Anonymous
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02-13-05 06:49 PM - Post#4171
Joe Scott did a fine job building a program at AFA. . . but what explains his lack of success with a team that did well last year?
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Phil
Freshman
Posts: 75
Loc: Princeton
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: But, Phil . . .
02-13-05 07:37 PM - Post#4172
In response to
Well as to my post I was just addressing the previous post suggesting that Joe should be judged by his aggregate record at AFA. Regarding this year, who knows, obviously any difference will be magnified when you take over a winning program. I would note that the pre-Ivy season didn't indicate any problems to come and whatever went wrong appeared to happen after the exam break. Dunphy with his knowledge of his team was unable to prevent his team going on a 4 game slide after their exams, fortunately for Penn they weren't league games!
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SFlaQuaker
Postdoc
Posts: 2427
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: But, Phil . . .
02-13-05 11:10 PM - Post#4173
In response to Phil
Here's my take. It took Scott 4 years to make a huge impact at Air Force. Ironically, it takes 4 years for all the guys on your team to be your recruits. With the system he runs, having "your guys" is crucial to success.
By no means am I saying he did the right thing with the team this year. If anything, I think he should have gone for a more gradual change this year, and then started fresh next year when he lost his starters. That being said, give the guy a chance. It might be a rough year or two, but if he's as great as everyone (myself included) thought he was coming into this year, the lack of success won't last long.
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Anonymous
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Re: But, Phil . . .
02-13-05 11:20 PM - Post#4174
In response to SFlaQuaker
but is it the system that's the problem? Princeton's offense works well much of the time. The problem is meltdown. Why is the team's confidence so fragile? Or is there something "x's and o's" that's going on to explain the bad streaks?
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SFlaQuaker
Postdoc
Posts: 2427
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: But, Phil . . .
02-13-05 11:30 PM - Post#4175
In response to
It's sort of hard to break a press when your point guard is so short and your senior leader shooting guard keeps throwing the ball away. Even when the press does get broken, no one on the team can make a shot (and there were some pretty good looks against Penn). At a certain point, that comes down to the players executing.
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Brian Martin
Masters Student
Posts: 963
Loc: Washington, DC
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: But, Phil . . .
02-14-05 02:02 PM - Post#4176
In response to SFlaQuaker
This is not about the system or about whose recruits these guys are. It's all about coaching game situations, matchups, and substitutions. The most obvious difference from last year is that JTIII played a 3-guard offense. I don't think it is a coincidence that Princeton finally won Saturday night when Schafer played 36 minutes. Besides having a nice game of his own, he took some of the press-breaking, ball-handling, perimeter defense burden off Greenman and Venable, so they had better games as well.
I'm not sure if this was by design or the happy accident of all the foul trouble on the bigs, but the 3-guard lineup was the difference in the game.
I like Owings and Savage and Logan but if two of them are out there with Wallace or Stephens, that puts a hell of a burden on Greenman and Venable against a pressing or trapping defense. Once Penn started pressing, just putting in Schafer for Logan probably would have allowed Princeton to hold the lead.
It is true that this problem did not surface in the pre-league season except notably at UTEP, but it should be noted that due to injuries, Sargeant started and played a lot of minutes in the December games when the team played some of its best basketball. Venable, in particular, is much more productive when he does not have to carry a lot of the burden handling the ball.
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Anonymous
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Re: But, Phil . . .
02-14-05 04:17 PM - Post#4177
In response to Brian Martin
Brian, I agree with your point completely. Princeton did seem to play better with the 3-guard offense on Saturday. I think Scott was somewhat forced to adopt it with all the foul trouble and Savage's poor play.
I was speculating on Sat. night to surrounding season ticket holders that we may see this much more after this year. With Wallace, Stephens, & Logan all gone next year, Scott may go to a smaller, more perimeter oriented line-up. Assuming Schaen returns, he looks to be the favorite to play center (who backs him up? - Reynolds?). The guards may be chosen from among Greenman, Schafer, Sargeant, Buffmire, and incoming freshmen like Kestler, Okafor, & Briggs. Princeton then looks to be well-stocked with wing players like Owings, Savage, Koncz, and the incoming Strittmatter & Levine.
BTW, I noticed Schaen sitting behind the bench on Saturday. I guess this is a sign that he indeed is coming back? I sure hope so.
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SomeGuy
Professor
Posts: 6412
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: But, Phil . . .
02-15-05 06:15 PM - Post#4178
In response to Brian Martin
I pointed this out back when Brown beat PU. The rotation changed considerably coming out of exams, when Scott basically gave all of the minutes at the two forward spots to Savage, Owings, and Logan. Up to that point, Sargent and Venable were both getting time there. These guys provide the defensive size and perhaps the outside shooting (at least the closest thing to it on the roster) Scott desires, but you're absolutely right that other things seem to suffer. It was one thing for Scott to mess with JTIII's success by installing both a new defense and a new offense; it was another for him to then mess with his own success by changing the rotation right at the outset of the league season.
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SomeGuy
Professor
Posts: 6412
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: But, Phil . . .
02-15-05 06:21 PM - Post#4179
In response to
One interesting note on the center question -- Scott generally hasn't used Reynolds in competitive games, even when fouls or injury put both Stephens and Wallace on the bench. He's just gone small with Savage/Owings/Logan. I have no idea if that's sustainable or something Scott would do next year, but it seems to be what he's doing now.
Also, do you think the idea with Kestler and Okafor is to kind of find an in between in regard to the lack of ball-handling playing with 2 forwards and the lack of defensive size playing with 3 guards? Given Scott's seeming preference for "his" guys, isn't it possible that both of these guys will step in pretty fast?
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