Pace of Play

[whopper]

There are stats for everything these day so there probably is one for this. It seems to be that we are playing too slow given our shooting. Q's effectiveness in the past has been by overpowering guards on controlled fast breaks, and I recall Tyrique following for offensive rebounds as much as he is effective in low post. Naj and Scruggs push it (so much that they seem gassed and we will not win with 2 players scoring an efficient 20 pos each) but Freemantle is far more effective in motion (blocked dunk not withstanding) and Carter could stand to run a little harder with James seeing more minutes as both would be tired. Even Moore and Tandy would get clearer looks from 3 as trailers. Just a thought but I am looking at a team walking it up as if the offensive was Chicago Bulls circa 1997 running the triangle. I know it would not help turnovers but may get more players in rotation. Am I missing something.

[X Factor]

Xavier is right around 154th in tempo. If Xavier tried to speed it up, like you said, it would lead to more turnovers. Xavier is currently 190th in turnover rate, turning it over on 19.7% of possessions.

[paulxu]

Lord knows I love some fast breaks, and up tempo after opponents basket/miss.
But I'm OK with a slower process across half court.
What I'm not OK with is the lack of movement on offense.
Went to Wofford last night to remind myself that a good set of plays, run every time, is a thing of beauty (and success).
As opposed to standing around, with maybe one pick (and no roll) waiting for someone to play hero ball 1 on 3.

[drudy23]

I'm not sure what the offense is. I just know it hasn't been fluid in 2 years.

We don't seem to run many sets (if we do, you can't tell), and we don't seem to have connected movement. When we start to lose, it further falls apart.

Same story, different game. It's hard on the eyes.

I hope Steele took a long, hard look in the mirror last night.

[bleedXblue]

Calling our offense, "offense" is an insult to all other offenses. Enough on that.

You know what is really frustrating is watching us play defense and the absolute lack of creating steals. We have to be one of the worst in the country. And for the life of me I can understand why? It looks like our goal is to "get back", get your man and keep him in front of you. And I get that......but we double up on no one. We don't anticipate and jump into passing lanes. We take zero risks defensively and put very little pressure on the ball. For a team that needs easy shots, this is mind blowing to me. Yeah, we will give up some easy baskets, and I get that. But the tempo and pace of play is awful and we should be doing something about getting this team some easier shots.

How many fast break layup point have we gotten the last two games? Very, very few of them.

[xuwin]

Calling our offense, "offense" is an insult to all other offenses. Enough on that.

You know what is really frustrating is watching us play defense and the absolute lack of creating steals. We have to be one of the worst in the country. And for the life of me I can understand why? It looks like our goal is to "get back", get your man and keep him in front of you. And I get that......but we double up on no one. We don't anticipate and jump into passing lanes. We take zero risks defensively and put very little pressure on the ball. For a team that needs easy shots, this is mind blowing to me. Yeah, we will give up some easy baskets, and I get that. But the tempo and pace of play is awful and we should be doing something about getting this team some easier shots.

How many fast break layup point have we gotten the last two games? Very, very few of them.

The offense yesterday was very effective at creating lots of open shots. When nobody could make them they had to resort to one on one play be Naji and Paul to score. Also it's very difficult to up the tempo without a deeper bench. Naji was exhausted at the end of the game yesterday.

[drudy23]

The offense yesterday was very effective at creating lots of open shots.

LOL - you can't be serious.

Those open shots were purposeful.

[whopper]

I know we will have more turnovers and I know we will have to use a deeper bench. However we don't use James now(and can be effective) we don't use Moor now (and I have seen him effective) and if they just run the court, press, give some fouls or make some steals we are not as gassed. I like Carter a bit but he does not deserver 30+ min(and I think he would be more effective in mid 20s) with James getting 10 and Q has his problems for sure but maybe could be more effective in less minutes. I don't know..we don't force steals or fast break and Scruggs and Marshall have surpassed be with how effective they are one on one but it is not enough clearly. Letting them go one on one is fools gold...we can keep a respectable score but still have zero chance to sin

[IM4X]

What I'm not OK with is the lack of movement on offense.
Went to Wofford last night to remind myself that a good set of plays, run every time, is a thing of beauty (and success).
As opposed to standing around, with maybe one pick (and no roll) waiting for someone to play hero ball 1 on 3.

Yup... I particularly love watching countless lazy, low percentage 3s being chucked up (by mediocre 3 pt shooters) when no teammates are even around the basket for a chance at an offensive board.

[IM4X]

Calling our offense, "offense" is an insult to all other offenses. Enough on that.

You know what is really frustrating is watching us play defense and the absolute lack of creating steals. We have to be one of the worst in the country. And for the life of me I can understand why? It looks like our goal is to "get back", get your man and keep him in front of you. And I get that......but we double up on no one. We don't anticipate and jump into passing lanes. We take zero risks defensively and put very little pressure on the ball. For a team that needs easy shots, this is mind blowing to me. Yeah, we will give up some easy baskets, and I get that. But the tempo and pace of play is awful and we should be doing something about getting this team some easier shots.

How many fast break layup point have we gotten the last two games? Very, very few of them.

I hear you... but to be fair to Scruggs and Jones... they both had nice steals by anticipating and jumping in between a pass.

In general though, to your point, we need to see much more of it.

I feel like we saw it much more at one point, but you are right and I posted a similar thought about this team needing to use their skills to gain an edge by pressing more and being scrappier on defense.

[IM4X]

I know we will have more turnovers and I know we will have to use a deeper bench. However we don't use James now(and can be effective) we don't use Moor now (and I have seen him effective) and if they just run the court, press, give some fouls or make some steals we are not as gassed. I like Carter a bit but he does not deserver 30+ min(and I think he would be more effective in mid 20s) with James getting 10 and Q has his problems for sure but maybe could be more effective in less minutes. I don't know..we don't force steals or fast break and Scruggs and Marshall have surpassed be with how effective they are one on one but it is not enough clearly. Letting them go one on one is fools gold...we can keep a respectable score but still have zero chance to sin

Good post!

[JTG]

What the hell does this team practice,pregame introductions? It sure isn't offense. Why not press, play nine guys to keep people fresh, and turn def into offense. It can't be any worse than the shitshow we're watch now.

[UCGRAD4X]

The offense yesterday was very effective at creating lots of open shots. When nobody could make them they had to resort to one on one play be Naji and Paul to score. Also it's very difficult to up the tempo without a deeper bench. Naji was exhausted at the end of the game yesterday.

The open shots were by design because the defense knew we couldn't hit them. They dared us to shoot and we took the bait, hook, line and sinker.

[xdude]

The open shots were by design because the defense knew we couldn't hit them. They dared us to shoot and we took the bait, hook, line and sinker.

Yup, I noted the same during the game.
What I'm trying to figure out is if, similar to last year, suddenly the team clicks and we go on a run. Of course we can't lose six straight, but is this team as ugly as it looked yesterday? Or do we use the darkest before the dawn metaphor? Steele gave Q in particular too much head with his threes. Of course there was token pressure, but it was clear Creighton was all about stopping Scruggs and Marshall. And it was clearly an effective strategy.

[IM4X]

The open shots were by design because the defense knew we couldn't hit them. They dared us to shoot and we took the bait, hook, line and sinker.

Yes we did... and what’s worse... we decided we’d have our worst shooter chuck up most of those 3s:

Goodin shoots 26.2% form 3... took 6
Carter shoots 31.3% from 3... took 6
Moore shoots 29.8% from 3... took 5
Marshall shoots 28.4% from 3... took 4

Tandy shoots 36.4% from 3 ... took 3
Scruggs shoots 37.7% From .... took 1

So our two best 3 point shooters shot only 4 3s between the two of them (and made 50%), while the 4 much weaker 3 point shooters took 21 of them (and made a whopping 14% ).

And Steele doesn’t even mention this after the game as being an issue other than casually laughing that he mentioned to Q that he might want to drive a little more.

By not getting serious about finding a way to get your best 3 point shooters the most open looks, Travis is seriously handicapping this team.

What is it going to take for the light to go on that a “good look” from 3 really means the best shooters are taking those shots.

[BandDad]

Calling our offense, "offense" is an insult to all other offenses. Enough on that.

You know what is really frustrating is watching us play defense and the absolute lack of creating steals. We have to be one of the worst in the country. And for the life of me I can understand why? It looks like our goal is to "get back", get your man and keep him in front of you. And I get that......but we double up on no one. We don't anticipate and jump into passing lanes. We take zero risks defensively and put very little pressure on the ball. For a team that needs easy shots, this is mind blowing to me. Yeah, we will give up some easy baskets, and I get that. But the tempo and pace of play is awful and we should be doing something about getting this team some easier shots.

How many fast break layup point have we gotten the last two games? Very, very few of them.

Just looked it up. Tied for 183rd in the country in steals at 6.5 per game, so very average at best. It might be due to the fact that we are a Jesuit university and our kids have always been taught "Thall shall not steal" or it might be the pack line defense. On the plus side, we are 29th in three point defense at 28.9%.

[xcellentx]

And Steele doesn’t even mention this after the game as being an issue other than casually laughing that he mentioned to Q that he might want to drive a little more.

By not getting serious about finding a way to get your best 3 point shooters the most open looks, Travis is seriously handicapping this team.

What is it going to take for the light to go on that a “good look” from 3 really means the best shooters are taking those shots.

Steele did bench Goodin for most of the second half.

[JTG]

Steele is married to an heiress, I wonder if he even worries about his job.

[IM4X]

Steele did bench Goodin for most of the second half.

When asked about benching Q, Steele said it was only because of his poor defense- not his shooting or anything on the offense end.

[scoscox]

Our best performances last year came when we slowed the pace down to glacial levels. i'm not sure why we decided to go away from that this year, even though we largely rely on the same personnel.

[bleedXblue]

Our best performances last year came when we slowed the pace down to glacial levels. i'm not sure why we decided to go away from that this year, even though we largely rely on the same personnel.

We had Hankins which really helped and Welage who could make a jump shot.

[Masterofreality]

Our best performances last year came when we slowed the pace down to glacial levels. i'm not sure why we decided to go away from that this year, even though we largely rely on the same personnel.


We had Hankins which really helped and Welage who could make a jump shot.

Also when after 20 games, Steele finally figured out that Hankins and Jones could play on the court together, that contributed to the slower pace of play. Somehow he hasn't figured out that maybe Free and Jones should be on the court together and not so much Carter.
This staff has shown itself to be very slow at in-game adjustments as well as changing lineups/game plans. Stubborn? Stupid? Clueless? Whatever. It ain't working.

[IM4X]

We had Hankins which really helped and Welage who could make a jump shot.

Funny that you should mention those two because I was just watching the highlights of a game against Providence last year and couldn’t help but notice how those two(Hankins and Welage) seem to help both the flow and scoring on offensive side in that game.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bJr3pDBG8jc

This is why it just seems to make sense to see 6’ 11” Miles involved this season. I understand how Steele wants to work with him on improve his free throw shooting and get him bigger and stronger this season, but even the way Miles is currently looking in practice and more specifically the special little he things he can that others can’t do that Steele and others watching him keep oohing about, keeps me wondering why wait.

In no way are we to expect he will look as polished as Hankins was last year, but like Hankins, he could be helpful in many of the same ways you’d expect an athletic 6’”11 to be (e.g. much easier for Q or other to lob a pass to in the paint. I also think about how his skills could really compliment Tyrique’s and would love to see how those two might play together - like Jones and Hankins last year. That will never be realized as long as he remains redshirted.

Finally, I worry that Jones is ar a higher level defensively than Freemantle or Carter. Next year Jones is gone and it scares the bejesus out of me to think how we might struggle in the post next year with just Zach and Jason as the only two bigs right now who will have real game experience. Playing Miles this year gives him real game experience and some confidence building going into next year. Really think about next year post play without Jones... and possibly without Naji to help out from the 3. Yikes.

[IM4X]

Also when after 20 games, Steele finally figured out that Hankins and Jones could play on the court together, that contributed to the slower pace of play. Somehow he hasn't figured out that maybe Free and Jones should be on the court together and not so much Carter.
This staff has shown itself to be very slow at in-game adjustments as well as changing lineups/game plans. Stubborn? Stupid? Clueless? Whatever. It ain't working.

It was indeed painful waiting so long for him to give those two a chance at significant time together on the court. He made a number of excuses for not doing it earlier in the season and then realized none of those excuse really held much water (once he saw what the two could accomplish together during a game). Even the fear that they’d rack up fouls quicker was squelched.

Oh, what might have been, if he had only done it sooner.

[scoscox]

Also when after 20 games, Steele finally figured out that Hankins and Jones could play on the court together, that contributed to the slower pace of play. Somehow he hasn't figured out that maybe Free and Jones should be on the court together and not so much Carter.
This staff has shown itself to be very slow at in-game adjustments as well as changing lineups/game plans. Stubborn? Stupid? Clueless? Whatever. It ain't working.

i don't have the answers, i just think it's weird that we went so far away from the pace we played last year even without hankins and welage. would it help this year? idk. all i can do is hope we right the ship.