(12-22-2022 07:54 AM)RamyEMU Wrote: (12-21-2022 02:47 PM)Luckeyone Wrote: (12-21-2022 12:38 PM)RamyEMU Wrote: (12-21-2022 10:55 AM)Luckeyone Wrote: Ramy, I value your perspective too; however, I believe if the educated basketball community took the time to comment, the majority would agree that Emoni took an ill advised shot with the game in the balance. Heath commented that the team has been working on closing out games and certainly Emoni’s shot was not part of the plan. Great players make mistakes too.
This might be one of those argument examples that Steve pointed out where I am hearing one thing, and you saying another.
My take: Luckey says bench Emoni-> BobW says that makes no sense-> Luckey says yes it does because Emoni took a bad shot.
Maybe there is more to what you are saying, or maybe I am misinterpreting what you are saying. I apologize if so. I agree it was an ill advised shot, but not nearly to the extent you are suggesting. Certainly not something to bench your best player over.
Ramy,
Emoni is a very good 18 yo but he’s not our best player. I’m merely suggesting that the players who can guard their men get some starting time opportunities. Emoni should play but Heath could consider having him come off the bench until his defensive prowess matches his offensive prowess.
BTW, Noah is this teams best player hands down but he’s being too unselfish right now.
And if that is your original point, it is wrong again. For Coach Heath to send a message on defense, he would be playing only 4 players (Golson, Noah, Lovejoy, and Tyson- and I can still give solid critiques of the defense of all four). Emoni Bates defense is bad, but literally almost the whole team is also so. Things are improving defensively for everyone- albeit for each it is to varying degrees. So the same response stands: if everyone is playing bad defense, it makes no sense to limit the minutes of your leading scorer (19.4 ppg) and leading rebounder (5.7 rpg). You are overthinking it, as BobW says…
I agree that EMU's defense is bad but I place that more on the HC than the players. I do so because Heath refuses to have a big guard the rim and to have his perimeter players reduce the number of opponent three balls attempted. As such, but for Randle, EMU's hdefensive ratings are far to hight.
EMU was better defensively last season when Njie played as teams avoided going inside against him. I'm not saying they shouldn't have, but they did chose not to.
EMU best defensive player is Randle by far, but he's not played because he fouls excessively (so does everyone else but Jihad) when he does play. But that is more offset by his defensive rating that indicates that teams avoid him when he's on the court. Since he rarely shoots to ball, It's my opinion he should be paired with Jihad if Jihad can continue to score in double figures.
When evaluating who should be on the court, I look to see who the scorers are, but also look at who has a higher offensive rating than defensive rating. EMU has 5 players who have that-Jihad, Billingsley, Golson, Getter, and Rice. If Jihad continues to play as he did in the last game, he should help EMU's defense.
I next look to see even if a player is underwater comparing his offense to defense, and whether the margin between offensive and defensive rating is small. Bates, Acuff, and Lovejoy are in that category.
Noah's defense is comparable to other players, but his offensive rating is lower due his not shooting as well as he did last season on two's, not shooting enough three's, and while his turnover rate is down from last season, his foul rate is 30 percent higher. He's starting to cut down even further on his turnovers and foul rate. He could be EMU's best perimeter defensive player if he makes more steals and fouls less.
Regardless of ratings, Heath has to put scorers like Bates, Acuff, Noah, and Jihad on the court and he does that.