WKU Basketball What We Should Have Learned From WKU’s Bipolar Performances Against UNT and Rice
Can I just say what everyone else was thinking?
*Editor’s Note: It came to our attention after publishing this article that “bipolar” can have multiple meanings. This was NOT meant in any way to refer to the mental illness, “bipolar”. It was meant as a reference to WKU’s polar opposite behavior during the win against North Texas. “Bipolar” can also simply mean, “having or relating to two poles or extremities,” according to Webster’s. The Towel Rack has absolutely no intention of making light of mental illness or any other infirmities.*
Can I just say what everyone else was thinking?
WHAT THE HELL?!?!?
(Sorry, Pastor Jimmy and Destiny Kids if you read this.)
But it’s appropriate for the situation.
Western Kentucky Basketball looked on its way to the gallows for a depressing end to both its home conference opener against North Texas and hopes for any kind of success in the 2019–20 season.
Our TTR halftime comments were impressive, with people (including me) ready to fire everyone at WKU in every building (including the Subway workers), burn it to the ground and start over with a different name, maybe Southern University of Central Kentucky, if you catch my drift.
So first of all, what happened between the first half and second half, and how do we get less first half and more second?
What the Heck Happened, Bro?
North Texas
Honestly that first half felt like everyone’s worst nightmare. It’s interesting because I tuned in for the comeback and then went back and watched the first half to understand what happened beforehand. I knew what was going on, but only listened/watched the app.
Can I be honest? Everyone (including me) was saying it was effort. That’s partially true. It was clearly an energy change from lackadaisical to pure-insanity-poop-your-pants-rock-the-roof-off-Diddle intense. North Texas didn’t know what happened to them. Before they knew it, they were staring at an abandoned eagle’s nest with stomped, cracked eggs and some leftover Red Towels.
However, I think the Tops played hard-ish the first half, but in my opinion, they were not set up correctly for success.
Fast forward to the second-half run. What defense did they run? Mostly a 1–2–2 3/4 court press or a 1–3–1 HC trap that dissolved into a man defense in the half-court when they broke the press. What was key? Josh Anderson at the point of the defense. Might as well call him “Captain Chaos”.
What happened in the first half? Conservative defense. 2–3 zone (Slows the pace), 1–3–1 with Savage at the point (inherently less intense and more conservative token pressure), and man as it dissolves.
What’s the problem with that?
Josh Anderson is probably your best perimeter defender, number one. He also steals more and does more with the ball than Savage. If he gets a steal, hello, SportsCenter Top 10. This WKU likes to run, right? Put your most explosive offensive player in the closest defensive position to the offensive basket.
Josh is also a great thief and not a great rebounder. He’s ok but not great.
Jared Savage is thicker and similar height to Josh but is less of an explosive break starter (although surprisingly competent), and is the best rebounder on the team besides Charles Bassey (injured) and Carson Williams. He’s also more likely to take a charge, and he’s also shown an ability to block shots this season.
He can also clear the boards defensively and float down the court for a trailing three.
So in essence, there was your main difference. Your other difference was Tay Hollingsworth sitting the second half due to injury (more on that below).
Rice
Western looked great against Rice, starting 9–0 and 15–4 and leading by as much as 13 early. However, that start was pretty flukish.
Rice is a really good three-point shooting team and missed several shots early. They also pulled out the olé defense, allowing WKU to get straight to the rim.
However, during this time, Rice was throwing some junk defense out there trying to figure what to run on WKU. They ran 1–2–2, 2–3, match-up zone, 1–3–1 a couple of times, and even pressed with a trap.
Basically, once man-to-man did not work, Rice threw junk out there and hoped it would confuse WKU. Fortunately for them, it did work.
WKU would go on to score only 53 points after starting up 11 early, the aforementioned 15–4 lead.
Neither team shot well, with both teams shooting under 30 percent for the game.
Defensively, WKU was pretty good and Stansbury and staff learned (at least temporarily) they needed to press and put Josh Anderson at the point for parts of the game.
Stansbury said he liked Anderson at the point of the press after North Texas, but yet he still put Jared Savage at the top fairly often. What is the logic, exactly? I’m not sure, but I would guess he’s trying to save both from foul trouble. Maybe he feels like Jared provides a more conservative approach at the front and he wants to just provide token pressure. Maybe he likes Josh down low because he’s a little taller. These things are lost on me, but he clearly made a conscious decision to have them up there at different times. Josh was most often out front when pressing full-court, though.
Western’s press was just not as effective against Rice. Rice had some good guards that could easily break the press, and let’s be honest about this, as well: Western was not as urgent Saturday as they were Thursday. I believe the fact that Rice only turned the ball over 14 times is an absolute credit to their self-control, and if WKU continues to press as they did against both North Texas and Rice, that is a winning combination.
Keep in mind that WKU has pressed nearly half of the game the past two games and turned it over 7.5 times per game. That is incredible. Clearly, the Tops can handle playing up-tempo, at least at times. Now, will this be consistent? That is completely up to them, but it seems that Western at least has the basic capability of running while still taking care of the ball.
In this game, Stansbury shortened his bench even more, only playing six players any significant amount of minutes. Gambrell and Horton played, but neither saw a total of three minutes. Stansbury pretty much blamed Horton for North Texas’ Deng Geu going off in the first half against the Mean Green, so he probably didn’t trust Horton as much this game. Interestingly, this pace was much slower and may have been better for Horton.
Ultimately, in this game, to Stansbury’s credit, his bench all produced negative +/- despite only being on the floor a total of 22 minutes. I still caution this shortsighted behavior, though for two reasons:
Your starters will be worn out by the end of the year (just like last year).
2. Your bench will have zero confidence (just like last year).
What We Should Have Learned
1. This team needs to pick up the pace.
Stansbury has said it all season, but it has occasionally happened. When you lose your height, what is your advantage? Usually speed and athleticism. That is what is left on this roster. Tay Hollingsworth is NOT a speed demon, but he can drive and create. Jordan Rawls (who needs to start) is an explosive, offensive point guard that can shoot the pull up three and has a gorgeous floater. That’s a wonderful, versatile offensive weapon. Yes, he’s a freshman. So what?
Cam Justice adds shooting and team defense (several drawn charges this season). Savage adds shooting and rebounding. Carson Williams is a match-up problem, much like Justin Johnson was: Tall enough to compete down low, quick enough to surprise, athletic enough (not as much as JJ) to hold his own, a good shooter, crafty in the post, and a maniac on the offensive glass. Even subs like Matt Horton and Jeremiah Gambrell have (generally) played well with pace.
Playing with pace maximizes athleticism, minimizes rebounding, and minimizes potentially porous half-court defense. The less time teams are encouraged to post up their big men, the better for an undersized WKU.
2. Trapping and pressing engage the personality and intensity of this set of players.
This is a different team when they press. Should they press the whole game? Not if you won’t play your bench, Coach. However, if I am coaching, clearly my team is good at it and I should let them thrive. I’d press or trap at least half of the game, and NOT when I’m desperate. This was done against Rice while up, but not against North Texas. As soon as they had a “comfortable” lead, the press was backed off and rarely engaged again.
Just do it. It’s Western Basketball. Fans will eat it up, your players will play harder, and your opponents will be on the verge of collapsing from either fouls, exhaustion, or mental fatigue. Against UNT, it was more mental and physical fatigue. Against Rice, Western really wore them down in the second half and drew a ton of fouls, making 14–14 from the free-throw line.
And as we talked about (and Coach did, too, in his post-game presser against UNT), put Josh Anderson at the point and let him create utter chaos.
3. Tay Hollingsworth may not fit the playing style of the rest of his teammates.
First off, before you blow up my Twitter feed with anger, Tay is necessary for WKU to win a championship this season. He is unique on this team in that he can penetrate in the half-court and make a mid-range jumper in a tough moment. No one else does that. He’s also an all-around good player and a team leader and all-time great Hilltopper already.
However, he is NOT a breakneck pace player. He is NOT explosive in the way that, say, Josh or Williams is explosive. He is not a quick decision-maker. He is methodical. Nothing wrong with that, but if you’re trying to up the tempo, he is somebody you have to hide in an uptempo style instead of being featured.
If Stansbury is to fix this team’s issues, he is going to have to figure out how to use Tay while picking up the pace. I would say defensively, Tay can play the wing of the 1–3–1 or either of the first “2” in the 1–2–2 press and be fine. It also looked like Tay played in the front of the press some when both Savage and Anderson were out. Interestingly, Rawls was in but did not play at the point of the press. I don’t necessarily agree with this logic, because like we just covered, Tay is not the guy that starts the break for the Tops. He finishes the break if you will. He’s a secondary break type of player.
I think he should be encouraged to give the ball to someone else and come up and help the break as a secondary helper. Come behind the two or three guys up the court and drive in from a dish and draw a foul, crank an open three as a trailer (if the defense does not come at you), drive the lane (if the defense does come out to you) or help set up the half-court offense if the break is shut down.
Also, play some slower tempo stuff with him in there some. That’s his strength. Let him play in the 2–3 (which I like sporadically), let him be in the 1–3–1, and put him in some on a full-court press. Play him when you go man-to-man, without question. He’s a really good defensive player. Heck, on offense run him at the point. But just realize he’s not at his strength when running at the pace the Tops ran during that run against the Mean Green.
4. Cam Justice is not a fluke.
That was the early season Justice we saw this week, the one shooting 40 percent from three-point range and launching pretty looking bombs with a quick release. Again, he’s a breakneck pace player. He can also lead the break and has point guard type skills. I wish we could see him run point instead of Taveion. I believe that is a much better fit.
I really wonder if he could just run point a quarter of the time and be the second point guard instead of Rawls. Let Rawls be the starter he deserves to be and let Tay play the two and be a secondary point guard on the floor with Rawls or Justice. I think Justice could handle some PG responsibilities and still produce offensively.
5. Jordan Rawls Needs to Start in Place of…Somebody.
Justice? Hollingsworth? Savage? All would be possibilities to be replaced, but he deserves a chance to start. When given opportunity, he finishes in double digits most of the time, and he certainly produces offensively. And he is SUCH a natural point guard. Let the kid play. He’s earned it and I think it’s been on the table for weeks. It’s time.
6. Savage is valuable
I would say many fans get frustrated with Jared Savage, and for good reason. He is 6’5”, but some games, all he does is stand outside and shoot threes. That is completely valid, but in some other games, like this past one, he is so much more than that.
Like we talked about a little, he rebounds, he blocks shots, and he’s also shown an ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the rack this season and draw some fouls He has also made several huge shots for the Tops. If he is active, that is a big body making a difference and creating another match-up issue. If he’s not, he’s a big body shooting threes.
Here’s the other thing: Stansbury LOVES him, and I think he finally explained why in a way that I understood what he was thinking Saturday with Hal Schmitt’s interview. Basically, he said Jared can do it all. He understands how to switch defenses, talk, is now rebounding, and he can “shoot tat ball”, as Stansbury likes to say. That now makes sense why he’s obsessed with Jared Savage. And please, this is not a “bash Jared Savage” segment, but I firmly believe Stansbury is blind to Savage’s most obvious deficiency: Focus and intensity.
Savage is a great asset. You’re a fool if you deny it. Jared Savage at his best is an All-Conference, MVP type of player. However, Savage at his worst while not playing with tangible effort is frankly debatable to deserve a spot in the rotation. A player that can go cold better contribute elsewhere significantly. If you’re not on fire, fire everybody else up. I believe a Jared Savage that will dive on the floor is a Jared Savage that helps his team with the 2020 Conference USA Championship. It’s that important.
7. Western must play hard or it will lose most games
This team is greatly talented, even without Bassey. However, with Bassey, this team could sleepwalk into contention against almost anyone. For example, WKU played bad against Louisville and didn’t get blown out by 30. WKU could’ve competed with Louisville by playing a good game against U of L. I firmly believe that. Without Bassey, WKU can still beat anyone, but they must play all-out, or they could lose to anybody.
Western played extremely hard against Rhode Island, against Arkansas at the end of the game, against North Texas in the beginning of the second half. I believe the Tops played pretty hard against Rice and it just wasn’t a great match-up. However, Belmont was a sleepwalk and WKU just didn’t show up, frankly. Consequently, a double-digit bludgeoning ensues. Western sleepwalked through the first half of North Texas, as well to some degree. If the Tops aren’t laser-focused, they will be in trouble this year. But it’s also still pretty much within their control. If they would just wake up and smell the championship, it would go a long way in determining the destiny of this team in a positive way.
8. This team can still play good basketball
That 12 minute stretch in the second half was something few teams in the country can do. WKU outscored UNT 41–19 in the first 12 minutes of the second half. They scored 61 in one half. How many teams in the country could ever do that? I don’t remember many Western teams that could, honestly.
Charles Bassey is a darn good player, but WKU is still better off roster wise than a lot of teams talent-wise despite his absence.
9. This fan base almost mailed this game in and the rest of the season and it suggests that as a group, they are getting fed up with not winning championships. Rick Stansbury better not feel comfortable in his position, and he better be willing to do what makes sense and get control of his players and put this thing back in the right direction permanently.
That Twitter reaction was unbelievable that first half. Towel Rack was blowing up with comments about how this was a disaster, a funeral, etc. I was right there freaking out and so were you DON’T KID YOURSELF!!!!
Sorry, I lost it there a little. This fan base is frustrated with the most talent ever or close to it and not making it to the tournament. It’s tournament or bust, and any sign that it’s not headed that way is going to piss a lot of people off.
It’s fragile, but how is it fixed? Winning and playing hard for 40 minutes. No more excuses. Bleed Red and be obvious about it and we will adore you. It’s simple. Dive on the floor. Jump out of bounds. Make extraordinary rebounds. Steal the ball and draw fouls. Drive the ball to the hole with vengeance. Tangibly be exhausted from your efforts. Get the crowd into it. Diddle will roar if you let it.
I believe the fans were on the edge of their seats ready to get pissed again if Rice had gone south. This is still a fragile environment for the Tops. If WKU goes to UAB and Middle and loses, first of all, that’s losing to your rivals. Secondly, they are not very good teams and are perfectly winnable games. Go win them.
Do that, and I believe the fans will be back on board with this team and fired up about beating Middle. And then moving forward, keep it going. This team’s potential is still the first seed in the conference, and I believe is capable of going nearly undefeated in C-USA play. That’s the ceiling. However, it’s forgivable to lose some games. It’s unrealistic to expect perfection. But this team needs to play like it really expects to not only win but make it a goal to make a statement each game.
If this team is the hardest playing team in the conference, WKU wins the 2020 C-USA Championship. Couldn’t we all agree to that? I believe so. There’s immense talent there still. However, if WKU is not the hardest playing, they won’t win. To me, it’s that simple. Rick can try to coach it some, but ultimately it comes down to the players. Regardless of scheme, what the heck kind of effort do you put out each night? Play hard, and you’ll win the championship that has eluded you for years.
Things We Hope Stansbury And/Or Players Didn’t Learn
1. “I didn’t play my bench. What a great idea!”
Yeah, this is my greatest fear from this game: That Rick Stansbury didn’t sub for nearly an entire half and that’s something he can try frankly at all the rest of the year. He played Rawls less than 20 minutes off of the bench, and he played Horton and Gambrell less than a total of six minutes. That would be a terrible idea long-term.
Fans, think of your main concerns during the Rick Stansbury era. Isn’t it the fact that he always finds an excuse not to play his bench? He finds a way to explain away only playing six or seven players. Well, he’s doing it again and I don’t like it long-term.
Just like last year, playing six or seven will put a lot of wear and tear on those players you “trust” and your “others” will not have the experience or confidence to come in during a tournament situation when they either have to or you want to try to switch it up when your “Fantastic 7” isn’t working out.
Or God forbid another injury happens in March and you only play six players all year. Then you’re going to have to play someone else in meaningful minutes without a lick of playing time beforehand.
Honestly, sacrifice a couple of games to get some guys experience, even. Take a risk and play Matt Horton 20 minutes. Play Gambrell for an extended period of time. Give Cozart another chance. Throw out Jackson Harlan for a few minutes and see if he can do anything. Give Patrick Murphy a chance to play a couple of minutes. You never know what you might get out of them if you put them in during a game at a point that matters. They may go ballistic. Use the five you have to sub out for all five when they’re playing awful. Why not? Be a coach, for Pete’s sake. Put all of your players in a position to go win a ball game for you if you need it.
Heck, with only 10 available players, it’s conceivable that all of them could physically have to play in a game at some point.
To his credit, he did talk about needing to play Horton and Cozart more during his postgame interview against Rice. However, will it actually happen? Sadly, I have my doubts. Please prove me wrong. I don’t want to be right on this. I would love to see eight deserving guys get to play basketball the rest of the season.
2. “Horton had a bad game. Let’s not trust him.”
First of all, this logic is beyond ignorant. I’m (not) sorry, but this idea of who you can “trust” is beyond infuriating. These are your players. You chose them to come to your program. You told them you trusted them from the start, and once they get here, they have to earn your trust? Please. That’s demeaning and it messes with their confidence and results in mass transfers to the people that aren’t in your creepy Robert De Niro-esque “circle of trust”.
Every reasonable basketball coach wants at least a rotation of seven players. I honestly prefer at least eight, because now all of your players have a real chance to rest. I understand this is college and your depth is not of NBA caliber. Not everybody on the roster is intended to or ready to play big minutes. But you have to spell your players or suffer the consequences.
What is ultimately important in March is winning (hopefully) three games in three days. Ultimately, your other goal is to get a bye in the tournament. Other than that, your resume is not good enough that each individual game matters for at-large contention. So you literally have no incentive not to experiment with your bench.
Back to the original point, Matt Horton (and Cozart) is now your only size. You must play him. Sure, he’s flawed. So is Charles Bassey. Get over your ego and play his 6’11” butt for at least 15 minutes a game. He played less than three minutes against Rice and he’s 6'11" playing a team with size!!! Your next tallest person to play is Josh Anderson, who is supposedly 6'7" and listed as a guard on the pre-game intros.
Matt Horton is the one person on the roster who has ever recorded four blocks in a game. He is a good player, honestly. How is this not obvious? He’s so much better than last year, and last year, he deserved a chance! You want energy and effort? Matt Horton.
3. “That press working so well against UNT was a fluke and it was only because of the match-up. Look at how marginal it was against Rice”
If I ever hear this, I will lose it. Pressing, in my opinion, is the only path to a championship for WKU Basketball in 2019–20, especially now that Charles Bassey is out. But even before that, it was the case!
What are your deficiencies now that he’s gone? Rebounding, defense, general size, and too many turnovers (although not lately). What minimizes that issue? Playing up-tempo. Why? Because bigger opponents produce less when they’re tired. When a big guy really has to run and he’s not used to it, it’s almost like he is only there for that team half the time he’s on the court.
Also, increasing opponents’ turnovers gives you more possessions without having to rebound, and in addition, it makes up for your own blunders. Also, you don’t have size, so 1-on-1 in the half-court is not a good setup for you. They already get easy layups in the post, so risking a few quick scores in exchange for a panicked opponent is quickly worth it.
4. “Rawls isn’t ready.”
Wrong. Try again. It’s his time. He’s the future. Act like it. Embrace it. Give the kid his chance to be a star. He won’t disappoint.
5. “Certain match-ups, we need to grind it out and slow it down.”
No! These guys are craving pace. Let them run, please and thank you.
6. “Man-to-man and 2–3 are still my go-to defenses.”
I sure hope not, but one thing that did work early in the year was switching on every screen. When you have no size and you’re in man, what difference does it make if you have a 6’4” guy switching with 6’6”? Not much. That was an effective concept and I wish the Tops would go back to it. It’s unconventional and if I remember right, Southern Miss did that last year and made the semifinals despite having no one taller than 6’7”. It created weird match-ups that opponents didn’t expect. Hmm…
I guess my point here is multiple. If I’m thinking of the order of defenses to use in terms of percentage of use, go 1–2–2 press (or 1–2–1–1), 2–3, 1–3–1, man. Press 30–60%, 2–3 zone and 1–3–1 about equally, and a switching man (doubling the post) the rest of the time. Just an idea.
7. “Cam, Tay, and Savage need to play the most minutes now.”
Why is this a thing? Especially Savage last year and now he’s added Justice to his “invincible” list. With Hollingsworth out the second half and going on a huge run, it should open eyes that he (or anyone) shouldn’t be obligated to play 35 minutes a game. Conversely, no one else should be kept from an opportunity to play serious minutes if they earn it.
Savage is a frustration for many reasons, but last year, he shot 36 percent and nearly played that many minutes per game. Why? Play him when he’s hot. Minimize his minutes when he’s not, especially in combination with a lackadaisical effort (which seems to be fairly frequent). If he goes to sleep, give him a nap on the bench and catch his attention! He’s better this year in a lot of ways, but he still has similar tendencies. Point is, he’s not a superstar. He’s a star. Treat him as such.
Justice is the new frustration. That man couldn’t throw it in the ocean on a four-square foot bottomless boat with directions sometimes. Then he catches the Holy Ghost fire the next game. His minutes should reflect that trend a little bit. Sure, let shooters get out of a funk. To what dang degree, though? If Savage and Justice (or whoever) take 2/5 of your shots and shoot 60%, you win. However, if they shoot 2/5 of your shots and hit less than 30%, you’re losing 90% of the time. Adjust your rotation.
It was just proven you don’t need Tay to win (again, see above for clarification). It was reiterated (although less so) against Rice. Tay barely scored double digits between the two games this weekend. Hopefully, that issue ends immediately. However, if a certain team is not a good match-up for him, why not minimize his role that game? Without question, play him, but maybe knock his minutes down against a team you really need to hit the panic mode button often against. It allows that man to rest his body a little bit. How much mileage does he have on his body from his time at WKU? Let the man catch his breath. You’ll be thankful when you get an energetic Tay Hollingworth in March.
8. “I only need to press when down.”
Ray Harper was guilty of this, but at least he’d consistently push that button. Stansbury rarely presses. That’s a mistake with the makeup of your team. It’s time to adjust. What happened when WKU backed off of the press against UNT with about 8 minutes to play? It was an even game after that and if Western was not on fire and not committing a single turnover in the second half, UNT probably would have come back as well as they were shooting.
Press when ahead. Wouldn’t it be nice to take a five-point lead and explode it up to 15? Why not do it when the team is playing well, too? It shouldn’t be the last resort. Heck, I’d run it on the first made basket one game just to show I might do it. Give opponents something to think about. Put it on tape. Rice certainly prepared for a press. Were they let off the hook and allowed to play slow all game?
Actually, they were pressured a significant amount throughout, and ultimately despite WKU not playing well, shooting well, or even having the same energy stores as of Thursday, Western was able to beat Rice with defense, rebounding (won by one), and being aggressive.
9. “Hitting shots makes all things better. We have to find ways to score.”
This was said (paraphrased) in the postgame press conference against the Mean Green. While this is not untrue, to me, the focus should not be on points. This team clearly has a focus and effort issue at times.
If I’m Stansbury, my focus is not how many assists to turnovers, what percentage did we shoot, etc. For me, this team wins by intensity and effort. Throw all the stats out. If this team creates chaos for its opponents and gets easy baskets because of said chaos, they should score and shoot well. But in the event, they don’t, creating problems for the other team and making them run always helps your cause.
Let’s not make the rest of the season about shooting. That is completely up to chance. Much like the Belmont game, WKU was totally snakebitten in many ways. They couldn’t buy a layup or a jumper. They missed shots, so they lost. What if WKU made Belmont uncomfortable every time down the court? What if Belmont had to think about how to earn that layup versus just throwing it in the post and baby hooking a five-foot shot into the bucket over Carson Williams?
That takes the game way more under your control and allows you to control your destiny. If you shoot 30%, so what? You might have a chance if you force 20 turnovers and keep your opponent wound up. If you shoot 50% while pressing, you probably win most of the time.
Do you know what happened against Rice? WKU pressed about 1/3 to 1/2 of the time. Western did not play its best, but outrebounded a bigger team, shot way below their average, held a team that shoots the lights out from three to 28 percent shooting, and shot and made more free throws.
Why not seize the moment? Carpe Diem, bro. E Pluribus Unum or whatever. Play hard.
It’s Not That Difficult
Listen, I’m not saying I know what goes on at practice, what is said in the huddle, who’s in the doghouse for a legitimate reason, and I certainly am not suggesting I could coach WKU Basketball. (Todd, you have my number if you need me. I sure could use the paycheck ;).)
However, how can we not see these things going forward? You complain about no point guard, but you have a really good freshman that’s natural. Instead, you play Hollingsworth, who is hampered by being completely out of position and uncomfortable and is also not on par with his other teammates’ playing styles, so the head of your attack naturally slows the flow.
You talk about adjusting to changes and trying to find yourselves and, “That’s just where our team is at right now.” Ok great. Don’t you know your team? What is Josh Anderson good at? Driving in the open court, steals, and drawing tons of fouls. What is Jared Savage good at? Spot up threes, free throws, rebounding, and a decent ability to help down low in the post for a 6’5” guy. What is Carson Williams good at? Hustle and quick, emphatic decisions in the post. What is Cam Justice good at? Surprising ability to draw charges and a quick release on his three-pointer. Rawls? Pull up threes and natural leadership at the PG position. Tay? All-around solid and a little more methodical driver, but tough as nails and a leader. Gambrell? Shooting and quickness offensively. Horton? Hustle and energy, size, and when he shoots, it’s a good decision and shoots a high percentage. He can be a defensive presence at times, as well.
Why not play to their strengths? The majority of your eight major contributors now are runners. All can run, and most are under 6’7” (Horton). It’s conventional wisdom that a small team can’t win a half-court game against a huge team, so try something else.
I don’t think it’s that difficult to immediately put this team in a better position. The main thing is to reward people who earn it and punish people who don’t. Be willing to change your mind on what you need. Play to the flow of the game and don’t get stuck with the same people playing the majority of the minutes.
If Rick Stansbury and the Tops could grasp onto some things and realize this freakin’ ring is still waiting for you in March, this team can get it done.
I’m thirsty. Let’s end the drought, Tops.