(12-16-2017 03:48 PM)CG_Hawk06 Wrote:  

(12-16-2017 03:28 PM)82hawk Wrote:  http://three-man-weave.com/3mw/2016/12/2...t-to-press

UNC Greensboro - If you look closely at the bottom of Figure 1 above, you'll see a big red block that jumps out at your face in far left column for 2016-17. That's because until this year, Wes Miller and the Spartans rarely, if ever, showed extended full-court pressure. Now 13 games in to Wes Miller's 5th season at the helm, only West Virginia's full-court pressure has forced more turnovers on a per possession basis. In fact, the Spartans 22nd nationally ranked defensive TO rate is far and away the best Miller has posted since arriving in Greensboro. The Spartans' effective full-court disruption has translated into a dramatic improvement in their overall defensive efficiency, a figure that ranked in the nation's bottom-100 in 5 of the past 6 seasons.


Read and digest the last sentence as Wes is a Carolina guy along with Buzz, Lebo, McGrath etc. Carolina ball works at Carolina. Wes abandoned Carolina ball and look at the change.

I agree with the statement I put in bold from you there. I think that's the problem that a lot of the Carolina tree coaches either never "get" or it takes them a bit to realize. Miller must have taken a hard look at where his coaching career was heading if he didn't try something different and made a change. So far it's working for him. In order to play and succeed with Carolina ball (IMO), is to recruit Carolina caliber players. Going back to Shaka Smart's VCU team, playing a full-court defense has been a successful blueprint for success across several teams at the Mid-Major level. We had it. We went away from it. Time will tell if it was the right decision or not.

Wes had an up close and personal look at the difference a press could make in just one year at UNCW. They are a mid major in the UNC system and played UNCW. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to think "gee, that Keatts guy took the same roster Buzz(a Carolina guy) had and failed with, and turned them into contenders immediately.". Not surprisingly, Wes Miller had an immediate positive change as well.

Fortunately for us, Wes was at UNC while McGrath was coaching there. Hopefully they have a good enough relationship that McGrath, as a first year HC, could humble himself enough to ask Wes about the change and how it has helped.