Brennan’s review if PSU - Alabama:

[stormingnorm]

https://247sports.com/college/penn-...es-Alabama-Lamar-Stevens-struggled-126750241/


Brennan has always seemed to:
A) Have a better-than-most ability to dissect a hoops game
And
B) More than fair leniency wrt putting a positive spin on all things PSU


That piece seems like a very sensible (and easy to digest, even for hoops non-expert) summary of the state of PSU hoops. And it sounds pretty ominous.

 

[PaoliLion]

7 of 25 from the 3 pt line sums it up unfortunately, with Lamar Stevens going 0 for 6. A reasonable coach would have made it clear to Stevens that he needs to play within his game.

 

[lbujoe33]

7 of 25 from the 3 pt line sums it up unfortunately, with Lamar Stevens going 0 for 6. A reasonable coach would have made it clear to Stevens that he needs to play within his game.

I agree. The coach has to tell him to stop shooting 3 pointers. He has to share the ball. I really have my doubts about Chambers. He has no control over this team.

 

[psu1969a]

One can lead a horse to water, but getting the horse to drink is another story.

 

[mn78psu83]

One can lead a horse to water, but getting the horse to drink is another story.

Indeed.

 

[mn78psu83]

7 of 25 from the 3 pt line sums it up unfortunately, with Lamar Stevens going 0 for 6. A reasonable coach would have made it clear to Stevens that he needs to play within his game.

Throw in Jones' 0-4 and 3 for 16 overall in only 21 minutes. Ouch. Those are almost, not quite, Pistol Pete shots per minute numbers. Pistol took 38 shots per game in his 3 years at LSU. I guess Jones gets a quarter of a mulligan for going 5-5 at the FT line. His shooting performance certainly didn't help the rhythm of the O though.

From the head-scratcher department: Jones came off the bench and launched 16 shots — making only three. He was 0 of 4 on triples. We get that he’s from nearby Birmingham, Ala., and the staff probably thought there was some special mojo to tap into there. But Jones played 21 minutes, so 16 shots was kind of ridiculous.

 

[bdgan]

Stevens seems gassed before halftime of each game. A lot of it is because he's asked to do so much. He's asked to defend big forwards in the paint. PSU needs him to help get the ball up court when pressed. He's double teamed on offense. On the other hand, PSU has had players like Newbill who had to carry the load for the team and they seemed better able to play when fatigued.

 

[psu1969a]

Stevens seems gassed before halftime of each game. A lot of it is because he's asked to do so much. He's asked to defend big forwards in the paint. PSU needs him to help get the ball up court when pressed. He's double teamed on offense. On the other hand, PSU has had players like Newbill who had to carry the load for the team and they seemed better able to play when fatigued.

No argument that others have to pull their share of the workload. Watkins & Reeves have to reduce their fouls.

 

[AWS1022]

Stevens seems gassed before halftime of each game. A lot of it is because he's asked to do so much. He's asked to defend big forwards in the paint. PSU needs him to help get the ball up court when pressed. He's double teamed on offense. On the other hand, PSU has had players like Newbill who had to carry the load for the team and they seemed better able to play when fatigued.

And Reaves pretty much disappears in the second half of every game. He’s had some strong first halves, but then becomes a hanging uniform on the floor.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

One can lead a horse to water, but getting the horse to drink is another story.

You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead.

 

[bdgan]

And Reaves pretty much disappears in the second half of every game. He’s had some strong first halves, but then becomes a hanging uniform on the floor.

I'm frustrated by Reaves and the staff with respect to his defense. Reaves is incredibly athletic but his defensive game is all about harrassing, overplaying, double teaming, and going for steals. It's great when it works but there seems to be little focus on good defensive position and blocking out. All opponents have to do is reverse the ball to get an open perimeter shot or make a backdoor cut to get a layup. He gets beat off the dribble by less athletic opponents because of this approach. Same could be said of Wheeler.

Reaves is not much of an offensive threat. He has a decent set shot but he can't create his own offense. That would be OK if PSU had other offensive threats but not when he's paired with other non scorers like Wheeler and Harrar. That leaves the whole offense in the hands of Stevens and one of the freshmen.

I saw a play vs. Alabama that opitomized the problem. Harrar gets the ball 3 ft from the basket. Instead of attacking he looks to dump it back out to Wheeler who is unguarded for a 3. Wheeler doesn't take the shot and instead tries to take it into the paint against a sagging defense where he gets bottled up and turns the ball over. 2 pt transition basket for Alabama. I don't really blame those kids for not shooting. They're just not capable scorers. Just look at their FT shooting. Harrar is 10-24 (41%) and Wheeler is 6-15 (40%). Do you really expect them to be able to score when defended?

 

[AWS1022]

I'm frustrated by Reaves and the staff with respect to his defense. Reaves is incredibly athletic but his defensive game is all about harrassing, overplaying, double teaming, and going for steals. It's great when it works but there seems to be little focus on good defensive position and blocking out. All opponents have to do is reverse the ball to get an open perimeter shot or make a backdoor cut to get a layup. He gets beat off the dribble by less athletic opponents because of this approach. Same could be said of Wheeler.

Reaves is not much of an offensive threat. He has a decent set shot but he can't create his own offense. That would be OK if PSU had other offensive threats but not when he's paired with other non scorers like Wheeler and Harrar. That leaves the whole offense in the hands of Stevens and one of the freshmen.

I saw a play vs. Alabama that opitomized the problem. Harrar gets the ball 3 ft from the basket. Instead of attacking he looks to dump it back out to Wheeler who is unguarded for a 3. Wheeler doesn't take the shot and instead tries to take it into the paint against a sagging defense where he gets bottled up and turns the ball over. 2 pt transition basket for Alabama. I don't really blame those kids for not shooting. They're just not capable scorers. Just look at their FT shooting. Harrar is 10-24 (41%) and Wheeler is 6-15 (40%). Do you really expect them to be able to score when defended?

Another problem I see with the defense is they bite on almost every head fake, which leads to a lot of the fouls. It’s not that hard to not leave your feet. I also hate when they run out after a pick to double team the ball handler, leaving the pick and roll wide open.

Your assessment of the offense is spot on. You can’t have two players on the floor who are absolutely no threat to score along with another player who only shoots threes. That makes it way too easy to double team Stevens and not have to worry about giving up points. It also doesn’t help that overall they’re a poor shooting team and an awful foul shooting team.

 

[bdgan]

No argument that others have to pull their share of the workload. Watkins & Reeves have to reduce their fouls.

Watkins doesn't seem right. He was always prone to leaving his feet and committing a lot of dumb fouls but at least he had good hands and aggressiveness on offense. This year he looks tired, fumbles the ball, and goes soft to the basket. What's with these attempted reverse layups? He doesn't have the agility for that. He needs to go up strong and draw the foul.

P.S. He made a living running the pick and roll with Carr last year but he doesn't have that option this year. Carr was a perimeter threat so he had to be guarded. He was also tall which made the pass back to Watkins easier. Defenders don't respect Wheeler so there's not much room for Watkins to roll to the basket.

 

[NedFromYork]

I like our full/three quarter court press, but we rarely run it.

 

[bdgan]

Another problem I see with the defense is they bite on almost every head fake, which leads to a lot of the fouls. It’s not that hard to not leave your feet. I also hate when they run out after a pick to double team the ball handler, leaving the pick and roll wide open.

Your assessment of the offense is spot on. You can’t have two players on the floor who are absolutely no threat to score along with another player who only shoots threes. That makes it way too easy to double team Stevens and not have to worry about giving up points. It also doesn’t help that overall they’re a poor shooting team and an awful foul shooting team.

I think they go for the head fake because they're out of position going for turnovers. A lot of reaching instead of working hard work on defense with their feet.