***OFFICIAL CHICAGO ST AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

[bga1]

Paralysis by analysis. So much of basketball (and any sport) is just playing the game and not analyzing the game while you play. Watching Durkins, the kid has a really nice, soft, shot. He just has to get out of his head, trust all these years of shooting a basketball, and just play the game. In this past game you could see him analyzing his shot while he shot. Consequently he was always short with his shot.
Asuma also gets too cerebral and starts over thinking while playing the game. Hopefully Niko and the assistant coaches can help these kids learn how to play with joy of the game, regardless of the outcome. More often than naught, you play relaxed and good things happen. We'll see if the kids can just let the joy of playing overcome their tendency to have paralysis by analysis.

Confidence is an amazing thing. The more these guys learn the system and the coach and feel that "this is my shot and the coach believes I make these"- the more of them go in. This offense does yield open shots.

 

[Bad Gopher]

This is just not a very good team. It wasn’t like we were just off tonight, they just looked relatively evenly matched athletically with one of the worst teams in D1 basketball.

It’s a shame to waste a year of a pretty nice player in Tyson. There is obviously time to turn things around, I’m just not seeing the pieces of the vision.

They don't seem able to impose their physical will and power to the basket like most major-conference teams would be able to do against a Chicago State. The Gophers are the kind of team that will have to beat you with skill and savvy. Savvy-wise, I like what I see. They ARE well coached, and the players have proven to be quick studies. But skill-wise, at least so far...

 

[formerlybis]

Paralysis by analysis. So much of basketball (and any sport) is just playing the game and not analyzing the game while you play. Watching Durkins, the kid has a really nice, soft, shot. He just has to get out of his head, trust all these years of shooting a basketball, and just play the game. In this past game you could see him analyzing his shot while he shot. Consequently he was always short with his shot.
Asuma also gets too cerebral and starts over thinking while playing the game. Hopefully Niko and the assistant coaches can help these kids learn how to play with joy of the game, regardless of the outcome. More often than naught, you play relaxed and good things happen. We'll see if the kids can just let the joy of playing overcome their tendency to have paralysis by analysis.

They're all playing in a new system (except JCJ). It takes repetitions to get to the point where you are reacting rather than thinking. The typical arc of Medved's teams have been to get better as the calendar turns to the new year, so this little stretch isn't particularly out of character. This isn't the MWC, however.

 

[leib0039]

Assist percentage is a poor stat to judge whether an offense is "working". The only thing that matters is how many points are scored per possession. Currently, the most efficient offense in the conference is Illinois at #4 in the country - and they're #325 in assist percentage. 18 assists on 19 made FGs tells me they don't have anyone that can create their own shot, nor just make a putback on an offensive rebound.

Yes and no. It relies a lot on the type of offense and the players you have. Nikos teams have been in the top 25ish a lot for assist per game. His teams have relied on less individual talent and more on ball movement. You can say that's a good thing, but also sometimes you need an Ant to just take the ball 5 straight trips and make his own shot. For the team we have this year, I'd guess assist % will be key. We don't have that carr/battle/Garcia that can play iso ball. But unlike previous years we have a coach who can actually draw up a play!

 

[FinnGopher]

They're all playing in a new system (except JCJ). It takes repetitions to get to the point where you are reacting rather than thinking. The typical arc of Medved's teams have been to get better as the calendar turns to the new year, so this little stretch isn't particularly out of character. This isn't the MWC, however.

I agree with everything you said. The kids are getting open looks. It's when they get these looks (thinking of Durkins in particular) that I see them analyzing things. When you get your look, you just have to let it fly and not think about it. Trust those thousands upon thousands of shots you have taken in your life and know you hit this shot more times than not. Have fun. Have a short memory. Keep shooting.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

Yes and no. It relies a lot on the type of offense and the players you have. Nikos teams have been in the top 25ish a lot for assist per game. His teams have relied on less individual talent and more on ball movement. You can say that's a good thing, but also sometimes you need an Ant to just take the ball 5 straight trips and make his own shot. For the team we have this year, I'd guess assist % will be key. We don't have that carr/battle/Garcia that can play iso ball. But unlike previous years we have a coach who can actually draw up a play!

He had some good players after his first season at CSU, which was bad.
Had Roddy and Stevens for 3 straight seasons. All good seasons.
Roddy leaves and they are lousy again.
Clifford shows up to team with Stevens and once again decent.
And Clifford with the big season last year.
Need good players. Obviously Edwards is a great player.

 

[formerlybis]

Yes and no. It relies a lot on the type of offense and the players you have. Nikos teams have been in the top 25ish a lot for assist per game. His teams have relied on less individual talent and more on ball movement. You can say that's a good thing, but also sometimes you need an Ant to just take the ball 5 straight trips and make his own shot. For the team we have this year, I'd guess assist % will be key. We don't have that carr/battle/Garcia that can play iso ball. But unlike previous years we have a coach who can actually draw up a play!

I'm just not a fan of using assist percentage as anything meaningful as a team stat. Does it describe how you run offense? Yes. If you have a high rate, does that mean you are a good offensive team? No - it does not answer that question at all.

Put another way, what's more valuable, a basket scored via an assist or a basket scored without an assist? Trick question - a basket counts the same either way. Ergo, IDGAF how it gets scored. Just tell me whether you are scoring at an efficient rate per possession (and a lot more goes into that, including how often you turn it over and how good you are at offensive rebounding).