I just got in and checked the score.
So I read the recap and the box score to see if anything was evident. And not much jumped out… except for one thing.
Coach Rob was playing with the subs again. He did this last year and the year before as well, and I thought he put it behind him. But he got caught up in what the other coach was doing with his line-up, and he made changes on the fly to counter those moves instead of letting his boys play.
When that happens, Coach Rob gets frustrated with the little things and yanks someone, anyone for a mistake. And it looks like that’s what happened within the crucial last five minutes when Wazzu made the run out to a 15 point lead. We have a turnover by Joe at 4:16… then a media timeout at 3:34 when Angus comes in for Joe… then Angus commits a turnover 15 seconds later, which immediately brings Kevin off the bench for him.
No steals on the turnovers means they were probably dumb plays caused by odd personnel groupings that Coach Rob found himself stuck in because he was playing Ken Bone’s game. Suddenly the Beavs have Ahmad, Jared, Devon, Eric and Kevin on the floor? I notice that a three-guard set made the run to cut an eight point deficit down to one. Here we are down four to six points, and this is our line-up?
As I look at the first half, I’m assuming the Beavs are playing zone. Nothing says zone like a failure to press the other team into making mistakes… while they shoot 50%+ from everywhere on the floor.
It also makes our boys unsure of themselves on the offensive end.
And one more note on the night.
Ahmad and Eric don’t have the legs right now. Their stat lines scream bench play. Ahmad can lead from the pine as well as from a starter’s role. But if he wants to microwave it, then Coach Rob needs to put him on a leash until he plugs the damn machine in.
That’s how I read a box score. I’ll call a friend tomorrow who was at the game, and he’ll tell me I was all wrong.
Hey! Things could be worse.
We could have lost to the Ducks tonight instead.
Spot on with the Beavs playing zone in the 1st half. 90% of the time it was the 1-3-1 and we got flat out burnt. In the 1st half with the 1-3-1 zone OSU gets outscored by 15 points. In the 2nd half, OSU goes exclusively with man-to-man D and wins the half by 5 points. Is Coach Rob that pathetic of an in-game coach he doesn’t realize when to switch out of the 1-3-1, or is he just that hardheaded?
It has to be blindness. Howland has never missed an opportunity to shred that defense into itty-bitty pieces, yet Coach Rob still runs it against UCLA.
Robinson doesn’t call time-outs. We went into the half with 4, last night. The Cougs went on a 15 point run and not one time-out? What are you saving them for (in the first half)? The last home game we went into half-time with 5. WTH. Stop the runs with a quick time-out! I love Robinson as a person but his game-time coaching skills are terrible. I need to but a ticket right behind him.
Timeouts were fine in this one. It was what Coach Rob was doing with personnel at the breaks that hurt. There was a media timeout placed perfectly at the middle of that run, and the wrong personnel ended up on the floor.
Of course, when you refuse to put bodies on their bigs, I guess it doesn’t matter who’s on the floor.
Not to distract from the men’s team here, but have you had a chance to watch the WBB team at all this season? I love your insight into the games and would love to hear what you think of them and Rueck.
I have not seen enough to make any solid analysis. Though the numbers should speak for themself. Scott has the girls playing well. And he’ll be the first to tell you that it’s all the girls.