College Basketball and UTEP Basketball

[kyyote]

I spent many years watching UTEP basketball played under the coaching of Don Haskins.  I believe the basic, basic foundation of his team was conditioning.  From that he played tenacious defense and on offense, he forced opponents to play defense for 30 seconds each possession with the weave that was intended to get the big man the ball for a dunk or layup or if the opponent tried to stop that the guard just continued to drive to the hoop for a layup.  Forwards were the second big man options and served to rebound misses and take the ball back up.  During the weave, if a short jump shot was open that was fine to take and eventually the 3 point shot became part of the game and he used sharpshooters to open up the inside game-probably more than to be an added offensive point getter.  From the offense making opponents work for 35 seconds he depended on his team's conditioning to wear down other players, negating the basketball talent and reducing them to cowards as the saying, fatigue makes cowards of us all, goes.  The layups came even easier.  The game changed and it did it in a way that hurt his basic philosophy.  The shot clock made it harder to take advantage of the conditioning advantage and 3 points shooters became more valuable at the same time.

Barbee went a different direction.  He based his team on athleticism, throwing up a shot, crashing the boards and putting the ball back in, supplemented by Culpepper who could hit three pointers or drive to the hoop for a tomahawk jam.  His big men simply had to clear out the paint and rebound for layups.  He had forwards who crashed the boards but could hit short jump shots too.  And then he got Caracter for a short time and well that reduced the need for rebounding a bit.  

Terry leaves me wondering just what he is trying to do.  Vila seems capable of rebounding but doesn't seem interested in stuffing or laying the ball in and prefers to not even try to score.  Last year, Efe was a beast inside, grabbing rebounds and putting them back up until they dropped in-semi layup style.  He did it without being a great leaper.  He did it by muscling his way in the paint.  I see Williams as a hybrid.  He is a talented shooter, but not a beast in the paint.  He isn't pouring in layups.   He is hitting short jumpers.  And he is damned good at that.  Our guards seem at times to be able to shoot lights out from beyond the arc, but not consistently.  No real shock there.  The saying is live by the three and die by the three.  It isn't what you want to hang your hat on.  Can the guards drive and hit layups or dish it off to a big man?  Back to Vila.  I don't know it they can or not because Vila runs away from them.  But he doesn't clear the way for the guards when he does that so they end up stuck in the forest.  A few games ago, Williams scored 4 points and all of a sudden the team seemed to actually look like a team of normal talented players, getting contributions that balanced the offense.  It was stunningly fun to watch. 
So, I think we have some talent, but not nearly enough like others seem to think, to overcome the style we seem to be playing.  I get the feeling that we could play Haskins ball with the same players and be much more effective, or we could play Barbee ball with the same players and be much more effective.
I could be wrong and I admit that I don't really understand what it is that Terry is trying to do, other than get the ball to Williams, mostly.  Kind of like football, I don't have the answers for what to do, I just know that what we are doing isn't working.  When talking about players and the coach, we talk about the players and we talk about the coach in terms of x's and o's, and substitutions.  I think the players are alright.  I don't think they are great 5 star players that were great and transferred here to be greater.  Boum was a really good freshman at USF.  Well, I grew up in the SF Bay Area and USF was nothing at all since Bill Russel played there.  Nothing.  I just can't emphasize that enough.  So, he may be decent, but it probably depends a lot on the level of the competition.  I think others of our highly touted players may fall into the same kind of category.  But I could be wrong there because it could be the game Terry has them playing.  They might be shooting stars in a Barbee game.  I don't think Terry's problem is x's and o's although he doesn't seem to have any real plays to be judged by and his substitutions just leave me scratching my head.  But then, I have no idea of what he is doing, anyway. 
Bottom line is I don't know what the answer is, but I am pretty sure it isn't Terry.  I am not try to just be negative and call Terry the Terrible in this post.  I am just opening it up to discussion maybe in a different way.

[SisyphusMiner]

I think we have the players to be in the top 3 in conference.  Not one of the top mid-majors.  I bought into the hype.

This is one of the first things I have seen from Terry's mouth that gives me a glimpse of his philosophy -  from the EP Times today:

As UTEP gets ready to host Middle Tennessee on Thursday in a game they are expected to win, Boum's surge is an example of a plan coming together.

"He had a really good week for us," coach Rodney Terry said. "Even over the last four or five ball games, he's come in and he's played the way we thought he'd play all year.

"Again, we said, 'We need you to score the basketball for us, we need you to have eight or nine attempts from 3 in every game for us. You need to be aggressive when you come into the ball game.'

"He's been able to do that for us."

[kyyote]

Very interesting.  Having grown up 10 miles south of Oakland, I am somewhat familiar with Oakland prep basketball.  The players coming from there are legendary.

An interesting read and may provide some insight;

https://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/oakland-bred-point-guard-souley-boum-forced-into-starring-role-as-a-freshman-at-usf/

?Even on the top circuit, the kid is just a dog,? Hart said. ?He steps up to play anybody. Like it doesn?t matter who it is. He?s fearless.?

Playing with Team Lillard taught Boum that his opponents were bigger and stronger but that they weren?t better.
It was a realization that extends to the present.
With the Dons, Boum, who was averaging 14.2 points per game going into Saturday?s match, jumps off the court. He splashes 3-pointers, swerves through the lane before making acrobatic layups, flashes on defense and dives for loose balls.

Boum can still be too deferential, too afraid to step on toes. Against the Broncos, Boum didn?t attempt a shot in the first half.

From Bloomquist; today's Headline

UTEP Basketball: Souley Boum embraces sixth-man role for Miners ahead of Middle Tennessee

"The Miners needed him to give up his starting guard role for a bench one and they needed him to score more.
Whether those two directives were connected or not, it's an example of a plan that has come together."

Seven games ago, Boum was moved to the bench as the 6th man after averaging 7.2 ppg.  In the last 6 games his average has gone to 18.5 ppg coming off the bench.  In the last 3 he has averaged 22 ppg.


He had averaged 10.2 ppg at USF.  In 14 games as a starter at UTEP he was at 7.2 ppg. He recently has more than doubled his ppg.  Coach says it is coming off the bench, Boum says it is getting to work in the gym.  I wonder if it may have had something to do with the competition.  Putting that aside, that would be the kind of guard play I would expect to see from a good team.  But even that is putting a lot on his play as the difference from where we have been.  But, if the team had that kind of play from our guard, it might have the kind of effect on the rest of the team that could make a big difference.  I think it would go a long way to helping me see a different team.  Even if it didn't change to outcome of games, I think I would feel like the team was making more sense.
He says it isn't the coming off of the bench, but working harder in the gym.