Did anyone else notice that we intentionally overplayed NKU’s point guard to force him to go left?
Yes I noticed. However we were exposed a bit. Dribble drive, other teams will watch this tape and without a big man, we have to help which leaves players open for threes. Players said muss will correct this. Amazing that this team is undefeated w so many deficiencies and lack of depth. I think his coaching is giving us the best chance to win. I don’t expect us to make the tourney this year, but if muss gets the kids, his coaching plus talent will propel us to past Razorback heights
I agree. I was pointing out that it has been a long time since we have seen a scouting report utilized in a gameplan. Obviously they saw something that indicated that the pg isn’t as effective going left. Refreshing.
Yes, we’re challenged against a very good pg, but so is everyone. I felt the game difference was Mason on the bench. He, likely, would have covered UNK’s Walton, who would have achieved less on both ends of the court. Of course, we missed Mason’s offensive leadership
That is basic coaching 101 for every coach starting at high school level to know which hand each player favors and defend them accordingly. I can’t believe you guys think our previous coaches did not do that. Wow!
I never saw overplay with exaggeration. In fact I rarely saw us stop dribble penetration previously. The biggest difference I see under Muss is the dribble penetration has been greatly reduced due to better position and help defense. Coach A Wasn’t real big on scouting reports—-were are going to do our thing and make the other team adjust.
1 Like
I would like to see what happens with dribble penetration as we get into P5 competition. Those PGs can go either way usually. Remember GT did not have the starting PG.
I thought we had put the myth of Mike not using a scouting report to bed in prior discussions.
PJ I know you love Coach A and so do I. I was not calling for a change but no one asked my opinion. However, I choose to embrace the new coach and look for the positives. Their is more than one way to win. Perhaps Coach A did have a scouting report and did utilize it in a game plan but perhaps he couldn’t get his teams to execute it as well defensively—too many gambles without turnovers leading to dribble penetration and kick out to open shooters. We never seemed able to identify or much less cover the opposing 3-point shooters.
I suspect we will struggle against some p5 guards, but I thought we reverted to some bad habits on defense yesterday and they had one player we could not match up with yesterday.
Yes I did like Coach A, but love the Musselman hire too. In the end I am hoping Musselman will do better because I want to go to attend the second weekend of the NCAA tournament again. Have been waiting for that too long,
Here are my thoughts so that it is clear.
I think Mike knows how to coach just like most of the successful P5 coaches. Mike has a very good record and that cannot be without knowing how to coach. He has been to Elite Eight and 9 NCAA tournaments.
Just after seven games, I am not willing to say that Muss is a better coach than Mike.
But what I already know and has been proven is that Muss is a huge upgrade over Mike in recruiting and selling the program. I mean it is night and day.
For that reason, I project Muss will be far more successful at Arkansas than Mike.
What I have trouble reading is the following.
Mike and Nolan do not believe in scouting reports. I think one of the posters who was a manager under Nolan has debunked that. However I do believe Muss does better scouting because of use of modern technology and analytics.
Muss system does not give up wide open threes. I have seen wide open threes in every game. It is so hard for a player not to help out his mate like Bailey did last night on the shot that rimmed out. It is just a natural reaction.
Under Muss, you won’t see a big guarding a guard. As I pointed out before, it happened in GT game. It happened again last night fmultiple times. And it will happen over and over again. It is so hard to avoid that. That is the goal of the opposing coaches that is to create a mismatch.
What I won’t challenge is the following things because they are obvious.
Muss teams block out and Mike’s don’t.
Mike’s teams gamble a lot and Muss’s teams don’t gamble as much.
I can’t think of anything else at this point, but I am sure there are other differences I can agree to.
Excellent points and insight. I agree. I believe Coach A will do better at St John than here because he will recruit well. I like a lot of what Coach A does philosophically but there were a few things I wished he would have changed. But I am excited about Muss.
I had no problem with us not blocking out under Mike as long as we had the guys that could go get it. But over the last several years, we consistently faced opponents who had guys that were equal or superior in going to get it. When that’s the case, you better block out.
I agree about the blocking out. If you are not winning, it is annoying.
On Muss, I must say I have not found anything to complain about so far. He seems to be pushing all the right buttons. Only thing I worry is playing just 8 could eventually hurt recruiting, But so far it has not affected recruiting.
Good discussion.
Overplaying a guy is something you learn in junior high, but it is amazing how many guys don’t do it. I constantly watch guys get beat to the right side by a right-handed player. You always make him go to his left, if possible. Not many guys can go well off the dribble to both sides.
You see it all the time in college and the NFL. Defenders don’t make a quarterback go to his left under pressure. The qb’s constantly go to their right and get past the defender and throw the ball. I have never understood that. The whole defense should be geared to stop that move.
I agree but we didn’t see it in first 6 games.