SaintMisbehavin
Team Captain
Legacy. Alum. Hoops Lover. Hyper-Niche Amateur Blog Runner
Posts: 2,433
Dislikes:
|
Post by SaintMisbehavin on Oct 18, 2012 14:42:26 GMT -5
Given that Owen shot a total of 30 FT's last season I don't think he would have moved that PPG up too drastically. Over the past 2 years, Owen only shot 58 FTs...that is a CRAZY low amount given the number of minutes he played. With Fran's teams (although admittedly gave up many 2 pt. fgs as you alluded) they would MAKE more FTs than the other team ATTEMPTED. I would think that with this team, with the reintroduction of Burdine and Audu who both look to be slashers, this team will have the potential of getting to the line much more. Actually, I calculated it exactly. It was for those 3 guys all together not just Wignot. .68 pts per game if they just shot even 65%. Naturally, as I said earlier, it would be better if they also got to the line more in the first place. Saints attempted 162 FTs less than league leading Loyola did last year. That's like 5 pts per game. And that's not insignificant at all. Loyola's FG% was 42.5 Siena's was 42.4. So that's the difference between 6th place and 2nd. Gotcha, I wasn't questioning your math, I was just saying that Wignot only shot 30 FTs last season at 57%, so if he shot 70% that only adds .14 points a game. I do agree that a slight uptick in FT% (specifically from OD - if he can manage even low 60's), coupled with getting to the line more often, should help the team achieve a higher PPG.
|
|
|
Post by frombustawithlove on Oct 18, 2012 15:25:31 GMT -5
Gotcha, I wasn't questioning your math, I was just saying that Wignot only shot 30 FTs last season at 57%, so if he shot 70% that only adds .14 points a game. I do agree that a slight uptick in FT% (specifically from OD - if he can manage even low 60's), coupled with getting to the line more often, should help the team achieve a higher PPG. Over the same amount of minutes both Burdine and Poole already average double the amount of FT attempts as Wignot's miniscule 30 per year. (just another 30 FTM is 1 PPG for the team) While last year he got a lot of end of game FTs, Downey had just 17 attempts in over 540 mins the year before. Attacking and getting to the line may be the single best way to turn the entire offense around. I have to figure that just by replacing those two guys who didn't dribble drive with guys who can we get another 2+ points a game. Replacing Wiggy with aggressive scorers alone might be enough to turn the offense around. Davonte Beard made more FTs last year than Wignot did. Think about that.
|
|
IndianSaint
Associate Head Coach
Posts: 8,973
Dislikes:
|
Post by IndianSaint on Oct 18, 2012 21:43:45 GMT -5
Tony, I wouldn't place as much weight on Mitch's record as head coach w/FF. That was decades ago. We really can't use the past two years either since he never had the roster he has now (to many key injuries/eligibility issues last two years). What he accomplished last year was beyond anyone's expectations. This year will show how good a coach he is. I'm confident he'll do just fine from here on out (barring 5 or 6 injuries).
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
Dislikes:
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2012 22:52:51 GMT -5
Every little bit helps… Mitch has plenty of weapons- I think the key is to spread it out a bit. Take what the defense gives him. If in the half court they defend OD one on one by all means go to him. If they double team him, kill them from the outside. Push the pace – and this helps a few ways get a few ‘easy” buckets a game plus use more players to keep players on a young roster happy. Mitch teams historically play good defense- so if he can score the ball the fun will be back in Loudonville this year I am not trying to make this a lovefest either but I think that is the perfect definition of what this team will be all about this season. I think the structure was in place last year just didnt have enough bullets in the gun.
|
|
albanysaint
Walk-On
"His words carry weight that would break a less interesting man's jaw"
Posts: 152
Dislikes:
|
Post by albanysaint on Oct 19, 2012 7:01:35 GMT -5
Tony, I wouldn't place as much weight on Mitch's record as head coach w/FF. That was decades ago. We really can't use the past two years either since he never had the roster he has now (to many key injuries/eligibility issues last two years). What he accomplished last year was beyond anyone's expectations. This year will show how good a coach he is. I'm confident he'll do just fine from here on out (barring 5 or 6 injuries). In what other field could you yield similar results separated by decades and not be held accountable? Im sure there were some Fairfield fans in the middle of that long losing stretch that insisted there were other circumstances that werent Coach Bs fault and that he deserved to stay.
|
|
albanysaint
Walk-On
"His words carry weight that would break a less interesting man's jaw"
Posts: 152
Dislikes:
|
Post by albanysaint on Oct 19, 2012 7:11:35 GMT -5
I thought Tony was over exaggerating with the 75% comment above. Went and looked. Mitch is 32-101 good for a .241 win pctg. in games that the opponent scores over 75. wow. On the bright side, he has done better at Siena. He is .257% here (9-26)
|
|
|
Post by frombustawithlove on Oct 19, 2012 9:01:43 GMT -5
Mitch also owns 2 of Fairfield's 3 lifetime NCAA appearances. No one ever mentions that. The coach before Mitch at FF won 39.8% of the time (4yrs, 0 winning) and the coach after him won 43.7% of the time (7 years, 2 winning). Maybe it wasn't that easy to get good recruits to FF based on that no? Mitch also owns the most successful individual year in FF history. 24-7 & NCAAs. Only Cooley had a better season (25-8) but he never beat Siena to get anywhere. The other guy who went to the NCAAs with them did so in an 11-19 year. www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/fairfield/
|
|
albanysaint
Walk-On
"His words carry weight that would break a less interesting man's jaw"
Posts: 152
Dislikes:
|
Post by albanysaint on Oct 19, 2012 9:18:00 GMT -5
Mitch also owns 2 of Fairfield's 3 lifetime NCAA appearances. No one ever mentions that. The coach before Mitch at FF won 39.8% of the time (4yrs, 0 winning) and the coach after him won 43.7% of the time (7 years, 2 winning). Maybe it wasn't that easy to get good recruits to FF based on that no? fast foward to now, where supposedly it is easy to get recruits to Siena. Not to mention him gaining decades of experience. The results - similar. One difference is that the coach who had built the Fairfield team that went to the tournaments got canned. Fran McCaffery was able to realize his self created success. The record at FF shows with another coaches players Mitch did ok. As soon as he had to rebuild his own - not so much. He was left Rossiter, OD and some role players to build around. Not shabby in the least. Most newly hired coaches are left far less than that. Im not sure any team with 2 player of the year candidates has ever put up back to back sub .500 records. POY candidate should be enough to clear .500 almost regardless of supporting cast. we'll see soon enough though. The staff is saying they finally have everything they need to succeed and most of the fans agree. We are all chomping at the bit to get the season under way.
|
|
|
Post by frombustawithlove on Oct 19, 2012 10:07:27 GMT -5
Mitch also owns 2 of Fairfield's 3 lifetime NCAA appearances. No one ever mentions that. The coach before Mitch at FF won 39.8% of the time (4yrs, 0 winning) and the coach after him won 43.7% of the time (7 years, 2 winning). Maybe it wasn't that easy to get good recruits to FF based on that no? fast foward to now, where supposedly it is easy to get recruits to Siena. Not to mention him gaining decades of experience. The results - similar. One difference is that the coach who had built the Fairfield team that went to the tournaments got canned. Fran McCaffery was able to realize his self created success. The record at FF shows with another coaches players Mitch did ok. As soon as he had to rebuild his own - not so much. He was left Rossiter, OD and some role players to build around. Not shabby in the least. Most newly hired coaches are left far less than that. Im not sure any team with 2 player of the year candidates has ever put up back to back sub .500 records. POY candidate should be enough to clear .500 almost regardless of supporting cast. we'll see soon enough though. The staff is saying they finally have everything they need to succeed and most of the fans agree. We are all chomping at the bit to get the season under way. As far as Mitch goes, this is the first year he's not been bogged down by the Fran role players who lacked ability to drive and make plays. If Brookins, Burdine, and Martens were healthy last year, the team could have done more but that's not on Mitch. Guards are more important than big men as they set the tone. I think Mitch has done a good job recruiting but he's made some tough recruiting calls. Whether it was the result of not having good help, not being able to sell himself based on his FF record, or what. He fell short on guard recruiting by not filling Hopper's ship with a guard and by taking the high risk/hopefully high reward chance on Silas/Gomis. The latter wouldn't have mattered if Martens didn't get injured and they had filled Hopper's ship with a guard. Everyone harps on losing guys like Vaughn Gray, Chris Jones, or Debose. Guys who I think were a bit overrated to begin with...at least offensively.... I've long been more upset we stopped calling Damion Lee (Drexel's stud) and didn't pursue more guys like Hymes. After watching one highlight tape of Hymes, it was obvious he was perfect for a team that needs guards. There had to be more like him out there. I think maybe it was assistants who weren't evaluating and recruiting guards well because the current batch of frosh seem solid from a ball skill standpoint. Tobin had a major hand in all three. His talent evaluation seems right on. I like Craig Carter but the best guard he had a hand in was a Hymes who he never saw play. He seems to like the raw athletes whereas Tobin looks at skills more. Perhaps because of Tobin's skill training background, his guys seem more versatile, at least on paper. Or perhaps I'm full of crap, and Mitch just made that a focus for this year.
|
|
|
Post by billmurray on Oct 19, 2012 10:10:07 GMT -5
Here is a news flash. Albanysaint and KK (AKA OD 1 Kenobi) are both correct. The numbers can be spun either way. Bottomline, Albanysaint's final thought is "dead on", to coin a phase, and I don't think anyone on this board would disagree.
|
|
|
Post by frombustawithlove on Oct 19, 2012 10:26:09 GMT -5
Here is a news flash. Albanysaint and KK (AKA OD 1 Kenobi) are both correct. The numbers can be spun either way. Bottomline, Albanysaint's final thought is "dead on", to coin a phase, and I don't think anyone on this board would disagree. God dang it! My cover is blown!
|
|
albanysaint
Walk-On
"His words carry weight that would break a less interesting man's jaw"
Posts: 152
Dislikes:
|
Post by albanysaint on Oct 19, 2012 11:18:11 GMT -5
fast foward to now, where supposedly it is easy to get recruits to Siena. Not to mention him gaining decades of experience. The results - similar. One difference is that the coach who had built the Fairfield team that went to the tournaments got canned. Fran McCaffery was able to realize his self created success. The record at FF shows with another coaches players Mitch did ok. As soon as he had to rebuild his own - not so much. He was left Rossiter, OD and some role players to build around. Not shabby in the least. Most newly hired coaches are left far less than that. Im not sure any team with 2 player of the year candidates has ever put up back to back sub .500 records. POY candidate should be enough to clear .500 almost regardless of supporting cast. we'll see soon enough though. The staff is saying they finally have everything they need to succeed and most of the fans agree. We are all chomping at the bit to get the season under way. As far as Mitch goes, this is the first year he's not been bogged down by the Fran role players who lacked ability to drive and make plays. If Brookins, Burdine, and Martens were healthy last year, the team could have done more but that's not on Mitch. Guards are more important than big men as they set the tone. I think Mitch has done a good job recruiting but he's made some tough recruiting calls. Whether it was the result of not having good help, not being able to sell himself based on his FF record, or what. He fell short on guard recruiting by not filling Hopper's ship with a guard and by taking the high risk/hopefully high reward chance on Silas/Gomis. The latter wouldn't have mattered if Martens didn't get injured and they had filled Hopper's ship with a guard. Everyone harps on losing guys like Vaughn Gray, Chris Jones, or Debose. Guys who I think were a bit overrated to begin with...at least offensively.... I've long been more upset we stopped calling Damion Lee (Drexel's stud) and didn't pursue more guys like Hymes. After watching one highlight tape of Hymes, it was obvious he was perfect for a team that needs guards. There had to be more like him out there. I think maybe it was assistants who weren't evaluating and recruiting guards well because the current batch of frosh seem solid from a ball skill standpoint. Tobin had a major hand in all three. His talent evaluation seems right on. I like Craig Carter but the best guard he had a hand in was a Hymes who he never saw play. He seems to like the raw athletes whereas Tobin looks at skills more. Perhaps because of Tobin's skill training background, his guys seem more versatile, at least on paper. Or perhaps I'm full of crap, and Mitch just made that a focus for this year. someone else mentioned Mitch's title, Associate Head Coach under McCaffery. That Associate Head Coach should have known who was a role player and who was a stud. You spend five years as a key component of success and you know the roster like no one else can. Three years later we are still searching for good guards. * the maac is a guard's league * being a head coach and later an associate head coach within that league should have been enough to know to recruit stud guards. Talking about Hoopers scholarship when the guard issue was the A-1 piority. * he was delt two stud front court players both of which will win or be in contention for player of the year and a slew of role players. Since day 1 all that has been needed is a stud PG and/or stud 2G. the recipe for success in the maac is not all that difficult. regarding Hymes. I like him as a backup. He is just too small in my opinion to make any real noise at or above the midmajor level as a starting pg. Throwing in another undersized player at the two in Brookins is going to be a bad recipe in my opinion. It may be successful against a very weak schedule that we see this year but long term - not the answer. He is still fun to watch.
|
|
|
Post by frombustawithlove on Oct 19, 2012 11:45:02 GMT -5
someone else mentioned Mitch's title, Associate Head Coach under McCaffery. That Associate Head Coach should have known who was a role player and who was a stud. You spend five years as a key component of success and you know the roster like no one else can. Three years later we are still searching for good guards. * the maac is a guard's league * being a head coach and later an associate head coach within that league should have been enough to know to recruit stud guards. Talking about Hoopers scholarship when the guard issue was the A-1 piority. * he was delt two stud front court players both of which will win or be in contention for player of the year and a slew of role players. Since day 1 all that has been needed is a stud PG and/or stud 2G. the recipe for success in the maac is not all that difficult. regarding Hymes. I like him as a backup. He is just too small in my opinion to make any real noise at or above the midmajor level as a starting pg. Throwing in another undersized player at the two in Brookins is going to be a bad recipe in my opinion. It may be successful against a very weak schedule that we see this year but long term - not the answer. He is still fun to watch. I don't want to revert back to the Mitch debate again. We've spent 2 years on this. It can only end badly. I'd rather focus on the future. With regards to Hymes, though. I think he's just getting started. One of the best PGs on the eastcoast is 5-9 Chaz Williams of UMASS. Evan Hymes is still my favorite player. He is the reason Siena wasn't pressed much last year. Brookins was pressed a ton. Hymes is the single most important player on this team because, like the Maestro, he has the ability to dictate the tempo of the entire game. As far as Brookins at SG, there are pluses and minuses to that. The biggest one is: can he drive, draw fouls, and finish at the rim? He didn't do that well. On defense Brookins is a ballhawk. Before CJ got injured, they were both stealing the ball like crazy. Then Brookins had no support and had some injuries so it slowed. I'm less concerned with the "being shot over" aspect as others. I'm more concerned about the half court offense part. I think ultimately the Audu/Oliver combo wins the majority of the 2G minutes and Brookins becomes a 20 min a game guy. Still you have to like the fact that with the two of them together we're nearly impossible to press and turnovers shouldn't be a problem. That may be more important as the frosh develop.
|
|
albanysaint
Walk-On
"His words carry weight that would break a less interesting man's jaw"
Posts: 152
Dislikes:
|
Post by albanysaint on Oct 19, 2012 11:49:52 GMT -5
5'9" 175 and a guy who is more like 5'7" and a 147. BIG difference. I like Hymes. I just think there is a pretty low ceiling, especially coupled with 5'9" Brookins. Both good players, just severely undersized at this level. and playing together.
|
|
|
Post by frombustawithlove on Oct 19, 2012 12:05:25 GMT -5
5'9" 175 and a guy who is more like 5'7" and a 147. BIG difference. I like Hymes. I just think there is a pretty low ceiling, especially coupled with 5'9" Brookins. Both good players, just severely undersized at this level. and playing together. Alex Franklin was a 6-4 power forward. He made up for it with athleticism. So does Hymes. The magical midget is the fastest guy in the league with the ball in his hands. He has a great handle and he can make threes from 28 feet out. He, like Moore, can break double teams by himself. That's rare, no matter what size you are. Remember when Breeden used to dribble the ball off his foot for no apparent reason in single coverage. It takes 2 or 3 guys most of the time to get in Hymes' kitchen. Unless of course, the guy's name is Brandon Hall. I think he morphs into a super hero this year. With more talent around him, I think he shines even brighter.
|
|