In Reply to: Re: I usually ignore you posted by BruinsFTW on November 17, 2025 at 16:07:55
TL;DR
Everything he does seems to be funky, but given the injury adversity and down right bad luck he's had to deal with, he's done pretty well.
Long version:
During his Cincinatti years he was always very accustomed to trying to more with less. So, he reallllllllly emphasized defense, and probably teaches it well. Anyone athletic can play good defense. You can turn JAG's into defenders.
I feel like that (trying to do more with less) is where his weird use of the center comes in. Having the center running out to screen and hedge can kind of give you an extra 1/2 a player. Especially if you don't have a talented center. The downside is that it absolutely inhibits your center's opportunity to do center things. If you have a good center, imo, it's a bad strategy. If you have a very good center, it's a terrible strategy.
I think he's really not good at designing/coaching an offense. As has been noted on here, our offense is often run the clock and try to get someone isolated for a 1v1. Though, during the Juzang years, he did a good job of getting Johnny open for shots. I think during the Tyger years, sooo much of our offense was predicated on Tyger's ability to hold the ball under pressure, do light probing, pass the ball and receive it back, do some more light probing and then a) give it to someone to go 1v1, or b) take a jab-step jumper, which he got reallly good at.
I think his assistant coach (I forget his name) is really good at teaching post footwork. We don't usually have a dominant center so it doesn't show up that way. But, Jaime's footwork was incredible. Jules' was damn good after his first couple of years. And, my impression is others have been, too.
All that said .... the crazy thing is .... he got us to within a Jalen Suggs miracle shot of the NCAA final. And, the next year, missing Bona and Clark .... having to defend Timme with Kenneth Nwuba (Timme played 38 minutes. Nwuba played 32, Etienne played 4, I don't know who played the other 4 at center, but McClendon got 4 minutes, I think it was him). And, Nwuba, I read after the game, had an injured shoulder and could only lift one arm above his head. All that and we had a 13 point lead at the half, lost on shot from way outside the arc by a guy who was 4 of 14 before that shot. We've had way more than our fair share of injuries, have gotten knocked out of the making the finals on a miracle shot, beaten in the Sweet 16 on a crazy shot, and didn't Love with UNC beat us with a pretty crazy shot.
So, as I often say, I'm not super knowledgeable about basketball. There's plenty of people on the board that are muuuuuuuuch more knowledgeable than I am. Not sure why you're asking me. But, everything he does seems to be funky, but given the injury adversity and down right bad luck he's had to deal with, he's done pretty well.
The volume of my response does not reflect my confidence in my basketball knowledge. I'm just a fan. I stopped playing organized basketball in elementary school because I was terrible. I was a basketball fanatic, especially the Laker's and UCLA. But, any basketball that was on tv, I'd watch it. And, I started playing pick-up w/ a couple of friends when I was a Freshman in college who had been on their HS team. That's it. No one should take anything I say about basketball seriously.