was any one else surprised by our pace this year?

[tropical storm]

I think the thing that surprised me the most this year was the way we played at such a controlled pace. I am not saying that we never ran, but we certainly looked to push the ball much less than we had in some past years. As irreplacable as Reddick and Williams were, I thought they were both highly effective half court players and this year with the extra depth and athleticism provided by players like Henderson and Thomas coupled with having a guy like McRoberts playing out of position at the 5, I really expected us to push the ball.

I didn't really catch all of Coach K's comments this year, does anyone know if he addressed this change in philosophy?

-Storm

[MChambers]

Before the season, I thought we'd fly up and down the court. Take last year's team, subtract Redick, Williams, Melch, and Dock. Add Henderson, Thomas, McClure, and Scheyer. Seems we'd benefit from increased speed.

But we didn't. This started when Paulus was injured and Scheyer had to play point, continued as Paulus worked his way back. Then, it turned out we were terrible at avoiding turnovers.

Don't think Coach K has addressed why he did this, but I think he simply thought the team didn't run well. Also, we didn't force turnovers as well as many of our best teams.

[Gozza]

I thought so early in the year. Problem was at the one. I think K wasn't really comfortable turning the ball over to Scheyer, so he needed 38 minutes a night from Paulus. With his slow start, injuries, etc., Paulus wasn't going to be able to run and gun for 40. One man's opinion.

[dukestheheat]

tropical storm et. al.,

I just think that we turned out to be better in the half court; by 'better', I mean that we could hold the score DOWN more if we kept most games in the half court. We just couldn't get out of the sixties in our games, and if we had worked to run up and down (like Carolina does) we'd probably get run out of the gym.

So, I guess our pace this year wasn't so much a function of 'we can't do it' but more of a 'we shouldn't do it b/c if we miss, which we probably would more often than not, the other team is gonna run us outta the gym b/c we can't really get out of the sixties on the point total' or something like that.

another man's opinion and you know what they say about opinions, and south ends, and the fact that we all have both of them, and that kind of thing....

dth.