Where my complete lack of faith in Stallings resides

[persp]

We keep hearing how great of an offensive coach Stallings is, and maybe that is true, but it seems to me that his philosophy revolves around having players that score on the first shot and retreating into transition defense immediately.

This is fine if you have a roster full of McD's AA, but when you bring in marginal-at-best talent you better know how to use the skills they have to compete.

As such, these kids should be coached to hit the glass HARD on both ends. This is where and how Dixon got so much play out of non top end talent. He knew shots were going to be missed so you better get second chance points to minimize the impact of the high missed shot rate. Stallings doesn't seem to be interested in this strategy, which is mind blowing.

So the question that leads me to is what is Stallings' actual plan? Does he even have one? It seems that his tenure at Vandy was marked by NBA talent and underachieving teams.

I don't know personally how his Vandy teams played, but I can completely imagine that they played similar game to what we are seeing with our Panthers, which if your strategy doesn't include rebounding effort on both ends, you are going to have a hard time winning games without cream of the crop talent.

Even with the the youth and experience issues the roster has, one would think that we would see a cohesive plan or style of play that we can envision a roster of talented, experienced players winning with. I don't see anything resembling that. That is a major, major problem.

 

[gary2]

We keep hearing how great of an offensive coach Stallings is, and maybe that is true, but it seems to me that his philosophy revolves around having players that score on the first shot and retreating into transition defense immediately.

This is fine if you have a roster full of McD's AA, but when you bring in marginal-at-best talent you better know how to use the skills they have to compete.

As such, these kids should be coached to hit the glass HARD on both ends. This is where and how Dixon got so much play out of non top end talent. He knew shots were going to be missed so you better get second chance points to minimize the impact of the high missed shot rate. Stallings doesn't seem to be interested in this strategy, which is mind blowing.

So the question that leads me to is what is Stallings' actual plan? Does he even have one? It seems that his tenure at Vandy was marked by NBA talent and underachieving teams.

I don't know personally how his Vandy teams played, but I can completely imagine that they played similar game to what we are seeing with our Panthers, which if your strategy doesn't include rebounding effort on both ends, you are going to have a hard time winning games without cream of the crop talent.

Even with the the youth and experience issues the roster has, one would think that we would see a cohesive plan or style of play that we can envision a roster of talented, experienced players winning with. I don't see anything resembling that. That is a major, major problem.

If we made an all out assault on the offensive boards, how many more rebounds would we get?

I don't see any A.Grays, O.Letts, D.Blairs or C.Trotmans out there.

 

[Pittfan85]

If we made an all out assault on the offensive boards, how many more rebounds would we get?

That isn’t the point.....

 

[Nashville Panther]

We keep hearing how great of an offensive coach Stallings is, and maybe that is true, but it seems to me that his philosophy revolves around having players that score on the first shot and retreating into transition defense immediately.

This is fine if you have a roster full of McD's AA, but when you bring in marginal-at-best talent you better know how to use the skills they have to compete.

As such, these kids should be coached to hit the glass HARD on both ends. This is where and how Dixon got so much play out of non top end talent. He knew shots were going to be missed so you better get second chance points to minimize the impact of the high missed shot rate. Stallings doesn't seem to be interested in this strategy, which is mind blowing.

So the question that leads me to is what is Stallings' actual plan? Does he even have one? It seems that his tenure at Vandy was marked by NBA talent and underachieving teams.

I don't know personally how his Vandy teams played, but I can completely imagine that they played similar game to what we are seeing with our Panthers, which if your strategy doesn't include rebounding effort on both ends, you are going to have a hard time winning games without cream of the crop talent.

Even with the the youth and experience issues the roster has, one would think that we would see a cohesive plan or style of play that we can envision a roster of talented, experienced players winning with. I don't see anything resembling that. That is a major, major problem.

Stallings game plan at Vandy worked for Vandy. Bunch of players jacking up 3s. Defense was not a priority. Can work in the SEC but no chance it works at Pitt. A terrible hire.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

We give up a ton of baskets in transition already. We're also not that fast or athletic. I can only imagine how awful it would be if we were crashing the boards. This team is a debacle but not for that reason.

I agree they don't look like they're always playing hard, which is a problem considering the lack of talent. Even worse is how bad the defensive rotations are. How bad the close outs are. How slow we are on perimeter defense generally.

Dixon's last teams had a problem with a lack of rim guarding centers and a lack of defensive oriented guards who could stop more elite athletes. That's why we eventually even played some zone, for all the good it did. But there was never a lack of defensive effort and technique to this extent.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

We keep hearing how great of an offensive coach Stallings is, and maybe that is true, but it seems to me that his philosophy revolves around having players that score on the first shot and retreating into transition defense immediately.

This is fine if you have a roster full of McD's AA, but when you bring in marginal-at-best talent you better know how to use the skills they have to compete.

As such, these kids should be coached to hit the glass HARD on both ends. This is where and how Dixon got so much play out of non top end talent. He knew shots were going to be missed so you better get second chance points to minimize the impact of the high missed shot rate. Stallings doesn't seem to be interested in this strategy, which is mind blowing.

So the question that leads me to is what is Stallings' actual plan? Does he even have one? It seems that his tenure at Vandy was marked by NBA talent and underachieving teams.

I don't know personally how his Vandy teams played, but I can completely imagine that they played similar game to what we are seeing with our Panthers, which if your strategy doesn't include rebounding effort on both ends, you are going to have a hard time winning games without cream of the crop talent.

Even with the the youth and experience issues the roster has, one would think that we would see a cohesive plan or style of play that we can envision a roster of talented, experienced players winning with. I don't see anything resembling that. That is a major, major problem.

Vandy played like Gottfried's NC State teams with less talent. He always found a way to have skilled offensive players like Gottfried did. He had a few big bangers like Festus Ezili who is in the rotation for that team in the other Oakland but they usually had good scoring guards.

 

[gary2]

We give up a ton of baskets in transition already. We're also not that fast or athletic. I can only imagine how awful it would be if we were crashing the boards. This team is a debacle but not for that reason.

I agree they don't look like they're always playing hard, which is a problem considering the lack of talent. Even worse is how bad the defensive rotations are. How bad the close outs are. How slow we are on perimeter defense generally.

Dixon's last teams had a problem with a lack of rim guarding centers and a lack of defensive oriented guards who could stop more elite athletes. That's why we eventually even played some zone, for all the good it did. But there was never a lack of defensive effort and technique to this extent.

One play in particular that was ridiculous: A PSU player drove the baseline first completely around Luther (a complete whiff), THEN completely around Kene (strike two) for an uncontested layup (or dunk I believe). That was pathetic.

 

[DiehardPanther]

I did not like the Stallings hire to begin with, and hate it even more as each day passes by. He has to go.

 

[persp]

If we made an all out assault on the offensive boards, how many more rebounds would we get?

I don't see any A.Grays, O.Letts, D.Blairs or C.Trotmans out there.

That's not the point. How can we have anything resembling those players if they aren't attempting to be those players. Kene averaged something like 11rpg last season and he fades away most times when a shot goes up too. Stalling has to be coaching that.

We give up a ton of baskets in transition already. We're also not that fast or athletic. I can only imagine how awful it would be if we were crashing the boards. This team is a debacle but not for that reason.

I agree they don't look like they're always playing hard, which is a problem considering the lack of talent. Even worse is how bad the defensive rotations are. How bad the close outs are. How slow we are on perimeter defense generally.

Dixon's last teams had a problem with a lack of rim guarding centers and a lack of defensive oriented guards who could stop more elite athletes. That's why we eventually even played some zone, for all the good it did. But there was never a lack of defensive effort and technique to this extent.

Right. The rotations and closeouts and such can be attributed to youth and experience, but not having ANYBODY in the vicinity for an offensive rebound on most possessions is ridiculous.

That's where my original question comes from. What is the plan? Does Stallings really expect to outscore teams to win, even with this roster?

 

[levance2]

Stallings game plan at Vandy worked for Vandy. Bunch of players jacking up 3s. Defense was not a priority. Can work in the SEC but no chance it works at Pitt. A terrible hire.

I'm not sure why people keep regurgitating this as "fact". There is plenty to complain about with Stallings, but this idea that he has never coached defense is fictitious. Based on average defensive ratings per season, Stallings actually had a more consistent defense over his last 5-7 years at Vandy than Dixon did here.

Their average standings in adjusted defense in their final years was #69 vs #61.

 

[Nashville Panther]

I'm not sure why people keep regurgitating this as "fact". There is plenty to complain about with Stallings, but this idea that he has never coached defense is fictitious. Based on average defensive ratings per season, Stallings actually had a more consistent defense over his last 5-7 years at Vandy than Dixon did here.

Their average standings in adjusted defense in their final years was #69 vs #61.

Does that take into account strength of schedule? Have seen Vandy for years. Never impressed with their defense.

No way is the offensive talent in the SEC on par with ThenOld Big East and ACC

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

If we made an all out assault on the offensive boards, how many more rebounds would we get?

I don't see any A.Grays, O.Letts, D.Blairs or C.Trotmans out there.

That's not the point. How can we have anything resembling those players if they aren't attempting to be those players. Kene averaged something like 11rpg last season and he fades away most times when a shot goes up too. Stalling has to be coaching that.

We give up a ton of baskets in transition already. We're also not that fast or athletic. I can only imagine how awful it would be if we were crashing the boards. This team is a debacle but not for that reason.

I agree they don't look like they're always playing hard, which is a problem considering the lack of talent. Even worse is how bad the defensive rotations are. How bad the close outs are. How slow we are on perimeter defense generally.

Dixon's last teams had a problem with a lack of rim guarding centers and a lack of defensive oriented guards who could stop more elite athletes. That's why we eventually even played some zone, for all the good it did. But there was never a lack of defensive effort and technique to this extent.

Right. The rotations and closeouts and such can be attributed to youth and experience, but not having ANYBODY in the vicinity for an offensive rebound on most possessions is ridiculous.

That's where my original question comes from. What is the plan? Does Stallings really expect to outscore teams to win, even with this roster?

Huh? Kene barely got off the bench last season. He only played 10 minutes per game and averaged 3 rebounds. He would be a reserve at most PSAC schools

 

[levance2]

Does that take into account strength of schedule? Have seen Vandy for years. Never impressed with their defense.

It is adjusted defensive efficiency, so yes.

 

[persp]

Huh? Kene barely got off the bench last season. He only played 10 minutes per game and averaged 3 rebounds. He would be a reserve at most PSAC schools

I could be remembering that incorrectly but I thought that one of our new bigs averaged 13/11 last season. My bad.