This one from The Mid-Majority, an awesome blog you probably know about but if you don't, check it out. Interesting note that NMSU is 11th nationally with 79.9 possessions per game.
11 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Second nationally in burritos consumed. Don't ya love stats.
Nice blog and so accurate. We are in a downward spiral since 2007, and are horrible defensively. Unfortunately, the "heart and commitment" it asks for to fix our defensive woes will not be given by these players, or this coach.
So does having lots of possessions in a game indicate good defense that forces the other team to turn the ball over or our inability to stop them from scoring therefore getting the ball back very often?
No way - we're tops. And we also lead in per capita burrito manufacture.
As for possessions per game, its a good thing if we shoot first and ask questions later. We're not very pretty offensively once the other team has a chance to set up defensively.
For historical perspective, we've always played very quickly since Reggie arrived. It has nothing to do with poor defense or lots of turnovers. Rather, it's a conscious decision to continually force tempo and shoot early in the shot clock. Pressuring other teams defensively helps, but more to force them to play fast rather than turn the ball over.
Chilero is correct, IMO, about our efficiency greatly increasing when we get transition/early buckets. JY and JGib are excellent in the open court, Laroche makes very good decisions on the break, and Wendell and The Gillenwater are both capable finishers and run the court well. This team was built to run.
Jason G. - Curious given the repeated issues we have with academic elgibility, at what point does accountibility kick in? I mean last year we wrote off half the year, this season same crap as we are at best mediocre until the starting 3,4 come back... i mean NMSU is a joke of an academic school in the sense all you have to do is show up to class, read a bit, and you can get D's and C's. Shouldn't heads roll at very least on Menzies staff for this garbage..?
how as an objective reporter are you not shining the light on this for what it is?
Anon 12:50 I have to disagree with you. I don't like Menzies as a coach and would like to see him go but I don't think it's his fault or his staff's fault that Gillenwater and McKines are ineligible. There is only so much you can do to help players succeed in college. You can talk to them, you can provide them with the support they need, you can institute rules and what not but at the end of the day, it's really up to them. You can't make a player go to class if he doesn't want to.
The bottom line is, the players are the one who messed up. Gillenwater in particular was warned a year ago (last fall) that he faces the risk of being ineligible if he doesn't do what he needs to do. He ignored it for whatever reason. Now he is paying the price.
Do you fire a coach because his players are too lazy to go to class or submit homework?? I don't think so. You fire the players. If NMSU is really a joke of an academic school as you say and it's so easy to get Cs and Ds then why aren't we asking for Gillenwater and McKines' heads to roll? Based on your logic, they are the ones who messed up so they should be the ones to go. I'm not suggesting that the players should be kicked off the team and I certainly don't want that to happen but if we are to hire anybody on the coaching stuff we should do it for the right reasons and not because the players don't take care of their business.
What's up with the "heart" comments. Anybody think these guys are content to lose? If L's = no heart, then I guess O.K., UCLA this year has no heart, right?
I mean, if anybody really thought the team had no heart then why would they even waste two mins posting to a blog? Is somebody that blogs those kind of comments trying to somehow motivate the team by shaming them into working a little harder to get in the W column? ...that's all I can figure.
What were you a journalism major and you realize the other plausible explanation would sell papers? Why can't you see that NMSU is such a class institution that the professors won't give the star athletes the same preferential treatment that lesser intitutions undoubtedly do becasue they stand to make so much dough off of their basketball program. Quit brow-beating JG. He's doing a great job in a tiny media market.
I sat and watch two seperate members of the faculty hold Gary Jesse's hand (our star linebacker at the time) for two semssters. The guy was dumb as rocks (as he would prob admit) but damn the guy at least tried... and it was recognized. The class faculty will infact help these guys if they show up and make an effort. Anyone teacher would, its human nature. The guy that gets hosed is the guy who's too cool for school and shows up half ass.
Secondly, damn right this falls on the coach and his staff. He should have never recruited them if (since this is apparently his strength as we have seen creating an offensive scheme certainly isn't...) they werent going to be elgible to play. All in all, as a program you have two options; go win and no one asks how, or have some true academic athletes that we can at least be proud of.
tell me I'm wrong... to my last point, JG shine the light on this for what it is man.
By total fluke, I sat next to Menzies and the team on a flight out to Oakland for the St. Mary's embarrassment. Not a single one of those dudes had a text book with them. Not one. Where was the coach saying I want you guys studying on the plane? Instead jammin out the ipod readin a magazine.
until then I'll still be pissed watching us get handled by UTEP because they actually have their team in uniform.
11 comments:
Second nationally in burritos consumed. Don't ya love stats.
Nice blog and so accurate. We are in a downward spiral since 2007, and are horrible defensively. Unfortunately, the "heart and commitment" it asks for to fix our defensive woes will not be given by these players, or this coach.
So does having lots of possessions in a game indicate good defense that forces the other team to turn the ball over or our inability to stop them from scoring therefore getting the ball back very often?
GS
Second nationally in burrito consumption?
No way - we're tops. And we also lead in per capita burrito manufacture.
As for possessions per game, its a good thing if we shoot first and ask questions later. We're not very pretty offensively once the other team has a chance to set up defensively.
and 312th in defense!!!!
For historical perspective, we've always played very quickly since Reggie arrived. It has nothing to do with poor defense or lots of turnovers. Rather, it's a conscious decision to continually force tempo and shoot early in the shot clock. Pressuring other teams defensively helps, but more to force them to play fast rather than turn the ball over.
Chilero is correct, IMO, about our efficiency greatly increasing when we get transition/early buckets. JY and JGib are excellent in the open court, Laroche makes very good decisions on the break, and Wendell and The Gillenwater are both capable finishers and run the court well. This team was built to run.
Jason G. - Curious given the repeated issues we have with academic elgibility, at what point does accountibility kick in? I mean last year we wrote off half the year, this season same crap as we are at best mediocre until the starting 3,4 come back... i mean NMSU is a joke of an academic school in the sense all you have to do is show up to class, read a bit, and you can get D's and C's. Shouldn't heads roll at very least on Menzies staff for this garbage..?
how as an objective reporter are you not shining the light on this for what it is?
thanks-
a pissed alum
Anon 12:50 I have to disagree with you. I don't like Menzies as a coach and would like to see him go but I don't think it's his fault or his staff's fault that Gillenwater and McKines are ineligible. There is only so much you can do to help players succeed in college. You can talk to them, you can provide them with the support they need, you can institute rules and what not but at the end of the day, it's really up to them. You can't make a player go to class if he doesn't want to.
The bottom line is, the players are the one who messed up. Gillenwater in particular was warned a year ago (last fall) that he faces the risk of being ineligible if he doesn't do what he needs to do. He ignored it for whatever reason. Now he is paying the price.
Do you fire a coach because his players are too lazy to go to class or submit homework?? I don't think so. You fire the players. If NMSU is really a joke of an academic school as you say and it's so easy to get Cs and Ds then why aren't we asking for Gillenwater and McKines' heads to roll? Based on your logic, they are the ones who messed up so they should be the ones to go. I'm not suggesting that the players should be kicked off the team and I certainly don't want that to happen but if we are to hire anybody on the coaching stuff we should do it for the right reasons and not because the players don't take care of their business.
What's up with the "heart" comments. Anybody think these guys are content to lose? If L's = no heart, then I guess O.K., UCLA this year has no heart, right?
I mean, if anybody really thought the team had no heart then why would they even waste two mins posting to a blog? Is somebody that blogs those kind of comments trying to somehow motivate the team by shaming them into working a little harder to get in the W column? ...that's all I can figure.
Yo, piss alum
What were you a journalism major and you realize the other plausible explanation would sell papers? Why can't you see that NMSU is such a class institution that the professors won't give the star athletes the same preferential treatment that lesser intitutions undoubtedly do becasue they stand to make so much dough off of their basketball program.
Quit brow-beating JG. He's doing a great job in a tiny media market.
pissed alum here again...
I sat and watch two seperate members of the faculty hold Gary Jesse's hand (our star linebacker at the time) for two semssters. The guy was dumb as rocks (as he would prob admit) but damn the guy at least tried... and it was recognized. The class faculty will infact help these guys if they show up and make an effort. Anyone teacher would, its human nature. The guy that gets hosed is the guy who's too cool for school and shows up half ass.
Secondly, damn right this falls on the coach and his staff. He should have never recruited them if (since this is apparently his strength as we have seen creating an offensive scheme certainly isn't...) they werent going to be elgible to play. All in all, as a program you have two options; go win and no one asks how, or have some true academic athletes that we can at least be proud of.
tell me I'm wrong... to my last point, JG shine the light on this for what it is man.
By total fluke, I sat next to Menzies and the team on a flight out to Oakland for the St. Mary's embarrassment. Not a single one of those dudes had a text book with them. Not one. Where was the coach saying I want you guys studying on the plane? Instead jammin out the ipod readin a magazine.
until then I'll still be pissed watching us get handled by UTEP because they actually have their team in uniform.
pissed alum
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