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Post by AZTECaGOGO on Mar 28, 2024 19:47:09 GMT -8
I love people on a message board telling maybe the best staff in America how they should change. Recruiting, or purchasing in today’s world, is so complicated and tenuous that you really are taking chances. And yet we thrive, often agsivst 5 star recruits. We just finished a run of 5 amazing seasons. Culminating in a National championship appearance and a sweet 16. And you think they should stop what they are doing and listen to you guys? Ungrateful, delusional and really not understanding the landscape at all. This program is a shining light and has been. Dutcher has made it shine even brighter. I would argue your contention that we "thrive often against 5 star recruits," but I do agree with your overall point. We are in a golden era for Aztec basketball, and we should all be thrilled. But, we need to shore up the offensive side of the ball if we're going to compete for anything greater. It's the scheme, not the players. You know what your have. Create something that complements their skills, and stop trying to force round pegs into square holes. I just don't think Dutcher is capable of that on the offensive end.
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Post by aztecmichael on Mar 28, 2024 19:49:16 GMT -8
I was at the game. Firstly, I am proud of our boys for making another SS. And yes, UConn is very good. But the effort we put forth tonight was really poor. We were losing guys on defense, not hustling for loose balls, no box outs, terrible body language, and of course, abominable shooting. Being there in person, I can tell you our guys were missing absolutely wide open shots. Perhaps all the travel got to them but I don’t remember us looking that disinterested. Travel is tough, but that’s the big dance. I love Dutch but he has to find a way to prioritize offense. Both in recruiting and scheme. We need coaching help from the outside with a fresh set of eyes to reimagine this offense. I’m not sure of all our assistants roles but we need a 100% offensive focused assistant. Watching UConn run offense versus us is like watching a chess master versus a novice. I knew tonight would be hard to win but I was expecting better. I’m still proud we got this far but it hurts right now. I've said it before, and gotten roasted on here for it, but Dutcher is not a competent offensive coach. He's just not. If we can't rebound and score in transition we're screwed. Get all the shooters you want, we will still suck on offense until we get someone in some role or another that can implement a more advanced offensive scheme. LeDee only averaged 20+ this season because he's a physical freak, and we just force it in to him and hope for the best. Imagine if we had an offense tailored to our players rather than just a "LeDee or (low percentage) 3" approach. I love that we are a defense first team, but take some of that defensive genius and craft an offense that puts players in a position to succeed, rather than letting sub 30% shooters jack up threes without correction. Hilarious. Lots of “competent” offensive coaches sitting home every March. We probably have the best staff in the country. Especially for the money. Amazing how spoiled and ungrateful some “fans” are. Ridiculous
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Post by aztecdan8 on Mar 28, 2024 19:51:11 GMT -8
We are losing the heart and sole of our team with no replacement on the roster that I can see. I would not be surprised to see us take a step back next year. Hopefully our NIL limitations don't hurt us in the transfer portal again this offseason. Miles Byrd. I love what we saw from Byrd in his first season playing, plus his improvement over the course of the season. He has a big time ceiling but a guy who is “the guy” he has a ton of maturing and growth to do. If he wants it bad enough and is willing to put in Ledee-level work, the sky’s the limit for him. I feel the same about Saunders.
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Post by AZTECaGOGO on Mar 28, 2024 20:01:23 GMT -8
I've said it before, and gotten roasted on here for it, but Dutcher is not a competent offensive coach. He's just not. If we can't rebound and score in transition we're screwed. Get all the shooters you want, we will still suck on offense until we get someone in some role or another that can implement a more advanced offensive scheme. LeDee only averaged 20+ this season because he's a physical freak, and we just force it in to him and hope for the best. Imagine if we had an offense tailored to our players rather than just a "LeDee or (low percentage) 3" approach. I love that we are a defense first team, but take some of that defensive genius and craft an offense that puts players in a position to succeed, rather than letting sub 30% shooters jack up threes without correction. Hilarious. Lots of “competent” offensive coaches sitting home every March. We probably have the best staff in the country. Especially for the money. Amazing how spoiled and ungrateful some “fans” are. Ridiculous Not ungrateful at all, just calling it like it is. I love our team and our program. I'm extremely thankful for what we've accomplished. But, you're delusional if you think being 301st in the nation in 3 pt% while allowing your team to shoot 22+ 3's a game doesn't indicate an incompetent approach that needs some rethinking. There's nothing "hilarious" or "ridiculous" about that.
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Post by aztecm on Mar 28, 2024 20:02:58 GMT -8
I was at the game. Firstly, I am proud of our boys for making another SS. And yes, UConn is very good. But the effort we put forth tonight was really poor. We were losing guys on defense, not hustling for loose balls, no box outs, terrible body language, and of course, abominable shooting. Being there in person, I can tell you our guys were missing absolutely wide open shots. Perhaps all the travel got to them but I don’t remember us looking that disinterested. Travel is tough, but that’s the big dance. I love Dutch but he has to find a way to prioritize offense. Both in recruiting and scheme. We need coaching help from the outside with a fresh set of eyes to reimagine this offense. I’m not sure of all our assistants roles but we need a 100% offensive focused assistant. Watching UConn run offense versus us is like watching a chess master versus a novice. I knew tonight would be hard to win but I was expecting better. I’m still proud we got this far but it hurts right now. I've said it before, and gotten roasted on here for it, but Dutcher is not a competent offensive coach. He's just not. If we can't rebound and score in transition we're screwed. Get all the shooters you want, we will still suck on offense until we get someone in some role or another that can implement a more advanced offensive scheme. LeDee only averaged 20+ this season because he's a physical freak, and we just force it in to him and hope for the best. Imagine if we had an offense tailored to our players rather than just a "LeDee or (low percentage) 3" approach. I love that we are a defense first team, but take some of that defensive genius and craft an offense that puts players in a position to succeed, rather than letting sub 30% shooters jack up threes without correction. Uhhh 30-2 Covid team defecates on your argument. That offense was ran beautifully because we had offensive talent. We typically have to recruit 3 or 4 star guys with less polished offensive game, which means our style of play has to be focused on defense and rebounding. There is nothing incompetent with our coaching staff and we’re lucky to have them.
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Post by AZTECaGOGO on Mar 28, 2024 20:20:46 GMT -8
I've said it before, and gotten roasted on here for it, but Dutcher is not a competent offensive coach. He's just not. If we can't rebound and score in transition we're screwed. Get all the shooters you want, we will still suck on offense until we get someone in some role or another that can implement a more advanced offensive scheme. LeDee only averaged 20+ this season because he's a physical freak, and we just force it in to him and hope for the best. Imagine if we had an offense tailored to our players rather than just a "LeDee or (low percentage) 3" approach. I love that we are a defense first team, but take some of that defensive genius and craft an offense that puts players in a position to succeed, rather than letting sub 30% shooters jack up threes without correction. Uhhh 30-2 Covid team defecates on your argument. That offense was ran beautifully because we had offensive talent. We typically have to recruit 3 or 4 star guys with less polished offensive game, which means our style of play has to be focused on defense and rebounding. There is nothing incompetent with our coaching staff and we’re lucky to have them. You're missing my point. That team had the elements that make our offensive scheme successful, including an NBA level talent in Malachai. My point is that it's static, and doesn't take into account the talent we have year over year. You need to adjust to the players you have, not trying to make players fit a system that doesn't do them any favors. 100% agreed that we need to be focused on defense and rebounding, but if we don't have rim protectors or great rebounders (see: this season) we need to be able to adapt our half court offense to pay off the defensive effort. To be clear, I am extremely proud of this team. We've stood on our defense for years, which I absolutely love, but the inability to tailor an offense to the players on the floor in a given year is a sign of incompetence. How many "why is so and so still on the floor shooting 3's" posts have we seen on here this year? I'm not saying we're all NCAA coaches, but we see what we see, and the inability to adjust is a weakness, at best.
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Post by johneaztec on Mar 28, 2024 20:29:13 GMT -8
I love what we saw from Byrd in his first season playing, plus his improvement over the course of the season. He has a big time ceiling but a guy who is “the guy” he has a ton of maturing and growth to do. If he wants it bad enough and is willing to put in Ledee-level work, the sky’s the limit for him. I feel the same about Saunders. I agree. Byrds got the swag, and hustle to lead by example, but he'll need some maturity first. I'd like to see him take the initiative and be the leader from the get go next year. Call team meetings, get in guys faces, etc... He's the tall guard we need. Davis is not real tall, so we probably need another one, although I do like Davis potential.
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Post by montezumaduck on Mar 28, 2024 20:37:24 GMT -8
I love what we saw from Byrd in his first season playing, plus his improvement over the course of the season. He has a big time ceiling but a guy who is “the guy” he has a ton of maturing and growth to do. If he wants it bad enough and is willing to put in Ledee-level work, the sky’s the limit for him. I feel the same about Saunders. I was as critical as anyone about Saunders (particularly starting) during most of the conference season. He really stepped up at tourney time on the defensive end. Particularly guarding guys who were bigger than him. Would love to see him develop a low-post/midrange game like LeDee.
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Post by richpjr on Mar 28, 2024 20:37:25 GMT -8
We are losing the heart and sole of our team with no replacement on the roster that I can see. I would not be surprised to see us take a step back next year. Hopefully our NIL limitations don't hurt us in the transfer portal again this offseason. Miles Byrd. I like the way he is progressing, but it's a big stretch from the limited minutes he played to alpha male. Hard to compare him to LeDee - but it would be nice if he does take a big step.
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Post by richpjr on Mar 28, 2024 20:42:54 GMT -8
Just read Ziegler's post game article and he notes that this was our worst ever tournament loss and our worse loss as a team since 2001. Ouch.
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Post by aztecdan8 on Mar 28, 2024 21:32:54 GMT -8
Just read Ziegler's post game article and he notes that this was our worst ever tournament loss and our worse loss as a team since 2001. Ouch. Oof. It sure felt bad. Actually from bad to worse as the 2nd half progressed. I expected we’d lose, I expected it might not be close. But this got ugly and everybody looked pretty incompetent out there by the 2nd half. What made this so rough was we would lose because they are so good and that should’ve accounted for a 12-14 point loss. What made it ugly was losing by 30 and how much we repeatedly beat ourselves. When guys start just losing the ball dribbling, making really bad unforced passes to the other team, don’t block guys out on the boards, are caught flat footed often when there were rebounds and 50/50 balls to be had, can’t execute a 3 on 1 or 2 on 1 fast breaks … that part was ugly and really disappointing. We had so many self inflicted, disappointing things that UConn had nothing to do with… that is what made the game so disappointing to me. We were far from our best, we didn’t bring our best. For me it’s not just winning or losing … though ultimately it is all about winning … its how well are we playing. How close are we playing to our abilities? How consistently good are we, vs playing badly, unintelligently, without good fundamentals. If you are consistently good in those areas, the wins come. You earn more wins. We were all over the map this season, frequent long scoring droughts, not being ready to play to start games, squandering significant leads late. Heck of a year in some ways like winning the LV event, winning at Gonzaga, blowing out St Mary’s, getting to another MWCT championship game, getting an 5 seed and getting to the S16. Fantastic. I appreciate all that and am proud of the guys and our program. Full stop. This will continue to be the team I am most passionate about … I say that while “my” other teams include the Warriors and 49ers, not to mention Aztec Football. So I have some particularly tremendous teams I root for … but none touch Aztec basketball for me. That said, Our path to an even better season was winning a good chunk of those heart breaking, coulda-woulda-shoulda road game losses, leading to a regular season conference championship, a 3 seed in the west … and maybe we are playing UofA tonight in front of a pro-Aztec crowd in LA. So I am proud, grateful … but greedy. I want more, we can be better and deliver more. Times are a changing, but if Gonzaga can do it, so can we.
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Post by sdsuball on Mar 28, 2024 21:55:16 GMT -8
I was at the game. Firstly, I am proud of our boys for making another SS. And yes, UConn is very good. But the effort we put forth tonight was really poor. We were losing guys on defense, not hustling for loose balls, no box outs, terrible body language, and of course, abominable shooting. Being there in person, I can tell you our guys were missing absolutely wide open shots. Perhaps all the travel got to them but I don’t remember us looking that disinterested. Travel is tough, but that’s the big dance. I love Dutch but he has to find a way to prioritize offense. Both in recruiting and scheme. We need coaching help from the outside with a fresh set of eyes to reimagine this offense. I’m not sure of all our assistants roles but we need a 100% offensive focused assistant. Watching UConn run offense versus us is like watching a chess master versus a novice. I knew tonight would be hard to win but I was expecting better. I’m still proud we got this far but it hurts right now. I've said it before, and gotten roasted on here for it, but Dutcher is not a competent offensive coach. He's just not. If we can't rebound and score in transition we're screwed. Get all the shooters you want, we will still suck on offense until we get someone in some role or another that can implement a more advanced offensive scheme. LeDee only averaged 20+ this season because he's a physical freak, and we just force it in to him and hope for the best. Imagine if we had an offense tailored to our players rather than just a "LeDee or (low percentage) 3" approach. I love that we are a defense first team, but take some of that defensive genius and craft an offense that puts players in a position to succeed, rather than letting sub 30% shooters jack up threes without correction. I don't think the issue is scheme as much as it is 'letting mediocre shooters jack up 3s early in the shot clock'. The scheme is there for guys to drive to the rim. Our players just didn't do it enough. The scheme is there to call for ball screens with LeDee in the pick and pop. It wasn't done enough, and then when it was done LeDee didn't always shoot it when he had several feet of space between him and their big. Players need to show up and run offense, and not jack 3s. Conversely LeDee should have taken more open 3s in the first half - because he's a good shooter. The accountability for that is on the coaching staff - but it has nothing to do with scheme.
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Post by sdsuball on Mar 28, 2024 22:06:47 GMT -8
Hilarious. Lots of “competent” offensive coaches sitting home every March. We probably have the best staff in the country. Especially for the money. Amazing how spoiled and ungrateful some “fans” are. Ridiculous Not ungrateful at all, just calling it like it is. I love our team and our program. I'm extremely thankful for what we've accomplished. But, you're delusional if you think being 301st in the nation in 3 pt% while allowing your team to shoot 22+ 3's a game doesn't indicate an incompetent approach that needs some rethinking. There's nothing "hilarious" or "ridiculous" about that. Okay but the bigger, more glaring issue in the game was that we gave up 21 offensive rebounds, and we only got 17 defensive rebounds. Meaning that they got an offensive rebound over 50% of the time a shot went up. That's a recipe for losing even if you are shooting 35% from 3. Not only that, but less offensive rebounds means less getting out in transition, so less easy offense. It just got worse as the game went on. It got so bad with Butler and Trammell getting rebounds stolen from them by UConn's guards that Dutcher went with a bigger lineup, putting Byrd in for Butler/Trammell. UConn had a size advantage at every position on the floor. LeDee had to invest so much energy in keeping their 7 footer away from the rim that he often couldn't box him out and get the rebound. UConn has elite level talent at multiple positions. Reese Waters didn't show up. Trammell is great but undersized (relevant against UConn's size at guard). Parrish thinks that he's an elite shooter but he isn't. Byrd has the athleticism to keep up with UConn, but his shooting isn't on that level. Saunders isn't as good as Keshad. But he's only a sophmore. I thought that Heide actually gave us great minutes on the defensive end, and I wish that we had tried going with Heide and LeDee in the game at the same time in the second half. It would have fixed our issues with securing defensive rebounds. Even then, we are still losing this game. Even if we shot 35% from 3, we still would have lost. They were flat out better then we were talent-wise.
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Post by sdsustoner on Mar 29, 2024 3:34:56 GMT -8
We are losing the heart and sole of our team with no replacement on the roster that I can see. I would not be surprised to see us take a step back next year. Hopefully our NIL limitations don't hurt us in the transfer portal again this offseason. Miles Byrd. Reese Waters. That dude epitomizes heart & soul. He played half the season on two bad ankles.
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Post by FULL_MONTY on Mar 29, 2024 6:07:21 GMT -8
UCONN is an absolute complete team. Their defense is just as good if not better than State's and their Offense is outstanding. UCONN can only beat themselves. You tip your hat and move on.
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Post by smoothcat on Mar 29, 2024 6:24:45 GMT -8
It does feel like if we are ever going to win a National Title that we will probably have to beat UConn at some point along the way.
They have become our opus for sure, every time we make a run to the Sweet 16 or beyond, they win a National Championship.
In order to get over the hump vs. them, we need more dynamic guard play. Their guards have killed us in all 3 NCAA losses and our guards haven't done enough in those games.
Hurley is really an arrogant guy, it would be sweet to shut him up but unfortunately it is going to take another team to accomplish that, at least this season.
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Post by smoothcat on Mar 29, 2024 6:39:35 GMT -8
I didn't expect to get pounded on the boards by the tune of 51 to 30.
I wouldn't expect a NBA Team to outrebound us that badly, didn't see that coming.
Give UConn credit, the only teams that may have a chance vs. them are Purdue or Creighton with the big centers inside.
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Post by Fishn'Aztec on Mar 29, 2024 8:08:50 GMT -8
Our guys need to do hand strength improvement, I can't believe all the balls they get their hands on only to have it ripped away! More rebound drills please!!
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Post by koolk65 on Mar 29, 2024 8:43:02 GMT -8
Our guys need to do hand strength improvement, I can't believe all the balls they get their hands on only to have it ripped away! More rebound drills please!! I'm thinking of Miles Heide when you mention hand strength movement, but yes, it goes for the entire team too. I'm with you with the rebounding drills. An example that stands out to me is the Boise State game at Viejas. That was turrible as Charles Barkley would say.
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Post by heuschele on Mar 29, 2024 9:05:07 GMT -8
I want to thank: - Ledee for his effort, class, and play. He was our offense. - the team for its effort and S16 - the coaching staff for accomplishing so much - our defense that showed up in so many games and did so without a strong, traditional 5. Butler gets special call out for his defense (too bad his offense vanished)
Now for some reality: - we desperately needed a strong, traditional 5. It was very apparent in yesterday’s game. Could you imagine the year Ledee would have had with a strong 5. I believe he would have been our first 1st team all American. - I had high expectation for our guard play. I thought we would be good due to our strong guard play. It never manifested on the offensive side. - I do not know what happened to Waters. From able to hit quick releases and off balance shots to not being able to hit good looks. 40+ straight FT to less. - 5th place MWC finish - easiest path to S16. Yale beat auburn in large part due to CBM quick ejection. Beating Yale to obtain S16 was a gift. I suspect a few of the MWC teams could have won our 2 MM games. It looks good making S16, but reality was that it was not as impressive as we want to believe. - the 5th place MWC finish is more reflective of our season than reaching the S16
It is a good era to be an Aztec fan. Ledee was so fun to watch. But this team was not exceptional and did not have legit chance to make a further run in MM even if we had not encountered UConn.
Go Aztecs
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