New Jersey Tech

[Coyote Fan]

Feb 15, 2011 20:25:13 GMT -6 azsod73 said:

pierreyote, you nailed it. Coyote Fan, give it a rest.

Another Johnny come lately. But at least this controversy made you register. See all the good this is causing. People are registering on the board. I am who I am and that will not change and I will not compromise my beliefs. So make sure you go to the poll question and vote as you can be part of the movement to silence me for awhile, at least 2 months.

There is plenty of time to rest AD, so now is the time to really make sure we let the controversy flow. Controversy sells so why not keep it alive and well and keep the board active. I will likely continue to be controversial and continue to be opinionated but I will do as the majority wants so if its time to be voted off the Coyote island than I will smoother my torch and move on.

[youthbballcoach]

I am new to the board so if I overstep my boundaries, someone please let me know. I happenened to attend Saturday's game and I feel I can give an fairly accurate account of what took place.

First off, for the most part it was a well played game. There weren't many whistles and the game had a good flow to it. However, this close loss was due to the same things that have been plaguing the Yotes all season, lack of defense, poor and hurried shot selection and questionable substitutions. Offensively, NJIT got the shots that they wanted. This is illustrated by NJIT's Jheryl Wilson attaining his career high and shooting 12-15. In several instances NJIT players were left wide open without their shots being contested. I've watched the women play from time to time and they move their feet and have active hands on defense. A majority of the men's players seem disinterested in playing defense.

Secondly, as a few others of you have mentioned, they shoot way too many 3's and miss way too many. I disagree with the law of averages theory when it comes to this, only because they take toughly contested shots. It isn't as if their 3's are coming off of dribble penetration or the post is being doubled and the ball is being kicked out to wide open shooters. It almost seems as though The Yotes have 3 guys who are competing for shots and at times and do so at the detriment of team play. I can recall at the press conference following N.Dakota game, one of the players talked about team play, but also said that in warm-ups they practice shooting with a defender's hand in their faces. Why shoot with a hand in your face when you can pass the ball to a post-player that shoots 62% from the field? During Saturday's game the player who is shooting 32% from the field on the season took a 3-pointer with USD trailing by 1 with 1:30 left and in the double bonus. They were shooting 2 fts after each foul at this juncture. The frosh post was making fts at this point of the game, another player had 25 pts and was shooting very well, the PG was getting into the paint in the 2nd half at will, so why take a 3? The player that took the 3 is also the team's best freethrow shooter. The same player did this at the SIUE game, you can't there is no reason to take a 3 when you are trailing by 1, especially when you have been shooting so poorly all season. It hurts the team.

Thirdly, I totally agree with Yote 53 and Coyote Fan about the talent level of the Yotes this year. They have more talent than the other teams in the GWC, but the wrong combination of players spends too many minutes on the floor together. I have been trying not to use names, but I may need to in order to get my point across, I apologize in advance. The Yotes need to play their 2 bigs at the same time. One is a deft offensive player, while the other is a tough defender. They are both good and willing passers which is more than and can say for several other players. They can protect each other on the court and increase rebounding. Rebounds equal possessions. Against NJIT, one was subbed for the other. It should be painfully obvious to everyone, especially Coach Boots, that his four-guard line-up is a failure. Three of those guards shoot the ball whether they have good looks or not rather than getting the ball inside to the post-players who are shooting 62% and 52% repectively. One of the guards is shooting 32% from the field and is a porous defender, yet routinely plays over 30 minutes per game. How does this contribute to the team's success? Only one of the guards puts consistent emphasis on defending and trying to get others involved yet he plays less minutes than the other three. Many times when a run is made, this PG is usually involved in the middle of it. Whether it is diving on the floor for a loose ball, getting a steal, taking a charge, rebounding against bigger players, kicking it out to an open shooter or driving for a tough basket, The Yotes PG shows that he wants to win. When he isn't on the court or doesn't have the ball in his hands, the bigs don't get touches, the offense is stagnant and the defense is more suspect than normal. Then you have the 16 min/game that is given to the coach's son. Can anyone justify him playing over the freshman guard/forward who has such a well-rounded game or over the senior forward that is shooting a high percentage, always plays hard and was a contributor to last year's team success? In conference play, the coach's son has been totally ineffective because all the teams know that he can only spot up and shoot. It seems that only the senior PG looks for him on offense. He hasn't shown to be a capable defender and on several occasions, Coach Boots has had to use timeouts to save possessions when his son has the ball. During Saturday's game, his 15 minutes amounted to nothing. The seldom used senior forward had 6 points in very limited minutes. He was at least making a contribution in his time on the floor.

The Yotes have been struggling this season and could easily have at least 7 more victories. Their struggles have little to do with talent, inexperience or their being in the third year of transition. N.Dakota starts 4 freshmen, Utah Valley starts 2 freshmen and 2 Juco transfers, and only 2 years ago NJIT had a record of 1-30, the previous year 0-29. Chemistry is more important than talent. Guys talk about "We" but then go out and don't defend, don't pass to open teamates and take poor shots. Until Coach Boots decides to reward minutes based on guys making winning plays for the sake of the team, The Yotes will struggle. As a team you can't be successful when the guys who play a vast majority of the minutes don't defend and take bad shots. It's hard to win when guys consume minutes and are unproductive game after game. The Yotes have players who will make the extra pass, dive for loose balls, go after rebounds and take charges but their minutes are limited.

I have been a Yote follower the past 2 seasons and continue to want to see them do well. Every team loses games and maybe sometime you have an off shooting night, that happens but when players don't take pride in getting stopping on the defensive end and continue to indiscriminately jack up shots, it doesn't sound to me as though they really want to win. USD has the talent to win all of their remaining games, but the question is do they have the chemistry?

[Yote 53]

Holy crap! Nice analysis. Please contribute again anytime you feel the need.

Oh yeah, I totally agree.

[Iceman]

Yeah nice 1st post. Jump in anytime.

[yotemeal]

ybbc, welcome to the board! Thoughtful analysis is always welcome, and I personally have no problem with "naming names" so long as it remains in the realm of constructive criticism rather than personal attacks. So feel free to speak freely. (Not that I'm a real active policeman/moderator...we're adults).

Anyway, a theme I detect in your post -- one with which I completely concur -- is this team's struggles with discipline and identity. This team defends and shoots too poorly to be a "four-guard" squad.

[youthbballcoach]

Thanks guys. Now that I know my limits, I'll definitely continue to post. Anything I say is meant to be constructive. If I go over the line please let me know. I'm not on here trying to hurt anyone's feelings, just observing what I see.

[Iceman]

It would be different if these guys were in high school, but since they are in college, you should be able to name names. Like yotemeal said, the constructive criticism is ok to hear.

[usdlaw]

There is no sugar coating it with that post. Guns blazing! Welcome to the board youthbbcoach.

Since you said you have followed the Yotes for only a couple years I wonder if you are a player's parent or relative. If you haven't joined the Howling Pack, please join. Feel free to share your opinions on this board and your donations to Coyote scholarships is appreciated. In case you don't know, all donations to the HP are for scholarships. It's not used for other budget stuff. I personally think former student athletes need to "pay it forward", and parents of current student athletes should donate because they aren't having to pay for college. But then again, that's just my opinion too.

[#1CoyoteFan (Admin)]

Um, youthbbcoach, WELCOME TO THE BOARD! seriously, that was an awesome post! Don't worry about stepping on ANYONES toes. Seriously, I created the board and that is some of the best analysis we have ever had on the board.

And I agree with ALL of it honestly. I just don't get why USD settles for 3's so easily. Jake Thomas and Louie Krogman have the ability to drive the lane and I wish they would do that more. Unfortunately, Krogman, Thomas and Jordan Boots' defense all lack a good defensive game and that's why all of the open looks.

Keep it up man! Keep coming back.

[Charlie]

Not only are the Yotes shooting a lot of 3's but a lot of the time it is early in the shot clock. It hurts a team when it doesn't utilize the shot clock. Nothing like playing offense for 8 seconds and then turn around and play D for 35 seconds. That wears a team out quickly which might be some of the reason USD struggles down the stretch defensively.

[wileycoyote]

Hey YBBC, I think we are looking through the same glasses! You hit the nail on the head! Welcome to the board! GO YOTES!