• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

2014-2015 Season Thread

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Ohio

Woosah
Joined
Dec 14, 2011
Messages
41,855
Reaction score
48,567
Points
148
Saw we still needed a season thread...

Marquette in Columbus tonight at 7:30
 
Ohio State has revamped their offensive system from a high-ball screen- centric offense to a "side-to-side" motion offense. Not far from what Blatt is trying to instill in this Cavs team.

This offensive system would've done wonders for this team last year, especially with our outside shooting struggles. When the basic premise of your offense is a high ball screen and continual pick and pop off of that, you can definitely become very stagnant as guys end up watching a lot of 2-man game. At the very least, last years squad should've focused on pushing the ball significantly more and played with more pace.

Assuming they stick with the new plan of "side to side" action, you should see a lot of dribble-drive action off of close-outs. I don't want to get too technical, but the idea is to generate proper spacing and force defenders into long close-outs where the shooter can either take the look, or has an easy blow by. As the offensive player, once you've put the defender coming to close-out in a compromised position and you've become the aggressor, the defense needs to rotate and help because the man on ball is out of position. It's at this point where the offense should be able to generate really easy three point looks and generate a lot of close looks at the rim on back cuts once the defense is forced into rotation.

The biggest issue with implementing this offense is the time it takes to master. You're seeing it with the Cavs right now, where they're trying to ingrain the system but struggle with consistent rhythm and knowing where each player will be at all times. It takes a lot of discipline and understanding of where you're supposed to be. When the ball hits certain parts of the court, there is supposed to be automatic rolls, fades, back-cuts, etc. When the system is perfected you get something like the San Antonio Spurs last year, which is a thing of beauty.

I'm really glad Matta was open to change though. We were so stagnant last year, and took way too many bad shots at the end of the shot-clock because we were unable to force defenses out of position utilizing high ball screens on our PG's who didn't have respectable jump-shots. Just a bad formula...
 
Very excited to see D'Angelo Russell...heard nothing but good things about him...plus he is a lefty.
 
Russell is struggling a bit I the first half against Marquette. This recruiting class for Matta is pretty stacked though. Should be a fun year for the Buckeyes.
 
Told you guys about my bro Kam a while back. He killed tonight. Such a gifted scorer. Wish he could've seen more minutes but we're about to get the W so it doesn't matter much.
 
Excited about this team. Just so much deeper in talent than the previous couple years.
 
Excited about this team. Just so much deeper in talent than the previous couple years.

Have another good recruiting class coming in next year too. No more 7 or 8 man rotations for Thad.
 
Start of the season just further cements that Shannon Scott should have been the primary ball handler over Craft last year. Just much better at running the offense.
 
Only problem with that is it woulda put Craft as a total liability on offense. He wasn't a dynamic handler or passer, but he was steady enough to get the play starter.

Plus I think Scott has a lot more to work with this year, certainly a faster team which suits his skill set.

Craft wasn't as exposed as much when he had DeShaun Thomas (aka- the black hole) to dump the ball to and knowing he would never see it again unless he stole it. That was a slower team, more of a half court team and Craft could fit into it well enough.
 
Russel is really looking nice.
 
Anybody watching this showdown with Louisville?

Big ten up 5-0 to start the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top