BigTimeRamFan
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- Jan 4, 2011
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Hey, VCU COACHING STAFF: GUYS, YOU HAVE SOME THINGS TO LEARN!
I love VCU. I support them in every way. I love this team. They have heart. I love this coaching staff. Top to bottom, it’s as good, if not better than any staff we have ever had. They have an aggressive game plan, they recruit hard and what they lack in experience, they make up in dedication and effort. BUT, as I watched in horror yesterday as ODU embarrassed us, scoring 46 pts on us in the paint, I couldn’t help but scream out,WHY AREN’T WE PLAYING ZONE! At least try it. ODU scored a grand total of 13 pts on shots outside the paint. They only made 3 3 pointers! Are our players not talented enough to play zone? Or, is Shaka not experienced enough to realize that we needed to try something different, OR too stubborn. Playing zone is not a sign of weakness! ODU played it to perfection yesterday. This game was the Northeastern game all over again. Bill Coen won that game for them and Blain Taylor won that game for ODU yesterday. If you will remember, NE scored 48pts, all at will on us in the paint, winning 91-80. They both took advantage of our aggressiveness, pulling us out away from the basket, opening the lane for easy penetration or a pass to an open man under the basket. Teams are breaking our press with ease and instead of settling in to a half court offense, they are attacking the basket and catching us in the process, flat footed. We sometimes gamble way too much. We overextend. We (Joey & Brandon) can’t stop guard penetration. We don’t block out well. We don’t rebound well. VCU is ranked #282 in the country in rebounding. OUCH! HEY, You know what usually fixes all of that??? A ZONE DEFENSE!! We were lucky to win at home vs. NE. They shot 53% on us and it took some luck to win it in the end. We were lucky to win at ODU. If you watched that game, you have to admit that we got a ton of fluke rebounds, balls that just seemed to find their way into our hands. Rebounding was the difference maker. It was our day! And yesterday it was ODU’s. 46 ODU rebounds, 19 offensive! We could only come up with 21 total rebounds, 5 on the offensive glass. Something is wrong.
So, what do we do about it? How do we defend better? George Mason is better that ODU. They can go inside and outside. I don’t know that a zone would the answer to holding them in check. I just want to know that coaches are willing to try it, if need be. How do we get better at rebounding? What do we do with Mr. Reddic? One rebound against NE, ZERO yesterday in 10 min.. He looks timid and he plays timid! Get MEAN KID, WE NEED YOU. IT’S TIME TO STEP IT UP. You are 6’9â€. Play like it. The same can be said for Mr. Veal and Mr. Haley. You need to get mean as well. Block out and go hard to the glass. Try not to foul, but if you do, please make sure they don’t score the bucket. A soft foul is a wasted foul. And Coach, if your man to man game plan isn’t working, TRY SOMETHING ELSE. ADJUST.
It’s crunch time and we need to be playing our best, our hardest and be S.SMART doing it! GO RAMS!!!!
I love VCU. I support them in every way. I love this team. They have heart. I love this coaching staff. Top to bottom, it’s as good, if not better than any staff we have ever had. They have an aggressive game plan, they recruit hard and what they lack in experience, they make up in dedication and effort. BUT, as I watched in horror yesterday as ODU embarrassed us, scoring 46 pts on us in the paint, I couldn’t help but scream out,WHY AREN’T WE PLAYING ZONE! At least try it. ODU scored a grand total of 13 pts on shots outside the paint. They only made 3 3 pointers! Are our players not talented enough to play zone? Or, is Shaka not experienced enough to realize that we needed to try something different, OR too stubborn. Playing zone is not a sign of weakness! ODU played it to perfection yesterday. This game was the Northeastern game all over again. Bill Coen won that game for them and Blain Taylor won that game for ODU yesterday. If you will remember, NE scored 48pts, all at will on us in the paint, winning 91-80. They both took advantage of our aggressiveness, pulling us out away from the basket, opening the lane for easy penetration or a pass to an open man under the basket. Teams are breaking our press with ease and instead of settling in to a half court offense, they are attacking the basket and catching us in the process, flat footed. We sometimes gamble way too much. We overextend. We (Joey & Brandon) can’t stop guard penetration. We don’t block out well. We don’t rebound well. VCU is ranked #282 in the country in rebounding. OUCH! HEY, You know what usually fixes all of that??? A ZONE DEFENSE!! We were lucky to win at home vs. NE. They shot 53% on us and it took some luck to win it in the end. We were lucky to win at ODU. If you watched that game, you have to admit that we got a ton of fluke rebounds, balls that just seemed to find their way into our hands. Rebounding was the difference maker. It was our day! And yesterday it was ODU’s. 46 ODU rebounds, 19 offensive! We could only come up with 21 total rebounds, 5 on the offensive glass. Something is wrong.
So, what do we do about it? How do we defend better? George Mason is better that ODU. They can go inside and outside. I don’t know that a zone would the answer to holding them in check. I just want to know that coaches are willing to try it, if need be. How do we get better at rebounding? What do we do with Mr. Reddic? One rebound against NE, ZERO yesterday in 10 min.. He looks timid and he plays timid! Get MEAN KID, WE NEED YOU. IT’S TIME TO STEP IT UP. You are 6’9â€. Play like it. The same can be said for Mr. Veal and Mr. Haley. You need to get mean as well. Block out and go hard to the glass. Try not to foul, but if you do, please make sure they don’t score the bucket. A soft foul is a wasted foul. And Coach, if your man to man game plan isn’t working, TRY SOMETHING ELSE. ADJUST.
It’s crunch time and we need to be playing our best, our hardest and be S.SMART doing it! GO RAMS!!!!
