The most successful program on Liberty Mountain deserves its own forum. We give Coach Green and the Lady Flames their props while breaking down their run to the Big Dance once again.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke, thesportscritic

By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#599272
jinxy wrote: April 15th, 2020, 11:31 pm Im not as familiar with the roster but doesnt that give us a glut of scoring perimeter players and not many bigs? I could be completely wrong.
We have 6'3" Mya McMillion and 6'2" Bridgette Rettstatt back and 6'6"FR Bella Smuda coming in, but I will be surprised if we have more than one of them on the floor at a time very much. Dee Brown averaged 9 rebounds a game for Miami Dade last year (along with over 26 points and over 7 assists) and Emily Lytle can also rebound, so I don't think we will be hurting on the boards by going small. This team should be a blast to watch. I won't be surprised if the offensive record book gets re-written in the next couple of years.
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#599279
It seems he might be shifting he philosophy a bit. Or at least putting different types of players in place to implement his philosophy. Those are a lot of points coming in but what are they going to look like defensively? We’ve had scorers here in the past who could light it up but played Hollywood defense at best.
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#599281
In the past it seemed like most every possession, the offense "went thru the 4 or 5", now maybe we can play more up tempo, resulting in fewer turnovers and more points.
User avatar
By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#599290
Purple Haize wrote: April 16th, 2020, 8:03 am We’ve had scorers here in the past who could light it up but played Hollywood defense at best.
Purple, I think I need coached up on what a "Hollywood defense" is. :dontgetit That's not a term I learned at Marshall.
By Chippy
Registration Days Posts
#599292
Cider Jim wrote: April 16th, 2020, 1:02 pm
Purple Haize wrote: April 16th, 2020, 8:03 am We’ve had scorers here in the past who could light it up but played Hollywood defense at best.
Purple, I think I need coached up on what a "Hollywood defense" is. :dontgetit That's not a term I learned at Marshall.
Looks like we're taking a page from FGCU who play 5 players all under 5'11" and whose game is based on perimeter offense, steals and fastbreaks. Also, I believe FGCU lead the nation in TO margin that lead to a lot of breakout baskets. I'm sure I'm wrong but I think they only turned the ball over @ 10 X's a game and created @ 20 TOs.

As opposed to going through the 4's and 5's and turning the ball over repeatedly because (1) our 4's and 5's don't have the best hands and (2) our passes are often forced into the post.

I like tha additions including the PT guard coming in the Frosh class. We seem to be adding speed and aggressiveness.
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#599297
Cider Jim wrote: April 16th, 2020, 1:02 pm
Purple Haize wrote: April 16th, 2020, 8:03 am We’ve had scorers here in the past who could light it up but played Hollywood defense at best.
Purple, I think I need coached up on what a "Hollywood defense" is. :dontgetit That's not a term I learned at Marshall.
The fact you used a phrase I hate means you will receive no help from me. :D
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#599305
In women's basketball, the longer a team goes without shooting, the greater the chance for a turnover becomes.

Cross midcourt and shoot it
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#599309
ballcoach15 wrote: April 16th, 2020, 4:42 pm In women's basketball, the longer a team goes without shooting, the greater the chance for a turnover becomes.

Cross midcourt and shoot it
Do you have a source on that? Or speaking from ignorance?
User avatar
By jinxy
Registration Days Posts
#599313
I should have said maybe too many ball dominant type players. Baker and these 2 for sure appear that way but maybe not. Again i dont know the womens game as well.
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#599314
jinxy wrote: April 16th, 2020, 8:00 pm I should have said maybe too many ball dominant type players. Baker and these 2 for sure appear that way but maybe not. Again i dont know the womens game as well.
That’s a legit question. One of them did average I think 7 assists so that’s good. However, a vast majority of your college Freshmen were leading scorers on their HS teams. However these are JUCO players so that might be different. I dunno. It does seem like a slight shift. Could be wrong.
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#599315
jinxy wrote: April 16th, 2020, 8:00 pm I should have said maybe too many ball dominant type players. Baker and these 2 for sure appear that way but maybe not. Again i dont know the womens game as well.
I don’t either.

But the FGCU style is predicated on the ball and player never stopping — a hybrid of the Euro style cutting and Knight’s/Bee’s motion system, with Smesko’s own twist for flavor. Anyone below the motion line can not stop. Ball can’t stop either.
ballcoach15 liked this
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#599316
Purple Haize wrote: April 16th, 2020, 6:12 pm
ballcoach15 wrote: April 16th, 2020, 4:42 pm In women's basketball, the longer a team goes without shooting, the greater the chance for a turnover becomes.

Cross midcourt and shoot it
Do you have a source on that? Or speaking from ignorance?
The source is basketball knowledge, which by virtue of you being an assistant coach, you should know it also.
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#599317
ballcoach15 wrote: April 16th, 2020, 9:28 pm
Purple Haize wrote: April 16th, 2020, 6:12 pm
ballcoach15 wrote: April 16th, 2020, 4:42 pm In women's basketball, the longer a team goes without shooting, the greater the chance for a turnover becomes.

Cross midcourt and shoot it
Do you have a source on that? Or speaking from ignorance?
The source is basketball knowledge, which by virtue of you being an assistant coach, you should know it also.
You’ve shown a demonstrable lack of basketball knowledge over the years so I’m not sure where you are getting your information from. So if you are citing yourself, I will just laugh and move on
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#599318
JK37 wrote: April 16th, 2020, 9:11 pm
jinxy wrote: April 16th, 2020, 8:00 pm I should have said maybe too many ball dominant type players. Baker and these 2 for sure appear that way but maybe not. Again i dont know the womens game as well.
I don’t either.

But the FGCU style is predicated on the ball and player never stopping — a hybrid of the Euro style cutting and Knight’s/Bee’s motion system, with Smesko’s own twist for flavor. Anyone below the motion line can not stop. Ball can’t stop either.
Ahh, the good ole motion offense. Takes some good basketball IQ and coaching to run that. You can spend weeks teaching how to come off of a down screen, let alone a cross screen. It looks simple but teaching the read takes patience.
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#599319
Purple Haize wrote: April 16th, 2020, 9:36 pm
JK37 wrote: April 16th, 2020, 9:11 pm
jinxy wrote: April 16th, 2020, 8:00 pm I should have said maybe too many ball dominant type players. Baker and these 2 for sure appear that way but maybe not. Again i dont know the womens game as well.
I don’t either.

But the FGCU style is predicated on the ball and player never stopping — a hybrid of the Euro style cutting and Knight’s/Bee’s motion system, with Smesko’s own twist for flavor. Anyone below the motion line can not stop. Ball can’t stop either.
Ahh, the good ole motion offense. Takes some good basketball IQ and coaching to run that. You can spend weeks teaching how to come off of a down screen, let alone a cross screen. It looks simple but teaching the read takes patience.
And a willingness by the coach to relinquish control.
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#599322
JK37 wrote: April 16th, 2020, 9:52 pm
Purple Haize wrote: April 16th, 2020, 9:36 pm
JK37 wrote: April 16th, 2020, 9:11 pm

I don’t either.

But the FGCU style is predicated on the ball and player never stopping — a hybrid of the Euro style cutting and Knight’s/Bee’s motion system, with Smesko’s own twist for flavor. Anyone below the motion line can not stop. Ball can’t stop either.
Ahh, the good ole motion offense. Takes some good basketball IQ and coaching to run that. You can spend weeks teaching how to come off of a down screen, let alone a cross screen. It looks simple but teaching the read takes patience.
And a willingness by the coach to relinquish control.
That’s what’s missing a lot from today’s games. Coaches gotta feel like they need to earn their pay check. I mean you are going to get quicker success running something other than a Motion but if you are patient and have the time, it’s a tough system to defend. It’s also scalable up tempo or ball control.
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#599326
Purple Haize wrote: April 16th, 2020, 10:19 pm It’s also scalable up tempo or ball control.
And THAT is the controllable for coaches — including Smesko. A coach can’t fully control decisions by individuals in the moment, so why try? Much easier to control the macros: tempo, personnel packages, timeouts, sets out of timeouts. Basketball is already a game of flow; it’s not start-stop like football or the diamond games. And various motion offensive concepts complement that best.

BC asked for more X’s/O’s. Where did he go?
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#599328
Too many basketball coaches try to control every possession from the sideline., both offense and defense. I wonder how much of coaches yelling do the players actually hear. I wish there would be rule changes that require coaches to be seated, except during dead balls and TOs
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#599332
JK37 wrote: April 17th, 2020, 5:16 am
Purple Haize wrote: April 16th, 2020, 10:19 pm It’s also scalable up tempo or ball control.
And THAT is the controllable for coaches — including Smesko. A coach can’t fully control decisions by individuals in the moment, so why try? Much easier to control the macros: tempo, personnel packages, timeouts, sets out of timeouts. Basketball is already a game of flow; it’s not start-stop like football or the diamond games. And various motion offensive concepts complement that best.

BC asked for more X’s/O’s. Where did he go?
The only experience ballcoach has with X’s and O’s Are the games of Tic-Tac-Toe he plays against himself!
In all honesty there are a lot of reasons you don’t see true motion offense anymore. I would say primarily among them are reduced practice times allowed by the NCAA combined with the lack of unorganized play. You don’t see kids just going to the park anymore to just play pick up games, which is where you learn things that can’t be taught and figure things out. Couple that with being restricted on the time you have to teach players how to set screens, read screens and move without the ball you can understand the decline. I just hope when I get my big Upward break I can find away to get a nice Motion offense in
ballcoach15 liked this
User avatar
By thepostman
Registration Days Posts
#599336
Wait, kids don't go to the park anymore to play pickup games? That is news to me as I see it all the time at the parks here and when I lived in Florida. Is that a real thing?

I don't think playground ball is where people are learning the motion offense. There are variations of the motion option common today but it has evolved over the years and does take a lot of time and energy. I'd say the AAU basketball circuit has more to do with it being less popular than anything else. AAU seems like a good idea on paper but is absolutely killing high school basketball in my opinion. That is my old man take of the day.
ballcoach15 liked this
User avatar
By thepostman
Registration Days Posts
#599337
Except there isnt any pick up games going on now since you'll be fine 1000 bucks or thrown in jail for a year. But that is a whole other discussion.
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#599341
thepostman wrote: April 17th, 2020, 9:26 am Wait, kids don't go to the park anymore to play pickup games? That is news to me as I see it all the time at the parks here and when I lived in Florida. Is that a real thing?

I don't think playground ball is where people are learning the motion offense. There are variations of the motion option common today but it has evolved over the years and does take a lot of time and energy. I'd say the AAU basketball circuit has more to do with it being less popular than anything else. AAU seems like a good idea on paper but is absolutely killing high school basketball in my opinion. That is my old man take of the day.
This is where being old I can compare and contrast. It IS a real thing. There are still kids playing pick up games but not to the extent as “back in the day”. I agree that you don’t learn any motion offense playing pick up games. But you learn the game. You learn things (as I wrote) that can’t be taught. You learn how to get open etc. Parks I used to play on growing up are barren now (despite being in much better condition)
You do hit on the 3rd thing and that’s AAU. It’s both good AND bad. I’m pretty well acquainted with an area HS coach and they encourage their players to do ANYTHING basketball related in the Summer (see above point). But AAU coaches run the gambit and they certainly (for the most part) aren’t going to take the time to teach a Motion. They want to win games and see Instant Results
LaTech

Looks like we'll have to win with pitching cause t[…]

JMU for 6 games

The fact of the matter is, JMU and Liberty could n[…]

NCAA Realignment Megathread

Honestly, the ACC should've taken Wazzu and Oregon[…]

Dondi Costin - LU President

HEB is alright, but honestly Trader Joe's is my fa[…]