wyomingriz said:
Mousegriz said:
I noticed that at the Silver Maroon scrimmage. The double pump to the waist before any shot over 15 feet. Looks weird and haven't seen many going in. How does a good looking freshman shot turn into such a bizarre sophomore shot? Also, I agree with those saying the Griz were physically inferior inside (and at every position except point guard). Total rebounds aren't the only measure. How many times in every game does Griz get a player inside only to be "stuck' without a shot. Agree on Vasquez too. He'll be gone next year.
Time for a change coach. Hard to understand Vasquez minutes, he played 26 minutes a game 2 years ago (25 last year) now averaging less than half. Shooting 41% from 3 for career (he is a solid defender in my opinion). He is our shooter! Appears that Martin is taking the bulk of his minutes and is not producing. Coach seems to be going for broke on Martin, who is no longer starting but playing starter minutes. Martin is shooting under 30% from 3's and 2's its not even close when comparing the two statistically. I hate to compare the two but someone needs to address the elephant in the room.
Also, for those that did not think the Griz were physically inferior what game were you watching last night?
I think Travis was very, very excited for Martin. I think he saw him as the wing defender he believes they were missing last year playing the role he expected Cameron Satterwhite and Naseem Gaskin to play. However, there is a limit to the saying “defense wins championships” and I believe this illustrates that limit (I actually don’t believe defense wins championships, most studies show you are better off with a very good offensive/good defense than vice-versa but I'll leave that to another post).
The starting line-up for the first 13 games or so was Anderson/Bannan/Beasley/Martin/Whitney. Out of 19 Big Sky line-ups that have played at least 60 offensive and defensive possessions, this 5 was dead last in Adj Efficiency Margin basically meaning none of the other 19 lineups got outscored by more and frankly it is dead last and not really close.
The interesting part is that defensively, this line-up was 4th out of the 19 which means they are very good defensively which is what I think Travis was looking for, but they were dead last offensively and intuitively this makes sense. Anderson does a lot of great things, but he is limited offensively (and there is nothing wrong with that as he brings a lot to this team). Couple this with Martin shooting under 30% from the FG and 3 there aren’t too many offenses that could compensate for that (unless you just have two offensive beasts). Bannan, Beasley and Whitney are all good offensive players, but not good enough to overcome the offensive short-comings of the others. This group was last in offensive efficiency by a pretty wide margin.
A lot of this just comes to being mindful on who you have on the floor. Sometimes I feel in the obsession to “match-up” defensively, there is little thought to how that line-up is going to score. It does no good to hold your opponent to 2 points if the line-up you put out can’t score any points. Again, this is where defense not only does NOT win championships, but it’s actually losing games. That’s just basic basketball math. Also, it’s ok to think (for example) “we may be a little small and at a disadvantage size-wise at the 3 right now, but there is no way they can stay in front of Beasley, Whitney and Parker at the same time.” In a limited sample size, Montana’s best line-up is actually Anderson/Bannan/Beasley/Parker/Whitney.
Martin will always have role to play defensively, but until his shooting comes around, it’s difficult to have him and Anderson on the floor at the same time (except in super-obvious defensive situations). I think an example of his best use is coming up Thursday. At some point in each half Travis should tell Martin “I am putting you in for the next 6 minutes and your sole purpose is make Knight work as hard as humanly possible.”
