Hoiberg's Offense Needs A Distributor at PG, Not A Dribbler

[Nebrasketballer]

Hoiberg’s offense absolutely requires ball movement to create open shots for the shooters on the floor for Nebraska.

 

When you have a PG that is a high volume dribbler, that kills ball movement, and since the rest of the players on the court aren’t touching the ball frequently, that lulls them to sleep, so they don’t move without the ball, which means that they don’t get open shots in rhythm and they aren’t attempting many back door cuts to the basket, because they don’t expect to get the ball anyway. It turns into a bunch of standing around and watching the dribbler.

 

And when they aren’t getting touches on offense, which lulls them to sleep, that carries over to a lack of intensity on defense. So it kills them on offense and defense.

 

Verge’s stats don’t tell the whole story in regards to how much his play and decision making really hurts this team. When a team rebounds as poorly as Nebraska, the ridiculous drives to the basket resulting in poor, low percentage, contested shots at the rim are effectively turnovers in the way that they hurt the team.

 

And when the primary ball handler consistently chooses to take those shots, rather than distributing the ball to all of the shooters that Hoiberg has assembled on this team, it sabotages the ability of the rest of Nebraska’s players on the court to play to their potential. Nebraska’s margin for error is so thin that they can’t afford to have all of their players failing to play to their potential. Until Hoiberg gets a distributor at PG, it doesn't matter how much he upgrades the rest of the talent on this roster.

 

And all of those things kill the crowd energy in Pinnacle Bank Arena, which negates what should be a pretty substantial home court advantage for the Huskers.

Edited November 17, 2021 by Nebrasketballer

[thrasher31]

I may get some flack for this, but this team needs a "ball connector". Or in other words a guy who keeps the offense moving. Last year Banton did that a bit but Thor was really good at that over the past two years. Trey was kind of filling that role there, but now I have no idea who will. 

 

I'd personally insert Wilhelm into the starting lineup to do that. Not because he's a better player than Lat (you can argue it, but I'll opt for the experienced guy) but he is looking to move the ball based on what I see. 

 

Walker acting at the high post is something else they need to incorporate a lot more. Got Bryce two easy buckets last night and Walker did well at that last year. 

[BannedAccount]

Its early but Im starting do doubt this experience.  I have no motivation to go to any more games.  I feel like this staff just star gazes and take highly rated players hoping they will work so he can turn this rather then taking players that fit the system.  Matt A says it was a no brainer to take Verge after Banton left.  Why?  Why take a player, although talented, that isnt a pg or a fit for this system?  You telling me there was no true pg available in the portal to take that would have been a better fit over talent.  In a sense I feel this is year 1 after last year and what he had to do his first year.  I also feel like that as an established coach he should be further along.  

[busticket]

I am starting to wonder if Fred is suffering from Royce White syndrome.  As in, he believes he can take an immensely talented headcase, get them to buy into the system, and they become a force leading your team to great heights because he did it before.  

[BannedAccount]

1 hour ago, busticket said:

I am starting to wonder if Fred is suffering from Royce White syndrome.  As in, he believes he can take an immensely talented headcase, get them to buy into the system, and they become a force leading your team to great heights because he did it before.  

Did Royce White play for him a Iowa St?  I havent heard that...

[basketballjones]

Ball movement is a team concept not a one individual need. Lat dribbles too much, Bryce dribbles too much, CJ dribbles too much, Trey would dribble too much. Almost none of them routinely catch the ball and immediately swing it. 

[busticket]

1 hour ago, coughunter said:

Did Royce White play for him a Iowa St?  I havent heard that...

Yep.  Sat out one season as a transfer, played one year and turned pro.  He was amazing to watch that year.  Total dominator.

[busticket]

4 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

Ball movement is a team concept not a one individual need. Lat dribbles too much, Bryce dribbles too much, CJ dribbles too much, Trey would dribble too much. Almost none of them routinely catch the ball and immediately swing it. 

Exactly.  Watching the Creighton-Nebraska game, I counted 9 passes in the first possession by Creighton without a shot going up because Nebraska deflected the final pass.  I swear Fred said something about wanting a player to have the ball less than a second before passing or making a move.

[BannedAccount]

9 minutes ago, busticket said:

Yep.  Sat out one season as a transfer, played one year and turned pro.  He was amazing to watch that year.  Total dominator.

That was sarcasm...

[basketballjones]

41 minutes ago, busticket said:

Exactly.  Watching the Creighton-Nebraska game, I counted 9 passes in the first possession by Creighton without a shot going up because Nebraska deflected the final pass.  I swear Fred said something about wanting a player to have the ball less than a second before passing or making a move.

I've always called it ".5"

 

So, let's say the ball is on the right wing, below the free throw line or level with the block. Any pass that goes left is a "negative" pass. As in, it's going away from the hoop. We would yell that we want the ball in out of hands for ".5 seconds," on all negative passes and get it reversed to the other side. So we constantly talked about reversing negative passes as soon as possible. When you make it routine, it gets the ball out of the hands of selfish people quickly and to the other side of the court. 

Of course, some teams are "hand in the passing lane," or, "denial," defenses. So you have to be careful of swinging it through the top of the key without looking. So we would then work on immediate actions or ball fakes on all negative passes. The ".5" rules still applies - as you're catching it, you have .5 seconds to swing it, pass fake it, enter into the post, or drive. Either way ball has to move away from where it came from. 

[hhcmatt]

6 hours ago, busticket said:

I am starting to wonder if Fred is suffering from Royce White syndrome.  As in, he believes he can take an immensely talented headcase, get them to buy into the system, and they become a force leading your team to great heights because he did it before.  

 

Some of it might be that we're running all these guys out there after a few months instead of having to sit for an entire year. 

[Dead Dog Alley]

4 hours ago, basketballjones said:

Ball movement is a team concept not a one individual need. Lat dribbles too much, Bryce dribbles too much, CJ dribbles too much, Trey would dribble too much. Almost none of them routinely catch the ball and immediately swing it. 

Lat's number of dribbles is limited due to the fact that every third dribble is a turnover.

[hhcmatt]

25 minutes ago, Dead Dog Alley said:

Lat's number of dribbles is limited due to the fact that every third dribble is a turnover.

 

Every time he takes off I audibly hear in my head Tom Cruise from Top Gun saying 'Too close for missiles Goose, switching to guns' and then thinking he should stick with the missiles

[Coaches kid]

6 hours ago, basketballjones said:

I've always called it ".5"

 

So, let's say the ball is on the right wing, below the free throw line or level with the block. Any pass that goes left is a "negative" pass. As in, it's going away from the hoop. We would yell that we want the ball in out of hands for ".5 seconds," on all negative passes and get it reversed to the other side. So we constantly talked about reversing negative passes as soon as possible. When you make it routine, it gets the ball out of the hands of selfish people quickly and to the other side of the court. 

Of course, some teams are "hand in the passing lane," or, "denial," defenses. So you have to be careful of swinging it through the top of the key without looking. So we would then work on immediate actions or ball fakes on all negative passes. The ".5" rules still applies - as you're catching it, you have .5 seconds to swing it, pass fake it, enter into the post, or drive. Either way ball has to move away from where it came from. 

One of the guys that does this already is Breidenbach. He looks to swing the ball quickly.