Enough of the "havoc" crap

Here is my take from watching the game Friday night:

First, VCU was a completely different team when Toby Veal was on the floor. His defensive intensity was amazing and I was disappointed it did not rub off more on other players.

Second, we make our free throws and the win margin ismuch higher.

Third, way too many three point attempts. You live by the three, you die by the three. Even Mike Eliis commented that VCU was shooting way too many threes. With our size and speed, we need to take it to the basket more. Our upper classman shooting guards seem more focused on shooting the three han driving to the basket.

Fourth, the unknown variable going forward will be Reddic. He's another big body down low and another reason to work the ball down low more versus shooting that many threes.
 
To me, it is more about getting them out of their game. We did that. Sure, they scored 86 points, but a lot were uncontested jump shots and foul shots (25 point, or about 30% of their points came from the line). Also, don't forget, we scored 101, which means they got a lot more possession than they would have in a half-court game.

We need to tighten up defense, nobody can argue with that. But we set the pace of the game, we forced turnovers before they could get the ball to half court, and we pulled the press for large parts of the game with a big lead. We also had 28 point from our bench. Thanks Brandon. It says a lot to me when you have guys as good as him not starting.

We have a lot of new guys who are just learning what this is all about. But their first try at Havoc was a success in my book. Here is what I look at:

Turnovers: 21
Steals: 14 (yes, 14)
Blocks: 7

No stat for how many times we kept them from getting the ball to half court, but there were a few. This is Havoc.

I don't like all the fouls, but that will improve as the year goes on. Two of Toby's fouls were because he flat ran over a guy who got in his way. He sat a lot because of the fouls. All of this should improve. The half-court defense was not great. Too many wide open shots because people were not in the right places. The coaches should have seen this as well and my guess is that they will fix this as time goes on.

Overall I give Havoc a solid B. Lots of room for improvement, but with so many guys just learning the system, pretty impressive.
 
The poster is correct Havoc doesn't seem to be working it didn't work last year and it doesn't look to good this year. Many of you have tried to make your point by stating that we have personal issues that don't afford us the ability to go all out or to maintain the level of frenzy needed to maintain Havoc.

However, the original poster merely stated that it doesn't seem to be working others state that perhaps we do not need the brand. They didn't get into why it didn't work. Just stated it doesn't appear to be working or that we shouldn't box ourselves into a particular style.

What many of you have done when you try to defend why Havoc isn't working.

I agree with the poster we shouldn't box ourselves into anyone style Havoc or otherwise.

Oh, and by the way, our defense was horrible vs both Union, and UNCG. Our stat line looked good but VUU is a DII team, and UNCG is very young and not very good, other than the one shooting guard who had his way with our defense.

Our offense was great at times. However, we hit a lot of open threes. We didn't work the ball inside out. We merely chucked up the rock and thankfully most of our guys were on. What happens when we hit a cold streak and have to grind it out the old fashion way via a set offense?

We really need to work on dribble penetration. Brad, Ed, and Theus are the only ones capable of constantly dribbling, penetrating, and either scoring or dishing off. Which is why Ed starts even though Bradon is the better outside shooter.


We need work, I know Shaka recognizes this and hopefully we'll see something different tomorrow night.

See you there.
 
Why is the debate whether we press or not? I would like to see a more of a zone press more often. The problems come up a lot when we do a man press with trapping at half court thus creating opportunities if they can find the open man. I like a zone press because it gives us a better way to cover people cutting to the basket. The press needs to change frequently between pressing and half court and which type of press we are utilizing. This makes the opposing team not know what they are facing and creating "Havoc".
 
I like havoc. It raises team intensity, no sleep walking allowed. If VCU stopped pressing i suspect the defensive lapses would still be present. Defensive rebounding in the half court needs improvement. I'm hoping to watch the game again tonight on PBS but i suspect most of our "mini runs" we due to havoc's turnovers and steals.
 
personally I prefer the up tempo style. ODU plays the out defend them gameand it is as boring as a trip to Norfolk. Give me more possessions, more shots and try to throw your opponent into a game that can't really proctice. We had one guy with >30 minutes (Joey had 37...too many in my book)
Shaka has a plan and it involves using our depth and challenging the oppoenent for 40 mins. Trust me it can work on a team if done correctly as well as a team like ODU used to using the full shot clock has used up 8-10 ses or more to even get to the point of starting their offensive set.
The system is not intended to create a TO each possession.
Just my opinion and my defense of it
 
major ram said:
We had one guy with >30 minutes (Joey had 37...too many in my book)
Click to expand...
I agree, i didn't expect to see Joey playing the shooting guard spot that much all season but Ed's & Rob's foul situation probably influenced Shaka's decision.
 
Pavarotti said:
Growing up in the shadow of Mason during the 90's, I remember how excited everyone was when "Paul Ball" aka Paul Westhead's fun-and-gun arrived. They marketed "Paul Ball" well, and promised an exciting brand of basketball for the crowd.
Click to expand...

Shaka does not want to play a "fun and gun" or "run and gun" type of game. What he wants is a pressing and trapping game on defense and a transition game on offense if at all possible. It is going to take time to implement that type of defense. Shaka wants to limit the time that the opposition has to get set in their half court offense....to give them somewhere around 20 seconds or less rather than 25-30.

Plus we may have to modify that...just like last year...because of our limited manpower/experience in the front court
 
All I am saying is walk the walk before you talk the talk. Put the marketing slogans on hold and play some "D", and THEN run your ads.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top