Just the best post in a long time---and from a master! Thanks Grey.
The big question for me now, however, is: Will the guys speed up play for the remaining games like they did in the second half and in games earlier in the season, or will they go back to the sluggish play when we play poorly in games like they did in the first half and other first halves?
I have found myself screaming at the TV set time and time again the past few weeks for the guys to just MOVE! In my opinion, our poor play appears to be related to both slower passing the ball around the perimeter and slower player movement through the lanes as of late.
When someone decides to finally drive the lane, with or without something set up, there is not enough time left to try it again or kick it out for a favorable outside shot if the drive is shut down.
I have been noticing this slower pace for a number of weeks now, and I believe it seems to have a correlation with our poor play. It's harder for shots to fall when the player is not in his comfortable rhythm.
When I was at the NC State game, I could see up close that we played very hard and kept up the pace of play the first half, yet the score did not seem to reflect it because State played so well against us. But, by keeping the pressure and speed up, we prevailed. During low scoring by us in other first halves, however, it didn't appear to be caused as much by the other team's defense, but by our slow play that prevented us from getting into a comfortable offensive rhythm.
At the Maryland game, we kept it up the entire game and look what the result was. After that game, however, we just seemed to lose a lot of our team speed for some reason. It seems to me that this slow passing around the perimeter until something supposedly opens up just seems to mess up our rhythm. Whether it is a zone of some kind or a man-to-man that is more aggressive further from the basket, it's almost as if we just seem to be tolerating being on the court until the clock is running down. Sometimes it also appears that the slower pace has been affecting the crispness of our passes resulting in more opposing steals.
In addition, does it seem to some of you out there that when we come up with a defensive rebound or a steal, we just get more conservative during the transition and the possession and slow it down again instead of catching the opposing team in their transition and making them more vulnerable to a better look?
We can still play our great defense and go after the other team on offense, can't we?
ricks