Good teams have an identity, they can hang their hat almost every night in being able to excel in at least one area. What is that for a Ford a coached team? I honestly do not know and if I am missing something please tell me.
For Eddie's teams it all started on the defensive end combined with good shot selection and low turnovers on the offensive end.
If you can do 2 things really well as a college team, you have a chance to be pretty good.
Our teams under Ford? Not known for exceptional defense, not known for good shot selection, not known for being exceptional 3 point shooters, not known for being able to press and apply pressure for 40 minutes and get out and run, not known for running a precision motion offense, not known for limiting T/O's, not known for being players that can penetrate the paint and accept the double team and find the open player, not known for getting excellent position and taking charges, etc....
My biggest frustration last night (besides the foul situation at the end of the half), was several times we had an Oregon player receive a pass in or near the paint and get to the rim uncontested with off ball help available and all they did is stand and watch as they hit a lay-up or dunk. Not only is this lazy and poor defense (not sure which it is, lazy or lack of recognition and possibly at times both), but it indicates a lack of coached toughness in protecting the paint near the rim. Under Eddie, those guys watching those types of plays and not rotating to challenge the shot at the rim got a seat on the bench ASAP, worse than a player taking a bad shot. Those are the manhood plays in basketball, there is a mindset, toughness, and pride that should exist that every close shot near the rim is going to be contested, particularly if an off ball defender exists to rotate over and defend.
For financial reasons, Ford likely around a little longer. My suggestion for him? Decide what you want to be, pick 2 areas you really want to excel at and practice the hell out of them until you perfect them and keep practicing them. Eddie did this and our offense suffered for it early in the year, the time not spent on offense in practice was "made up" in the early portion of the schedule and the offense slowly improved over the season (Eddie knew NCAA tourney games usually come down to possession basketball utilizing your half court offense late in the game when possessions and execution in your half court offense was critical and this is what he focused on), but when the first jump ball of the season went up, Eddie knew he had something to hang his hat on every night in terms of what his team could do.
This post was edited on 3/21 10:37 AM by OKSTATE1
For Eddie's teams it all started on the defensive end combined with good shot selection and low turnovers on the offensive end.
If you can do 2 things really well as a college team, you have a chance to be pretty good.
Our teams under Ford? Not known for exceptional defense, not known for good shot selection, not known for being exceptional 3 point shooters, not known for being able to press and apply pressure for 40 minutes and get out and run, not known for running a precision motion offense, not known for limiting T/O's, not known for being players that can penetrate the paint and accept the double team and find the open player, not known for getting excellent position and taking charges, etc....
My biggest frustration last night (besides the foul situation at the end of the half), was several times we had an Oregon player receive a pass in or near the paint and get to the rim uncontested with off ball help available and all they did is stand and watch as they hit a lay-up or dunk. Not only is this lazy and poor defense (not sure which it is, lazy or lack of recognition and possibly at times both), but it indicates a lack of coached toughness in protecting the paint near the rim. Under Eddie, those guys watching those types of plays and not rotating to challenge the shot at the rim got a seat on the bench ASAP, worse than a player taking a bad shot. Those are the manhood plays in basketball, there is a mindset, toughness, and pride that should exist that every close shot near the rim is going to be contested, particularly if an off ball defender exists to rotate over and defend.
For financial reasons, Ford likely around a little longer. My suggestion for him? Decide what you want to be, pick 2 areas you really want to excel at and practice the hell out of them until you perfect them and keep practicing them. Eddie did this and our offense suffered for it early in the year, the time not spent on offense in practice was "made up" in the early portion of the schedule and the offense slowly improved over the season (Eddie knew NCAA tourney games usually come down to possession basketball utilizing your half court offense late in the game when possessions and execution in your half court offense was critical and this is what he focused on), but when the first jump ball of the season went up, Eddie knew he had something to hang his hat on every night in terms of what his team could do.
This post was edited on 3/21 10:37 AM by OKSTATE1
