Dean Smith

I am feeling really negative here but it's not just Shields - there seems to be no purpose to anything we are doing.

Talking about LMU's international players - they couldn't win the FIBA micronesia pool.

Run? Oklahoma went on a 39 point run yesterday. That's a run - not 11 points.

For me, it's a choice.

Wait.... Fuller a better shooter than Petteway? Based on what? Huge difference between a scorer and a shooter. MJ much better score, Steve Kerr hands down the better shooter.

Get a shooter on the floor. If he can shoot - get him out there.

No ball movement, no player movement. Not even looking at feeding post players. No purpose to any screens vs the zone. LMU is horrible so I think we will win this, but I don't see anything fundamentally sound in the design of the offense. I can't tell what they are trying to accomplish. If they score it seems to be by accident. I plan on putting this on every one of my post for the next three weeks: There are three basic keys to being successful on offense: 1. Only throw the ball to people of your team (hardest one of the three but a fail), 2. Move, Move, and Move (we don't move players or the ball - fail) and 3. Only take easy shots. (fail) Our offense has been a complete cluster all year. I have no idea what our offensive philosophy is. What are we trying to do?

If you've ever played any sort of competitive sport? Really? Trash talking can have both positive and negative effects and it is basically, "hey look at me," so ya - I can see how it can be taken as selfish. And if you can be intimidated by someone's trash talk then you're soft. I've talked my share of smack and told my share of players to shut it, so I can see both sides. But ya - it's selfish.

We beat Cincy. One win won't solve all our problems but it is a good place to start.

Not sure what posts you are reading to compare my position to Dean's.This was Dean's post on the subject: This was my post: I wasn't even going to reference the "hard dribble drive" but I included it as an option b/c I respect Dean's knowledge and he had already referenced this as his strategy of choice. My emphasis was clearly on using the dribble or (more likely) the pass to push the ball up the floor and attack the press. As HB just said, getting the ball past half court just so you can set up your offense should not be the main goal when being pressed. The goal should be to attack and try to get a scoring opportunity at the basket, whether by pass or dribble or both. That was my point. Draw the trap and then quickly swing the ball to the player behind the trap. As the trap is rotating it is possible on occasion to dribble hard in a seam, draw contact and a foul on the defender as they rotate to catch up to the ball. As they reach for the ball I was taught you could step Into the playing causing/exaggerating the contact. Drawing consistent fouls will get teams out of a press. If they pull up to avoid the foul/contact attack the basket for drive or drive & dish/kick.

We had that coach. Everybody bitched about him benching guys that took bad shots and turned the ball over. He's now at Southern Miss. You want us to go hire him back? There is some middle ground. There needs to be some consequences if you want behaviors to change.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the way Nebraska is trying to break the press. It is a lack of execution and sorry about my redundancy, but lack of mental toughness. Right now they are playing to not make a mistake instead of attacking which guarantees mistakes will be made more often than not. There is no magic press break or everyone would be using it. They need to demonstrate the ability to understand the basic principles in breaking pressure and then execute them. Same thing with the offense. There are no magic offensive plays, they need to demonstrate they understand how to play the game. Lack of execution? You sound like Bo Pelini. If D-I college players struggle with understanding the basic principles of breaking a press, then the coach has done a very poor job of preparing them. Most players aren't taught big picture, they are taught, "do this." That means you have a lot of players doing things but not understanding why they are doing them. I don't sound like Bo Pelini, I sound like every coach that has ever coached any sport. You have to teach both a scheme and how to execute that scheme. (Personally I felt Bo fell in love with his scheme and didn't evaluate the results enough. " However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. – Winston Churchill) I was taught that players will be more successful if you teach the, "This is why you do this." than if you just go with, "do this." It's not rocket science but the "why's" do take a little longer to teach. The scheme was sound, the individual fundamentals in carrying out that scheme were not. I assume by the title you go by you are/were a coach and would understand the difference between the two and the necessity of having both to be successful. btw - being athletically gifted enough to be a D-1 athlete is no guarantee of having the basic understanding of the game. In high school D-1 athletes can many times be successful because of their ability and in spite of their understanding. Meaning they can be successful by doing the wrong thing when they are just that much better than everyone else they are playing against.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the way Nebraska is trying to break the press. It is a lack of execution and sorry about my redundancy, but lack of mental toughness. Right now they are playing to not make a mistake instead of attacking which guarantees mistakes will be made more often than not. There is no magic press break or everyone would be using it. They need to demonstrate the ability to understand the basic principles in breaking pressure and then execute them. Same thing with the offense. There are no magic offensive plays, they need to demonstrate they understand how to play the game. Dribbling into a trap isn't fundamentally wrong? Foregoing a ball fake and throwing the ball into the defender's arms isn't fundamentally wrong? I was talking about the press breaker. You know, where you draw those little X's on the whiteboard. You need someone under the trap, someone over the trap and someone to split the trap. How you get them there doesn't really matter. Nebraska had players in those positions but didn't execute. They were passive in attack and failed to execute fundamental principles like executing a ball fake. The scheme itself and having the skills to execute the scheme are different types but both are fundamentals. Personally I feel teaching the skills to break a press are more important than whatever x & o scheme you use to draw up to accomplish that task, but you need to have both to be successful.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the way Nebraska is trying to break the press. It is a lack of execution and sorry about my redundancy, but lack of mental toughness. Right now they are playing to not make a mistake instead of attacking which guarantees mistakes will be made more often than not. There is no magic press break or everyone would be using it. They need to demonstrate the ability to understand the basic principles in breaking pressure and then execute them. Same thing with the offense. There are no magic offensive plays, they need to demonstrate they understand how to play the game.

It may be reasonable but it's also 100% speculation. Who on this board has been to Miles' practices over the last 10 years to see how much of a difference Smith's absence actually has made? Two things happening at the same time does not show causation. The offense looks a lot like what was going on last year when Smith was here. We might be just as likely making a spurious correlation.

Of course it has something to do with Miles. There is enough blame to go around for everybody. He is the one that needs to have them prepared when they hit the floor and they haven't been. They need to handle pressure and actually run an offense. That's on Miles.

The silent one, Miles is a TO hire so it wouldn't suprises me that he gets the ax Ridiculous. Miles is a builder, and he's assembling good pieces going forward. But he's playing with a wounded roster right now that includes Doc's leftovers. It's easy to find coaching mistakes every game, but look at what he has to work with. He has lots to work with. Doc's leftovers include Shields, Parker and Rivers. They are all big contributors. The rest are his players. Right now, I would put Doc's holdovers against Miles new players and I think they come out OK. He is assembling good pieces and he has good pieces to work with. I'm not for throwing players under the bus to defend MIles and I'm sure he wouldn't either. They need to get mentally stronger and tougher as a team. Those are things they can work on going forward, but they need to get stronger right now.

I don't agree with him but why can't he start a thread if he wants? Possibly because it is directly related to the game that just ended and the post was a direct refleciton of result of such game. Do you think it is necessary to start a thread that "WE SUCK". I know you don't and I know you understand the logic behind dimes post. I absolutely don't think it is necessary. I don't agree with the post. But technically nothing here is necessary - it's a message board. I'm frustrated and didn't feel the need to start a new thread, but I won't begrudge someone who does - even if they are wrong. There is so, so, so little margin between winning and losing.

I don't agree with him but why can't he start a thread if he wants? Because this isn't HOL. I don't get that either. If you don't like his thread don't read it.

But isn't some of that coaching too? Like Tim calming his guys down? At the end of the season, is he going to say "Boy, I wish I would've seen them pressing....or I wish I could've recognized they were playing scared....." I dunno, just wondering how much of Tim's coaching has translated to the players? I don't think much of that can be fixed during the game, Have to prepare for pressure in practice I think Miles needs to beat his players up there at this point. Let 5 guys try to beat 7 pressing and let the D bang the hell out of them. I would have loved to see someone dribble hard at the trap and lower a shoulder and put it right in the sternum of a Hawai'i player. 9 out of 10 times you get the call on the defense. There is so little margin between winning and losing.

I don't agree with him but why can't he start a thread if he wants?

Posted this in the game thread and i'm posting it here. Soft. Mentally and physically. Nobody wanted to bring the ball up the floor against pressure. Pulled up scared and wasn't strong physically and they take the ball from us over and over again. Everybody that has pressured us this year has gotten the same result. Gave up way too many second shots because we were not strong enough. When Petteway takes bad shots it is mental weakness. When he gets frustrated and gets a T for trash talking and an off the ball foul its mental weakness. You can work your butt off all you want in the off season, be absolutely ripped and still be mentally soft. Nobody right now is showing consistent toughness. Rivers misses a layup because he tries to change his shot when challenged by a player 5 inches shorter. Pitchford refusing to post up is physical and mental weakness. We have absolutely no inside game whatsoever. If you're going to rely on penetration and threes you have to spread the floor more and get people up above the free throw line to open those lanes. We have the pieces to be successful but someone needs to take charge and show some toughness. Mentally we just aren't strong right now.

Soft. Mentally and physically. Nobody wanted to bring the ball up the floor against pressure. Pulled up scared and wasn't strong physically and they take the ball from us over and over again. Everybody that has pressured us this year has gotten the same result. Gave up way too many second shots because we were not strong enough. When Petteway takes bad shots it is mental weakness. When he gets frustrated and gets a T for trash talking and an off the ball foul its mental weakness. You can work your butt off all you want in the off season, be absolutely ripped and still be mentally soft. Nobody right now is showing consistent toughness. Rivers misses a layup because he tries to change his shot when challenged by a player 5 inches shorter. Pitchford refusing to post up is physical and mental weakness. We have absolutely no inside game whatsoever. If you're going to rely on penetration and threes you have to spread the floor more and get people up above the free throw line to open those lanes. We have the pieces to be successful but someone needs to take charge and show some toughness. Soft, soft and softer still.

I don't know if you are referencing one if my posts, but if you are - man did you miss the point. Nope...in fact I don't remember reading your post(s). Are you just as snide in your conversations with god?

I don't know if you are referencing one if my posts, but if you are - man did you miss the point.