If I Were Coach

by Juco All-American on Jan 15, 2010 12:36 PM EST

I don't pretend to know a lot about basketball strategy, but there are a few things I would do if I were in Andy Kennedy's shoes. Most relate to personnel management as opposed to "X's and O's" because I'd be lost if I tried to write about the latter. So, if I were coach, I would:

1. Play Zach Graham for 30 minutes per game.

So far this season (which is nearly halfway over), Graham has been our most consistent player. He's shooting 47% from behind the arc, but he's averaging fewer minutes than Warren, Terrico, Polynice, and Holloway. Hell, he's only averaging eight minutes more per game than TREVOR GASKINS. For those of you who say, "well of course he's not in the game as much as Warren, White, or Polynice," ask yourselves one question: why not? If your answer is, "because those guys are our star players," you don't understand logical arguments.

Graham is maybe our best on-ball defender. He is also probably our best passer, and, at least statistically, he's our best three point shooter. Did I mention that he's 6'5"?

2. Let Terrence Henry have more of Deaundre Cranston's minutes.

Buckner, Henry and Cranston need to rotate in and out at the 5, with something like a 25/17/6 minute sequence. I'm not of the popular opinion that Deaundre Cranston is worthless to the team, but I do think that he's a role player who gets the minutes of a significant contributor. Terrance Henry on the other hand is a significant contributor who gets the minutes of a role player. Henry averages fewer minutes than Cranston but also averages more points, more blocks, a 12% higher field goal percentage, a higher free throw percentage, and a 30% higher three point percentage (not that a statistic like that should matter for this position). I think that the only thing keeping Henry from more minutes is his penchant to hang out around the three point line on offense. Still, you have to think that's something he could be coached not to do.

3. Don't let Trevor Gaskins have more than ten minutes per game until he earns it.

This team has four guards that should see significantly more playing time than Gaskins. With Warren playing around 35 minutes per game, that leaves two spots for three players better than Gaskins. Just like with Deaundre, I'm not convinced that Gaskins is a bad player. I think he can be used very well in the right situation, but this 16 minutes a game stuff has got to stop.

4. Make Terrico White the focal point of the offense.

He can take over a game. See: the first three minutes of the second half against UGA. I am worried that he will go to the NBA and frustrate Ole Miss fans for a long time, filling our heads with thoughts of "why did we not do this with him when he was in Oxford." I like Chris Warren. Everybody at the Cup likes Chris Warren. But Terrico White is a dominant player who needs to take over.

So those are my opinions, for which I'm sure I'll be attacked. But whatever, I don't care; I'm a bloggeur. What are your opinions on the basketball team and what can be done differently?

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I actually agree with all your points

But the highlight of this article is the caption of the picture.

I get crunk 25 days a week!

by 25 Days a Week on Jan 15, 2010 2:06 PM EST reply actions

my thinking on your coaching

Trevor Gaskins was 3of3 at one point from three the other night. He’s been a slump no doubt but that’s at least a start to earning PT in my book, that and he’s a good defender when he doesn’t get careless techs like wednesday.
Also, I agree that terrico should be more of a focal point and used more as a scorer, but I think AK’s thinking about Cran is that he’s toting enough weight to bang around down low a little Better than henry even if he’s not as good of a scorer.
But I would have graham starting until someone beats him out.

by the love IS gone... to omaha on Jan 15, 2010 2:57 PM EST via mobile reply actions

My take.....

I am going to be destroyed for saying this, but I will go ahead and state it anyway: I played basketball in college, and feel that I understand a good bit about the X’s and O’s. I am a big Ole Miss fan in general, but an even bigger Ole Miss hoops fan. Anyway, I know many people don’t like AK’s preferred playing style. I hate going to games (or reading message boards for that matter, though this one doesn’t fall into this particular category) where Ole Miss fans complain about AK just letting his guy play “streetball.” I can understand some of the frustration, but we should get used to it for several reasons. One, AK ain’t changing. Two, the uptempo-style helps attract recruits. Remember the Rod Barnes era, when we slowed it down, focused on defense, and played games that ended with final scores of 52-45? Yeah, recruits these days don’t want to be involved with that, and AK knows it. We struggled to beat out Delta State for one-star recruits with Rod at the helm. Barnes was a solid defensive coach and even better human being, but I honestly thought his offensive strategy was poor- we basically just held the ball until there were five seconds left on the shot clock and someone threw up a prayer, without ever running an offensive play. If we aren’t going to run plays on offense, we would much rather do it in an uptempo-style of game than a slow-it-down game. So, AK’s uptempo style is fun to watch, fun to play, and recruits love it (especially the five-star PG from Arkansas who watched the State game in Oxford last weekend).

I think AK is a great coach, probably the best of the big three sports coaches we have at Ole Miss right now, but I do have a couple minor beefs with him (calling out coaches is the point of message boards, right?). I agree with the personnel changes noted in the above post. Craunston is not terrible, but he is basically five extra fouls playing out there who likes to shoot poorly-timed three pointers. If we want a center taking threes, it might as well be Henry. I would much rather give some of Craunston’s minutes to Buckner and Henry. If both continue to develop, we will be a tough out in March.

Gaskins is not as bad as some make him out to be, it is just that he has four guys playing similar positions who are ALL better than he is (Warren, White, EP, Graham). I would like to see his minutes go to Graham, who is our most-consistent performer night after night.

Terrico White is a complete mystery to me. He is extremely talented, but sometimes it seems like he could care less about being out there at all. When he shows up (K-State, UCF, etc.) we are really, really tough to beat. I am not sure if AK’s offense just doesn’t plan on getting him the ball enough, or if he is just not a very assertive personality? We should definitely focus on getting him more shots and one-on-one opportunities. That is really my only other beef- if we are going to set someone up for one-on-one SCORING chances, it should be Terrico, not EP. Polynice is great when he drives and kicks out as a distributor. When he drives and tries to score his weird, twisting layups (i.e. the last ten minutes of the State game), it is not a pretty picture and actually hurts our offense a little bit.

As far as rebounding issues go, that won’t change anytime this season. The transfer of Malcolm White has actually hurt us a little bit more than anyone envisioned. Luckily, we score well enough, and get up and down the court well enough that we are usually able to overcome our lack of rebounding.

by bball1984 on Jan 15, 2010 3:22 PM EST reply actions 2 recs

Rec'd

Lengthy, but quite insightful. Great points.

Red Cup Rebellion - Changing the Culture of Ole Miss Athletics
Take a picture, trick.

by The Ghost of Jay Cutler on Jan 15, 2010 3:56 PM EST up reply actions

i agree with all points

gaskins isnt quite as terrible as he is made out to be but he does get too many of grahams minutes.
i dont think chris warren will ever let terrico white be the focal point of the offense im afraid, warren wants to be the focal point of the offense.
i am in the boat that thinks we would be better of if cranston quits the team, but his 5 fouls may come in handy at some point. deangelo riley cant possibly be that much worse than cranston, lets see him.

by rockintheduece on Jan 15, 2010 3:49 PM EST reply actions

Good points for the most part

Here’s how I see it:

I’m sure AK would love for Terrico to be the focal point of the offense. His size+skill set could make him one of the most dominant players in the conference… if he wanted to be that. Watch him play though. He doesn’t demand the ball. If Terrico turtles up like he’s prone to do in our big games this year, Chris Warren feels the same offensive pressure he felt as a freshman and is going to shoot.

I don’t have the numbers with me at work, but I was keeping up with them at one point: Our winning% declines tremendously when Warren shoots 15+ times a game. It’s actually pretty astounding the difference in the two. We need someone else to step up and take those shots. Instead of EP spinning in the lane and missing a 4 foot bunny, it should be Terrico shooting over an undersized guard or driving past a slower forward. Someone has got to pound that into his head though.

Someone else alluded it to earlier, but Malcolm White’s transfer has hurt us this year, though personally I was much more concerned about his departure than Huertas, aka Whiny McWhinerson. Buck and Henry are our two most viable options down low, but both lack the bulk needed. Holloway plays with a lot of energy, but the simple fact is, he’s not working with much offensively. He’s had some nice games against undersized, lesser teams, but those will be few and far between from here on out. If he can average 6ppg the rest of the year, count it as a bonus.

Oh the enigma that is Trevor Gaskins. He really looked solid shooting the 3 in Athens, but oh my damn that technical foul was fawking stoopid. He’s an energy guy who takes a lot of chances on defense and a lot of bad shots on offense. I really don’t see how he gets much PT over the last 14 games.

Zach has been very efficient this year. He’s like a Jason Smith with a jump shot. I do expect his minutes will continue to rise.

I’d like to see AK bring in an older, grizzled assistant (a la Mark Dukes) who can work with everyone on defense and more efficient offense in the half court set. Other than Kentucky and a fully stocked UT team, there’s no one in the conference that wants to play the same pace we do, so we’re going to see a lot of zone. If we don’t improve our rebounding or our zone offensive sets, we’re going to drop some frustrating games this season.

All this said, I like our chances in the SEC this year. We’re good enough and the conference as a whole is mediocre enough to wind up 11-5 or 10-6 which will be enough to get back to the Dance.

When life gives you the chance to be with somebody special, you grab that brownish area by its points and don't let go no matter what your mom says.

by buster_bluth on Jan 15, 2010 5:15 PM EST reply actions