Holton and Other Thoughts...

[zjmh58]

Holton adds so much to this team and they run absolutely zero of the offense through him. Obviously, he is the point man on the press. He deflects a lot of passes and causes all kinds of soft, lob type of passes just to get over him. That, and his hustle and speed, allow him to get back and play defense again on the same possession. When he is not on the court, we just can't get back and defend if our opponent beats the press. His hustle and speed are his biggest assets. I don't know if you can put a value on being able to press your opponent, making them work to beat it, and if they do they still have to beat your half court defense also. You watch how Adrian (and Watkins today) how they can not catch up when the press is beaten. Holton catches up regularly.

I feel that Huggins would like to run with this bunch. Now, I know it's hard but you can run off of a made basket. But not us. We have to be the slowest team in America to get to the ball and inbound it after a make. All heads drop and there is never an urgency. I know you can't play at a frenetic pace for all 40 minutes but we do use 10 guys regularly. Maybe we could get a few easy baskets this way.

I like Macon down around the basket but if he gets the ball 10+ feet away from the basket, I always feel that it is a turnover waiting to happen. He has really helped this team at times this year.

If Phillip could ratchet his play up another notch, this team could be really hard to beat. For me, he is the key for this team. If he plays under control (no stupid fouls) and can make his foul shots, this team can be really good.

Very pleased with how this team has performed. Let's Go, Mountaineers!

 

[pressvirginia]

Plenty of teams out there who would love to be 17-4, among the top of the BXII & nationally ranked.

The make-up of this team will still be a tough out in March with the defense and guards who are usually very good & deep at the position. Pouring in free throws incessantly & getting our contributors saddled in foul trouble is the key to beating WV. Otherwise we are fully capable of overcoming deficiencies and still winning.

Don't want to screw up chemistry, but you don't want to get down a bunch early where you have to come from behind. If we get in the habit of struggling to score in the opening minutes, I'd consider starting Phillip and Paige. They score it and have a true command of the offense.

Paige can basically only be stopped by himself because he commits all the fouls. A less aggressive approach from him on D where you let others rack up fouls instead, that allows us to run consistent offense through him. Point blank, you've got to score the ball in order to press & Paige can do just that, inside & out.

 

[jlaudiomaster]

Seems like our starting guards are struggling. Not as glaringly as Williams but we need more production out of them. I can't stress that enough. I liked Phillip defensively coming into the year but if you would have told me at the beginning of the season that by this time of the season he'd be consistently playing at a higher level on offense than his starting counterpart, I would have thought you'd be crazy. The good is that our bench is producing better than our starters. The bad...well same thing. Good thing is that I think our guards have shooters mentality so eventually they will heat up.

 

[pressvirginia]

I like all the possibilities with 3-guard lineups. No reason they can't each be in & working in conjunction. They are all good defenders.

It just seems like we attack and run proactive offense the best when Phillip and Paige are in there. Some of the other is just kind of basic ball movement, swinging it around, screening, curls, hitting the cutter, shoot if you get open or have to, then hopefully we can offensive rebound and lay it back in.

It's like one unit runs motion & runs low post feeds into Devin, then the next unit runs dribble drive. Not a bad strategy to be multifaceted if you can pull it off, but consistency is needed.

I felt we were at our best obviously vs Kansas, but that was going heavy dribble drive & exposing their inability to stop our guard penetration. That night we did to KU what others do to us -- we scored 33 points at the foul line, and won by 11.