Previous Message

1) The offense will need to have changes. The offense is KILLING any chance for the defense to have an effect. We do not have a defensive stopper to make this a team where the defense can dictate things
2) 27 TOs, and getting outboarded by 9 last night. So it was not defense per se, it's offense that is like a football team commits 5 turnovers every game and makes it almost impossible for the defense. simply can't put defense in a hole for multiple strings of possession and not expect the defense to hold up. It collapses from mental fatigue
3) I think 4 games in 5 days is taking a toll, and no chance to reset after Fresno. Last few years we have not fared well in these 3 day tournaments - coming in with expectations to win a couple games and laying eggs. Illinois State last year - and with a different staff.
4) can't expect much difference today, no time to adjust much of anything
5) Yes, Acker may have misread his personnel for this offense scheme, maybe not a plan B developed in October?, so struggling to make any adjustment right now on the fly. then will have a week to tweak, we'll see what happens vs. Fullerton.
6) It reminds me a bit of Caffey's senior year, where Caffey was magnificent in pre-season, and then faded mid conference. He simply could not keep it up. The streaming announcer mentioned multiple times how obvious it was of Askew having to do too much. What's the definition of insanity?
7) I think this offense is/was predicated on notion of a) Breaking down the defense on the dribble or via pick n roll, which would open up other shots. Guys standing in the corner lol. Askew is good, but his advandtage is height (not quickness) and he is not the passer Booker was or leverages his body as well as Booker. b) our pick n rolls don't work well, the pick guys have too many fouls from bad picks, then they rarely roll to decent spot - our picks just clog up things on the outside.
8) Like a broken record, need to post up Askew more but I haven't seen any play/scheme to do that, he's ok with fadeaways and has a height advantage, need to get him away from the ball - need more off ball movement. These are not dumb coaches, they may have some blockage based on their pre-conceived schemes. Pretty sure they know what is not working, and debating what to do. Now translating that to changes gonna be tough.
9) Our bigs have hands of bricks, not sure what the fix is, they especially Christiansion, need training (like play soccer, lift weights, work on finishing board, using body inside, i.e. lol they need a lot of work)
10) May have to try a 'small' lineup to somehow open up the court at times, ala 2022, albeit we have no AT to make that effective. And then allow switching on defense, but that makes things vulnerable inside.
11) Acker will earn his money if he can make some increments in this offense to get guys in better spots. The last two games, more ill advised shots showing guys are mentally or physically fatigued and/or shows lost confidence in the scheme(s) so loss of focus leading to jack up offense.
12) part of playing in Vegas I assume was to get guys acclimated to the arena (empty like the BWCT lol!) and right now finishing at least 8th seems ambitious. To win the BWCT, have to finish top 4 (actually slipped/lucked/into 4 seed while losing last 5 games before the BWCT last year), basically set that goal aside for now - secondary to just fundamental development.

I don't think it's a matter of defense per se. No amount of defense can overcome not scoring at least 60 points in a game. just not gonna happen. have to score also to be able to reset defense. The futility of offense is killing the pysche of these guys right now