MBB thread

[LattyFather]

I'm really disappointed in Chambers. He has some highly-recruited athletes out there, and while they are still freshmen, the entire team looks lost.

These guys are not mentally in it, and I think Chambers bears a lot of that blame.

1. Ridiculous/lazy turnovers. Payton Banks was wide open coming off of a screen (I think) and stepped out of bounds as soon as he got the ball. Nobody was within 7 feet of him.
2. Empty possessions. There's a TON of them, and they're not just turnovers mentioned above. There are so many bad possessions taking bad shots. I recall one point in the second half yesterday they went 5 straight possessions either having a turnover or taking a shot that had 0% chance of going in. Need to value each possession.
3. Can't blame it ALL on youth. We started a redshirt junior, true junior, and a sophomore. Also got meaningful minutes from RS junior Banks, and RS junior (?) and former UConn Husky Samuel.
4. I know they try to limit fouls, but there's no way Julian Moore should be starting (playing key minutes with fellow starters) over Watkins. Julian Moore is a waste of space out there (nothing more than extra fouls). 13 minutes, 1 rebound, 0 points, which is common for him. Have him come off the bench. Watkins only 1 point last night but get the guy involved. Pick and roll, etc.
   
5. Offensive scheme. We haven't had one in the Chambers era at all. It all just looks like pickup basketball on the playground. No set scheme, plays, etc. It's like the offensive scheme is "go do something" --- not very tactical whatsoever. I may be alone in this, but I loved Bo Ryan's scheme. Take your time, tons of screens, tons of passing, work it inside and out and don't shoot until you get a quality shot. We need to create an IDENTITY, not just an "attitude" of playing hard. I'm talking an offensive schematic IDENTITY. You'll keep having these very long droughts during the game if you don't have your bread and butter to go back to when needed. I guess I'm not surprised when 2 of our assistants are like 29 year old kids in their first gig as assistant coaches.
   
6. Shep - please stop taking shots from 6 feet beyond the 3-point line. His overall FG% is a bad 38%. Compare that to a guy like Koenig who's at 45%+
   
7. Anybody know the real story behind Joe Hampton leaving a few weeks into the fall semester? Gosh would it be nice to have another big body down low to give you something more than Julian.
8. Terrence Samuel - this guy gives the team literally nothing for being a highly-recruited RS junior.
9. How many scholarship slots do we have open for this year's class? Is it 1 or 2? I know we've had some highly rated kids VISIT, but are we really anywhere close to landing any of them realistically?

 

[AWS1022]

You can truly tell in literally one basketball thread who understands basketball (especially PSU basketball) and who doesn't smmfh

Apparently if you criticize Chambers you don't know basketball....okay, that's a new one.

 

[jerseylion109]

I blame the terrible BJC for part of the problem. TEAR IT DOWN SANDY

 

[Yboby]

Anybody know the real story behind Joe Hampton leaving a few weeks into the fall semester?

I certainly don't but I heard that he left the junior college in Texas that he transferred to.

Agree that lack of an offensive system has been a consistent problem during the Chambers era. Too little player and ball movement. Not looking to pass when taking the ball to the hoop and being challenged, resulting in turnovers and forced shots.

 

[bison13]

I'm really disappointed in Chambers. He has some highly-recruited athletes out there, and while they are still freshmen, the entire team looks lost.

These guys are not mentally in it, and I think Chambers bears a lot of that blame.

Empty possessions. There's a TON of them, and they're not just turnovers mentioned above. There are so many bad possessions taking bad shots.

For a team trying to increase the tempo, they do not get shots early in the shot clock enough. Push the ball up the floor on a make or miss and attack early before teh defense is completely set.


I know they try to limit fouls, but there's no way Julian Moore should be starting (playing key minutes with fellow starters) over Watkins. Julian Moore is a waste of space out there (nothing more than extra fouls). 13 minutes, 1 rebound, 0 points, which is common for him. Have him come off the bench. Watkins only 1 point last night but get the guy involved. Pick and roll, etc.

AMEN.

Offensive scheme. We haven't had one in the Chambers era at all. We need to create an IDENTITY, not just an "attitude" of playing hard. I'm talking an offensive schematic IDENTITY.

If the idea was to push tempo and full court on D they need to go all in. They inbound the ball so slow they never have transition off of makes. They have 4 guards, have the closest one inbound to Carr immediately and the other two SPRINT up the floor. Glet the ball to a wing in less than 4 seconds and attack. If nothing is there, you have a guard to trail for a top of the key shot/drive. MY HS team runs a better secondary break off of the make than PSU does off of a miss.

Terrence Samuel - this guy gives the team literally nothing for being a highly-recruited RS junior.

I actually disagree with this, he's good energy and defense. He gets on teh floor often which this teams needs

Empty possessions. There's a TON of them, and they're not just turnovers mentioned above. There are so many bad possessions taking bad shots.

For a team trying to increase the tempo, they do not get shots early in the shot clock enough. Push the ball up the floor on a make or miss and attack early before teh defense is completely set.


I know they try to limit fouls, but there's no way Julian Moore should be starting (playing key minutes with fellow starters) over Watkins. Julian Moore is a waste of space out there (nothing more than extra fouls). 13 minutes, 1 rebound, 0 points, which is common for him. Have him come off the bench. Watkins only 1 point last night but get the guy involved. Pick and roll, etc.

AMEN.

Offensive scheme. We haven't had one in the Chambers era at all. We need to create an IDENTITY, not just an "attitude" of playing hard. I'm talking an offensive schematic IDENTITY.

If the idea was to push tempo and full court on D they need to go all in. They inbound the ball so slow they never have transition off of makes. They have 4 guards, have the closest one inbound to Carr immediately and the other two SPRINT up the floor. Glet the ball to a wing in less than 4 seconds and attack. If nothing is there, you have a guard to trail for a top of the key shot/drive. MY HS team runs a better secondary break off of the make than PSU does off of a miss.

Terrence Samuel - this guy gives the team literally nothing for being a highly-recruited RS junior.

I actually disagree with this, he's good energy and defense. He gets on teh floor often which this teams needs

 

[bkmtnittany1]

Empty possessions. There's a TON of them, and they're not just turnovers mentioned above. There are so many bad possessions taking bad shots.

For a team trying to increase the tempo, they do not get shots early in the shot clock enough. Push the ball up the floor on a make or miss and attack early before teh defense is completely set.


I know they try to limit fouls, but there's no way Julian Moore should be starting (playing key minutes with fellow starters) over Watkins. Julian Moore is a waste of space out there (nothing more than extra fouls). 13 minutes, 1 rebound, 0 points, which is common for him. Have him come off the bench. Watkins only 1 point last night but get the guy involved. Pick and roll, etc.

AMEN.

Offensive scheme. We haven't had one in the Chambers era at all. We need to create an IDENTITY, not just an "attitude" of playing hard. I'm talking an offensive schematic IDENTITY.

If the idea was to push tempo and full court on D they need to go all in. They inbound the ball so slow they never have transition off of makes. They have 4 guards, have the closest one inbound to Carr immediately and the other two SPRINT up the floor. Glet the ball to a wing in less than 4 seconds and attack. If nothing is there, you have a guard to trail for a top of the key shot/drive. MY HS team runs a better secondary break off of the make than PSU does off of a miss.

Terrence Samuel - this guy gives the team literally nothing for being a highly-recruited RS junior.

I actually disagree with this, he's good energy and defense. He gets on teh floor often which this teams needs

Bison...they never enter the ball to the post! The only time the post guys score is off of penetration/dish. Somehow...someway....the ball has to get to the post. I knew they were going to get destroyed the last 2 nites. Purdue, when all else fails can throw the ball to Swanigan or Haas and get a shot....Same with Wisky....are you telling me Watkins can't score from the block? We don't have a perimeter player who can score from the block if we invert our offense just a bit? Jeez...I honestly cannot recall Watkins ever posting up and receiving a pass on the block....

 

[Erial_Lion]

are you telling me Watkins can't score from the block? We don't have a perimeter player who can score from the block if we invert our offense just a bit? Jeez...I honestly cannot recall Watkins ever posting up and receiving a pass on the block....

He got the ball once on the block last night that I remember and missed a little turnaround jumper. He still doesn't look that comfortable with his back to the basket, and seems like his offensive game is much more effective getting the ball off of a roll or off offensive rebounds. I expect that we'll see a lot of development with his post game in the next year or two as he becomes more polished.

 

[Erial_Lion]

Empty possessions. There's a TON of them, and they're not just turnovers mentioned above. There are so many bad possessions taking bad shots.

For a team trying to increase the tempo, they do not get shots early in the shot clock enough. Push the ball up the floor on a make or miss and attack early before teh defense is completely set.

We're actually 23rd in the country in offensive possession length (and 34th in overall tempo). If anything, I'd take issue with some of our quick shots and trying to play too fast than I would with us not pushing it enough.

 

[Erial_Lion]

How many scholarship slots do we have open for this year's class? Is it 1 or 2? I know we've had some highly rated kids VISIT, but are we really anywhere close to landing any of them realistically?

We have one more scholarship available for next year (would have been zero, but Hampton leaving freed up a ship).

 

[BUFFALO LION]

Kids mad too many mistakes in the second and got cold while whisky doesn't make mistakes and stayed hot. That's it. Chambers is a good coach. He needs to get his team to
Mature. If they don't finish in the top 5 next year maybe you start looking,but not until then.

"Top 5"?????????? That actually did have me LOL. : ^ )

This is a pretty tough crowd! : ^ )

 

[dbsteel]

What are you going to do- blow it up again? Face it- this is a hard place to get talent and win. It is what it is. The BJC stinks. There is some more talent here than there has been, you gotta see what happens. Just a few games ago people were loving the direction.

 

[auxgym]

"we want to go up tempo and push the ball" = we can't run a set offense

 

[Ranger Dan]

I believe most people don't expect a young team to regularly beat the top teams in the league, but at some point, especially after you've played twenty some games, you expect improvement, you expect to be competitive. The young team excuse is starting to get old. Losing by over 20 points the last 2 games shows you are not even close to be competitive. The team tonight played well the first half, but the effort was not there the second half, and that is on the head coach.

No, I disagree... each night and each game is completely different. The opposing players are different, the offensive and defensive philosophies are different, etc. On the whole, the team is improved, but it you look at a two game sample, it won't show that. Likewise, if we win two in a row, it doesn't mean that we are going to the Big Dance!