(01-06-2020 06:51 AM)Miggy Wrote: (01-05-2020 11:32 PM)jedclampett Wrote: .
[quote='pesik' pid='16591426' dateline='1578282403']
I highlighted and question temples rebounding FROM THE BIGS...(before forrester was eligible) i said your bigs were soft..i said i questioned the defense and rebounding from THE BIGS
...I was aware NPL could rebound and defend...and you had a negative rebounding margin before Forrester ...for what its worth i dont think forrester is soft at all, the most gritty big you have..he is just very uncoordinated <--this conversation was before he was eligible
Good post...
Temple’s bigs last season didn’t defend the rim, and this season they are, and were doing so before Forrester even starting playing.
Opponents field goal percentage has dropped significantly from last season as opponents are shooting only 37.6 percent, the 18th lowest field goal percentage in the country. Temple’s defense is simply one of best in the nation.
Ok.
I'm not taking sides in the discussion, just presenting pertinent data.
I would add that
Coach McKie deserves to get some genuine credit for the positive improvements he has made - - despite the loss of Temple's top player and it's starting Center to graduation (and also, their only true Center this season) this year - - mainly,
improved defense, rebounding, and getting enough assists out of the back court now that they are deprived of Alston's 5 apg.
McKie also deserves kudos for increasing the team's average scoring margin from 3.2 ppg last season to 7.3 ppg, to date, this season.
As a result of McKie's surprisingly good coaching, in his first season as a HC, the Owls are ranked among the top 50 or 60 teams in the country, and as high as #25 in the RPI, with an S.O.S. rank of #11.
That's as good as, or better than the vast majority of Temple fans could have hoped for, heading into this season.
Having said that, he is a first year Head Coach, and so it's not surprising that some opposing coaches can come up with ways to exploit the Owls' limitations. Moreover, although the team has some talented players, it has been plagued by injuries, and both of the starting big men (Moorman and Hamilton) have let the team down repeatedly with their poor or inconsistent play, so far this season. Hamilton has had to have his minutes cut in half, and the only reason why Moorman may deserve to remain in the starting lineup is that he distributes the ball well to the interior, while his defense and rebounding have improved.
Having said that, a strong case can be made that (unless Damion Moore comes back at full strength), perhaps, Forrester and Perry should start at the 4 and 5 positions, with Moorman, Hamilton, and Parks being the backups.
Either that, or if Moorman continues to start along with Forrester, then perhaps his minutes might be cut back to ~19 mpg, with Perry playing ~26 mpg, and adjustments made from game to game.
Alani Moore has also been streaky and very inconsistent, overall. While there is no other guard who can take his place in the starting lineup,
his productivity isn't even B+ quality at this point. He's been hitting
only 33% of his two point shots.
Shizz Alston scored nearly twice as many ppg last year as Moore has done.
Replacing Alani with Shizz in the starting lineup, all by itself, might be enough to keep the Owls out of the NCAA this season. Although you haven't yet alluded to this important factor,
one of the reasons why Quinton and Nate are scoring 6 fewer ppg this season is that they're no longer on the receiving end of Alston's passes.
Ya' can't blame the coach for that!
Alani's not getting them the ball in scoring position, and he's not enough of a scorer to keep defenders from swarming Q and NPL.
It would do wonders, of course, if Scott were to be to score in double figures each game, as had been expected. The only real bright spot in the back court (beyond the good overall (other than scoring) play of Rose and NPL) is the surprisingly good - and improving - play of JPL.
McKie may have to give him a lot more playing time going forward, since Scott has been relatively ineffective, and now has to recover from a sprained ankle. But, if NPL's shooting slump and Alani's poor shooting from 2 point range continue much longer, the starting guards are going to need more help than that, and it will have to come from Scott and/or new Damian Dunn (with only one game under his belt) in the coming weeks.
In terms of scoring, one thing that hasn't been mentioned is that
Temple's PFs (
plus 36 total minutes from Center D. Moore)
have scored approximately 28 ppg, to date, correcting for games missed.
This represents a ~6 ppg (i.e., approximately 27%) improvement over the ~22 ppg scored by Temple's big men last season.
This needed shift from back court to front court scoring has, no doubt, been overseen by Coach McKie and his staff, in view of the fact that Temple's most prolific 3 point scorer - Alston - is no longer with the team,
taken together with the fact that the 3 point line is 10.5" farther away from the basket this season.
Indeed, Temple's coaches were right to be concerned about the impact of these two factors on the team's 3 point shooting, given that the Owls have only hit 32.5% of their 3 point attempts this season (the equivalent of hitting .487 of total 2 point attempts), after having previously hit 35.3% of their 3 point shots (the equivalent of hitting 52.9% of their 2 point attempts) last season. That's enough of a drop-off to lose the team a couple of games.
Bringing the focus back to what Coach McKie may need to do to get the team to the NCAA tournament, or at least to the NIT, he and his staff may need to do some more intensive work with Nate, to help him get back on track as a scorer.
JP Moorman also needs some focused, individual coaching, because, as one of the team's co-captains, he has been setting a poor example with his extremely disappointing 2 and 3 point shooting, to date. Yes, he was a .400 3 point shooter last season, but he's no longer getting those sweet dishes from Shizz, and the extended 3 point line may to have taken him out of his effective range.
Altogether, player development has to be an ongoing priority, given the individual limitations or slumps of nearly every player on the team.
Considering the fact that Rose and NPL have both surpassed Shizz Aston's average of 32.1 pts+rb+ast+stl+blk/per game, they have probably gotten more than their share of criticism, to date. Even though they haven't been shooting well, they have been major contributors in every other respect, and have been outstanding perimeter defenders.
Rather than blaming Rose and NPL, or blaming Coach McKie for their shooting woes,
the core of the problem may be that Shizz Alston's not on the team this season. If he hadn't been on the team last season, Rose and NPL probably would have struggled just as much as they are now.
The blame - if blame has to be assigned - is on the fact that the team simply doesn't yet seem to have an adequate replacement for Alston. It hasn't been Alani Moore, nor Scott, nor JPL, and Dunn has only begun by playing a few minutes in one game.
Where does the fault lie? Ultimately, it lies at the root of recruiting disappointments, which derive from the disappointing performances of the team over the past few years under Coach Dunphy. This, in turn is the responsibility of Temple's Administration, which extended Dunphy's contract too far beyond his prime.
It will take some time for the team's new Head Coach to bring recruiting up to the level required for regular NCAA visits.
.
There is one thing that Coach McKie can do, beyond working more intensively on player development: He can teach his entire team how to play an effective zone defense, so that they can practice against an effective zone D in practice scrimmages.
Opposing coaches are going to throw a mix of zone and man-to-man D at him over and over again all season long until he does what is necessary to teach the guys to play effectively against a good zone D in repeated scrimmages, all season long.
Not only will this help the guys learn to score more effectively against a zone, and against opponents that switch defenses frequently, but it will also teach the team how to do the same to other teams - switching defenses frequently enough to keep teams off balance.
Few teams have success in the NCAA by playing any kind of predictable defense. Temple has been very effective with their current defensive scheme most of the time, but the scheme hasn't worked well enough against some teams...and thus, the Owls have lost 4 games, including the recent blowout @ Tulsa.
/
***AAC Games from 12/30/19 (Monday) though 1/5/20 (Sunday)***
