we have to recognize what is and take good shots and we can't dribble ourselves into trouble.
If we do that, I am willing to accept the results.
If we do that, I am willing to accept the results.
Until we have capable bigs
- Thread starter gary2
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We basically play 4 on 5 on offense since we don't have any bigs that are capable of doing anything more than hitting 1 put-back (Hamilton) and 2 jumpers (Brown) per game.
We will take off once we get a 5 with even a minimal amount of offensive skill.
Rebounding is more of a concern from our frontcourt than scoring imo. Really hope Hugley can contribute as a freshman.
Yep. That is so often the case again this season. Brown is a quality shot blocker. But other than that, he and Hamilton struggle in terms of much production in any other statistical area. Coulibaly is young and not playing vs players of a similar age like he was in U-17 competition. So the opponents can game plan accordingly when defending Pitt.
Pitt is seeing a lot of zone D at times, making it more difficult to dribble drive. Even if the Pitt G's and wings can penetrate, they don't have a lot of viable dish off options to whatever 5 is in the game, because those guys have trouble finishing (sometimes even catching). So if the G's or wings can't get to the rim to get a shot up or draw a foul, it's tough for Pitt to score. This is a very inconsistent outside shooting Pitt team (understatement). Would be nice if the bigs could help more by doing a better job of controlling their defensive glass to allow for Pitt to get out more in transition. Maybe be able to attack before the D can get set in their half court defense. But it's not happening often enough.
So Pitt will have to scrap, scuffle and battle their way through for the remainder of the season. Hopefully they can find a way to finish strong. They do continue to play hard and with effort. Then we'll see what all they can add to the returners for next year. The returning guys will also need to continue to develop and improve.
I think Coulibaly will take a nice step forward next year as well. He is looking more and more comfortable this year and has a pretty polished set of post moves already, just needs to get stronger to finish through contact and another year of strength training should help him as well. I am hoping he is our starting 4 or5 next year with Brown and Hugley spelling him or joining him on the court.
Nice message and I totally agree with you. TB is who he is and has been the same for 3yrs so don't expect a change but Ham has been very disappointing to me because I really fell for the hype about him being a dog and by his reactions JC feels the same way.
It's sad that we can't get out quickly after rebs because everyone has to stay in most times like coach said all 5 guys has to reb.
I'm hoping to go .500 the last 8 game and maybe 18 wins will get us a NIT bid.
It's sad that we can't get out quickly after rebs because everyone has to stay in most times like coach said all 5 guys has to reb.
I'm hoping to go .500 the last 8 game and maybe 18 wins will get us a NIT bid.
Thinking Hugley will eventually be a similar player to ND's Mooney--but, not as a true freshman. He has a similar skill set--physically strong on the inside, average hops, ability to shoot well from long range.
They need shooting more than anything. It’s just not efficient enough to dump it down to the post. You’re playing into the defense’s hands.
Spreading the floor and being able to hit 3s consistently will do more for the offense than taking low percentage shots that will, at best, translate to trading 2s for 3s.
Spreading the floor and being able to hit 3s consistently will do more for the offense than taking low percentage shots that will, at best, translate to trading 2s for 3s.
So does being able to drive from the outside because you have lanes opened up by a spread floor.
Bigs should be used for putbacks and wide open dunks/layups when they’re already facing the rim, and not much else.
Nothing good comes from giving a big the ball with his back to the basket.
Right.
People reminisce about JDs success against the CUSE zone, one thing was having bigs like Blair, Taft, Troutman, Gray who could get some offensive rebounds AND CONVERT.
But, it is a balance. They need to hit some more outside shots, but defenses have no concern about what is happening behind them.
You're right, converting those offensive rebounds underneath into points is critical. That requires the ability to score through contact in many cases. Strength. Keeping the head up and the eyes on the rim with hands and arms grabbing and flailing at you. Pitt has not done real well at converting a lot of those opportunities this season.
For sure, although 2 of Brown’s better scoring games have come against Cuse the past couple years.
I think it’s all about opportunity when it comes to big men. I think in the video Pitt put out last year he had like 5 or 6 dunks against Cuse. That’s great, and you’ll take those shots every time, but that’s not something you want to force when a team is playing man-to-man.
I also think kicking it out off an offensive rebound is better than bringing it down and going back up. If you can tip it in or you’re not in traffic, go ahead back up, but in general I don’t think trying to score in traffic is wise and there’s not a ton of benefit in big men drawing a foul compared to a guard.
Should also add that Hamilton and Brown are 1-2 on the team when it comes to offensive rebounding overall and also just in ACC play. Hamilton is shooting 56.1% from 2 and 56.8% in ACC play. Brown is shooting 57.5% from 2 and 67.4% in ACC play.
So from an offensive rebounding/conversion perspective I don’t think there’s much to worry about — it’s probably mostly a complaint about volume at this point, and I just don’t think that taking shots and touches away from perimeter players in favor of big men is wise.
I’d much rather have the big men pick their spots and let a guy like Champagnie force it than the other way around.
Brown went nuts in the one cuse game, got and took a number of baseline jumpers, and got loose on them a bit near the rim. That was kind of a freak game.
Especially given how hard this team has to work to score, it makes a big difference if you can get those "easy" points with a big man who either has the touch and feel to convert inside like a Chevy, the strength to power up and convert like Blair, the size to power up and convert like Taft did, the size and touch to score like Gray ...
Between them Hamilton and Brown HCJC might get 2-3 inside scores a game. That just is not enough to get this team past where this team is now.
Any top 5ish ACC team has a primary or a couple of bigs who are going to get a half dozen or more scores in the paint a game.
We all get it is 2020, not 1990, you aren't looking to dump it down to the paint 1 out 2 or 3 plays. But, pretty much any solid NCAA team is going to have some functional post offense from its big men.
Everyone needs to get better, not saying this is the only issue.
Definitely, I just think at this point the 2 centers are converting their chances from 2 at a very high level and their offensive rebounding rates are pretty good (both top 13 in ACC play).
They also aren’t turning it over much.
In terms of offense, I think it would be very hard to go anywhere but down if you give those guys more volume. It’s easier, and more efficient, to spread the floor by adding shooters than it is to give big men more shots.
Obviously if you have a game like Syracuse where Brown is getting open for easy finishes, you take advantage until you can’t, but I don’t think that getting it into the post just for the sake of post touches is necessary to improve the offense.
We took many layups and free throws yesterday. We missed a significant amount of them.
Definitely agree we missed a ridiculous amount of layups and foul shots.
We also took a ridiculous amount of bad shots. Some at bad times.
One was the Toney missed layup after his steal. Yeah, that shot can be made, but it was not a good shot in that situation.
Two shots that come to mind during our attempted comeback. A bad angle not fully set jumper by Brown and an attempted post move by Coulibaly that could have gone if he didn't rush it. Those were not bad shots in the middle of a game, but not what we needed when attempting a run.
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