Mean Green Vs Troy

Green to the Bone · February 17, 2008

Gotta say, I saw two dominating, nearly flawless team performances tonight. Men and women were firing on all cylinders.

Notes, in no particular order:

I was really afraid that losing Dez would be a problem, but not so far -- not to downplay his contributions, obviously.

Wooden is still looking a little stiff and tentative. JJ said in the postgame that he twisted an ankle and had a scare, but nothing important. He has a little hop and skip movement anyway as he goes down court and sets up on D, but it seemed like he was trying to manage the weight load carefully.

Agreed, Bell is everywhere, playing very fast, aggressive ball. He did some great inbounding work and acted heroically to save several from going out of bounds.

Also agreed, White's season opening probably raised expectations unreasonably. His point production is off from his earlier figures, but I'm not concerned.

Worth noting that Howerton, with five rebounds, was grabbing the ball with a frightening intensity. Nearly decked one guy under their basket. Made me happy.

And Dennis, jeez louise, what can you say? A one-man show, but it wasn't really; we had him with 34 points, but also three others in double figures. A good sign.

There were a few steals that resulted from their aggressive defense, and it took a while to adjust, but it seemed we did.

Hard to find many flaws with this evening, for either of our teams. Nice work.

Edited February 17, 2008 by Green to the Bone

filmerj · February 17, 2008

That halftime fight between Scrappy and Eppy was E-P-I-C!!!

Eppy didn't put up much of a fight. He's a pacifist remember.

Green to the Bone · February 17, 2008

Eppy didn't put up much of a fight. He's a pacifist remember.

Also, Scrappy is much more buff, and Eppy is very old. Only gets out a couple of times a year.

foutsrouts · February 17, 2008

Great game and great overall win. The crowd wasn't very impressive, but at times got into it. Since I like to complain about something, I wish Dennis would have been left in to get his 40, and Howerton would of got more minutes since Wooden is definitely on the gimpy side. I also agree that Josh looked a little out of it again tonight, but I'm very confident that he'll be back. Overall, we are looking good going into the home stretch.

chrisfisher · February 17, 2008

The one thing that I was amazed at was Troy's lack of offensive or defensive adjustments the entire game.. They appear to know how to do 2 things: shoot the 3 and apply full court pressure. The 3 wasn't dropping and Mean Green quickly adjusted to the press. This didn't seem to bother Troy. They just kept on with the press and the 3 regardless of whether it worked or not. I wouldn't be surprised if their head coach gets kicked to the curb at the end of this season. That was one of the worst coaching jobs I've seen in some time. I like that we got a full game of the press too b/c it gave us some great practice in an area that we use to struggle with.

FirefightnRick · February 17, 2008

Also, Scrappy is much more buff, and Eppy is very old. Only gets out a couple of times a year.

That's because they don't put the real Eppy in eppy.

Rick

Coach · February 17, 2008

chris, the full court press was the most effective thing Troy did in that game, how was sticking with it the worst coaching job you have seen all year? They do not have nearly the talent NT does, and they tried to make us play a different game, and one that suited them better. It wasn't enough, but it gave them a puncher's chance. I think it was a good idea by the Troy coach. And NT struggled with the press for the most part I thought, there was a stretch or two where the break was clicking, but most of the time I thought they looked out of sorts and not comfortable with it. Bell and White bailed them out a few times, which is what good point guards do, but I would have been much happier to see the press break just pick it apart with precision from beginning to end, but that did not happen. If I were going to sit in the stands and second guess something (we all seem to be pretty smart when it comes to that) that the Troy coach did, I would have applied more perimeter pressure in the half court set. Their 2-3 was aggressive, but good skip passes by NT continually distorted it. Other than that, I liked his game plan.

chrisfisher · February 17, 2008

chris, the full court press was the most effective thing Troy did in that game, how was sticking with it the worst coaching job you have seen all year? They do not have nearly the talent NT does, and they tried to make us play a different game, and one that suited them better. It wasn't enough, but it gave them a puncher's chance. I think it was a good idea by the Troy coach. And NT struggled with the press for the most part I thought, there was a stretch or two where the break was clicking, but most of the time I thought they looked out of sorts and not comfortable with it. Bell and White bailed them out a few times, which is what good point guards do, but I would have been much happier to see the press break just pick it apart with precision from beginning to end, but that did not happen. If I were going to sit in the stands and second guess something (we all seem to be pretty smart when it comes to that) that the Troy coach did, I would have applied more perimeter pressure in the half court set. Their 2-3 was aggressive, but good skip passes by NT continually distorted it. Other than that, I liked his game plan.

The final score: 90-64. We beat them by almost 30 points. How can you say the full court press worked? Are you saying without a press we would have won by 50? I'm not saying they shouldn't have used it, but when it was apparent it wasn't as effective, I'd have stopped or tried something else. Sure, it disrupted our offense a couple of times... but, by and far, we played through it and got many easy shot opportunities b/c Troy was so out of position. I am certainly no coach, but from my perspective, Troy was banging their head against a wall over and over and over and over.............................

Edited February 17, 2008 by chrisfisher

meangreendork · February 17, 2008

Eppy didn't put up much of a fight. He's a pacifist remember.

Also, the guy in it is a lot smaller than than the guy(s) in the Scrappy.

Coach · February 17, 2008

When you press, you are not only wanting turnovers in the front court. You are wanting turnovers off the secondary traps closer to the front court, you are wanting the opponent to take uncharacteristic shots that they would not normally take, you are wanting the opponent to be uncomfortable and have difficulties setting up their offense, or set it up from places they are not used to. The downside is obviously with a well executed press break you could be giving up layups. If you are going to press the whole game like Troy did, you are going in with the understanding that will happen, and happen several times. However, you are going to stay with it because you believe it will do more of those positives I listed than the occasional breakdown. Early on NT was not handling the press well, then there was a time where they got used to it, but Troy stuck with it and well into the second half, they were getting turnovers and hurried shots off it.

I know what the final score was, but I would suggest that from the first moments of the game it was obvious which team was far superior talent wise. All I am saying is that Troy's game plan while not the most conventional or sound approach, did give them a chance. As it turns out it did not matter, but it was far from the worst coaching of the year as you said earlier. It came down to NT being more athletic, deeper, and better shooters, and if you have the fool proof game plan for that scenario, I would love to hear it.

chrisfisher · February 17, 2008

When you press, you are not only wanting turnovers in the front court. You are wanting turnovers off the secondary traps closer to the front court, you are wanting the opponent to take uncharacteristic shots that they would not normally take, you are wanting the opponent to be uncomfortable and have difficulties setting up their offense, or set it up from places they are not used to. The downside is obviously with a well executed press break you could be giving up layups. If you are going to press the whole game like Troy did, you are going in with the understanding that will happen, and happen several times. However, you are going to stay with it because you believe it will do more of those positives I listed than the occasional breakdown. Early on NT was not handling the press well, then there was a time where they got used to it, but Troy stuck with it and well into the second half, they were getting turnovers and hurried shots off it.
I know what the final score was, but I would suggest that from the first moments of the game it was obvious which team was far superior talent wise. All I am saying is that Troy's game plan while not the most conventional or sound approach, did give them a chance. As it turns out it did not matter, but it was far from the worst coaching of the year as you said earlier. It came down to NT being more athletic, deeper, and better shooters, and if you have the fool proof game plan for that scenario, I would love to hear it.

You may be right... I don't know... It just seemed to me that Troy made zero adjustments and several people I spoke with at the game agreed. The full court press didn't even work in the final 5 minutes when we emptied the bench....

MeanMag · February 18, 2008

I think the most important thing about these past 2 games is that we remembered what it means to play defense and force mistakes. WKU made us look silly at times. I'm not worried about josh white, his shot will come around but defensive effort shows up every time.

chrisfisher · February 18, 2008

I think the most important thing about these past 2 games is that we remembered what it means to play defense and force mistakes. WKU made us look silly at times. I'm not worried about josh white, his shot will come around but defensive effort shows up every time.

Agreed... plus a return to good post play....