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Date Posted: 12/30/02 12:18pm
Author: Poly80
Author Host/IP: 66.117.129.20
Subject: Re: Poly vs SMC
In reply to: Stangman 's message, "Re: Poly vs SMC" on 12/30/02 8:00am

I also attended the game at St. Mary's and would add the following comments to those of BMF...

1. Poly's defense is significantly better than that played during the Schneider years. Poly switched between a 3-2 zone and man to man and both were effective. While using the zone, the Stangs moved well and when St. Mary's got the ball on the wing, good "help defense" shut down the scoring opportunity quickly.

Also, Poly's coaches did a good job of adjusting defensively. After Poly jumped-out to a 23-9 lead in the first half, St. Mary's adjusted their offense and began hitting lay-ups using solid screens, cuts and backdoor passes. Poly then adjusted and neutalized this for the remainder of the game. Nice going!

2. On offense, Poly has no shooters from the outside and ran an offensive set that was above the top of the key all night. The Stangs constantly set Patterson in a high-post position and rotated guards and forwards high all night. Very few shots were taken from beyond 15 feet which seems to be a statement about the Mustang's ability to shoot. Moreover, the Stang's offensive spacing was very poor and the lanes were frequently clogged. This probably occured because they can't hit the outside shot so St. Mary's crowded the key and clogged the passing lanes.

3. Phil Johnson has no hands, very poor footwork, is a poor defender and has no moves in the low post. Further, he can't jump (rebound) to save his life. He'd be wise to watch films of Varnie Dennis or attend Pete Newell's "Big Man Camp" if he is to ever make a meaningful contribution. His performance was very surprising especially after scoring 17 points in his prior game at Hawaii.

4. Patterson is not much of a scorer but is an agressive defender and rebounder....Very much like Ketchem! With Dennis in foul trouble, he made a huge difference with the exception if his offensive play. To start the second half, he turned the ball over the first 4 times he touched it . This helped St. Mary's quickly erase the 13 point lead the Mustangs enjoyed at intermission.

5. Guard play for the Stangs continues to be a problem. Jason Allen had 16 points (mostly on free throws near the game's end) but he turned the ball over 7 times and had no assists. A solid guard should have 2 assists to every 1 turnover. However, he is a decent defender.

6. James Grace is a tremondous leaper but has no shot. Against St. Mary's, he contributed very little from the wing which is too bad because if he could find a shot or create off the dribble, he could be deadly.

7. Eric Jackson is a good defender but a poor shooter. Further, in the open court he has trouble dribbling. He turned the ball over multiple times when accepting a pass in the open court during transition.

8. Poly should work on screens. Every time down the floor they set high post picks the did virtually nothing. Not only do those setting picks need to make them more aggressive, the guards need to utilize the picks more effectively. St. Mary's ran around the screens all night.

9. Varnie Dennis has beautiful moves down low. Until he fouled-out in the second half, he was schooling St. Mary's center with text-book drop step and spin moves. In the first half, he had 17 points and it was apparent that St. Mary's wanted to foul him out of the game early in the second half which they accomplished with 8+ minutes to go. When he fouled-out, Dennis had only played about 1 minute in the second half so his absense was significant.

10 Having a slashing guard that can distrupt, penetrate and create off the dribble would make all the difference for Poly. Geary for example was called for palming the ball 5 times when driving to the basket. He's a good defender but his ball handling is suspect.

In summary, solid defense won the game and the Stangs look particularly impressive in this phase. Hopefully, Schilling who did not play, will free things up with his outside sharp shooting and kick-start an offense that is struggling..

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