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MBBALL Griz Offense

C

citygriz

Well-known member
Travis DeCuire took over at Montana in 2014 at the dawn of a revolution in basketball: The Three-point shot. The Splash Brothers brought it on and others adapted more or less quickly.

One guy who did is Joe Mazulla the coach of the Boston Celtics. One who fully hasn't is the coach in Missoula.

For the Celtics, the three point shot is an article of faith. During the regular season they attempted 47 trey's per game. Dallas wasn't far behind at 43.

Last night the Celtics made 16 of 42, while the Mavs only made 7 of 27. That is not only a 27 point difference, but testimony to the power of the three ball over the deuce when you can make a high percentage of those shots. Several pundits have criticized the Celtics for their lame unsophisticated offense yet here they are in the championship series, leading one game to none.

So how has DeCuire adjusted? Not so well.

Last year Montana ranked 194th in three-point shots attempted, while ranking 80th in percentage of shots made. I believe there was one recent year when we were in the 300's, close to last.

Meanwhile, the Bobs ranked 102nd in treys attempted and 26th in percentage of shots made. The math is simple: If you take more three's than you opponent and make a higher percentage of those shots, you are going to be at a great advantage.

Haven't the Cats just won consecutive Big Sky championships?

In investing, it's always great if you can catch a trend early. Like the early days of Microsoft or Intel, of the coffee revolution with Starbucks or now Dutch Brothers, or the iPhone with Apple.

So with basketball, with the all the European and Australian players that have had such a great impact not only on the NBA but college basketball. The American schools that caught on to that trend early like Gonzaga and St. Mary's have ridden it to great success.

And so with the three point shot. I'm less concerned as are others here with the size of our transfers and recruits. My question is: Can they shoot? And has DeCuire joined the three-point revolution?

Therein likes our success next year.
 
Well let's take a look at everybody's 3 point percentages from last year

Money Williams: 29.4% (he should get a slight pass though)
Brandon Whitney: 40.6% (easily his best year)
Te'jon Sawyer: 26.3% (not his forte, but can make threes on ocassion)
Chase Henderson: 15.8% (that number is bound to improve)

Now let's look at the new guys numbers from last year

Malik Moore: 36.2% (previous year was 42.5%)
Kai Johnson: 39.3% (prolific scorer)
Austin Patterson: 39.9%
Jensen Bradtke: 0% (47.6% during his prep days in Australia)
Jalen Foy: 38.6%
Amari Jedkins: 0% (Never attempted a three in 11 games this year)
Jeremiah Dargan: 41.5%

I would say based off of these numbers, Decuire and the staff put a high priority on the long ball
 
Griz til I die said:
Well let's take a look at everybody's 3 point percentages from last year

Money Williams: 29.4% (he should get a slight pass though)
Brandon Whitney: 40.6% (easily his best year)
Te'jon Sawyer: 26.3% (not his forte, but can make threes on ocassion)
Chase Henderson: 15.8% (that number is bound to improve)

Now let's look at the new guys numbers from last year

Malik Moore: 36.2% (previous year was 42.5%)
Kai Johnson: 39.3% (prolific scorer)
Austin Patterson: 39.9%
Jensen Bradtke: 0% (47.6% during his prep days in Australia)
Jalen Foy: 38.6%
Amari Jedkins: 0% (Never attempted a three in 11 games this year)
Jeremiah Dargan: 41.5%

I would say based off of these numbers, Decuire and the staff put a high priority on the long ball
Click to expand...
You answered the long winded Splash Brother lover....they're not Brothers anymore!!...question pretty well. Pretty sure most teams and coaches want shooters! Citay sure does! He's had to move from "Splashtown" to "Beantown" though to make his point. And the Bobcats....kind of a front runner.
 
Would also help the offensive side of affairs if ball handling is a forte. Like in, avoid turning the ball over on turnovers, for instance. Yap about the trey shooting all you want, but if you all can't get the ball past half court most of those dream shots from the trey line ain't going to happen anyways, no how, any where.
 
citygriz said:
Travis DeCuire took over at Montana in 2014 at the dawn of a revolution in basketball: The Three-point shot. The Splash Brothers brought it on and others adapted more or less quickly.

One guy who did is Joe Mazulla the coach of the Boston Celtics. One who fully hasn't is the coach in Missoula.

For the Celtics, the three point shot is an article of faith. During the regular season they attempted 47 trey's per game. Dallas wasn't far behind at 43.

Last night the Celtics made 16 of 42, while the Mavs only made 7 of 27. That is not only a 27 point difference, but testimony to the power of the three ball over the deuce when you can make a high percentage of those shots. Several pundits have criticized the Celtics for their lame unsophisticated offense yet here they are in the championship series, leading one game to none.

So how has DeCuire adjusted? Not so well.

Last year Montana ranked 194th in three-point shots attempted, while ranking 80th in percentage of shots made. I believe there was one recent year when we were in the 300's, close to last.

Meanwhile, the Bobs ranked 102nd in treys attempted and 26th in percentage of shots made. The math is simple: If you take more three's than you opponent and make a higher percentage of those shots, you are going to be at a great advantage.

Haven't the Cats just won consecutive Big Sky championships?

In investing, it's always great if you can catch a trend early. Like the early days of Microsoft or Intel, of the coffee revolution with Starbucks or now Dutch Brothers, or the iPhone with Apple.

So with basketball, with the all the European and Australian players that have had such a great impact not only on the NBA but college basketball. The American schools that caught on to that trend early like Gonzaga and St. Mary's have ridden it to great success.

And so with the three point shot. I'm less concerned as are others here with the size of our transfers and recruits. My question is: Can they shoot? And has DeCuire joined the three-point revolution?

Therein likes our success next year.
Click to expand...
We are more of WBB followers, but there is this theme from Citay

All this convo about Travis and his offense every yr....

So Citay how would you recruit and install such players into this high powered offense you wish to see from Travis? Would love to see how you would get the guards in the paint to drop off, dish, kick out to shooters and to put a staff together to successfully implement this style?

We think his W/L record speaks for itself. Winning is hard at any level. Winning consistently is really difficult.
 
Y’all make it so easy for me!

Not only do you miss 100% of the shots you never take (thank you Wayne Gretzky) you are more likely to miss those shots when you do take them because you HAVEN’T taken them.

Yeah, the Splash Brothers revolutionized the game (4 titles will do that for you) but the rest of the league not only caught up they got bigger while my Dubs got older. It was a fun run.

May our Griz—and our fan base—catch up too.
 
College is different from the NBA. Which college teams shoot 3's all the time? I'm looking for more apples to apples. Thx.
 
citygriz said:
Y’all make it so easy for me!

Not only do you miss 100% of the shots you never take (thank you Wayne Gretzky) you are more likely to miss those shots when you do take them because you HAVEN’T taken them.

Yeah, the Splash Brothers revolutionized the game (4 titles will do that for you) but the rest of the league not only caught up they got bigger while my Dubs got older. It was a fun run.

May our Griz—and our fan base—catch up too.
Click to expand...
This doesn't answer the questions. How would you recruit these players? What offense would you install?

Simply saying shooting more three's isn't an answer. Makes us think of the delusional parent yelling at their kid to shoot it, shoot it, from the stands.
 
citygriz said:
Y’all make it so easy for me!

Not only do you miss 100% of the shots you never take (thank you Wayne Gretzky) you are more likely to miss those shots when you do take them because you HAVEN’T taken them.

Yeah, the Splash Brothers revolutionized the game (4 titles will do that for you) but the rest of the league not only caught up they got bigger while my Dubs got older. It was a fun run.

May our Griz—and our fan base—catch up too.
Click to expand...
The Splash Brothers worked because Steph is the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA. In 2019-20 when Steph and Klay were out they were 15-50 in shortened season.
 
mthoopsfan said:
College is different from the NBA. Which college teams shoot 3's all the time? I'm looking for more apples to apples. Thx.
Click to expand...
In the Big Sky last year the top 3 point percentage team was Montana State at 37% on 863 attempts. UM was 3rd at just under 36%, but took 89 less 3's (774). UM was also 3rd in attempts (behind MSU and Sac States 780). The NCAA leader in attempts was Indiana State at 1119 followed by Alabama at 1108.
 
You recruit the athletes to fit your system. But what is DeCuire’s system? I would say DeCuire is an old school defensive coach who recruits athletes to fit that system, and I for one, in the games I’ve seen, feel that DeCuire always puts a strong defensive team on the court.

But offense? I dunno, and neither did Mike Montgomery on the night a couple years ago he did color for the Griz game against Oregon. I see few cuts to the basket or along the baseline. No lob dunks, elevator screens or any plays that can get us out of these horrendous scoring droughts such the one that just cost us the conference championship.

I’ve urged DeCuire to hire an offensive coordinator but there’s about as much chance of that as seeing an updated roster on Go Griz before September.
 
citygriz said:
You recruit the athletes to fit your system. But what is DeCuire’s system? I would say DeCuire is an old school defensive coach who recruits athletes to fit that system, and I for one, in the games I’ve seen, feel that DeCuire always puts a strong defensive team on the court.

But offense? I dunno, and neither did Mike Montgomery on the night a couple years ago he did color for the Griz game against Oregon. I see few cuts to the basket or along the baseline. No lob dunks, elevator screens or any plays that can get us out of these horrendous scoring droughts such the one that just cost us the conference championship.

I’ve urged DeCuire to hire an offensive coordinator but there’s about as much chance of that as seeing an updated roster on Go Griz
Click to expand...
 
In today's game, college and NBA, we are seeing fewer hardened set plays. What the game has evolved into is an action, read and reaction scenario. What I mean by that is a series of actions, such as pick and roll, are run against the other teams D. The players are taught to read what the other team is doing and react to the situation on the fly. Coaches are also watching to see if there have been any changes to what they have already seen on video. If there are not any changes they stick with the game plan. If there have been adjustments made by the other team and proper reads are being made by the players, then there is not a need for a TO to talk about it.

On the other side of the floor, teams usualy prepare 3 or 4 options for defending the other team. Coaches usually call those changes out from the sideline.
 
oldrunner said:
In today's game, college and NBA, we are seeing fewer hardened set plays. What the game has evolved into is an action, read and reaction scenario. What I mean by that is a series of actions, such as pick and roll, are run against the other teams D. The players are taught to read what the other team is doing and react to the situation on the fly. Coaches are also watching to see if there have been any changes to what they have already seen on video. If there are not any changes they stick with the game plan. If there have been adjustments made by the other team and proper reads are being made by the players, then there is not a need for a TO to talk about it.

On the other side of the floor, teams usualy prepare 3 or 4 options for defending the other team. Coaches usually call those changes out from the sideline.
Click to expand...
Agree!!!

The 24 second shot clock doesn't allow for long drawn out sets. Score in 7 seconds or get the ball from first side to second side and then look to score. The college 30 second clock allows for more reversals and sets, but like you stated, many don't run complicated sets. With exception to UCONN to give an example.

Bellarmine a low major uses a motion offense with very little dribbles and the reads come from the entries they run into the motion. So the sets look like the flow into the just playing. The Euro continuity and even the Princeton offense have entries and which lead to an action where players and teams make the decision based on the read on that action. But after actions the attack has to occur. You can always add the false action in the entry before getting to the primary action.

Defenses better know how to defend the PNR multiple ways....and that takes into account the type of bigs you have.
 
Coach Logie is running some of this new age offensive stuff too. The Cats' floor spacing and drive angles were confusing to the Griz in that epic collapse last March in Boise. And it wasn't just in the Griz game. The Cats decimated Weber State in the same fashion and were very close to taking down EWU on their home floor right before the conference championship week in Boise. I'm curious to see if Logie continues to have the Cats up on step in his second year at the helm in Bozeman.
 
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