Coach Nevada Smith

[rocky_warrior]

Tongue in cheek, but I think the offense improving will lead to the defense improving.

Absolutely.  Or at least highly likely.  With the edit that our two best offensive games this year (WVU & Ole Miss) were very meh to bad defensive games (statistically), but also wins.  WI was our 3rd best offensive game.

[THRILLHO]

In the spirit of the original post, is there an inherent conflict in recruiting styles between Shaka's defensive needs and Smith's offensive needs? Shaka wants long athletic guys and Smith wants guys who can drive, kick and make the 3. If you can get players that do all of those, congrats, you have a team of 5-stars and you're winning no matter what. But the current crop looks to me a lot more like Shaka's prototype than Smiths. (Not that I'm complaining, our previous coaches teams were kind of the inverse and it didn't seem to work out all that well.)

[Stretchdeltsig]

We don't have the shooters to play a wild gunner offense. When we do fine but until then were better off playing like the rodents for sure shots.

[tower912]

What kind of offense best suits MU's inexperience and lack of 3 pt shooting?

[MU82]

We don't have the shooters to play a wild gunner offense. When we do fine but until then were better off playing like the rodents for sure shots.

That's what I was talking about ... Shaka doesn't care that we don't have the shooters this season. He wants that offense to be his offense, and the guys playing this year will do the best they can with it, hopefully improve within it.

Could he institute a different offensive system that would get another win or 3 with this year's cast? I don't know, and it doesn't appear we'll find out because this is what Shaka wants to do.

[DoctorV]

This is Smith's offensive "system", and I'm fine with it.  Though I do question if Smart should need an employee to guide him daily on offense, if the message is " extremely quick possessions and the 3pt shot, especially a corner 3", and ""If we could take a 3 every time down the court, we probably [should]."

Seems pretty simple, but hey, I'm not a head coach  making millions or an assistant coach making several hundred k.

I hear ya, but it seems as if there is a lot more nuance than that, I suppose?

Bringing Nevada Smith in at Texas shows that Shaka felt like he indeed needed an offensive coach to guide him daily- I say this because anyone who brings in Coach smith has something specific in mind, something that requires a fairly drastic change in offensive mindset.

Someone has previously posted his KenPom offensive finishes at Texas and I'm fairly certain they were not too stellar, even though I must admit I don't remember them specifically. He did much better overall at VCU so I'd like to see what those offensive numbers were at both stops if someone can do the legwork.

It's easy to see that as the years went by and the offense continued to lag, Shaka decided he needed to make a change and bring in an "offensive guru" or "offensive mind" that would come in with the goal of putting together an offense that could be on par with Shaka's defenses.

In my opinion that's a very good sign of maturity, that coach Smart realized he needed some help on that side of the ball and reached out to someone he thought could help.  After all, he has said at several press conferences/interviews that "scoring is hard." He was an assist junkie as a player and seemingly a defensive junkie as a coach, so he's doing what he can to improve his offensive approach and that's commendable.

The real question then becomes did Shaka bring in the right guy with the right approach?
Someone mentioned the concept that the "type" of player that Shaka loves to recruit may not really mesh with the "type" of player Nevada needs for his system to thrive and I think that's a legit concern.
Perhaps the style of athletes that beat fit Shaka's defensive system need more of an offensive approach that Buzzes system had, or better yet Wojos, I don't know. Perhaps Shaka's fast paced defensive system needs a more slow paced and deliberate system like Wisconsin- God forbid! I honestly don't know, but that part is a legitimate concern/question.
Time will definitely tell and hopefully coach Smith is the right guy with the right plan at the right time and it meshes well with Shaka's guys and Shaka's defensive system.

[DoctorV]

Marquette leads the Big East in the number of unguarded threes they get our game, but are 9th in PPP on those attempts. As players like Jones and Joplin develop into more reliable shooters and as they fill the roster with more guys that can knock down shots, that will come up and pay dividends.

My biggest concern is our unwillingness to pursue offensive rebounds. I believe it's rooted in a desire to get back into a set defense as we get killed in transition, but I think that's a misguided belief.

There's a metric called Shot Quality that looks at the expected effectiveness of shots taken and allowed. Many of the teams we'd like to emulate (Baylor, Villanova, Gonzaga, Alabama) rank highly in this regard. I looked at the top-18 (because that's what fit on the screen) adjusted Shot Quality leaders and compared them with their offensive rebounding ranks. Of the 18, 17 were in the 64th percentile or better in offensive rebounding rate, 15 were in the 77th percentile or better, and 10 were in the 90th or better percentile.

What does that mean? That any defensive efficiency loss from chasing offensive rebounds is more than offset by the offensive efficiency gained by the open looks at the perimeter and easier putbacks created by securing an offensive board.

If anyone wants to read more, I did a little thread about this with some visuals to reinforce it today.

https://twitter.com/brewcity1977/status/1470762942358507521?s=21

Excellent work Brew, as always.

A few questions though-
1) MU leads in "unguarded" threes. Is this just a result of attempting the most 3s overall, and therefore a good portion will fit under the "unguarded" umbrella. You've mentioned before but what's the exact way to figure out unguarded?

2) I'm tracking on your offensive rebounding importance and emphasis, and I agree that I wish MU crashed the offensive glass more. Here's the thing though- how much do you think the offensive system, predicated on very quick shots and a ton of 3P attempts, puts MU at a general disadvantage at grabbing an offensive board?

I mean, if you get up the court in 7-10s and 4 guys are outside the arc, one big has barely made it to the FT line and a guard chucks up a seemingly unguarded, or in their eyes good enough to attempt 3P shot, what are the odds that any of your guys will be close enough to even fight for a board?
There are so many times in a game where a shot goes up and it seems like there's really no one even close to the basket, so good luck sprinting in and trying to grab a board. In a system like Buzzes where paint touches were key, you always had some trees inside to battle.

3) Back to the unguarded 3s deal again-
Overall speaking do you think this team takes a lot of "good or great" shots. Volume alone, if you shoot 35+ threes you'll have a decent amount that appear open. I think they get an ok amount of open 3s, but I think they should be getting a lot more if your system emphasizes tossing up a lot of threes. Part of it is the speed of play and the pursuit of quick offense to increase the number of possessions, but there are many many shots that just appear rushed, with a guy that already isn't a great shooter not set or not sure if that's the one he should be taking and yet it goes up anyway.

It's easy to chuck up a shot at any time, especially if that's what your coaches want. It's much more difficult to move at as rapid of a speed as you can, both defensively and then immediately offensively when you get the ball, but then get to the right spot, get open, and compose yourself enough to slow down and get the right mechanics and calm mental focus that a repeatable and effective 3P shot takes.
This is probably easier at the next level because most of those guys can shoot much better, but at this level well over half of the kids, if not 3/4 of them, aren't great or even average long distance shooters to begin with 

[DoctorV]

That's what I was talking about ... Shaka doesn't care that we don't have the shooters this season. He wants that offense to be his offense, and the guys playing this year will do the best they can with it, hopefully improve within it.

Could he institute a different offensive system that would get another win or 3 with this year's cast? I don't know, and it doesn't appear we'll find out because this is what Shaka wants to do.

I'm not 100% sure here.
Again, he brought in coach Smith and if it were up to Nevada this team would shoot 3s all day every day.
It's still Shaka's team and it's his final say, but I think he doesn't want to undermine his assistant and his offensive philosophy if he can avoid it.... Until he feels like he has to to win games.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think he will drastically change everything or completely scrap the system mid season- that would cause a lot of confusion in a young and new team and probably lead to bigger problems.

However, you're already seeing wrinkles. The plays with Justin in the block against KSt after seeing a weakness in their film for example. There are often times where Justin is likely coached to take a mid range jumper, even though that's likely not in the original plans.

Shaka mentioned the other day that he needs Kolek to keep shooting, of course he does it's the system, but that he also needs him to perhaps just slow down a bit, and that's not really the system.

Another wrinkle that I think this team needs to see almost immediately is Morsell taking a lot more mid range shots. He's very very good at them, probably the best part of his offensive game. That's definitely not a part of the system but I think needs to be implemented very soon. Likely the same for Kolek/Justin and maybe even Kam, who was lauded for his "complete offensive game with the ability to score in many ways" in the preseason but we've only really seen one way.

Feeding the post to JL, Kur, Oso and letting them either make an offensive move or distribute to a cutter or spot up guy may be another wrinkle as the season progresses.

Again I'm not talking complete overhaul, I'm just talking wrinkles to a struggling system (assuming it continues to struggle in BE play) to try to get some wins by scoring more points based on the pieces in place

[rocky_warrior]

Someone has previously posted his KenPom offensive finishes at Texas and I'm fairly certain they were not too stellar, even though I must admit I don't remember them specifically. He did much better overall at VCU so I'd like to see what those offensive numbers were at both stops if someone can do the legwork.

Without analysis, and without looking into when Smith was brought along.  Also Torvik #s, as they're free (and easy) for everyone:
https://www.barttorvik.com/coach-history.php?coach=Shaka%20Smart

Adjusted Offense:
VCU
09-10 : #30
10-11 : #42
11-12 : #86
12-13 : #16
13-14 : #109
14-15 : #66
Texas
15-16 : #48
16-17 : #170
17-18 : #82
18-19 : #25
19-20 : #161
20-21 : #25
Marquette
21-22 : #157 (so far)

[rocky_warrior]

Adjusted Offense:
VCU
09-10 : #30
10-11 : #42
11-12 : #86
12-13 : #16
13-14 : #109
14-15 : #66
Texas
15-16 : #48
16-17 : #170
17-18 : #82
18-19 : #25
19-20 : #161
20-21 : #25
Marquette
21-22 : #157 (so far)

Quick Analysis, based on how the numbers oscillate, it would appears Shaka can/will coach a good offense (regardless of Smith?), but it must depend on personnel.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Without analysis, and without looking into when Smith was brought along.  Also Torvik #s, as they're free (and easy) for everyone:
https://www.barttorvik.com/coach-history.php?coach=Shaka%20Smart

Adjusted Offense:
VCU
09-10 : #30
10-11 : #42
11-12 : #86
12-13 : #16
13-14 : #109
14-15 : #66
Texas
15-16 : #48
16-17 : #170
17-18 : #82
18-19 : #25
19-20 : #161
20-21 : #25
Marquette
21-22 : #157 (so far)

Shaka hired Smith before the 20-21 season.  Immediately following the offense rose 136 spots and was Shakas best ever.

[MU82]

I'm not 100% sure here.
Again, he brought in coach Smith and if it were up to Nevada this team would shoot 3s all day every day.
It's still Shaka's team and it's his final say, but I think he doesn't want to undermine his assistant and his offensive philosophy if he can avoid it.... Until he feels like he has to to win games.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think he will drastically change everything or completely scrap the system mid season- that would cause a lot of confusion in a young and new team and probably lead to bigger problems.

However, you're already seeing wrinkles. The plays with Justin in the block against KSt after seeing a weakness in their film for example. There are often times where Justin is likely coached to take a mid range jumper, even though that's likely not in the original plans.

Shaka mentioned the other day that he needs Kolek to keep shooting, of course he does it's the system, but that he also needs him to perhaps just slow down a bit, and that's not really the system.

Another wrinkle that I think this team needs to see almost immediately is Morsell taking a lot more mid range shots. He's very very good at them, probably the best part of his offensive game. That's definitely not a part of the system but I think needs to be implemented very soon. Likely the same for Kolek/Justin and maybe even Kam, who was lauded for his "complete offensive game with the ability to score in many ways" in the preseason but we've only really seen one way.

Feeding the post to JL, Kur, Oso and letting them either make an offensive move or distribute to a cutter or spot up guy may be another wrinkle as the season progresses.

Again I'm not talking complete overhaul, I'm just talking wrinkles to a struggling system (assuming it continues to struggle in BE play) to try to get some wins by scoring more points based on the pieces in place

You're probably right about this team needing more wrinkles to wring more success out of this offense, which in turn might help win a game or two that we otherwise wouldn't. It will be interesting to see if Shaka/Nevada do some of the ones you talk about or others.

[BCHoopster]

The one thing you all forget is Marquette is not the basketball program it was 50 years ago.  Al could almost pick and choose players. Right now MU is really a weak mid-major program, so getting the perfect recruit is not easy. The debate about the type of player Smith or Shaka is great, but at this time he has take whomever wants to come here. I think the next recruiting cycle will tell us where the program is going, or style he wants to play. 

[Shooter McGavin]

The one thing you all forget is Marquette is not the basketball program it was 50 years ago.  Al could almost pick and choose players. Right now MU is really a weak mid-major program, so getting the perfect recruit is not easy. The debate about the type of player Smith or Shaka is great, but at this time he has take whomever wants to come here. I think the next recruiting cycle will tell us where the program is going, or style he wants to play.

Weak mid-major?   Like Fordham or Duquesne or San Francisco or Seattle or fill in the blank weak mid major?   

I don't think MU has fallen that far.  Maybe a weak major program but even then I would say we are above the likes of DePaul or Rutgers or Boston College or Mississippi State or Washington state or fill in the blank weak major.

Shaka thought this was a pretty attractive job and so did Porter Moser from what has been told.  I guarantee they don't think MU is a weak mid major program or Shaka would have never come.  Nor would our fan base come to games year in and year out.   

The right coach, which we hope Shaka is, should be able to recruit well.  If he doesn't it's an indictment on him and not MU in my opinion. 

[WarriorFan]

Wojo had no system and we criticized his lack of an offensive system on this board.

Shaka has a very popular and attractive and modern system and we criticize his system on this board.

Sometimes I think this board would criticize MU if Steve Kerr was the coach, Giannis was the center and the backcourt was Steph + Klay.

[damuts222]

The one thing you all forget is Marquette is not the basketball program it was 50 years ago.  Al could almost pick and choose players. Right now MU is really a weak mid-major program, so getting the perfect recruit is not easy. The debate about the type of player Smith or Shaka is great, but at this time he has take whomever wants to come here. I think the next recruiting cycle will tell us where the program is going, or style he wants to play.

So we are comparing NCAA men's basketball in 2021 to 50 years ago. Apples to apples.

[Viper]

Having watched them play multiple times....it's not entertaining after about 10 minutes.  There's no ball movement.  It's just jacking up threes.

100%.
I loved Markus Howard, but we needed more to win. Now we don't even have a shooter.

[Viper]

Tongue in cheek, but I think the offense improving will lead to the defense improving. We're best when we can set our defense and press, but we can't do that unless we're putting the ball in the basket. Unlike Smart's VCU teams, we don't thrive on live-ball turnovers which lead to easy offensive opportunities so the defense feeds the offense, instead we need to make shots so we can set up the defense and the offense feeds the defense.

MU should play like those Arkansas teams under Nolan Richardson. Press, havoc, press some more. MU has the athletes to do it.  TO's will produce easy buckets.

[MU82]

The one thing you all forget is Marquette is not the basketball program it was 50 years ago.  Al could almost pick and choose players. Right now MU is really a weak mid-major program, so getting the perfect recruit is not easy. The debate about the type of player Smith or Shaka is great, but at this time he has take whomever wants to come here. I think the next recruiting cycle will tell us where the program is going, or style he wants to play.

Solid take. If only we could dig up Al, Luke and Dean, we could aspire to be a strong mid-major program.

[NCMUFan]

Right now I would say Marquette is between Al and Dukiet level and that we will either improve, stay the same or get worse.

[swoopem]

Any idea if Nevada Smith recruits or is he purely X's and O's for offense?

Eventually, you'd think he would be able to recruit some shooters to fit his system

Btw, I'm a fan of the system. Once we start hitting shots it's gonna be awesome

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Smith isn't allowed to recruit.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

In the spirit of the original post, is there an inherent conflict in recruiting styles between Shaka's defensive needs and Smith's offensive needs? Shaka wants long athletic guys and Smith wants guys who can drive, kick and make the 3. If you can get players that do all of those, congrats, you have a team of 5-stars and you're winning no matter what. But the current crop looks to me a lot more like Shaka's prototype than Smiths. (Not that I'm complaining, our previous coaches teams were kind of the inverse and it didn't seem to work out all that well.)

Recruit athletes that defend, drive, and kick.  Teach them to shoot.

[swoopem]

They should have Brett Nelson come in for a day or two and spend all day shooting. Pay him a consulting fee

[BrewCity83]

Right now I would say Marquette is between Al and Dukiet level and that we will either improve, stay the same or get worse.

Nailed it!