Alpha v. beta

[jsglow]

We touched on it in the SOTG thread about how Sammy and Joey played well enough to win the award yesterday.  Without reviewing all the tape from the first 4 games, I'm sensing that both have given us solid and steady performance to date.  Is Joey still developing?  Of course.  And he's making some mistakes too.  But the upside is clearly there and he's going to be a very effective player.  The thing that I notice about both is that they perform best in a quieter 'beta' role.  And they do their best work when there's an 'alpha' or two to initiate the process.  Last year that was mostly crazy man Rowsey with a little Markus thrown in.  And Wojo's challenge was to keep just enough strings on Rowsey to maximize his positive impact without letting his negative traits overwhelm the team.

Markus is an alpha.  But if 4 games are a decent sample size, much of his superman power melts away when he's playing out of position at the #1.  When that happens, guys stand around and watch waiting for something to happen and Markus, sensing that he better do something at least, goes a bit hero.  A blind man could literally see it. 

Chart had been the 'alpha' at Fordham but this is a big step up and these are the best players he's ever dressed with so he's feeling discombobulated in his role, initially trying to hard, and being all early season Carlino/Reinhart that we remember so well.  But for our Warriors to be successful, he has to assume some of that alpha responsibility here.  I sincerely hope his teammates and coach recognize that and help him gain the confidence necessary to fill the role, especially on the offensive end.  We'll be a much better team if he can.  For 12 minutes yesterday, we got to see that potential of what we can and must become.

Discuss, without citing your Junior High basketball exploits.   

[tower912]

Wojo keeps saying that the strength of this team is the team.    Which I believe his shorthand way of saying much of what you are saying.     The team plays best offensively when the ball moves and 'finds the best shot'.      Hero ball stops that from happening.     The Hauser boys are both complete offensive players with the exception of speed.    So, both do best catching the ball with the defender recovering or isolated in the wide post.      Neither drives from the 3 pt line to the basket particularly well.

The 12 minute stretch that won the game featured ball movement, player movement and team ball.     Combining Wojo's two catchphrases for the year.     The strength was the team, and the ball found the best shot. 

[NotAnAlum]

Your theory of Alpha and Beta does have some validity.  However I think its more about ball handling.  Sam and Joey and for that matter most of the guys on our team need to get the ball in scoring position to score.  They can't create their own shoot or get to the basket on their own. (Sam can in certain situations but he simply doesn't have the handle to beat his man at the 3 point line and get all the way to the rim).  Marcus can do that BUT once he is on his way to the rim, he is going to the rim period.  He almost never passes from a drive.  We're missing the Rowsey who when he was good could dribble through the defense to get it moving and then hit guys in scoring position.  With Elliott hurt (and I'm not sure he can do it anyway) there are 2 guys with the handle capable of dribbling in traffic; Joe C and Sacar.  So this team needs to have one of those guys on the floor in any situations where the defense is going to pressure the ball and play our guys tight.  And Sacar has got to be more assertive in the offense.  He is a 4 year junior.  Play like you know the system as you should and create offense for yourself and for others.(ie Pass off the drive)  Beyond that our team has to get better at crisp passing and moving without the ball to create situations where guys get open in scoring position VIA THE PASS.  So right now you have the 2 Hausers playing well if gotten the ball, Marcus who needs to be on the court a lot; you need a center and that leaves only one other position and it must be a ball handler.(until we become a great passing team).  I think its no accident that was the team that was on the floor when yesterday's game was won.  So that is the issue.  I doubt Cain or Bailey or anyone else is suddenly going to become a great ball handler.  Joe C has to play well and we've got to get better at ball movement via the pass.

[Nukem2]

Wojo keeps saying that the strength of this team is the team.    Which I believe his shorthand way of saying much of what you are saying.     The team plays best offensively when the ball moves and 'finds the best shot'.      Hero ball stops that from happening.     The Hauser boys are both complete offensive players with the exception of speed.    So, both do best catching the ball with the defender recovering or isolated in the wide post.      Neither drives from the 3 pt line to the basket particularly well.

The 12 minute stretch that won the game featured ball movement, player movement and team ball.     Combining Wojo's two catchphrases for the year.     The strength was the team, and the ball found the best shot.

Actually, Joey has driven the ball fairly well.  He just has not finished or had a TO.  He will get better at that. 

[brewcity77]

Marcus can do that BUT once he is on his way to the rim, he is going to the rim period.  He almost never passes from a drive.

Chartouny had a really nice one yesterday where he looked 100% committed to the drive, then turned in midair and dropped it back to a wide-open Sam. Can't remember if he finished it or not, but it was a really good court awareness where he knew there was a guy right behind him even though watching his body language it didn't seem like he was giving that up.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I’d actually like to see us run the O more through Joey, but at the high post.  He has the potential to be our best distributor and can help open up the three point line for our shooters. 

The discouraging thing is that I think the O will work itself out when the guys get comfortable with each other.  But the D problem is still there. 

So...lots to work on.

[🏀]

I'll Amazon a box of Big League Chew to the Hauser brothers right away.

[Loose Cannon]

Actually, Joe yesterday,y has driven the ball fairly well.  He just has not finished or had a TO.  He will get better at that.

Agree, early on he had a cluster of drives that got him to the FT line (which he converted) that kept the game close.  If Joe C can provide a lot more drives like yesterday and Sacar helps maybe we start to get to the line more often.

[jsglow]

I’d actually like to see us run the O more through Joey, but at the high post.  He has the potential to be our best distributor and can help open up the three point line for our shooters. 

The discouraging thing is that I think the O will work itself out when the guys get comfortable with each other.  But the D problem is still there. 

So...lots to work on.

But the D is certainly better.  And the strength of our team remains O.  If O falters badly, we have no chance to be a good to great team.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

But the D is certainly better.  And the strength of our team remains O.  If O falters badly, we have no chance to be a good to great team.

I don’t know — it may be marginally better than the terrible d from last year but you just can’t let a decent team score 96 against you and have hope for a W.  I am not seeing that it is serviceable enough to really make a difference. 

Said a different way, fix the O and we still have to put up 100 to beat IU.  Good luck with that.   

[Boston Warrior]

Chart has to be the point....

Joey, Sam, Marcus and sacar could drive and distribute and be the alpha depending on matchups.

Against elite teams, the lack of quickness shows up and makes it more difficult.

[79Warrior]

But the D is certainly better.  And the strength of our team remains O.  If O falters badly, we have no chance to be a good to great team.

Jury is out on the D. We will get a better idea the next few weeks as the competition gets tougher.

[dgies9156]

Brother Glow, I inherently agree with you. As the season started, I was very optimistic about this talented team with one caveat that I conveniently played down -- how will the team gel and play as a unit.

Since the Hillbilly left for hillier pastures, what I have seen over and over again is teams that grow in talent but have a weaknesses at playing as a unit. Sometimes we call this hero ball. Sometimes it is just disorganization and sometimes it is a lack of confidence in teammates.

So far this year, we just have not gelled as a unit. Players need to understand their roles and those of everyone else on their team. I hated Bo Ryan as much as any blue and gold bleeding Warrior but I know and knew that Dracula's system recognized what we're lacking as team. It's on both the players themselves and thea coach to build that chemistry. 

I didn't see the Presbyterian game (thank God I was on a plane back to Chicago or else I would have thrown something through my television long before the last 12 minutes) but it seems that for the first time this year, we came together during the  last 12 minutes.

We do that Wednesday and we have a fighting chance. We don't and Wojo better buy some very thick pants because his seat will be getting very, very hot.   

[GooooMarquette]

We definitely need Chartouny to step up if we want to do some damage in March.

And I know what I’m talking about. I dunked on an 8-foot rim at the College Basketball Experience.

[BM1090]

Jury is out on the D. We will get a better idea the next few weeks as the competition gets tougher.

The jury is out on the D versus good teams but it pretty clearly is improved versus low D1 teams, which is a step up from last year. Kenpom has our AdjD at 52nd this year versus 182 last year. And I believe that still is weighed down by last year's numbers.

It is interesting to look at our defensive profile this year. Seems like a lot has changed from past years, mainly less of a focus on creating turnovers and more of a focus on 2P defense. Our 2P defense this year is at 14th. The past two years it was at 304 and 225

We aren't hedging screens hard nearly as much and when we do Theo/Ed are far better at recovering that Matt is. It also seems like we're trying to run guys off the 3 point line more than in past seasons