Coach Pope was discussing earlier in the season as two of his goals this year are the :
1) developing players
2) the ability of players to make read in offense and defense so we can make the correct and quick decision.
Considering that we have one elite catch and shoot guy : Brea and everyone else is just average from 3 and that unfortunately, no one on the team can create its own shot like Rob Dilly or Monk or Murray and that one player supposed to be Robinson but his handle is suspect to say the least I think the two goals above are very important for how far this team will go.
Right now we are depending on running plays to get our guys open to shoot 3s… or getting shots in transition or via offensive rebounds but that means we should run a transition and rebo7nd the ball….which we don’t do consistently….
As other teams get more tape of Uk plays, the ability to run plays to get our guys open will decrease… sure Pope can make adjustments and tweaks but those will be also read in the next game,
This year we don’t have the high profile players so it’s normal to be on this trend where easy 3 will come harder and harder and that will be a problem in the system that Pope wants to run.
Back to the 2 goals .
Where are with developing players:
Butler definitely improved especially his ability to make plays of the two feet.
The rest I have seen very timid but inconsistent improvements: Brea to try to score more than just catch and shoot 3, Garrison to develop post play and shooting from distance, Oweh to shoot the 3.
The remaining players I didn’t see yet a significant personal skills improvement after a month of playing … a little concern of luck playing time of the 3 freshman…how are they going to contribute next year?
Making reads:
On plus Carr and Butler on offensive reads.
On negative Robinson he seems at times lost on what we are running on offense though he should have been the one player familiar with Pope system. Eberyone else on half court is average that’s why we look stagnant at times …Defense I would say the whole team is on minus especially the point guards and the center because on bad habits they have.
Pope has a good coaching team that in theory could spend time on developing players to get the most of this season and developing players for future years . In reality , once we hit our learning ceiling , considering that many of these players will not return because of expiring eligibility I think at one point the decision will be have to be made what is the priority? Continue to put the effort on this season developing players or considering developing the possible returning players…
Anyhow, we should not judge to harshly our first year Coach and a team put together in two weeks. Coach Pope will need 2-3 years to build something…
