SF V.J. King (Louisville Commit)

[James]

Truth... But will we be able to sell that to a top wing guy when we have basically 6 years of replication of this necessity? The original context of all this is someone basically saying that King is going to have choose between playing in a half-court system like Virginia or an up-tempo system like us or 'Ville. I don't think we've been an up-tempo team since, what, 2009?

its not about being 'uptempo', its about putting prospects in the best position to utilize their respective skill set. scan the nation, not alot of freshman were as an integral part of a teams offense/defense as hamilton was. Virgina runs a system offense and defense, its hard for individual talent to really 'pop' out of that type of landscape.

also i take umbrage with the idea we've won tourney games on contested shots by pgs. Look at 2011, lamb exploded on the scene as a pro prospect because calhoun (along with one of his lead assistants KO) were drawing up sets to close games with lamb that made him look like reggie miller. Then in 2014 KO had daniels at every spot on the floor doing what ever he wanted. Basically at this point the offense and defense is personnel driven; KO is very familiar with lineup on/offs etc.

 

[CTBasketball]

Virginia averaged more points per game than we did last year (65.3 to 64.2)... While Virginia clearly plays a more methodical half-court than we do, we aren't exactly a running or up-tempo team anymore. The last 6 years have essentially revolved around a stud point guard taking contested shots.

The last time we had a dominant front court was 08-09, we could score at will down there with Thabeet, Adrien, Stix, and sometimes Edwards. However, from 2010-2014 we had really good guard play. We ran really good sets that were designed to get guards open looks, that's still good offense. Last year we watched Boatright pound the ball at the top of the key and take contested shots every possession.

 

[Mano]

Hopefully King will look at our team and think he can/will be the guy to open up the offense and take over things on the wing. And last year we would've been a much better scoring team if ANYONE outside of Boat and to a lesser extent AB and RP could shoot.

 

[Candyman]

Its also very hard to score when your one and done on the offesnsive end. UConn was one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the country last year.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Its also very hard to score when your one and done on the offesnsive end. UConn was one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the country last year.

We were slightly below average. The national average for offensive rebounding last year was 31%, and we were at 30%.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I hope we fly down the court in transition and after a basket... I think we can do that and if we arent able to we'll have the talent and maturity to run the offense in the half court

 

[Candyman]

We were slightly below average. The national average for offensive rebounding last year was 31%, and we were at 30%.

Per the NCAA stats website http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/857/p6, for offensive rebounds per game UConn was ranked 269 out of 345 D1 schools. Maybe that number doesnt tell the whole picture but its still pretty bad for a Major D1 school.

Maybe Ollie was sacrificing off rebounds for defense but I don't think that was the case. I think it was the lack of size and off rebounding ability by our bigs.

 

[tzznandrew]

Per the NCAA stats website http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/857/p6, for offensive rebounds per game UConn was ranked 269 out of 345 D1 schools. Maybe that number doesnt tell the whole picture but its still pretty bad for a Major D1 school.

Maybe Ollie was sacrificing off rebounds for defense but I don't think that was the case. I think it was the lack of size and off rebounding ability by our bigs.

Offensive rebounds per game is a really bad statistic to use, since it doesn't account for pace, or the number of shots that were available to be rebounded.

If, for instance, a team missed only one shot per game on average, and rebounded that shot every time, they would be last in offensive rebounds per game.

Not particularly illuminating stat.

 

[Candyman]

Offensive rebounds per game is a really bad statistic to use, since it doesn't account for pace, or the number of shots that were available to be rebounded.

If, for instance, a team missed only one shot per game on average, and rebounded that shot every time, they would be last in offensive rebounds per game.

Not particularly illuminating stat.

Like i stated that stat probably doesnt tell the whole picture but its still pretty bad.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Like i stated that stat probably doesnt tell the whole picture but its still pretty bad.

Why even use it when there are better stats available? ORB%, which I already cited, shows UConn as below-average, but only marginally. They were at 30.1%, which ranked 218th in the country. That's not great, but when you actually look at what's happening, it's not having much of an impact on the game. Wisconsin, ranked at 139, was at 32.1%, meaning that, for every 100 available offensive rebounds, they got two more than UConn. That comes out roughly to one extra possession every other game.

 

[Candyman]

The bottom line is we were a very poor offensive rebounding team last year. Your stats even back that up.

Wisconsin offensive efficiancy was also way better than UConn's. That offense was so fun to watch UConn was ugly to watch at times. So for a team like that maybe off rebounding won't impact them as much but it will impact a team that struggles to score for long stretches.

Even Ollie himself said many times about how offensive rebounding has hurt this team. My original point being that we were a very poor offensive rebounding team and this added to us scoring at a low rate.

 

[CallMeBruce]

The bottom line is we were a very poor offensive rebounding team last year. Your stats even back that up.

Wisconsin offensive efficiancy was also way better than UConn's. That offense was so fun to watch UConn was ugly to watch at times. So for a team like that maybe off rebounding won't impact them as much but it will impact a team that struggles to score for long stretches.

Even Ollie himself said many times about how offensive rebounding has hurt this team. My original point being that we were a very poor offensive rebounding team and this added to us scoring at a low rate.

No, they don't. The stats say that UConn was slightly below the national average in ORB%, and they also say that this had a minimal impact on the team's success. The difference between UConn and an average ORB team is one possession every four games. The difference between UConn and a "good" team like Wisconsin is one possession every two games. Offensive rebounding wasn't even in the neighborhood of our biggest problems last year.

 

[Candyman]

No, they don't. The stats say that UConn was slightly below the national average in ORB%, and they also say that this had a minimal impact on the team's success. The difference between UConn and an average ORB team is one possession every four games. The difference between UConn and a "good" team like Wisconsin is one possession every two games. Offensive rebounding wasn't even in the neighborhood of our biggest problems last year.

I couldn't disgaree with you more. Offensive rebounding and rebounding in general was def up there in one of our biggest problems. I love the quotes around good like Wisconsin wasn't really good it was just me.

 

[Matt1010]

I couldn't disgaree with you more. Offensive rebounding and rebounding in general was def up there in one of our biggest problems. I love the quotes around good like Wisconsin wasn't really good it was just me.

Wisconsin had a incredibly efficient offense and really can't be compared to us at all. They were arguably the best offense in college basketball IMO. Rebounding in general was a problem for us last year, but it certainly wasn't our only issue. The team was fundamentally flawed and it showed on the court.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I couldn't disgaree with you more. Offensive rebounding and rebounding in general was def up there in one of our biggest problems. I love the quotes around good like Wisconsin wasn't really good it was just me.

So you think that losing one possession every four games was one of the team's biggest problems last year? Because that's exactly what you're saying here.

 

[Candyman]

You can go by your stats I will go by the eye test. When your one and done on the offensive end every time down court that has a major impact on the game, whether you believe that or not. 2nd chance points is a major stat in college basketball. When a team only has 4 2nd chance points then thats an issue.

I never said it was our only problem its not even the main problem but to say it was "not in the neighborhood" of our issues is not true.

 

[Gurleyman]

So you think that losing one possession every four games was one of the team's biggest problems last year? Because that's exactly what you're saying here.

Without looking at analytics and purely going on observation, I think some of the issue is that it feels like we weren't dangerous on the offensive glass. Every now and then, Facey had a game where he got on the glass and got a couple put backs, but largely our offensive rebounds were possession extenders and not a source of easy points. Hamilton, for example, was a sensational defensive rebounder and (probably by design) a guy who rarely got on the offensive glass. If he got in there a little more often, we would have a skilled guy under the basket who might convert more of those into points.

Hopefully Miller can be a guy who gets some easy buckets on second chance points. Or Facey and Brimah too - if they get a little better/more confident.

 

[Yankees32123]

I'm gonna go with Candyman on this one. Stats can only tell you so much, and from watching every second of every game this past season, rebounding was a huge part of the team's struggles.

 

[CallMeBruce]

You can go by your stats I will go by the eye test. When your one and done on the offensive end every time down court that has a major impact on the game, whether you believe that or not. 2nd chance points is a major stat in college basketball. When a team only has 4 2nd chance points then thats an issue.

I never said it was our only problem its not even the main problem but to say it was "not in the neighborhood" of our issues is not true.

So, in other words, you're rejecting the objective facts and going by whatever feels true to you.

Also, we weren't "one and done on the offensive end every time down court," as has been mentioned. We rebounded 30.1% of our missed shots, which is slightly below the average of 31.1%. If you want to pretend that these numbers are meaningless, you should feel free, but you're going to be saying a lot more wrong things if you do.

 

[jdk1047]

I'm sorry but the biggest issue last year was turnovers it took us out of games and I watched every game

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Any word on V.J.? What does V.J. stand for, anyway?

 

[jminziii]

VJ King though, right guys?

 

[Leebo]

What does V.J. stand for, anyway?

IIRC, the V is Vincent, but I don't know what the J is.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Any word on V.J.? What does V.J. stand for, anyway?

Very Jumpy. Just what we need to solve these rebounding issues so talked about in this thread

 

[CallMeBruce]

IIRC, the V is Vincent, but I don't know what the J is.

Usually it stands for "junior," but not necessarily. If anyone know's VJ's dad's name, that should clear things up a little.