It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:27 am

All times are UTC - 6 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 11 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Loyola A10 Transition
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 10:33 am 
Offline

Joined: Sat May 04, 2013 12:06 pm
Posts: 43
I am surprised that the Ramblers are struggling this much. IMO, turnovers have been the biggest detriment. The Ramblers seem to try to force an uptempo possesion when it isn't there. When you turn it over at a rate of 24% of possessions it makes winning games difficult. Defense has been problematic as well. There have been a lot of missed rotations and a step too slow at times.

As a Bona-Rambler alumni, I was thrilled to see Loyola join the A10. Although, I hate that they have to compete directly against each other. I believe that in the long run the A10 will be great for Loyola and vice-versa.

Moving forward, to compete in the A10 Loyola will need to adjust its' recruiting strategy. I have followed the A10 (Bonnies) for many years. I have a sense of what a Championship A10 roster needs to look like:
• Big guards
• Overall athleticism
• A big time rim protector
• Physically strong players and/or good length (wing span)
• Players who get to the foul line frequently
• Three capable 3 point shooters simultaneously on the floor
• Players who REALLY like to defend

The list above is what the Bonnies looked like when they have won A10 championships or finished in the top 4 and earned the double bye. Loyola has some of the components. There are some gaps to fill as they recruit forward. The current Ramblers should be more competitive than they currently are. Hopefully, it gets better.

_________________
Loyola '86
St. Bona '83


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 12:49 pm 
Offline

Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:32 am
Posts: 2282
Jimmy C...some great points.
Yesterday...GM played 4 guards..who 3 were 6'4 and one 6'6... we had Norris who we list as 6 foot but is not...and Marquis at 6'1 and in yesterdays game both teams played basically the same offense...both teams got to the lane but our guards were 7-21 and there guards were 14 for 29. It is interesting next year we will have our 3 recruits from this year Lewis at 6'6, Dawson at 6'4 and Quinn at 6'4 but Norris and Kennedy I believe are both eligible to come back.
You mentioned
Overall athleticism
• A big time rim protector
• Physically strong players and/or good length (wing span)
Since A-10 play has started we have been out rebounded in all 3 games....We have Rubin coming in next year at 6'9 and supposedly a rim protector.
So unless the transfer portal lites up for us next year..we may be a year or two away..


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 4:48 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue May 07, 2013 4:21 pm
Posts: 515
I brought 14 people to the game and we sat behind Loyola's bench. We had a great time and GMU runs a great game experience.
There are many problems I saw yesterday.
First: Are the constant questions coming from the floor about who should be guarding who on defense. It happened numerous times even coming out of a time-out. Granted GMU changed line-ups at times but that is for an asst coach to watch and no one did. Doesn't matter why it happens, it looks awful.
Second: The 2-3 zone version LU runs is not going to be effective against bigger line ups. If Syracuse is the template then we are as far away from that as possible. You don't guard an area of the floor. You guard a man in an area of the floor. Watch how many times someone is standing in an empty space. Switching to a zone number one goal is to confuse and take the other team out of rhythm.
Third:Rhythm of the offensive sets. LU had some really beautiful sets with great ball movement and an innate sense of where everyone is on the floor. Then there are times nothing synches.
Fourth: Conditioning: It will take a well-condition team to execute what I see as a necessity. LU has to press more at different times not just the end and force bigger guards away from offensive entry spots. Switching defenses is the sign of a well-coached and conditioned team, plus it will give more opportunities for people to play.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 7:36 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat May 04, 2013 12:11 pm
Posts: 4746
Klu, to be fair we have some guys "guarding an area" when we're playing man-to-man, too! And you make a great point about the lack of communication. It's very noticeable.

Aside from Braden, who we've all been saying is going to run out gas paying 40 minutes a game, I cannot figure out the conditioning issues. Drew mentioned it on the post-game. Said something about "our strength coach getting guys ready to play." That was stunning to me. We've turned back the clock 10 years in a lot of bad ways.

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 8:24 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2014 11:56 am
Posts: 3890
Location: Chicago, Illinois
This is such a welcome thread and topic.

After the GW game I wrote something about the "clumsy zone" we started to play. I guess they put it together in the break between the Stanford game and the start of conference play. And it hasn't improved that much since. Part of the point of changing defenses in the game is that it is a SURPRISE. The surprise of heading out to find another type of defense set up delays teams getting into their offense, gives them less time to carry out an offensive set, So when the players get into a formation, spread their arms to gauge their place in a zone formation, and yell at each other to make corrections to the zone, it's NO LONGER A SURPRISE.

We had communication problems and confusion problems last year (and even a little with Moser), but it's worse this season. And still going.

The conditioning issues are there, too. Lots of winded players, especially at the beginning of the season. Now we've got the rotations down to seven or eight players doing double-digit minutes, so it's going to show up even more in late game situations. Is that part of the reason we've been outscored by 38 points (7+20+11) in the second halves of the last three games?

And I'll give one last question that has occurred to me in the past few days, one that the issues above may be related to.... We know Coach Valentine knows what it takes to put together a winning team, but does he know what things to avoid that making a losing team? I took a look back at Valentine's teams that he played on and learned to coach with. There was only one team that he played on or coached with (at Oakland, Michigan State, and Loyola) that had a non-20 win season. At all those places, there was a coach (Kampe, Izzo, Moser) who had policies in place that kept players from developing bad habits or lapsing into carelessness about things that contribute to losing. The difference can be subtle. That's why culture has become a "thing" that coaches are always trying to develop. A winning culture develops from not only positive, proactive things, but also from avoiding bad habits, attitudes, and inattention to foundational building blocks-- and the latter can go unnoticed if you're in a winning program with a positive culture. I think maybe Larry Farmer had some of the same blind spots... A lot of the stupid little things that young people find unnecessary or overly formal can have some usefulness that only becomes apparent when it's no longer there.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 11:14 pm 
Offline

Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2019 10:29 am
Posts: 414
Good points by everyone. I think a good exercise for us would be to track the Culture. In other words, can someone list all the phrases on the Culture Wall. Next game we can all watch the game with the phrases in hand and we can see just how far they are straying or failing to follow. It would be a sort of quality control. The Culture Wall is still up, so I assume they are still stressing it.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2023 11:54 am 
Offline

Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2020 10:17 am
Posts: 18
JCT wrote:
And I'll give one last question that has occurred to me in the past few days, one that the issues above may be related to.... We know Coach Valentine knows what it takes to put together a winning team, but does he know what things to avoid that making a losing team? I took a look back at Valentine's teams that he played on and learned to coach with. There was only one team that he played on or coached with (at Oakland, Michigan State, and Loyola) that had a non-20 win season. At all those places, there was a coach (Kampe, Izzo, Moser) who had policies in place that kept players from developing bad habits or lapsing into carelessness about things that contribute to losing. The difference can be subtle. That's why culture has become a "thing" that coaches are always trying to develop. A winning culture develops from not only positive, proactive things, but also from avoiding bad habits, attitudes, and inattention to foundational building blocks-- and the latter can go unnoticed if you're in a winning program with a positive culture.


This is the big piece for me. Even outside of Drew, this is a younger staff. I'm assuming this is why Hipsher is here, although I don't have a ton of familiarity with him outside of his bio and Wikipedia page. It's the patterns that we see with this team that are troubling. The terrible starts to second halves, the huge ebbs and flows in playing time for the younger guys, etc.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:50 pm 
Offline

Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:32 am
Posts: 2282
still believe this is not a team that can play man-to-man the way we used to..Coach said in GM post game that they intentionally switched less in the man-to-man indicating to me that they as people have said that we are struggling with man to man.
If I remember correctly we have had two bouts of illness this season which could have contributed to the conditioning.
Looking at some of the new sets we have been running on offense...I think we have been using this zoom offense a lot when Welch is in....There is a nice 3 minute segment on LU and Krutwig....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI1cGQP_aEo&t=183s
I think both teams used this zoom Saturday, the difference was the GM guards were more effective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sjv8P8xAQY
Also watching these vids makes me think we sure could use another Krutwig..have not effectively replace him yet.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2023 2:22 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat May 04, 2013 12:11 pm
Posts: 4746
natetheskate wrote:
Also watching these vids makes me think we sure could use another Krutwig..have not effectively replace him yet.


I agree another All-American center would be great to have! ;)

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2023 4:52 pm 
Offline

Joined: Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:34 pm
Posts: 149
I think we should try playing Braden less. We've tried a lot of combinations and rotations and none of them have worked -- the only consistent variable is Braden plays the entire game, usually while being pressed, and then we have terrible second halves.

I'm not sure who takes his minutes but Kennedy can take the point well enough, and get Dawson, Quinn, and Edwards more run. Our zone might work better with more length in at the guard position, and Braden might not completely run out of gas in the second half.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 11 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next


All times are UTC - 6 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Majestic-12 [Bot] and 32 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group Color scheme by ColorizeIt!