Somebody please crash the boards

[tsuhoosier]

I think in all this talk of giving it time we are missing the point.
A good team and program will recognize opponent's strengths and weaknesses and adapt their game plan accordingly. Let's face the fact that this team does not shoot the ball as well as we have the past 2 years...yet on nearly every possesion you would see all 5 players standing around the 3-point arc, even in transition our guards run straight down the sidelines and spot up rather than going to the basket.
Why in the world did we not have Baker and Hornsby posting up on every possesion, where they could score pretty easily on shorter, less athletic defenders? Past years we at least had Lewin and Millhouse aand Stamper who were willing to go inside and be warriors and do the dirty work. I see no effort or willingness to play roles on this team. I see a bunch of guys (only 3, maybe 4 of which can really shoot) wanting to stand around on offense and jack 3's. We need a drastic change in work ethic and offensive philosophy.

[TROYgirl128]

AMEN!

[troydad]

Statistically speaking, Richard Damus, Eddie Baker, Ryan Heck, and Ransom Antoine have been our most productive players so far this season--and by a wide statistical margin.

The NBA is moving to a season per/attempt stat like baseball uses for batting average that I think is most helpful to determine the true value of each player. It allows you to compare apples to apples, so to speak.

So... for example, Richard Damus has scored an average of 1.34 points for every field goal attempt he's had so far this year. Close behind is Eddie Baker with 1.26 ppa and Ransom with 1.23. The injured Ryan Heck has averaged 1.22 ppa and Corey Hornsby is fifth on the team at 1.10.

How do those numbers compare to last year's team? Rob Lewin blew everyone away with 1.49 points per attempt. J. Lee was a surprising second with 1.45 ppa while Kendrick Johnson finished third with 1.34 points per attempt.

Player of the Year Greg Davis averaged 1.24 points per attempt and Moo Moo Evans and Jerome Stamper followed with 1.18 ppa. The 2003-2004 team averaged 1.24 ppa for the season last year. This year's edition is averaging only 1.09 ppa, down 12.1 percent, which is a significant deficit.

Bonus stats: After 6 games last year, Greg Davis had already dished out 62 assists and Rob Lewin had grabbed 56 boards. To state the obvious: no one has come close to matching those feats this year.

One other observation that may bear fruit is that it appears that our players wear out late in the first half and early second half after posting strong showings early. Perhaps we ought to consider playing more players and giving the starters more of a breather? I throw that out as a possible solution to a bad pattern we seem to have developed. Who knows? It might actually work out for the best!

[TropolitanSportsEditor]

They won't, because Maestri wants to run this style of offense...it's three's galore in his mind. He said at the pre-season press conference that they were going to shoot more three's than ever before. And that's what they are doing. I still say give it TIME!! It is way to early to start monday morning coaching. Let it go till at least mid-january. Then start monday morning coaching.

[sportsman2]

Rebounding is not the problem, we have outrebounded or been fairly close in all games as far as rebounding goes. We had more rebounds than Belmont, 20 offensive and only were 4 behind Lipscomb and thats because we shot terrible.

The issue this year is the lack of production from our guards. They are getting wide open shots and have been unable to convert consistently this year. That is why we are not 3-3. It is not the rebounding or style of play, we just havent made the open shots when we get them, and we have had plenty of them.

[formerlytsufan]

They won't, because Maestri wants to run this style of offense...it's three's galore in his mind. He said at the pre-season press conference that they were going to shoot more three's than ever before. And that's what they are doing. I still say give it TIME!! It is way to early to start monday morning coaching. Let it go till at least mid-january. Then start monday morning coaching.

You still don't get it do you? We ran this style offense last year. There was one big difference last year...we could shoot! This is one of the worst shooting Trojan teams that I can remember. Also, rebounding should be a priority no matter what style offense you run.

[Hector]

IMO, a lack of a strong inside presence is killing us. That has to be obvious to anyone who watches the games. Teams score on us easily down low. We do not score down low easily on other teams.

[troydad]

Ask any Division 1 basketball coach and they will gladly inform you that every great team begins with outstanding point guard play. Yeah, the big fellas are important, but if you have a point guard dishing out 10 assists a game you're more apt to win a few games.

After 6 games last year, Greg Davis had connected on three times as many assists than our point guards have made this season. That means we've score around 15 points less a game than last year. We'd be 5-1 had we scored that many more points a game this season. That's our biggest problem right now.

Our second serious problem is our lack of size, which directly relates to points allowed in the paint and our poor rebounding. Again, I'm hoping the return of Jarvis Acker and Ryan Heck will alleviate some of that problem.

Troy's third problem is poor outside shooting. I don't know if it's because we're just poor shooters; if we're taking bad shots; or if we're just worn out for some reason and don't have our legs under us in the second half.