Check Point #1

[Billikan]

part of what we are seeing is possibly majerus making his point to the extreme degree. i.e. get it or get out. clear three more spots and let me bring in an open mind. that is just my opinion. i have never heard coach majerus or any of the assts say anything of the sort. but one has to try to make sense over what we are seeing somehow. that is a view that would make sense imo. there is no way the likes of relphorde, mitchell and knollmeyer are just not good enough to play more/some at this level.

I share your view on Mitchell and Relphorde but not Knollmeyer. I have concluded he is the new version of JJ in that he seems to try hard but he just doesn't "get it" in terms of his basketball IQ. I have nothing against the young man and I hope I am proved wrong but I have really given up on his being able to give us any meaningful contributions.

[moytoy12]

It is very hard, if it's being done right and I'm sure with RM it is very precise. The most difficult part isn't knowing when or how to set a screen, it's how to make the right reads. Where you go off of a screen depends on the defender, the passer, the cutter, and the guy setting the screen all have to be on the same page.

Hard to believe, but you would be surprised at some of the coaching at the HS level. Here is an example, I was with a local HS girls coach and what they didn't know shocked me. I know it is girls, but still. An example .... when you receive a pass and you drop your strong foot back (some call it a triple threat position, I had never heard that terminology, but they use it here) if you turn your back foot outward, it turns your shoulder slightly. How slightly of course depends on how much you turn you foot outward. Doing so gives the direction you are most likely to move away, allowing the defender to cheat just a little. It seems small, but it's actually a big deal. This coach didn't know it and every girl on the HS team was doing it wrong. I don't pretend to know all the little details of RM's motion offense .... but there are so many little details that don't get taught with much precision at the lower levels ... and it's probably worse with the great athletes as their sheer athleticism allows them to excell without being so detailed ... I get the impression RM is very precise and expects nothing short of perfection. Imo it is a big reason why we seem a bit out of sync offensively this early in the year .... too much thinking. Once everyone has gotten to the level that they are doing things the way RM wants instictively .... we should see a better flow to what we are doing on the court.

Skip, i really appreciate this post. It certainly gives me a new perspective.

[slu72]

I hear ya and that type of conjecture makes sense.

I guess i'm a little disappointed that RM has not been able to incorporate more players. It's early, so I will just conclude that this "new system" is really tough for everyone to pick up (is it really that tough to pick up a new basketball system? it's not rocket science...right?).

I will probably have a different point of view if 2/3rds into the season we are still playing 7 deep and players aren't "picking up the system."

I think it's a combination of implementing a new system and that RM flat doesn't think the talent level is anywhere near where it needs to be. Remember, he's only coached these kids for what, 35 days? This is a guy who made it to the national championship game, was an AC on a championship team, an NBA ass't, and coached countless teams to the NCAA. He knows better than any of us the talent it takes to reach that level of success. Our roster has only 2 legit high level talents, KL and TL. LM and BE maybe role players at that level. The rest of the team probably would be walkons at high level schools. Given time he may well develop MR, KM, and PE up to this level, but for the immediate future, this season at least, it appears we're gonna' struggle to get W's. One of the reasons I was excited about RM's hire was that he seemed to have the ability to develop kids who stuck with him. It has always been a mystery why so many kids came into SLU and never seemed to progress much from their freshman years. Hopefully, he changes that.