pennsive
Junior
Posts: 200
Reg: 11-21-04
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02-20-24 04:25 PM - Post#363646
Pitino says his players are not athletic and move too slowly laterally to keep anyone in front of them laterally without fouling. As we have all bemoaned, that describes Penn to a tee. That explains why in a futile attempt to cover up for that deficiency, we pack the paint, give up wide open 3’s like crazy, and pretend we at a good rebounding team because of where we position our players. How many years have we heard commentators in national games and Dunphy say that a defense must make the three point shooter at least move off his spot because his shooting percentage goes significantly down when he shoots when moving. Here is the remedy given the players that we have this year: 3-2 or similar zone defense) not man to man, obviously, given lack of lateral quickness and ineffective switching) in which the three perimeter men stay out there at the three point line, and twin towers take on the rebounding. When, as will very often happen, the opponent drives by our three point defender, one of the “bigs” can at least make it contested two or give a hard foul when really necessary. want to see Chris Ubichi get 15 minutes a game in such a role. Assuming he will be a poor foul shooter, judging from watching him and his numbers, having him start and play the first 5 minutes each half, and five other minutes somewhere else, he won’t be targeted to exploit his weaknesses on offense because no team wants to start off a half with multiple fouls. On offense he can rebound and pick up garage points around the rim, and on defense he can protect the rim. Subbing for him can be the usual suspects. This would allow Holland, Smith and Perkins to play the small forward slot ( say Smith because he is the best defender of those three) and in the backcourt it would be Clark backed up by Brown, and Perkins, backed up by whoever can play the best dense and who doesn’t just stand around when Clark is doing his thing among the remaining candidates. Yes, we would only have 4 scoring threats, and it would require Steve to abandon his failed system in the face of reality, and it would require thinking outside the box. Next year, SD better do a much better job recruiting in the transfer pool, not to mention recruiting high school seniors for athleticism . From what I can see based on the videos, the group, except for the forward from Pittsburgh area who are coming in, looks like picks for his system than they appear to be very athletic. As for Dingle, it is ironic that Steve got Dingle to play better than Pitino has despite Pitino’s promoting Dingle as his top recruit and potential first round draft pick based on how he had played for Penn. I want to end this rant by saying that unlike some others who who say they are apathetic, I care very much about our program. I suspect that the” apathetic ones are are really disappointed and self protective by turning away given the unsuccessful way SD coached the team so far this year post defections and Will return if he adopts the strategies described or others that don’t keep repeating what have no chance of success.
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