most will call it a “choke job”, and I must confess that I said it myself several times last night. However, I think some explanation might at least provide some understanding.
Mack arrived at UL just in time to watch 4 out of 5 starters leaving the Belknap Campus. While that happens at a lot of schools ............ it seldom occurs with an ACC team under a first year coach who is replacing another first year HC (Padgett), who had zero experience. Not only faced with competing in the ACC, Mack was burdened with playing 4 out-of-conference teams rated in the top 10. Mack found immediate help at the critical Point Guard position in grad transfers Cunningham & Fore, who were about as good as one could expect given the time and availability. Unfortunately, in addition to never having played with each other, they had to figure out how to blend with 3 other first year players, along with the balance of the roster who had little or no real experience playing with each other.
Anyone who has ever played or coached basketball will appreciate that beating a 2-2-1 press requires 5 players being on the same page, not just the 2 or 3 Guards who are on the court. Confining all of the blame and responsibility on the ball handling Guards is misplaced ........... it takes all 5 on the floor to participate, so the double and triple teams on the ball result in clear open passing lanes. The FSU loss provided a live rehearsal for Coach K who initiated the 2-2-1 press in the last 10 minutes; I was only shocked that he waited so late. FSU and Duke both have experienced coaches with deep athletic players who can execute pressure defense that can force inexperienced and ill-prepared teams into the havoc that we witnessed these last two games.
Bottom line ............. no first year coach under these circumstances could be expected to take this patch-work of players and have them adequately prepared for this much pressure when they were challenged with absorbing an entirely new half court offensive & defensive system. With that said, I expect that by Saturday, Mack will have both Williams & Enoch integrated into the “positioning, catching & passing” contribution when on the floor with any of the combinations of Nwora, Sutton, Cunningham, Perry, Fore and McMahan. It will not be perfect, but at least this group is far enough along with their understanding of the half court sets, that Mack can spend practice time on implementing the strategy against full court zone trap and the full court man-to-man press.
Mack arrived at UL just in time to watch 4 out of 5 starters leaving the Belknap Campus. While that happens at a lot of schools ............ it seldom occurs with an ACC team under a first year coach who is replacing another first year HC (Padgett), who had zero experience. Not only faced with competing in the ACC, Mack was burdened with playing 4 out-of-conference teams rated in the top 10. Mack found immediate help at the critical Point Guard position in grad transfers Cunningham & Fore, who were about as good as one could expect given the time and availability. Unfortunately, in addition to never having played with each other, they had to figure out how to blend with 3 other first year players, along with the balance of the roster who had little or no real experience playing with each other.
Anyone who has ever played or coached basketball will appreciate that beating a 2-2-1 press requires 5 players being on the same page, not just the 2 or 3 Guards who are on the court. Confining all of the blame and responsibility on the ball handling Guards is misplaced ........... it takes all 5 on the floor to participate, so the double and triple teams on the ball result in clear open passing lanes. The FSU loss provided a live rehearsal for Coach K who initiated the 2-2-1 press in the last 10 minutes; I was only shocked that he waited so late. FSU and Duke both have experienced coaches with deep athletic players who can execute pressure defense that can force inexperienced and ill-prepared teams into the havoc that we witnessed these last two games.
Bottom line ............. no first year coach under these circumstances could be expected to take this patch-work of players and have them adequately prepared for this much pressure when they were challenged with absorbing an entirely new half court offensive & defensive system. With that said, I expect that by Saturday, Mack will have both Williams & Enoch integrated into the “positioning, catching & passing” contribution when on the floor with any of the combinations of Nwora, Sutton, Cunningham, Perry, Fore and McMahan. It will not be perfect, but at least this group is far enough along with their understanding of the half court sets, that Mack can spend practice time on implementing the strategy against full court zone trap and the full court man-to-man press.
