Making it to the Sweet 16 is an accomplishment for sure. I just hate MW’s style of play. We should beat OR but I miss exciting Gator basketball.
This.
I hear ya loud and clear. Although I don’t have near the same amount of issues with MW as most....My one major point of contention has been the style of play. I’ve seen some improvement but not enough in picking up the tempo.
Although I am slowly conceding that we have a number of guys who are high energy but tend to get wildly out of control too often which may be why coach slows the pace. Our ability to handle the ball, pass sharply and stay in control is not always conducive to playing high intensity basketball. Too many turnovers.
We attempted some full court pressure yesterday early on and got shredded. We get hyped up forget our assignments and spacing and get beat back.
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Marine, you seem to be pointing out part of what is so maddening about White’s teams, particularly after Billy’s kids matriculated IMO...that is, they seem so bad fundamentally, which either limits what they can actually do or makes them look like a mediocre 17u AAU team much of the time. I know these kids are talented, but rarely do they appear to have a purpose offensively in the half court other than to throw up a shot after poor movement, few passes other than around the perimeter, and a desperation three as the shot clock is expiring. Defensively, we sure seem to lose the men we are guarding quite often and we go under picks more than fighting through them. Maybe things have changed with that part of man D concept? Historically, that usually meant “lazy”and “poorly coached.” It also drives me nuts that we rarely seem to have a decent inbounds play.
We had lunch at a restaurant after church and the Illinois / Loyola game was on. It was actually pleasurable to watch. Both teams were pretty good fundamentally and had plans that they worked to execute both offensively and defensively. They worked for high percentage shots first and the longer shots were not usually highly contested or out of desperation. They played tough D, contested shots, and boxed out consistently. I’d give anything to see us play sound basketball. I don’t believe we’ll ever see it for more than an occasional stretch under White. Regardless, I hope we win.