What is wrong with USJ?

[utfan3]

For those of you who watch USJ Basketball please give me your input into what you would do different if you controlled the USJ team. Are we playing the right offense and defense? Are the right players playing the game? What players are we missing? Are we just too Slow? Is moving to D2 next years going to make that much difference?

[MojoRisin]

Unfortuanately this is the year that USJ does not have a 6'10" guys to plug the middle and grab rebounds. As I have said before they will take their lumps this year and get a lot stronger next year and the one after that. I did not want them to move to D-II because they do have the talent to complete in their district - just a very young team.

 

They have two issues that they have to overcome - they run the "flex' offense. They do not have the personnel to effectively execute this type of offense. They basically start 4 guards at anty one time - I would use a Princeton Offense style offense and control the tempo. Granted this is not the most exciting style of offense to run, but it would give USJ some measure of control that they do not currently have. The guards are a lot better one this year's team than last year. They do not commit dozens of turnovers in a game which doomed last year's team. I have seen the two inside guys take 3 point shots when they need to be under the basket boxng out and fighting for rebounds.

 

The second issue is team defense. I have seen other schools eat them alive on the baseline. The guys that play at the 4 and 5 spots seem incapable of taking a drop step to shut this line down. Heck take a blocking foul - don't let the opposing player hit a layup and commit a silly foul over the back after they score. This was a heavy factor in both of their district losses - games USJ was heavily in until late in the contest,

In addition to the baseline, the entire middle will open up and guards will drive 94 feet for an easy 2 - TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE for a team to play that lax on defense and expect to be in the game at the end.

 

One of my other peeves is free throw shooting - as a team I would say they are about 60% from the free throw line - this has lost three games for them becasuse as a team they could not make 1,2, or 3 extra shots. This is a basic practice staple - you won't win if you can't make a free throw.

 

They still have a lot of basketball to play this season. They have been consistently led in scoring by a sophomore point guard and a freshman post. Miller and Glover will be the duo you hear about quite a bit over the next couple of years. They can score 40-45 points a game between them. I just want to know where are the other players on this team? They are light at the Jr and Sr levels - almost an invisible presence on the court. I would look for these guys to step up and show they are leaders or resign themsleves to an extremely mediocre season - they have shown they can play with teams, but all that matters is where you are at the end.

[GCPioneer]

Miller and Glover were fun to watch today!

[Elvis3]

The game has passed Coach Russell by. he is going to either change his approach to basketball or his address.

[GCPioneer]

His team was down only 11 minutes with 3 minutes left in the game and he had all of his subs in. Did he not believe that he could make some sort of comeback with his starters?

[Murphy]

For those of you who watch USJ Basketball please give me your input into what you would do different if you controlled the USJ team. Are we playing the right offense and defense? Are the right players playing the game? What players are we missing? Are we just too Slow? Is moving to D2 next years going to make that much difference?

 

 

IMO.........You don't have the atheletes to play man-to-man defense. You have 3 players that stand above the rest, there is not much difference in the other 12 (minus a couple). Why would you not play more players, rest your starters more as well as get some much needed experience for the younger guys. You are not going to win this year....period. Why not build for the future instead of eventually running kids off like so many times in the past?

[Asitis]

They still have a lot of basketball to play this season. They have been consistently led in scoring by a sophomore point guard and a freshman post. Miller and Glover will be the duo you hear about quite a bit over the next couple of years. They can score 40-45 points a game between them. I just want to know where are the other players on this team? They are light at the Jr and Sr levels - almost an invisible presence on the court. I would look for these guys to step up and show they are leaders or resign themsleves to an extremely mediocre season - they have shown they can play with teams, but all that matters is where you are at the end.

 

 

Word on the street is that you would have to play with more than one ball for anybody other than these two to get a shot off.

 

You really can't expect to get on here bashing the upperclassmen without some sort of comeback can you?

 

When your post player thinks he's a shooting guard and your point guard's priorities are drive, shoot and pass as a last resort.........you will lose. That combined with a 25 year old offense and a stand around defense will you up to the 4-9 record you are sitting at. 9 being the loss today.

[utfan3]

The post by Elvis3 was un-called-for regarding certain players. They just need to take the lumps and move on to D2 next year.

[Murphy]

The post by Elvis3 was un-called-for regarding certain players.

 

 

Agreed........but the tension shown on here does kind of exemplify one of the problems USJ faces this year.

 

By all means.........not the biggest one.....but still seems to be a problem.

 

It is time to try something new.

[KennyMayne]

The game has not passed Coach Russell by. I had the privilege of playing and coaching against him and his teams at several levels. His teams play hard. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of his players better than anyone else. Right now, neither John Wooden, Bobby Knight, nor Coach K could do much more with his players. They will be better in postseason play than they are now, and they will be far better over the next few seasons. Don't try to make coaching decisions if you've never earned a paycheck coaching, you're gonna be in over your head in a hurry! Coach Russell has forgotten more about the game than any of you bashers!

[Murphy]

The game has not passed Coach Russell by. I had the privilege of playing and coaching against him and his teams at several levels. His teams play hard. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of his players better than anyone else. Right now, neither John Wooden, Bobby Knight, nor Coach K could do much more with his players. They will be better in postseason play than they are now, and they will be far better over the next few seasons. Don't try to make coaching decisions if you've never earned a paycheck coaching, you're gonna be in over your head in a hurry! Coach Russell has forgotten more about the game than any of you bashers!

 

 

No one has thought more of Tommy Russell over the past 25 years than myself. He is a good man

and will go down as one of the top coaches in West TN.

 

By your comments above, you are coming to the defense of the man you knew and have not

really followed what has gone on over the past couple of years. Knowing the man well in the past...I can tell you that I do believe that fire he once had has burnt out a little.

 

If me saying that it is time to try something is considered "bashing", I was not talking about a coaching

change. My comments were directed at my opinion that they need to adjust either the style of play or the personel

on the floor.

 

And since I have recieved a paycheck from coaching....I will say whatever I want. As an adult, you should be able to recognize the comments made by disgruntled players vs. those made by other adults. It is not that hard.

[lakecountyfan007]

For those of you who watch USJ Basketball please give me your input into what you would do different if you controlled the USJ team. Are we playing the right offense and defense? Are the right players playing the game? What players are we missing? Are we just too Slow? Is moving to D2 next years going to make that much difference?

 

I've seen them play three times over at westview. And to be honest it was two times to many. Usj doesn't have any talent on the floor. The point guard maybe the best player on the team but that isn't saying to much, i think he is a freshman. Usj doesn't get any help from the district schedue when they have to play north side, covington and ripley. So there isn't anything wrong with usj. There just not that good to begin with. Maybe if they bring back Brandon they would improve.