Our team doesn't understand how to play basketball. They do not pass the ball inside to Mo and Tony. They settle for bad outside jumpers over and over again. They get beat down the floor immediately after making a basket. They foul near mid court late in the shot clock. They play poor help defense. They play poor transition defense. It makes me wonder what JC taught them the past few years. Players that understand the game can play in any system.

This team looks selfish, lazy and undisciplined right now. I can't imagine how much Saul's blood is boiling tonight.

Giving up an alley oop dunk on a break after a made basket last night was the icing on the cake for me.

Trying to figure how you are dumping this in JC's lap? At least JC held players accountable for selfish or stupid play. I'm not talking about mistakes. I'm talking about not being aware of anything that is going on around you as a player. I'm talking about missing opportunity after opportunity after opportunity because you've got your head down at all times and are only worried about working for your shot. It doesn't matter that Tony or Mo have just flashed open because they are working their arses off. They won't even be on your radar until their man has had the opportunity to recover. I'm talking about having a 3-on-1 break and you taking a contested shot. I'm talking about not having enough awareness to feel the pick coming on the defensive end and then not making any effort to pick up the man of guy that just slid over to stop the guy you were supposed to be covering and then watching (or not watching) that guy get an offensive rebound.

We've got a lot of offensive talent on this team but you would never know it because they rarely get the ball where they need to get it to succeed. Personally I would do what JC did last year and cut the hell out of one player's minutes until he gets the message. I don't care how many points he scores.

http://www.bobcatattack.com/basketball/story.asp?PID=934

Coach Phillips comments in the above are interesting. Unfortunately, it appears we only have 7 players and both PG are struggling to run what Phillips wants. Tough to teach-by-benching in the current scenario. Some big flaws on what was left after JC went to BC and recruits disappeared. Definitely was going to be a tough year. But, I sure didn't expect to lose to NIU at home.

The strange thing is that this isn't remarkably different than what we would have had had JC stayed. Nick had an extremely high basketball IQ and even though he didn't bring the ball up the offense ran through him a lot of the time. Bean is what he is and IMO the less the ball is in his hands (except for receiving a kickout at the three point line) the better we are. Nick's value wasn't just when he had the ball either. He just knew where to go when he didn't have the ball which was big help to Stevie. Stevie would penetrate, get stopped but Nick was there in a passing lane to help. Stevie would kick it to Nick and Nick would immediately move it to someone else. It wouldn't always result in an open look but it would always make the defense move quickly which eventually will lead to an opening. You don't have to have the court vision of DJ Cooper (although it sure as heck helps) to run an effective offense. You just have to know where all your guys are and all their guys are. Watch Bean after he passes. He literally just stands there until the guy who received the pass gets stopped and then he'll move. Absolute no anticipation.

can someone clarify for me- if your team is losing by more than 3pts and you shoot the ball from more than a foot behind the 3pt line within the first 10 seconds of the shot clock and it goes in you automatically tie the score, right? Because that's what it looks like our two senior guards believe.

The two major problems are:

Offensively there is no movement. Poor ball movement, as well as poor movement without the ball create a lot of wasted possessions. Bad shots happen when they make it easy for the defense by standing around. When the ball rarely goes inside, it makes the perimeter shots even more difficult.

Defensively the team struggles with over-pursuit on the perimeter and lack of focus the entire possession. While they are impatient on the offensive side of the court, they conversely reward the other team for being patient. Almost every possession there is a breakdown before the shot clock expires. I get so frustrated watching fouls occur with less than 0:08 left on the shot clock. That is a lack of mental toughness combined with low basketball IQ.

Nick Kellogg is severely missed because he was such a smart, focused player. Sometimes, it only takes one guy to lead the other four on the court. Right now, the team doesn't have that guy.

I really don't know all the answers here (haha) but...were ALL these guys this stupid and lazy last year and just got bailed out by the seniors? Or, do we have a bunch of guys that just don't quite understand what is expected and are just plain tentative out there? Or, do we have a coach who has been successful, is funny, and all but has just not gotten these guys to "buy in"yet?

Even the Coach says the parts or there...or is it we are not athletic enough? Seems like contradictory statements?

I just THINK there is a lot of confusion on the court and in the locker room right now (again, I don't know this to be fact, I'm just guessing). I hope by March it is all ironed out and we are on a roll.

Oh, and DA, I think a coach in the first years needs to adapt to his talent. Putting those square pegs in round holes seldom works. This is a thing you do at younger ages when you always have different kids on the team each year. In college, once you get your players you implement your system. I think the first year of JG, JC and SP show the way on this! Which of the three do you think was most successful in their first year? The status quo or the change agent?

+1. Van is right on here.

I'll add that the major breakdown didn't happen until the 1000 min mark of the second half. That's when we quit being patient and executing on offense and started chucking up desperation threes...most of them bricks...and NIU's bigs started taking over on offense.

This is going to be a long painful season of basketball. I think we will see a few bright spots here and there in conference play. Most likely will start to see the team we expect next season.
Sadly enough the law of large numbers came into play last night. Congrats to an improving Northern Illinois team on their win.

I don't see how we have anything to lose by going to majority zone D. If that's not "Saul ball" in the long run who cares - go man on man only when we are up solid in a game. Go back to man on man majority next year - when hopefully we have more "men"............

The leadership of DJ Cooper and Nick Kellogg carried this program the last five years. Those two were four year players who left their mark on the program. Our roster is made of transfers for the most part. The only four year guy is Stevie Taylor and he is a role player and not an elite player like Cooper and Kellogg.

This team doesn't have players like KVK, Washington, Freeman, Keely, Baltic, Hall that where key supporting cast players that were four years guys in the program who improved thru years to be key parts of the team.

Christian came in and filled holes with transfers instead of developing players over four years because he wasn't sticking around long enough to develop high school recruits and had to win now with a loaded roster he was handed. Phillips will have to struggle for a few years until he can learn the league, recruit four year players and develop those players . O'Shea had the same problem early on as he missed judged the talent needed to win in the MAC and then while on the hot seat loaded up of questionable transfers. Transfers can compliment a strong roster of four years players, but they can't be the core of the team. Right now we are a roster of transfers without a core of leaders who have been in the program 3 and 4 years. They don't have the pride or commitment like the guys that were brought here in the same recruiting class as freshmen and built something special. Ohio's teams have always been built on recruiting classes of 3 or 4 guys that came in together and grew into elite players.

best example being the recruiting the class of Cooper, Baltic and Keely in 2009. Groce build his team around those three. O'Shea did the same with Fears, Troutman and Williams in 2005. Without the transfer they might not have gotten to the top, but they were leaders on the team.