If you were at a presser...
- Thread starter GatoLouco
- Start date
I’d ask CC to describe his offensive philosophy and why with a pretty veteran team the shot selection is often so atrocious
Yep.... I'd ask why a veteran-laden team seems to make the same fundamental mistakes on offense over and over again.
Coach, do you have a metric for shot quality, and if so, how is it employed it to support your offensive strategy?
There’s really no way to ask the question without creating tension, but I’d love to get some insight regarding why Audige is still allowed to take non-quality shots. I know Audige plays really good defense, but we’re losing despite that defense. It would be nice to know whether we can win with that defense and with good shot selection. Almost every game we see the opposing team work the ball to the open man more consistently than we do.
There’s really no way to ask the question without creating tension, but I’d love to get some insight regarding why Audige is still allowed to take non-quality shots. I know Audige plays really good defense, but we’re losing despite that defense. It would be nice to know whether we can win with that defense and with good shot selection. Almost every game we see the opposing team work the ball to the open man more consistently than we do.
Q: Coach, why don't you focus specifically on an offense that features Young in the low post and Nance in the high post?
A: We think that Robbie is our "X-factor" on defense and Young has to work on his 3 point shooting.
for Boo Buie
Q: Why do you think Coach Collins substitutes so frequently and do you find that approach to be disruptive to the team, making it difficult to adjust to what your opponent is doing?
A: I don't know why he does that, but yeah it makes it tough because you are never on the court with the same guys for more than a minute or two.
A: We think that Robbie is our "X-factor" on defense and Young has to work on his 3 point shooting.
for Boo Buie
Q: Why do you think Coach Collins substitutes so frequently and do you find that approach to be disruptive to the team, making it difficult to adjust to what your opponent is doing?
A: I don't know why he does that, but yeah it makes it tough because you are never on the court with the same guys for more than a minute or two.
Q: Do you think you have the conditions to stay in Evanston?
A: Gets really mad and goes on a rant of how only if some good looks we had went in, we'd be in a different position. Followed by some rant about breaking through.
Player
Q: Do you guys still listen to what CCC says?
A: In a very polite, Northwestern way, answers an ambiguous: It's our job to listen to the coach
A: Gets really mad and goes on a rant of how only if some good looks we had went in, we'd be in a different position. Followed by some rant about breaking through.
Player
Q: Do you guys still listen to what CCC says?
A: In a very polite, Northwestern way, answers an ambiguous: It's our job to listen to the coach
That's a great answer! That's the most useful answer.
Collins has hopefully-more-than two games left in this trainwreck. His record and tendencies are what they are, and they're pretty well established. Trying to break this down beyond a macro-look at the program is just jerking off.
That's a fair question, and one that gets brought up a lot here, but it's probably the one with the easiest answer. Unfortunately it's one of those answers that comes in the form of a question. "Have you seen our offense when Audige doesn't shoot?" We make lazy passes that turn into turnovers. We pass it around the outside until we heave up a last-second shot as the buzzer sounds. We miss lay-ups. We miss driving floaters. We dribble off our feet. It's a mess of hesitancy and desperation. I can see why Collins does not want to hamstring one of only two guys on the team who comes to the offensive end with any confidence.
Someone has to take the shots, and other than Buie, no one on the roster besides Audige is consistently willing to do so.
I know a lot of posters always add that Audige plays good D. I watched yesterday as he constantly lost his man off of picks. Then there is his shot selection. Guess we will just skip that.
You are over analyzing things, we simply are not a good team. We don’t stink, but we make mistakes that good teams don’t and it’s the same players making the same mistakes game after game. We are what we are.
Don't underestimate how stupid shots have a snowball effect. They create frustration with team mates and hugely increase the probability others will also take bad shots and make bad decisions.
It's a problem. And it's not the only one with our offense. It's a complete mess.
I head Fran McCaffery say before the game NU/Collins runs great stuff. Followed by mentioning Ryan Young. I understand that's what any coach will say, what else could he say? Their offense is a mess? That's not how you talk about other teams. But the point is, run whatever great stuff you have, have the best sets on the planet, if the players don't interpret them well, you will score less than with an old fashioned, predictably as hell, well interpreted, flex.
"Why don't you play Nance and Young together more?"
What would I expect his answer to be, if he were forced to answer? I have no idea.
What would I expect his answer to be, if he were forced to answer? I have no idea.
This is certainly a fair answer. But, we lose despite this. Changing this tactic would either force other players to improve their offense or put younger players on the court to develop them or try other player combinations. What we’ve seen is just not good enough. I know you‘re in agreement with that. I just think coaches have to change what isn‘t working before we get to the point we are today.
If that‘s the answer then we might as well not have a coach. One of the basic job descriptions for a coach is to develop players so they can work as a cohesive unit and run offensive sets. After being with CC for several years do most of our players still have zero idea what the plan is?
If the CC game plan is hey whoever feels they can get a shot off take it, then the AD should save some $$
We can always use the +/- grids to determine lineups. Get some NU nerd program the entry and departure time of every player and go from there.
Something about both being centers and Young being the leader of the second unit.
Despite this brilliant meta commentary on modern crappy sports reporting, what I’d actually like to know is what identity he wants for his ideal team, and whether this team has that identity.
The answer would likely be something about hardworking, and “except for Minnesota and Iowa games”, yes.
When he started, I thought the identity was hard-nosed defense and defending the perimeter and battling for boards even if they were undersized. I don’t see that anymore.
Yeah this is essentially what I'd ask, maybe frame it around the team taking shots early in possessions and whether that was part of the specific game plan or just generally part of the offense. If it was the season-ender I'd definitely ask where he'd hoped the program would be right now and why he thought they struggled to reach that level.
Lots of questions here that I'd love to see answered, but if you get too confrontational you'll just piss a coach off, get no answers, and have a harder time getting good answers in the future.
Collins would rightfully never throw anyone under the bus, so this is all moot. But the key answer in my view is that he does not have a point guard or other players that can beat guys 1-on-1 and create mismatches. That is what other good teams have. It’s about playmakers / difference makers. Unless some other coach recruits guys like that, we will never be as good as we all want.
Audige is frenetic on defense and gets out of position, but he is so long and athletic that he actually makes up for it decently well. And causes enough disruption to make up for it, on defense at least IMO. I think he is at his best on defense when given a single player assignment (think a top player on the opponent) and told to shut that individual guy down.
Buie on the other hand often gets out of position on defense, into chase mode on screens and does not have the length or athleticism to make up for it, so is a negative. He obviously brings a lot more to the table on the offensive side of the ball though.
I would have to think about the exact phrasing so as to ask it in a way that isn't combative, but my question would be about end-of-game strategy when we are sitting on a 5-10 point lead (offense gets stagnant), and whether when teams press us we should be more aggressive in attacking with numbers advantage when we break the press. I guess that's two questions.