There is more that goes into coaching a basketball team in terms of deciding who to play and when than just watching how players do in the games.
There’s practice. How hard are guys playing? Who is paying attention and learning and applying that knowledge? Coaches, especially our coaches, like to reward that one because it can drive the behaviors they want and establish a culture around the team. Are we a team that gets after it and pushes hard in practice? Yes! So those guys are going to be rewarded by seeing the floor.
There’s tenure. Have you been committed to the program? Have you put in your time and done your dues? As much as we don’t overtly advertise this one, we do also give some preference here. It’s that word “experience” that you hear when our coaches talk about players. Sure, that can translate to a lack of mistakes, composure in bigger moments or, most relevant for us, knowledge of our systems and ability to execute them. But more often lately it’s also meant giving run to guys who have been loyal to the program and having some players “wait their turn.” It can also send the message that if you stick through the difficult times, you’ll get your chance once you’re an upperclassman.
This day in age, there’s also investment. If you’ve paid a guy a certain amount of money to come here, there’s an element of wanting to see that investment pay off on the floor sooner than later – especially when longevity isn’t guaranteed. This is something we haven’t embraced as much (and probably played a role in CTB’s early retirement), but it is still a reality. Players have agents. Players can leave after any season.
And then, finally, there’s the reason that most of us fans care about; how do they actually do when they play? How does the team do when they play? Do they flash or do their abilities look like they have room to develop and make a significant impact? Are they raising your floor or your ceiling… or neither? And candidly, of all of the reasons to play certain guys or not… this is still the best one. Of course, it’s not all encompassing. There are factors that can cause players to play better or worse in a game than they’re likely to replicate in the future and it’s the coach’s job to determine that… but, especially as the sample size increases, how they actually do and look is still the most important thing to maximize on-court results – which is the goal.
Of course, it can be difficult and tricky to navigate all of those other things. If you pull a player out of the starting lineup, there’s a chance you light a fire under them… but there’s also a chance you de-motivate them or outright lose them. It can be heartbreaking to sit someone who has given their entire career to the program in favor of a first year, and you might worry about the message that sends or just feel for that player and want them to get an opportunity. But, ultimately, you owe it to the program and to the players themselves to make the decisions that both give the team the best chance to win the most games over the span of a season while also building to where the team is at its best come March.
Sometimes those goals are in true tension. What gives you the best results early in the season isn’t always what will give you the best results at the end of the season (it often isn’t) and so you have to kind of walk that tightrope. But, with this year’s team, it’s becoming apparent that what’s actually best now is what also holds the most potential… and yet we still haven’t leaned into it in any way that’s clear our coaching staff agrees.
There are varying degrees of this discussion at different points of the roster, but what I overtly mean in this instance is with regard to Ishan Sharma and Jacob Cofie. Sharma has gotten more run with the injury to Dai Dai Ames, but has mostly been used as a 10 minute or less player to spell fatigue, when he should be playing significant minutes and Taine Murray should be in that “spell fatigue” role. Jacob Cofie has been more heavily utilized, but he’s still the 6th man who has been played behind Elijah Saunders and, at best, equally with Blake Buchanan when he should be starting at the Center and we should be prioritizing his minutes the rest of the way.
I’d also hold that Anthony Robinson falls into the Ghost of Christmas Future category and we need to be building toward that actively rather than just playing him sparsely when we run into foul trouble. But, considering he didn’t play for more that the minute to close down the game, there’s really nothing to show here.
Instead, I’m going to use this piece to make the case for Sharma and Cofie more aggressively, and at the expense of Murray, Power, and Buchanan (although I think there’s still a clear place in the rotation for Buchanan while I don’t feel the same about the others). I’m feeling a bit more direct than even normal today because of how concerning over half of the game was, so brace yourselves accordingly if you tend to balk at direct player comparisons.
Taine Murray
When I saw Murray in the starting lineup for the injured Ames, I braced for the impact that was the first half. Aside from sentimental reasons, a big part of the basketball case for Murray is that he elevates our floor and his experience keeps us from going to worst-case scenarios. But, at 27 minutes played and us finishing +3 when he played in a game we ultimately won by 18, and him being on the floor for large swaths of our worst play – wasn’t that our actual floor? It’s possible we could play a little worse than we did for much of the first half, but it would be challenging. Him being out there didn’t prevent that, it helped to cause it. Let’s take a look at why:
The biggest issue with our team this season has been around athleticism at the guard position. Specifically, the lack of playmaking off the bounce (especially when Dai Dai Ames isn’t in the game… which was this entire game), causes the offense to stall and then leads to turnovers as guys less suited to be in that position feel forced to do more than they should. The biggest issue with playing Taine comes two-fold: he’s too passive on offense in both ability and decision-making, and he’s too unathletic on defense. You can get away with playing him alongside any of our other guards when we have Ames on the floor because we end up just relying on Dai Dai a lot to make something happen. But we shouldn’t be aiming to just get away with something anyway, and you can’t actually get away with playing him when Dai Dai is unavailable, as was telling on Thursday.
Here’s a look from our first possession of the game. Of note, we’ve been running this specific offensive to start games recently and coming out of the half. The formation itself looks a bit like our Inside Triangle with three players screening off of each other in the middle of the floor and two on the wing. But, in that offense, the players not in “the mix” would be farther up on the wing, not in the corners, and the ball would sit with one of them, either giving the option to pass to someone cutting open or to drive themselves. Here, we keep the ball within the mix more as well, and focus more on posting up the middle – but also work the wings into the play as outlets on which we can set ball screens. The problem we faced here, as you can see, is that neither McKneely nor Murray are well suited to take their man off of the bounce and are both passive with the ball, though McKneely is more decisive here and keeps the ball moving. Taine just kind of spins in circles and the ball sticks with him. There’s no threat here at all, and he ends up passing to Buchanan who tries to force a lob pass down to Saunders which results with a turnover with 3 seconds left on the shot clock.
Murray is worse at generally handling the ball than McKneely (or Sharma) but is probably better at attacking the rim going downhill. The problem is, he needs someone to create that opening for him to attack while he’s feeling aggressive, he can’t easily create those looks himself or within an offensive set.
So, that’s one of many looks at the offense being entirely non-threatening with this guard grouping on the floor. Why, then, am I just focused on Murray when there’s a similar problem with McKneely? The fact that McKneely is limited in this area isn’t lost on the discussion and, in fact, his loose turnovers have increased significantly over the past two games with Ames out. He’s been trying to do too much because he feels like he has to which, in a way he has – but that’s created some mistakes and isn’t really his skillset. But the main difference with McKneely from Murray offensively, and I’ll make the same case for Sharma in a bit, is the quickness of his shot release and that he’s willing to hunt his shot. This makes him more of a threat to pull up off of the bounce and makes him a threat to let a shot rip while on the move coming off of screens. Murray offers neither of those things, and is mostly relegated to spot shooting duties from outside (and has been reluctant at that).
He’s not been an eager shooter all of this season (oddly, considering he shot at a solid % last year) but he’s especially not effective when not purely spotting up, like here taking this hand off, reading the screen under, and pulling up.
That’s a shot both McKneely and Sharma are better suited to take and to make and defenses are also less likely to play either of them like this. That Bethune-Cookman defender casually went under the screen and then just kind of waived at the shot.
The reason that’s such a big deal is because if you can’t create relief within an offense by being a threat off the bounce, you should be a threat by demanding defenders stay plastered to you as you run around the floor and off screens and being able to get your shot off quickly. But he’s not. He’s actually only taken 10 threes all season, just 1.1 attempt per game across 19 minutes per. If he’s out there as a shooter, he’s averaging one outside shot per 19 mins! Contrastingly, Ishan Sharma is averaging 2.3 attempts per game from deep on just over 11 minutes per game. Ishan has taken over twice as many threes this season (21 to 10) in almost half the time played!
As it stands, there’s just no clear axis on which Taine can attack the opposition while he’s out there. He’s too easy to defend and to scheme around defending others. Plus, he’s not even converting the open opportunities he is getting at a decent rate, shooting just 20% from three now on the season. This is the kind of look where everything goes right and the ball gets to him in the corner for a wide-open look and he bricks it badly.
Yes, payers are going to miss shots – but if we’re conceding on so many other areas, he would need to be a deadly conversion point when the opportunity arises, and he hasn’t been.
It’s not like we’re making it up on the defensive end with Taine, either. He doesn’t have as many glaring lapses as Power, and generally knows where to be, but his physical execution still leaves much to be desired. Here’s a great example of a defensive possession right after we tied the game (14-14 with 4 minutes to go… so defense was the less glaring issue on the night, which is why I’m more focused on offense in this piece) where the rotations are there and it’s a well-communicated and read defensive possession. But Taine closes out on the shooter poorly because he’s worried about the blowby dribble, and a simple light jab step, completely rocks him and staggers him backward, giving his man a clean look from three.
You can know the defense well, but there’s a point where physical limitations still catch up. Taine has improved his defense over the years, but the stark changes of direction, especially forward and backward, still give him fits and he’s not an asset here.
Murray’s offensive and defensive Bayesian Performance ratings (EvanMiya’s ultimate metric measure of how a player contributes to a team) are both last on the team across the nine guys who have gotten regular playing time. His overall BPR is the only one that’s in the negatives across that group. There’s really just no case to be made, whether it be a coach’s comfort level or an appeal to experience, to continue to utilize him in the way that we have (almost half the game). He really needs to be a “break glass in case of emergency” situation from here.
Ishan Sharma
Speaking of defense momentarily while we’re on the subject, guess which player has had the best defensive BPR for our team so far this season? Can you? I bet you can because I put it in this section… but, yes, Ishan Sharma has brought the most metric value to the team while he’s been on the court. And the reason is that he’s just more athletic and moves with more purpose than most of the alternatives we’ve been playing out there.
He’s a good rebounder, seeing and attacking the ball well. He had five in this game and is actually fifth on the team in total rebounds per game despite playing the fewest minutes of our nine rotational players (yes, more than Murray or the 6’9″ Power). He’s learned his rotations well and he’s a very active and mentally alert player who reads situations well and can proactively make something happen rather than just playing reactively.
Here’s a great look where Rohde trips on a ball screen, falls, and actually makes Cofie stumble in the process. Practically speaking, this actually creates a 3-on-1 for Bethune-Cookman on Sharma, who steps up and shields a pass to Cofie’s man, lingers to deter the dribble drive, and then quickly jumps the passing lane back to his own man to deflect the ball out of bounds and to reset the possession.
Watching live, it would be easy to read this as Sharma simply getting his hand in a passing lane to force Bethune-Cookman to inbound again, which it was, but there was so much savvy to this defensive read given how it unfolded. It was just heads up and smart, and showed great spatial awareness on how to position himself within a space to take away a glaring advantage.
I don’t want to undersell his defensive impact here, because that’s actually an element where he’s been underrated and offers us an ability to improve. Perhaps I’ll spotlight it later, but I do want to highlight his offense because the team thirsted for it Thursday night and he delivered.
When we think about McKneely, we think about how much teams have to chase him around because just a little bit of space can concede three (or sometimes four!) points. We also just talked about where Murray is lacking in this area and, quite simply, hasn’t even been able to get off many shots. But Sharma has no such problem and is much more in the McKneely category in how quickly he can get to his shot and how aggressively he’s willing to hunt it. Keep in mind, he was only shooting 21% from deep before this game (now up to 33% on low volume), but he added seven attempts (1/3rd of all of his shots from out there on the year so far) because he actually got his 26 minutes of play, and it paid off.
Here’s his first bucket of the game – a much needed three that doubled our point total over 12 minutes into the contest (you want to know how badly things were going?)! This is a classic Sides pin down screen and Sharma executes it like many of our great shooters over the years, catching the ball while moving away from the basket, but using a momentary lapse in concentration from the defense to create space off of the screen and to have the ability to get into his shooting motion so quickly and with balance.
There’s no PG on that set above because Rohde was getting a break and Sharma actually ran the point some while he was out. McKneely is initiating the offense – but in a world where you do play either Ames or Rohde at PG, having both McKneely and Sharma running around/capable of converting these quick looks at any moment is a significant enhancement than what we’ve regularly been doing.
Here he is off of the move again off of a baseline out-of-bounds play. He lulls his man and then explodes to the wing off of Saunders. Elijah doesn’t make great contact with the defender, but forces him to alter his path enough to go around, and Sharma’s fantastic quickness on his catch-and-release does the rest.
It’s a really nice set up by Sharma and I love how balanced he stays/he’s bending his knees in advance so he can just explode up on the catch and get into his shot. A true shooter and a thing of beauty.
So, having another player who isn’t just a catch and shoot player, but who can be an active hunter of his shot and is good at shooting off of the move is huge. Before I teased how effective it can be with him playing alongside McKneely where you have to worry about both. In this next clip, we see them running that same set with the triangle in the middle and the two on the baseline, although this time it’s both Sharma and McKneely in the corners. Watch how pressed Sharma’s man is on him, practically face-guarding him and contrast with the clip above with Taine’s man going under the ball screen. Sharma’s jersey is being held on the cut – the McKneely treatment, and the man basically steamrolls the Cofie screen, but now Sharma gets the ball on the wing, Cofie re-adjusts his screen on McKneely’s man, and iMac gets a nice baseline cut to the corner for the clean look.
It’s one thing when you have to chase iMac around every possession – but it’s an entirely different thing if you have to keep track of two different players capable of doing the same thing.
This one, below, is just a nice look at Sharma cashing the open opportunity off of an offensive rebound. He moves into the look from just inside of the logo and launches it very confidently from quite a few steps beyond the arc.
This is why I was calling for more looks and reps for Sharma even when he was shooting just 16% from outside on the season. The ability is there, sure, but the confidence never appears to waiver and he’s hunting his shot rather than just taking wide-open opportunities. His ability to shoot on the move and his ability to quickly get into his shot are big factors in the offensive value he can bring to this roster.
It’s not just his shooting and defense, though. Like our other non-Ames guards, Sharma is still not going to break his man down off of the dribble and get into the lane, but he is still better with the ball in his hands than Murray or Power and is the person we use at point when neither Ames nor Rohde have been available. That should be telling. He’s better at keeping the gears of the offense flowing.
I’d have liked a little less air under this pass, below, but you can see how his threat of shooting commands two defenders, leaving Cofie clean on the roll to the hoop. Remember how we’ve used iMac to attack drop coverage in the past by having him pull up after crossing the screen. That’s a threat Sharma offers (credibly) as well.
I’d just close this section by making a direct comparison between what Sharma offers vs. what Taine is giving within the same play, below. Cofie makes a nice read and pass to set this play up – looking for the lob to Buchanan and drawing the defense down to help with that threat, before passing the ball back to Sharma on the wing. This creates space between Sharma and the BCU defender who had dropped to help on Blake. He attempts to run Sharma off of the line, but Ishan gives a little ball fake, dribbles in, but then steps back behind the three-point line after losing his defender, draws another dramatic closeout from BCU, and fires a three. He misses the shot, but it’s a good example of his gravity as a shooter as well as his court awareness and confident to play for that shot. Meanwhile, the fact that BCU has attempted to run him off of the line so aggressively leaves him uncontested to get the long rebound – another benefit of his shooting credibility. He takes one dribble toward the lane and kicks the ball out to Murray who is as open as it gets from outside. When Taine catches the ball, BCU isn’t even running toward him. The nearest defender briefly fakes at him while scrapping to close out on iMac. Murray is basically left entirely alone to shoot. So what does he do? He takes a dribble inside of the arc, to avoid… no one… and shoots a pull up midrange jumper, which he misses.
That encapsulates the two players perfectly. One is basically the Moon, pulling all of the tides toward him to keep him from taking an outside shot, and is still finding a clean way to do so. The other has the defense leaving him alone to shoot entirely to keep iMac from shooting, and he’s proactively passing up the shot to take a worse quality shot worth one less point.
Coming out after halftime with Taine still in the starting lineup rather than Ishan… and playing Taine over Ishan at this point in time moving forward isn’t a credible decision and isn’t one Coach Sanchez should be making. If he still thinks the alternative is better, it calls into question the decision-making credibility, in my opinion. It’s certainly possible that Murray plays better in the future… but there’s been ample time for it now and the better option is clear.
It’s past time to make the change.
TJ Power
When you think of Power, the common thought is that there’s potential there on offense and concerns on defense. While I generally agree with that sentiment, the team has actually been worse offensively with him on the floor than any other player on the team (not to be confused with individual metrical impact, where he’s still been considerably better than Murray, but is still second worst), and has actually had a better individual defensive impact metrically than any of Murray, Rohde, or McKneely.
That being said, the fit is far too awkward right now to continue to explore, especially without Ames on the floor who is essential for Power. They try to play Power at SF because he provides them a size advantage out there (and I want them to do so, too) but they’re unwilling to alter the way they play offense to accommodate him out there. The result is that it’s even harder for our offense to be able to operate and withstand pressure when Power is on the floor than even when Murray is on the floor.
The other vision is playing him at the PF, where he’s better offensively, and they did so with him alongside of Saunders which was something regularly discussed prior to the season (that, for the record, I’ve been very pleased not to have to discuss much this season). The reason the idea of going small is appealing, is that we can truly play a 5-out style of offense rather than playing our big around the high post (although we can do this with Cofie, too, so there’s little advantage to sacrificing the defense now).
This clip below is a good example on both sides of what we’d probably hoped we could do against more opponents other than BCU, where you have Power playing solid perimeter defense on a PF, forcing a bad miss, and then you get an offensive set that’s around the perimeter with Power as more of a pick and pop option rather than a ball handler… and he crashes down here to collect the rebound and draw the foul.
It’s nice, in theory, but it doesn’t hold up against athleticism and, even against a team like BCU, sometimes it just looks absolutely ugly on the defensive end.
Here’s a great look at that where we’re just getting killed inside against a team that’s really not that imposing on the interior. This is a small ball unit with Rohde, Sharma, and Murray at the guard positions and Power and Saunders in the frontcourt. You see all of our under-athleticism in all of its glory here. Taine takes way too deep of a retreat angle defending the dribble but his man slips and can’t punish him for it, Saunders (not an athleticism issue, but a reps one), takes too wide of a hedge angle, allowing the man to split the defense, Power, playing help defense, acts like his feet are rooted to the ground and simply waves at the driver while letting him go by… and then it’s just a lot of flailing under the hoop and no one on the floor being athletic enough nor maintaining the right positioning to secure a rebound. Especially with Saunders and Power being our only two “bigs” both keep running themselves out of the play.
For these reasons, as well as just general roster strengths, I think it’s still correct to view Power through the SF lens. I disagree with how we’ve been using him when we’ve played him there, and if we’re going to expect him to play offense out there just like we would ask Sharma or Murray to play the position, then we shouldn’t play him at all. But, in a world where Ames is back from injury, there’s probably still some room for experimentation out there if we’re willing to actually try to scheme to use him.
But… and that’s a bit but; as long as he’s continuing to make defensive lapses like these… where, here, he’s just beaten back door because he takes a bad angle trying to get over a screen and then falls asleep on the cut….
Or here, where he attempts to close out on a cross-court pass to his man and then is just badly blown by off of the bounce….
Those are terrible defensive reps, metrics aside, worse than anything Taine is offering, and you really can’t play him until he cleans these up… but especially not when he’s not set up to do well within your current offensive personnel or structure.
Power hasn’t been reluctant to shoot the three (similar rate as Sharma). His long frame allows him to get off some more looks over close outs and he’s generally been willing to let fly; but he has been shooting at a poor clip (26%) and he’s also not shown that he’s more than a catch-and-shoot option from out there at this point.
Power needs to be the player, well after Sharma but ahead of Murray, in the depth chart who you trot out there either when the game is in hand, when you need some purely situational catch and shoot option, or if you’re willing to experiment with some different offensive looks that neither rely on him playing much off of the bounce nor on defending PFs in the frontcourt. But you’re going to need Dai Dai to play with him and you’re going to need him to clean up the glaring mental defensive mistakes. Basically, I’d press pause for the time being, and treat him like your true project for the rest of the season.
Alright, so that’s your backcourt and I’m completely comfortable (and think we’d be better for it) mainly using Ames, McKneely, Sharma, and Rohde out of that group moving forward. There’s room for some spot minutes from the others, but nothing like what we’ve been seeing now, and I’m still in the camp of some Saunders SF minutes and seeing how you can utilize that. All of that said, let’s now look at a key element in the frontcourt as it exists between Jacob Cofie and Blake Buchanan.
Blake Buchanan
Blake has taken a lot of heat, of late, and I think it’s mostly deserving, but I’m not drawing the same full conclusion that I think many are that this is all just beyond him or that we should get away from him to the same degree that I’m advocating for Murray and Power. I think Buchanan is miscast as the team’s starter and an entrenched part of the lineup, but should still have an important role as a rotational player who plays with energy and who we can lean into when he’s playing well. I like when Blake plays without fear of fouling. I like when Blake plays with maximum energy on every play like he’s not having to conserve anything in the tank. I like it when the defense doesn’t have enough time to fully get into a rhythm of playing against him defensively.
To be clear – yes, I think Jacob Cofie should start and play as many minutes as we can give him within reasonable fatigue limits. We should split that between time at the Center and PF, though, and shape lineups around him – playing with Saunders, playing with Buchanan, playing with Robinson and, yes, playing with Saunders AND either Buchanan or Robinson. More on Cofie to come… but his clear impact combined with his obvious potential mean it’s time to lean into him fully. That being said, it doesn’t mean there’s no room for Blake nor should it mean that.
Buchanan is an inconsistent player who is still developing, especially on the offensive end. He’s got a shots in his bag, but they’re mostly finesse and they haven’t shown range outside of the paint. He hasn’t held up well to strength and his motor hasn’t always been running. When he is at full throttle and locked in, though, he can contribute on both ends, and his passing has been a surprising plus so far.
Let’s take a look at a few of the things holding him back that were on display in the last game. In this first clip, he gets a nice pass from Rohde off of a pick and roll running at the hoop. The problem is that he doesn’t really have a plan, jumps from too far out and shies away from the contact of the shot blocker. That’s Jesus Carralero Martin on BCU (#12), he’s only 6’7″, and he doesn’t get up very high or get much of a running start into that shot block attempt. Buchanan needs to be much more physical, using his size here to get the ball in deeper, and then use his body to shield himself from the shot blocker. That, or go right through the defender and force the ref to make the call near the restricted area (preferably the first, though). Show that even though you’re running toward the basket, that there’s some control, patience, change of direction about your game… or power to get what should be easy points against an under-sized and under-athletic defender. Then BCU breaks out the other way and Blake gets posted up (waived for the clear out, no less) by 6’8″ Daniel Rouzan (#23). Rouzan uses his superior strength to force Blake to brace himself to stop the back down, which keeps him from being as mobile with his positioning to cut off the baseline or be able to contest the shot on the other side of the rim.
This mostly encapsulates the majority of the problem in that there are times where Blake plays either without enough strength or plays more timidly.
Here’s another look in the post where he’s playing a little more aggressively, which I do like, but he gives up positioning to his man as he tries to block the shot at the center of the lane and keeps himself from being able to compete for the rebound when it comes back off on the strong side. He has to foul (and I do like him giving this hard foul) to keep from an easy bucket because he was too punchy on the shot contest earlier.
Similarly, offensively, watch him get the ball in the post himself, here, and you can see he’s playing a little too fast and clumsy with the ball. He catches the ball on a return pass from iMac here in the post against Martin again, but he bobbles the catch, then lets Martin poke the ball away from him it first to disrupt his rhythm, and then he just attempts to power dribble with his shoulder into the lane, making little headway, and shoots a pretty weak jump shot fading away while bringing the ball up through Martin’s shot contest.
That’s a matchup he should dominate one-on-one there. He’s got good space for a little drop step back to the right hand, a left-handed baby hook would be better than pulling up right through a contest hand and then fading (disrupts his entire shot), it’s just awkward movement from someone struggling to operate down there or to move around with some strength. Give me a little up and under there, Blake. On the bounce, stick the right foot into the ground, pivot facing up with the left foot like you’re going to shoot that fadeaway jump shot, show the ball, and then when your much smaller defender clearly jumps to block it, step under and through the contest and finish with the right hand. OR just be more explosive with your drive, take longer strides and attack with an angle so that if the defender bodies you it’s a foul, and shoot the jumper with better momentum (or finish with a left-handed scoop or something similar). Basically, just don’t pound the rock into oblivion while giving up position doing so and then shoot a shot that’s easier to contest for a shorter player while moving away from the hoop to draw relatively low hope of drawing a foul.
Generally speaking, the sure-handedness is an issue that’s harder to fix, though:
But, all of that being said, there are absolutely moments where Buchanan plays closer toward his potential. Here he is on what was Taine’s best play of the game collecting the pass, being patient under the hoop, gathering himself, and then finishing with a strong dunk that left no doubt.
And here he is, below, playing with WAY more energy defending the post. After the hedge and recover, look at the fight he’s giving on the inside to deny a pass and how he’s playing with physicality and hustle.
He didn’t get called for a foul there despite a few heavy grapples with Rouzan. And that’s great for him – it’s encouragement for how hard he can (and may have to) fight in there. BUT even if he did get called for a foul there, I’m good with that, too! I believe we do have the depth at the position and should be playing Robinson more, and I want… no, I need Buchanan to be playing with this kind of edge while he’s in the game. Fouls be daikoned.
I think Blake is at his best coming off of the bench and giving maximum effort on every single play. I don’t think he has the endurance to near 30 mins (or even 25, probably) and to be as effective as he can be. He had some really nice moments crashing the offensive glass and did have 9 rebounds in 20 mins (which he should against competition like this) despite some miscues. He had an acrobatic put back dunk, he did quite a few other nice things (and I’ll focus on one specifically in the next two clips). But, in this case, I think if we scale back his minutes in favor of more Cofie and some Robinson that, as long as we can keep him motivated, we’ll see the better and more energetic version of Blake more often.
The other thing I want to give a quick shout out to is his passing from the high post and extended. This also deserves a light tip of the cap to Coach Sanchez who, trying to erase the early second half deficit and noticing how BCU was over-playing us, went to the well with some designed backdoor cuts with Buchanan as the distributor.
Here, they get him to throw a nice oop to Saunders taking a back screen from McKneely. There’s really nice touch on this pass! He throws it from outside the three-point line and, if you notice, he actually does the whole quarterback thing where he keeps his eyes trained on where Saunders would have been if he had continued out to the three-point line right before throwing the pass.
Not that I love what got us to this point in the game having to overcome a 7-point deficit in the second half, but I did really like making the adjustment to target these kinds of easy buckets. It’s also good design knowing that Buchanan’s man has been sagging off of him, so there’s no disruption to him as a passer. If you sag off, sure, you don’t have to worry about the shot – but you’re also not going to bother a pass. Clever.
The very next possession, they use a two high set with Saunders and Buchanan and McKneely cutting across in front of them. They’ve often used this look this season and, in previous games, have gotten iMac some open threes off of it on the topside wing. This time, though, Rohde passes to Buchanan in the high post, McKneely curls around Saunders, and Blake hits him with a really nice bounce pass between two defenders for the finish.
CTB used to be the master of in-game situational adjustments like this to attack what a defense was doing specifically. More recently, we still did this some (usually more with personnel or system changes like going small and playing Inside Triangle but some tactically like playing roll and replace late last season) but not with the same level of regularity. So, it’s cool to see us clearly queue up some stuff to attack what our opponent was doing with some designed sets, especially when we needed the offense. And it’s very cool to see the use of Buchanan to get an easier or closer pass through both his ability to deliver one but also how he’s been played defensively.
The long and short of it is that I think Blake will continue to get better and to figure things out – but it’s probably going to be more of a slow burn with him rather than something overnight. He’s still very inconsistent and there are gaps and bad matchups. I’d personally advocate from 10-20 minute Blake Buchanan (more likely 15 in most) whose job it is to attack the offensive glass like a crazy person, fly around and be physical on defense, and helm the occasional savvy pass from the elbow.
Jacob Cofie
I’ll return to Jacob Cofie for the final section as I strongly feel that, if there’s any one thing that will change the trajectory of the season, even more so than playing Sharma heavy minutes (that may be a lie – it’s been kind of crazy how much better Sharma’s minutes have gone than anyone else’s on the whole… but I still think it’s true), it’s treating Jacob Cofie like we treat iMac honestly. Certainly not 36 minutes or whatever iMac’s gotten in the past that’s already too much but would be way too much for one of our frontcourt guys; but acting like we can’t fathom a world in which he’s not on the floor and will only accept that reality grudgingly when he needs a rest.
Cofie is our most talented player, even though he’s not yet our best player, and good things happen when he’s on the floor.
He started uncharacteristically slowly in this one (and was played a criminally low 6 minutes in the first half… again, an 18 point first half), but he’s got among the most consistent motors on the team, and he’s pretty sure-handed. Contrast Blake’s attempt at gathering an easier offensive rebound in traffic earlier to this monster of a powerful board, compounded by the nice kick out (shout out Sharma again).
This, from a still tie game, was the play that I thought finally turned the corner for us and sparked the energy and confidence needed to close as strongly as we did.
He’s so mobile on defense and can switch and stay with guards… like the one he swatted out of bounds here:
He needs to be willing to look for his shot, because his ability to stretch the floor is real value and unlocks our ability to play small ball-type sets like we saw from Saunders and Power above without having to actually play small; i.e. he can make this:
So let’s be willing to take it when the game is close and the defense is giving us this:
But to be a little more clear – that range and the ability to not have defenders sag off of him like the do with Blake is a significant differentiator and I’d like to see him keep building that confidence.
He’s got the ability to play volleyball on the offensive glass in traffic…
and is a really tough box out/cover as a result which can lead to cheap points.
Another key differentiator – he’s got a face up game and has shown the ability not only to hit the jumper but to take his man off of the bounce with some smooth moves toward the rim.
It was a favorable roll, but compare the fluidity and intention of that move with the fadeaway jumper I showed from Blake above. There’s a face up, it’s quicker, the dribble is more aggressive and attacking, it has some hesitation to create uncertainty, and the shot is with his body moving toward the basket.
And, finally (from this game), he leaves no doubt with a far greater percentage of his defensive rebounds – a category in which he leads the team.
Not to mention, but also nowhere near an afterthought, he’s a perfect 12-12 shooting free throws this year which is probably Blake’s actual biggest weakness.
It’s not a coincidence that Cofie played 3/4ths of the second half and we scored 40 and 1/4th of the first half and we scored 18. He tied Sharma with 12 points, sure (second on the team behind Saunders’s 15 who had a good game himself), but it’s not just his direct scoring output – he also helps open up the way we can play and makes life easier for everyone around him on both ends.
I say, let’s roll with Saunders and Cofie as the starters, rotate in Blake for either as first off the bench, and get Robinson into that mix too against stronger and more athletic teams. Give me some Saunders with Cofie and a Center sometimes, too, especially if you need to rest any of the four primary guards I mentioned earlier. Let’s start imposing our will some, playing these positions with energy, and playing our best guys more consistently.
In Conclusion
As we head into a home tilt against another ultra-athletic team in Memphis on Wednesday, it will be good to get Ames back into the lineup, sure. But, it’s also time to flip the script on what we view as “good” this season. It doesn’t necessarily mean that these changes will all of a sudden transform us into a truly competitive team, but they should make us better. The answer has been staring us in the face, screaming through a megaphone while, instead, we’ve been playing our least athletic and least effective lineups. Playing Buchanan less and Murray and Power scarcely while playing Sharma considerably more, Cofie as an indispensable player, and getting Robinson firmly into the rotation is the path toward unlocking whatever the best version of this team is. It might not be perfect along the way, and it might have some bumps – but I strongly doubt those bumps will be worse (or even that close, really) than what we saw in the first half Thursday night and, on the level, both the baseline and ceiling should be considerably higher. (And, just to be clear, this doesn’t mean never give especially Power but also Taine a chance again – there are going to be times where we need a spark from somewhere and should try something different. It just means that we should dramatically shift how we’re prioritizing them in the rotation in these ways now.)
Whatever has contributed toward the decision-making process on who to play and for how long thus far, it’s time to update the portfolio and calibrate to the reality of what we’re seeing between the lines each game day.
Alright, tomorrow is another good test against a team that just beat top 25 Clemson on the road and has already knocked off UCONN this season. We saw what their pressure did to us last season. Having Ames back will be crucial, but SO will getting our rotations updated. Let’s do it all and show some progress!
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