Last night’s loss, which IS the worst loss in the history of
the Jay Wright era, illustrated the biggest problem we currently face as a
program. We are no longer guard u. This does not have to be a problem, as
programs tend to ebb and shift over time, but it is a problem because we, ahem
Jay, refuses to adjust our offensive game plan.
What you saw last night was a combination of untimely poor shooting,
inexperience, awful defending but more glaringly a lack of creative penetrating
guard play. The one required component
needed in our offense.
Since 2005, every single year without fail, we have had
exactly 2 players who have played more than 40% of available minutes while also
assisting (ARate) on at least 20% of their teammates baskets.
Name
|
Year
|
%Min
|
Arate
|
Torate
|
Foye
|
2005
|
79.9
|
21.5
|
15.9
|
Nardi
|
2005
|
77.4
|
20.0
|
22.5
|
Foye
|
2006
|
86.1
|
21.3
|
12.6
|
Lowry
|
2006
|
72.7
|
25.9
|
19.6
|
Scottie
|
2007
|
74.1
|
30.6
|
22.3
|
Nardi
|
2007
|
74.3
|
27.5
|
18.5
|
Scottie
|
2008
|
81.4
|
20.8
|
21.5
|
Fisher
|
2008
|
53.1
|
25.8
|
20.5
|
Scottie
|
2009
|
80.2
|
20.4
|
19.3
|
Fisher
|
2009
|
60.7
|
22.6
|
19.7
|
Scottie
|
2010
|
75.2
|
21.8
|
18.0
|
Fisher
|
2010
|
67.1
|
27.5
|
17.3
|
Fisher
|
2011
|
83.1
|
32.0
|
15.8
|
Wayns
|
2011
|
75.0
|
32.4
|
19.8
|
Wayns
|
2012
|
75.0
|
32.5
|
18.9
|
Johnson
|
2012
|
43.6
|
21.7
|
35.8
|
Arcidiacono
|
2013
|
81.8
|
31.1
|
23.4
|
Chennault
|
2013
|
43.0
|
18.6
|
10.7
|
Look at 2012. We could
have played a total of ONLY 18.6% of minutes with two ball handlers on the
floor. Let me also take a moment to
point out just how awful Johnson was last year; did you see that TORate from
the earlier list? It is a whole 12%
points WORSE than the next guy, who unfortunately happens to be
Arcidiacono. Translation: Wayns was
forced to create way too many shots and opportunities for his teammates while
at the same time trying to create for himself because Johnson should be playing
DIII.
Over the years, the beauty of our offense HAS been that we
have had multiple ball handlers and creators on the court at the same
time. It is what has allowed to us play
a rather loose and seemingly unorganized offensive game that at the same time has
performed at an above average rate. As this
graph adequately illustrates, that is not the case anymore. Currently, we have only ONE guy who can be
labeled a creator and he is a true Freshmen.
I don’t think you need me to explain anything more.
Wait, what’s that you say?
What about Hilliard, he can play the point can’t he? NO HE CAN’T, well at least he’s shown he
doesn’t want to. Last year Hilliard was
third in ARate with 10.8. This year,
when we could use another creator, Hilliard currently ranks 6th on
the team. Yeah that’s right, 6th
as he is only ahead of Ochefu, Yarou and Sutton and his ARate is down at
8.2. It’s so low it’s insulting. And I’m not even mentally prepared to talk
about how bad Chennault is. He stinks,
end of story. The guy played 75% of his
teams minutes last year, took over 20% of the shots while he was on the floor,
and shot 43% from 2 and 25% from 3. Even
Cheek was better than that.