team our weaknesses are eposed and we look average. I just hope we can learn that before our tournament hopes get away.
RE: The Talent Gap
2/24/2005 1:19:00 PM
Poster: country dan

Can I get an "Amen" from the congregation? Many people talk about well coached teams and point to zone defences and princeton offenses. This team isn't built for that. Its a team built for the fast break. They are "well coached" in that area. The problem comes when they can't rebound and therefore cant get out and run. Last night with Pops in foul trouble and Dollman pulling the focus of our big men toward the wing they struggled on the glass and were unable to get on the break. Maybe Hobbs should have taken that more into account but he can't go out there and do the rebounding himself. I think that the improvement that both Pops and Omar have made in their rebounding abilities is a sign that the coaching staff knows what it is doing.
RE: The Talent Gap
2/24/2005 1:42:00 PM
Poster: maypoman

We are probably more athletic than talented. When we play an inferior team, that athleticism alone allows us to blow them away. But in terms of basketball talent, I don't think we're the best because we don't play fundamental basketball. Sure Pinnock had a great dunk last night, but that certainly didn't make up for the other team's 3 pointers and putbacks because we didn't block out. It's nice to have alot of "gazelles" on the team, but that alone does not make for success.
RE: The Talent Gap
2/24/2005 3:29:00 PM
Poster: GW Cane

maypo is correct- this is NOT a very talented team. they are an athletic team. when we overmatch lesser programs we win. when we play teams with equal athleticism we lose. we miss dunks, miss free throws, miss layups/alley oops, throw the ball out of bounds, and have yet to figure out how to defend a three point shot. we STINK at fundamentals.
RE: The Talent Gap
2/24/2005 4:53:00 PM
Poster: DenverAlum03

I would have to agree with talent idea. In fact i think we hit the issue head on...that was until i started watching the MSU wisconsin game right now on espn. MSU looks very very good...and I keep saying to myself "how the hell did our GW team that played so shitty yesterday destroy a team that looks so good? " I just dont get it..our we bipolar?
RE: RE: The Talent Gap
2/24/2005 4:55:00 PM
Poster: DenverAlum03

are not our...sorry spelling goes after a few drinks...
RE: The Talent Gap
2/24/2005 6:14:00 PM
Poster: alumnus

JPW, I absolutely agree with you. The biggest problem we have is that when we can't impose our style of play on opponents, we don't have a strong force inside and our outside shooting disappears. This was obvious when avier destroyed us last year in the A-10 tournament, I don't know why it's such a shock now. For some reason, it pleases a lot of people here to anoint Coach Hobbs as an all-time great recruiter. Then everything that goes wrong in games has to be because he absolutely can't coach. Why is that? For some reason I think a lot of people on this site have never wanted him to succeed. And you know what, he is succeeding. Despite the fact he can't land an effective power player at center, and that the prized recruit who was supposed to provide outside shooting isn't doing that, we're still within reach of a 20-win season and an A-10 West title. The fact is, he and the team could have packed it in after the disheartening losses to Mass, Richmond, and avier. But somehow, instead of packing it in, they went on a 5-game winning streak. But of course, no coaching went into that (?). Instead of appreciating that, the people who don't like his coaching are willing to join in when some bozo from another school comes on here and shits on us. I've never been a big supporter of authority figures, but I've been driven into that camp this season by the people who are holding this coach to some ridiculous standard that few will ever hope to reach.
RE: The Talent Gap
2/24/2005 7:30:00 PM
Poster: Gandhi

Why can't Hobbs beat the zone when his old master Coach Calhoun knew eactly how to dismantle the best zones in the league? Did you see how UCONN easily beat Syracuse in 2003 when Syracuse won the national championship? Jimmy B said that UCONN was the only team that would have beat them in the tourny because Calhoun was the only one who knew how to attack the zone. Hint: it has nothing to do with 3 point shooting. He got pissed when Calhoun told everyone how to do it but stupid Gary Williams didn't listen out of ego and got crushed in the championship. Why doesn't Hobbs have any of Calhoun's tricks? It's so frustrating.
RE: The Talent Gap
2/25/2005 7:25:00 AM
Poster: mailvan

I personally like KH very much and desperately want him to succeed. My biggest criticism of his coaching is that there rarely seems to be a Plan B to try when Plan A isn't working. When we lose, it's usually because we only seem to know how to play one way, and if the opponent can figure out how to beat us, we fail to try a different defense, change the game's tempo, etc. This point was notably improved in the Temple and Richmond games. However, this game went right back to "we're going to win doing it one way or not at all."
RE: The Talent Gap
2/25/2005 8:53:00 AM
Poster: JPW

With all due respect Ghandi, I think that Hobbs and the team attack a 2-3 zone very well using the high post. We have had trouble with the less common zones like the 1-3-1 at WV or the triangle and 2 at Wake. We do seem to have trouble adjusting to a defense we're not epecting, like when Richmond played man. I don't really think it is an and O problem, but more of an oncourt recognition and confidence issue.
RE: The Talent Gap
2/25/2005 8:54:00 AM
Poster: JPW

With all due respect Ghandi, I think that Hobbs and the team attack a 2-3 zone very well using the high post. We have had trouble with the less common zones like the 1-3-1 at WV or the triangle and 2 at Wake. We do seem to have trouble adjusting to a defense we're not epecting, like when Richmond played man. I don't really think it is an and O problem, but more of an oncourt recognition and confidence issue.
RE: The Talent Gap
2/25/2005 11:02:00 AM
Poster: The Table

I like our high risk defense, but I also believe in Risk Management. There are teams we should beat playting straight up man to man. I think our core players are strong enough to play straight man. Turning up the wick should come when needed.
RE: The Talent Gap
2/25/2005 12:10:00 PM
Poster: mailvan

Wouldn't you think we can play every A10 team man-to-man and be just fine defensively?

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