Watching Nova, and looking back at Kentucky, it seems pretty clear that aggressive offense beats defense. I think back to Gabriel in the SEC tourney, and his willingness to take 3's. Nice that he hit a lot, but even taking them versus passing the ball around or trying to always work inside with resulting turnovers or bad shots was the better option.
Against, K-State I remember Gabriel taking one 3 and missing. Was there ever an aggressive offense by him again? Knox in the first half also was reluctant to take shots after missing one or two and throughout the game our offense seemed fairly one dimensional. Drive to the basket or pass to PJ for a drive to the basket. In the meantime, K-State which was not a great shooting team was willing to take a number of open look 3's. Yes, PJ missing free throws cost us the win, but it might not have even been that close with better aggressive offense and willingness to put up some outside shots.
Early in the Mich/Nova game, Michigan built a lead by aggressive offense. They took it to Nova. At the same time, other than Brunson on the inside, Nova was taking and missing shots that rolled around the rim and would come out. Did that ever stop them from continuing to launch those outside shots? No. Eventually, they fell into rhythm combined with Michigan taking some off balanced outside shots and then abandoning their aggressiveness. Of course all of this is a bit more complicated depending upon rebounding for second shots (Nova being way more quick to have those rebounds), but nevertheless, in the second half even with hands in his face, DiVincenzo was aggressive with his shots.
I hope next season with our team that Cal leans more on the shooters than athletes. Yes, Cal preaches defense but unless your team has shooters than can hit some 3's, offense wins these games eventually.
Against, K-State I remember Gabriel taking one 3 and missing. Was there ever an aggressive offense by him again? Knox in the first half also was reluctant to take shots after missing one or two and throughout the game our offense seemed fairly one dimensional. Drive to the basket or pass to PJ for a drive to the basket. In the meantime, K-State which was not a great shooting team was willing to take a number of open look 3's. Yes, PJ missing free throws cost us the win, but it might not have even been that close with better aggressive offense and willingness to put up some outside shots.
Early in the Mich/Nova game, Michigan built a lead by aggressive offense. They took it to Nova. At the same time, other than Brunson on the inside, Nova was taking and missing shots that rolled around the rim and would come out. Did that ever stop them from continuing to launch those outside shots? No. Eventually, they fell into rhythm combined with Michigan taking some off balanced outside shots and then abandoning their aggressiveness. Of course all of this is a bit more complicated depending upon rebounding for second shots (Nova being way more quick to have those rebounds), but nevertheless, in the second half even with hands in his face, DiVincenzo was aggressive with his shots.
I hope next season with our team that Cal leans more on the shooters than athletes. Yes, Cal preaches defense but unless your team has shooters than can hit some 3's, offense wins these games eventually.
