We're not very good on offense and have lost confidence

[89BUFF89]

'No one in their right mind had us winning 18 games this year..'

Actually I was in my right mind when I thought 18 wins was about right...apparently...we should hopefully finish with a few more if the team gets back on their feet after last night's ugliness....

 

[Buffnik]

it also helps to not have cinder blocks for hands. And also to be able to dunk if you are already 6'11" but what do I know.

If the only big guys you can get aren't able to play basketball, then obviously you stay away from them. But our problem has been bad recruiting rather than an inability to get those guys. I've seen much better frontcourts than we have (bigger and more athletic) on mid- and low-major teams this year.

 

[MtnBuff]

We have outplayed our talent this year and it shouldn't be a surprise if we don't win a couple more games doing the same thing. The strength of this team is our ability to use a bunch of wing players on offense to generate slashing offense and score off transition. We also do a pretty solid job of defending these same mid-size players.

We lack any kind of power offensive punch (and defense in the post as well against power guys.) We also lack a pure PG.

With all of that unless you have really solid guys replacing them it is hard to replace one NBA type player on offense much less two. In Burks and Higgins we had two guys who could go out and score 15-20 almost every game regardless of the defense. When you have a given 30-40 points on the board that you don't even have to worry about then getting enough more to beat a lot of teams isn't a giant problem.

A lot of us here expected Carlon Brown to be another Burks or Higgins. He is a talented guy but he is also not in that class. He is a guy who can give you 24 one night and struggle to score 6-8 the next. It's also easy to overlook the contributions of Levi who is good enough to be getting paid in Europe. He was the kind of outside shooter who could loosen up defenses on any night as well.

I think we will be solid the rest of this year winning at least a couple of the final 4 games then win at least on in the conference tourney and do well in the NIT.

Next year we should be much better inside with the addition of the two big guys but still need to develop that consistent outside game and a PG who is a take charge guy in the crunch.

 

[TDforTD]

What is your suggestion since 99.9% of teams either run a 3-2 or a 4-1?

I think you're misunderstanding that our 4-1 and 3-2 offenses incorporate Austin Dufault and Andre Roberson as the "big men." 99.9% of teams definitely don't run an offense as inept in the post as we do. In fact, the only top 25 teams I can think of off hand that run a similarly small line-up are Missouri and Marquette and I don't expect either team to make that much tourney noise.

I understand that occasionally in college basketball (never in the NBA), teams can successfully run a small line-up that's based solely on its athleticism, but the overwhelming majority of national champions (and elite 8 teams for that matter) run a pretty traditional offense that works through the post. At the collegiate level, size can be hard to come by and teams have to work with what they have. CU has a very athletic team that works well in transition, but our offense grinds to a screeching halt when we're forced to play at any other pace. That's what happens when every effective scorer you have is a perimeter player, and that's what happened even with Burks, Higgins, etc on the roster. If Stone Hands-Tunks wasn't Kwame Brown, we would be a force with SHT-Dufault-Dre-Brown-Dinwiddie but as it stands, we need Scott and Gordon here tomorrow.

Buffnik said it best, mid and low major teams have more size than us. Oh and Missouri has very good coaching creatini, agreed.

 

[shang]

General rule about basketball - it helps to be tall.

agreed, but w/ 1 key stipulation...tall w/ any 1 of the following, but preferably all... skilled/athletic/strength.... which we are sorely lacking

 

[CVilleBuff]

Is Missouri as talented as you say they are? I was checking their recruiting and they've signed almost all 3*'s and a 5* so I think it may be more coaching than talent.

Hopefully XJ can step up and be the man next season or someone like Spencer or Askia can improve their midrange game.

Eh, let's not go overboard. Frank Haith is nothing special. Nice job this year, but it's a case of wait and see what he can do with his own guys as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Mick Ronson]

Eh, let's not go overboard. Frank Haith is nothing special. Nice job this year, but it's a case of wait and see what he can do with his own guys as far as I'm concerned.

i tend to agree. though i did like Haith at Miami some and thought he might be a good interview for CU when we hired BZ....but i think that's a case of MU still having some real tough on-ball skills and full court hustle from the Mike Anderson system in a more trad halfcourt set up....more than Haith coaching MU "up".

Haith was no electrifying hire after Anderson and the Matt Painter talk. I think Painter is a whiner, just to say it.

 

[tante]

If the only big guys you can get aren't able to play basketball, then obviously you stay away from them. But our problem has been bad recruiting rather than an inability to get those guys. I've seen much better frontcourts than we have (bigger and more athletic) on mid- and low-major teams this year.

our roster is kinda scary next year since we are going to rely on freshman and sophomores next year. It is really how hard to say how good we will be.

 

[Bone Buff]

Waited til now to post that crap?

 

[Quattro]

our roster is kinda scary next year since we are going to rely on freshman and sophomores next year. It is really how hard to say how good we will be.

That's not much different than this year.

 

[CVilleBuff]

Let's not go overboard here. We're not going to finish 0-4. Tad is doing an excellent job recruiting. And we're 3-4 against the teams you've mentioned being so vastly ahead of us. The gap isn't quite as bad as you think. We've obviously been overachieving this year, but tonight was about the mismatch in the post (and the fact it was simply one of those nights) more than any huge difference in talent.

bump :thumbsup: