bonwich Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Been meaning to ask this ever since the year started to descend into the toilet, so now it's appropriate after it's fallen all the way into the cesspool. For all you moderately high basketball IQ, analytical types out there -- is Crews using the same general system, on both sides of the ball, as Majerus did? If so, is this system as difficult to master as we saw that Majerus' was? I remember the first few years of the RickMa era when we saw he was "building" and "getting people to buy in" -- and the improvement was really incremental. Yeah, stuff was different because he was doing so with someone else's recruits, but even in that case, we saw slow, incremental improvement (save for the Cook Monster year). Even a basketball-technique-illiterate like me could see that players were cutting off angles better, or would be in the right place on offense more often. So anyway, do the offensive and defensive systems that Crews uses take as long to learn (let alone perfect) as RickMa's did? Are they basically variants on the same system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwayne's_World Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Crews has a system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettFlight5 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Crews has a system? It seems like he's trying to get the kids to run the same motion offense he ran at Indiana under Coach Knight. Defensively, it's absurd that our coaching staff would junk Rick Majerus's system when it worked well...I'm not sure what's on the players and what's on the coaches there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMouthBilliken Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 It seems like he's trying to get the kids to run the same motion offense he ran at Indiana under Coach Knight. Defensively, it's absurd that our coaching staff would junk Rick Majerus's system when it worked well...I'm not sure what's on the players and what's on the coaches there. The game has changed since then. That ain't gunna work no more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 RM's offense was all about techniques and precision. On ball screens to shake the ball handler loose someone moves to defend the open man and he hits a player for a wide open look. Again, it was about precision and beautiful to watch with the Sons of Majerus. He also liked bigs that could pop from the outside, hence CE and RL were prototype RM bigs. He had many like them at Utah. Mismatches. Plus, it set up his smaller bigs like BC and DE for good shots on the inside. Honestly, I don't know what our offense is right now. Sometimes I call it keep away as they flip it around the perimeter with no objective in sight. D was tight man to man under RM with lots of help side D. Again, fun to watch as the Bills would frustrate good teams by always having someone in someone's face. Today, it's man to man, but it's not tight and you'd have to call the EMS for help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 One other note; you could call it a modified dribble and stuff down your throat w/ MY and AY taking so many contested drives into the forest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Majerus' attention to detail is probably hard for anyone to match, but what we're seeing now just seems go be way too relaxed with no precision whatsoever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikenboy Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 MY and AY are aggressive players. Coaches need them but they must be developed properly so that aggression pays off because their skills have been properly harnessed. Most importantly the reps they need to make those shots effective must also be there. Alot of time both kids look like they are just making it up as they go along. Not good for the team. Winning is not luck and neither is making those kinds of buckets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeniceMenace Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Does Crews have pieces of tape all over the practice floor dictating precise D positioning like Majerus had? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjoelabs Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Does Crews have pieces of tape all over the practice floor dictating precise D positioning like Majerus had? Crews doesn't have anything. I assume practice is uncoached scrimmages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shempie Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 One thing I have noticed is how often we have someone out top pounding the ball into the floor mindlessly. Under RM there were many possessions that started with the ball going side to side with no dribbles to force the defense to move their feet. That has been lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Majerus' attention to detail is probably hard for anyone to match, but what we're seeing now just seems go be way too relaxed with no precision whatsoever. MY and AY are aggressive players. Coaches need them but they must be developed properly so that aggression pays off because their skills have been properly harnessed. Most importantly the reps they need to make those shots effective must also be there. Alot of time both kids look like they are just making it up as they go along. Not good for the team. Winning is not luck and neither is making those kinds of buckets. I think these two posts are spot on. Attention to detail, which requires discipline and practice, discipline and practice, discipline and practice, seems to be lacking. Not sure about AY, but MY does not seem disciplined and maybe he is chafing under a system that requires more discipline. Now, to be fair, it may also be that Crews just doesn't have the disciplined, almost Asperger's like focus that Majerus had (and not many do have). Execution is just not crisp out there and if the "good kids" buy in and try, but the "bad kids" do not, that is going to make for A) divisions on the team as I mentioned in another post and B. a coaching nightmare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Crews doesn't have anything. I assume practice is uncoached scrimmages Yeah, that's right. He's sitting in the bleachers eating burritos from Del Taco while the kids play "HORSE". P.S. Your village is looking for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deutschkind Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 RM's offense was all about techniques and precision. On ball screens to shake the ball handler loose someone moves to defend the open man and he hits a player for a wide open look. Again, it was about precision and beautiful to watch with the Sons of Majerus. He also liked bigs that could pop from the outside, hence CE and RL were prototype RM bigs. He had many like them at Utah. Mismatches. Plus, it set up his smaller bigs like BC and DE for good shots on the inside. Honestly, I don't know what our offense is right now. Sometimes I call it keep away as they flip it around the perimeter with no objective in sight. D was tight man to man under RM with lots of help side D. Again, fun to watch as the Bills would frustrate good teams by always having someone in someone's face. Today, it's man to man, but it's not tight and you'd have to call the EMS for help. That's not how I was seeing it. It looked to me like too much help, or uncoordinated help. The help was usually there (as much as I would expect a bunch of freshman to do), but we were always out of position to cover the kick-out pass. I can't count the number of open 3's we gave up this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 That's not how I was seeing it. It looked to me like too much help, or uncoordinated help. The help was usually there (as much as I would expect a bunch of freshman to do), but we were always out of position to cover the kick-out pass. I can't count the number of open 3's we gave up this year. I see this too but I don't know if it's too much help. Our guards can't keep their guy in front and our big men aren't strong or athletic enough to defend in the post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjoelabs Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Yeah, that's right. He's sitting in the bleachers eating burritos from Del Taco while the kids play "HORSE". P.S. Your village is looking for you. Del taco hasnt been open for about 4 years. So maybe its your village... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM28 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Del taco hasnt been open for about 4 years. So maybe its your village... Somebody better tell the people working at their 547 locations that they aren't open anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlebill Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 The game has changed since then. That ###### ain't gunna work no more Do you even know what a motion offense is? More specifically what they ran at IU? Or are you just completely talking out of your ass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheA_Bomb Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Do you even know what a motion offense is? More specifically what they ran at IU? Or are you just completely talking out of your ass?From what I can tell he should answer1. No 2. No 3. Yes Dude is aptly named. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_davola Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Somebody better tell the people working at their 547 locations that they aren't open anymore. JMM28: Black shorts mrjoelabs: White shorts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenfan05 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 JMM28: Black shorts mrjoelabs: White shorts Welcome back Davola Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmith19 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Yeah, that's right. He's sitting in the bleachers eating burritos from Del Taco while the kids play "HORSE". P.S. Your village is looking for you. God (sorry, got) damn it, do I miss those burritos. Del Taco : Chipotle :: Majerus : Crews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmith19 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Somebody better tell the people working at their 547 locations that they aren't open anymore. The closest surviving location is in Toledo. Whichever student manager makes the 14 hour round trip for Crews' practice burritos should get a special scholarship like the Saint Joe's hawk mascot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM28 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 The closest surviving location is in Toledo. Whichever student manager makes the 14 hour round trip for Crews' practice burritos should get a special scholarship like the Saint Joe's hawk mascot. Nah that's where the charter flight budget went. Practice burritos plane rides to Chicago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgeldmacher Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Here's what I see, keeping in mind that my basketball knowledge is pretty much limited to what I have seen watching Billiken basketball over the years: Defense: Majerus's "help" defense was a thing of beauty, but it has to be run properly or it gives the other team easy points. We defended man to man and gave the other team the impression that they could beat us one on one and get to the basket or use a ball screen at the top to open up a man. Inevitably the other team tried to go by our guys, only to be met by the center or a forward who now trapped the ball handler with the help of the guy who was originally guarding him. This either happened at the point of the ball screen or, if there was no ball screen, on the way to the basket. The "help" defender leaves his man open in this scenario, so a defender on the opposite side as the ball has to leave his man to pick up the man left by the help defender, thereby leaving his man wide open. The idea was to leave open the offensive player the furthest away from the ball and the play. If it was executed properly, by the time a long pass was made, if it was made, to the open man, the defense had time to adjust back and everyone was covered again. This year's defense: We seem to do a decently similar job on defending the ball screen at the arc. However, we do a terrible job of defending the offensive player to beats his man one on one. At different times, our bigs would fail to slide over and be the "help" defender, thus allowing the guy with the ball to drive for an easy layup. Other times, Gillman, Manning, Jolly, etc. would do their job and help with the ball handler, but the defender behind them wouldn't pick up the man they just left. Too many times, I would see our guys looking behind themselves at a wide open player putting the ball in the basket and then look over at the bench like "not my fault." It wasn't. I would hear fans complaining around me that they shouldn't have left their man, and I wanted to tell everyone of them that the guard or the opposite forward should have picked up that man. I don't know if the players aren't executing what they are being told or if Majerus was just better at getting them to understand where they were supposed to be to make that system work. Offense: The motion offense that Majerus ran was OK at getting opportunities for points for players that were not as skilled as the opponent they were playing. It may not have seemed like it, but every two or three passes were attempting to set up an imbalance in the defense that could be exploited. If, after running through 3 or 4 looks, there was nothing there, the offense got the ball to someone who would simply drive and shoot or dish the ball. Last year, Jordair bailed out our offense on multiple occasions. Keep in mind that during three of the best years of our program, our offense wasn't that good. It just did the job in combination with our top level defense. This Year's Offense: Looks to me like our guys are being taught and running roughly the same offense this year. Our inexperience is resulting in many of the "looks" in the motion offense not being there due to guys not being exactly in the right place when they need to be. Also, we don't have a guy like DE to bail us out inside or JJ to bail us out on a drive to the basket. At least not yet. I'm more confident that the offense will come, at least like it was in last three years, if we stay patient. I am less confident that this group will ever get the defense or that they will ever be properly taught the Majerus defense by the coaches (don't know which way it is not being at practices). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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