This morning's Feinstein article has us all going to a dark place. I thought I would change it up and maybe take us down a different (perhaps obvious or boring) alley.

The vastly improved play of David Cohn suggests a whole new dynamic for our end-of-game offensive possessions. During the Marcus Thornton era, and for most of this year, including the final possession of UNC-W loss, our set for the final possession has been to have our best scorer (Thornton or Prewitt) with the ball at the top of the key. Essentially this requires the player to go one-on-five to get to the basket, or attempt a tricky pull-up shot if penetration is stopped or pass to a less effective (albeit open) teammate.

Putting Cohn at the top of the key allows him to beat one man and then either go all the way or pass to a teammate for an open three or ideally Prewitt near the basket where he only has one man to beat. In either of the latter two cases, the pass goes to a better offensive threat who is in their most effective spot on the floor.

I realize that don't work well at the end of regulation against UNC-W but I like that scenario.

I'd love to see a penetration move as our go to end of game play

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

I know cohn has scored well, but he is far more dangerous at collapsing the D for wide open jumpers or easy layups from others. I wonder if teams will make a decision not to help off on him and see If he can beat them on his own?

(02-08-2016 11:30 AM)zablenoise Wrote:  I'd love to see a penetration move as our go to end of game play

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

It is hard to go wrong with a penetration move....

You just take it to the hole hard.....

We're still talking hoops, right?

And I think that is what happened at the end of regulation at the UNC-W game. I seem to recall that Cohn jacked up a three because the penetration was not there.

But doesn't that put the defense in the position we are normally in at end-of-game situations? We have to sag because we can't stop the dribble drive. Often that means a zone. I know I feel at a disadvantage when our defense is forced to do that so I feel the opponent is at a disadvantage when they have to do it.

I also believe that with a true PG, you want the other four players to get the ball when they are expected to score and not in a position when they have to create a shot they are not used to creating.

It will take some time for us to get use to this situation and it may be more beneficial in future years than this year but it's like start a chess match with a slight edge over the opponent.

(The perfect situation is to have a four or five who can catch the ball at the high post and turn around and shoot. On this year's roster that might mean Prewitt flashing to the high post.)

I agree that Cohn adds a new dimension and his passing the open teammate is AWESUME as shown by his assists.

Our end of the game strategy has always been puzzling to me.

The article talks about Tim R being an option on that final play in the championship game with Delaware. If you go back and watch the video, Tim R was wide open calling for the ball in the middle of the lane when his man left him to double Marcus. A pass to him would have had a much higher chance of success since he was hot and had about 18-20 points scored in the paint already.....oh well so much about the past.

Remember deadline for getting in your ticket order for CAA BB tourney is THIS FRIDAY!

I like the scenario with this cast of a high screen for Cohn and roll by Sheldon with either Cohn dumping off to Sheldon or penetrating the defense and the other 3 shooters spotted up around the perimeter for their shots, if the defense collapses on Cohn and Sheldon. I don't think there are many teams we will face that will defend this scenario well. That would put us in the best position for a good shot, imho. Now it just has to go through the net.