GRIZ and NCAA Tourney

[mtgrizrule]

I am sure we will all expand on this later, after we know the brackets and matchups. I will not get into what team I want us to play, but do know what kind of team I do not want to see.

I do not want to see us matchup against a slow it down team or rugged team.

The GRIZ are much better against more open court teams. After seeing us trap and play fullcourt defense in the comeback against Weber State, I am excited at the GRIZ did so well playing fullcourt. In fact, dare I say "that style added to the effectiveness of this team." I wanted to see this style earlier and it never happened until this week. Prior to this week, I was very curious how they could do with it. Now, I am intrigued to see if they can do more pressure consistently.

As I posted on another thread, the GRIZ matchup well in terms of 4/5 tandem and 1/2 tandem. The likes of Selvig/Qvale matchup well with most any big tandem. AJ and Cherry also matchup up well as a guard tandem. My concern is our depth beyond Selvig and Qvale at the 4 and 5. Against some teams Jack may have to be a 3. These 4 players have to stay out of foul trouble for the GRIZ to win, and the role players will have to play well when they are called upon. The x factor could be Young because of athleticism and scoring. I want to see Young play balls to the wall (Cherry like) man defense, and take the ball to the hole instead of settling for 3's.

What do you all think?

 

[stubbins]

Selvig up front on that pressure was key, lanky and long and can move pretty well for his size.

What would really help is if Cherry could get hot from the outside...right now that is the only difference between him and Lillard. It's hard for him to get to the basket because they don't have to get in his face.

Keys...must shoot a high percentage and rebound. Cannot allow any second chance points. And finally turnovers. These keys are why we beat Nevada and then lost to BC. Couldn't hit from the outside that game and couldn't rebound. If virgil, criswell and hasquet had stayed hot in that game they would've won, had open looks just couldn't knock em down. Besides that little dude shooting from bangkok and hitting everything and then the big dude grabbing every rebound.

mtgrizrule, in 2006 the offense seemed so disciplined...have you seen this offense run in sync, or is it just a motion offense allowing freedom to the players?

 

[mtgrizrule]

Good ? regarding the offense. To be honest, it is hard to define watching a far. Maybe someone who sees more games in person can answer this better than someone who only seen them at Denver, CSU, and UNC. But here is somethings I have noticed.

After the 1st MSU game, I was very hard on the GRIZ, especially upset with offensive consistency. Apparently Tinkle and his staff seen some of the same things and made a few changes. I thought they should run more high/low to put Selvig in better position for passing and rebounding. They tweaked the offensive sets to accomodate that.

I criticized them for lack of penetration and aggressiveness. Next thing we know we see AJ and Cherry killing teams with penetration. I seen very few screens ran for our shooters such as Stauds, Taylor, and Young. The 1st offensive series against UNC they ran Stauds off 3 screens to free him up. Granted he missed the shot, but man was I ever elated to have seen that play ran. Since then, they have been freeing up shooters well, especially on inbounds plays, which they now look to score off now. They used to inbound then run a set offense the vast majority of time.

I thought we should allow Cherry and Selvig to expand their games with experience and see them through mistakes. Basically give them more freedom or at least looser reigns. Once again, something Tinkle allowed to happen the last 6 to 8 weeks. Giving them that freedom built their confidence and made for a much well rounded team.

As for the offense, I really do not see different sets, other than Selvig's positioning within the offensive game plan. As a whole Tinkle started to use all their strengths and united them to work for one another. Yes there is more freedom, but different freedoms for differnt players.

Cherry, and Selvig have greenlights to create and make plays for themselves or teammates now. AJ has the greenlight to just take the game over when it is needed, and just be AJ. Stauds has the greenlight to let loose on perimeter shots more often when guarded tighter, same with Taylor and Young. I think Tinkle demanded Stauds in particular to shoot more and have some faith in shooting a somewhat defended shot. Stauds for so long would only take wide open shots, and yet he still does not ever force a shot. Taylor was too much of a PG mindset with 2 or 3's skillset. Taylor looks to shoot more now too, and is beginning to look to penetrate more often now too. As for Young, he strikes me as a gunner, and really has had to adjust his game to his team. I like that he too is looking to do more offensively than just shoot 3's. The kid is an athlete and a better ballhandler than he believes he is. I feel he has some serious potential, and we have yet to see what he can do.

Tweaks were made offensively. The biggest difference are the players being demanded to fill their respected roles. At some point Tinkle or the coaches finally said "enough is enough." They got harder on the players and expected more from each of them, and we are now seeing the results. This is a mindset that Tinkle needed to elevate his team and his career. I think he has turned the corner at being more demanding and yet more trusting of his players this year.

The offense has some work to do still, but it is so much better than a few months ago. I feel they still have to work on ball movement and doing more dirty work, but now they can win with offense instead of in spite of it.

 

[robomomo]

AJ, Cherry, Selvig, QV each get 38 minutes without foul trouble and the remaining time split between Stauds, banny and rasson for a quick burst of energy.