Coaching

[pdxmuskie]

I've never been a coach. Various philosophies exist. Player careers are made and destroyed by insufficient fit. That applies across sports. Some players are versatile, others have very specific skills and styles they are suited for.

Miller was Xavier's best coach ever during his first go. He maxed player potential and thus Xavier's potential.

His new philosophy of an offensive focus is not the best fit for the personnel on this team. X doesn't have a plethora of shooters nor dominant post players nor an abundance of superior athletes to attack the rim. X will never outscore good teams.

Certainly Miller hasn't completely abandoned defense but the frequency of open 3s game after game indicates it is not a priority. His comments about changing philosophy from defense to offense seems to support this too. Open lanes to the rim are also not uncommon this year.

X has been fortunate to play a number of teams that struggled to hit open shots. It has allowed X to keep games close but most still resulted in losses.

I don't know if Miller can salvage the season with a defensive focus. So little time to make the change but it is the only option to winning. Many of these guys will be at X for several more years. The contrast in style vs talent could be problematic for years to come. There is no reason Miller can't adjust his style of play to the personnel on the team. He was once a defensive minded coach. He has that skillset. He can always change back when he gets the players to support a different style of play.

[Xavier2005]

The only way X makes March Madness is to win the Big East Tournament. Not going to happen. X needs to bring in some "scorers" and a great PG.

[muskieman]

Last night the barrage of threes from UConn were not wide-open threes, so defense was not the problem. Made shots were the problem. 10 percent more(which would still be under 50%) from the field would have been a victory

[skyhops]

Most of UConns shots were open looks by their best shooters. Claude especially struggled against his man. Their leading scorers were their best shooters. They set multiple screens, which we just couldn’t get thru and above.

[X-lucidity]

Was at the gm with fab seats about 25yd line 4 rows back. Was watching UConn run their offense screen actions intently . Would have to side with ‘Hops here on this topic. In fact, seemed Miller had tried to prep them better and was just as frustrated as we were when the Huskies would hit another open 3 by one of their favored shooters. I was almost directly across from Sean and would instantly look at him after each 3 they hit. Many times his ire was easily seen flashing as he would point down the bench to insert a new man and yank the culprit who had apparently not taken to the prep work.
So - all in all, another classroom session intertwined by a baptism of fire.

[Anti-Homer]

I've never been a coach. Various philosophies exist. Player careers are made and destroyed by insufficient fit. That applies across sports. Some players are versatile, others have very specific skills and styles they are suited for.

Miller was Xavier's best coach ever during his first go. He maxed player potential and thus Xavier's potential.

His new philosophy of an offensive focus is not the best fit for the personnel on this team. X doesn't have a plethora of shooters nor dominant post players nor an abundance of superior athletes to attack the rim. X will never outscore good teams.

Certainly Miller hasn't completely abandoned defense but the frequency of open 3s game after game indicates it is not a priority. His comments about changing philosophy from defense to offense seems to support this too. Open lanes to the rim are also not uncommon this year.

X has been fortunate to play a number of teams that struggled to hit open shots. It has allowed X to keep games close but most still resulted in losses.

I don't know if Miller can salvage the season with a defensive focus. So little time to make the change but it is the only option to winning. Many of these guys will be at X for several more years. The contrast in style vs talent could be problematic for years to come. There is no reason Miller can't adjust his style of play to the personnel on the team. He was once a defensive minded coach. He has that skillset. He can always change back when he gets the players to support a different style of play.

His new philosophy of an offensive focus is not the best fit for the personnel on this team. X doesn't have a plethora of shooters nor dominant post players nor an abundance of superior athletes to attack the rim. X will never outscore good teams.

Huh? He is trying to play fast on offense for the exact reason you pointed out: They are not gifted offensively and inconsistent in the half court, so you have to try and get easier opportunities with fast breaks when you can. Have you seen their Alpha execute in the half-court? It's remarkable that with their limited options, they average 75 points a game. Also, I believe they are in top quarter of the country in their opponent's fg percentage, playing five freshmen, and 8 newcomers, with an above avg, not great, level of athleticism. Miller is a defensive genius, though his stubbornness to rarely play zone is a flaw. Without really solid D this year, with their opponents to date, they'd have about three wins.

[Kevin Reilly]

I agree with Anti- Homer 100%. Without playing fast we would really struggle on offense. Our half court offense is very limited. It is amazing that they average 75 points a game. As far as Miller adjusting his style to fit his personnel? What is pdxmuskie suggesting? We don't really have a rim protector. I can't see any coach doing a better job with this group .What style are you hoping for? I don't think Miller's plan to play fast is flawed. He is doing well with a young group. We are at a talent disadvantage in most Big East games and have played Purdue, Houston and U Conn very close. In my opinion Miller has coached this team very well. We are just as not as talented as usual and young. Losing our two skilled and experienced Big guys was brutal. Show me any team that loses it's two best returning Big guys and doesn't struggle. It is obviously a flawed , young team at this time but Miller will turn things around next year.

[connecticut72]

First of all let me say I love Miller and I love to play fast. When I coached we pressed and ran. Much like ST. Johnś or the old Georgetown. Regardless there is a difference in playing fast with a purpose and just playing fast. At times we are reckless and out of control and in a big hurry just for hurry sake. Olivari never played like this at Rice and at times he is out control. He admitted that on a recent podcast. He could defintely score in a pick n roll offense in the half court and if we did more of that maybe some of our big guys could get more involved. At the moment it is too much one on one.Letś move it fast up the court but when it is not there letś have an alternative. I totally agree with everyone who has said defense will be the key for any chance we have this year but considering our personnel I am not sold on this helter skelter type of game.

[skyhops]

Hard to play a half court style offense when you don't have talented bigs and only one real shooter. Playing fast is good for this team, but playing fast also means playing fast in transition defense which our guards seemed to give up on against UConn much to Millers dismay.

[pdxmuskie]

AH, I never meant to imply X shouldn't take advantage of fast break opportunities. Miller has verbalized a changed philosophy during his tenure at AZ to focus more on scoring. Generally, teams should almost always take advantage of opportunities to run on offense. Not sure that would be a philosophy change for many coaches but if that is all Miller meant then he should certainly stick with it.

As I mentioned in various posts, there is a difference between missing shots and great defense or making shots and bad defense. Xavier has played a number of games against teams struggling offensively but they were getting open looks all game. Xavier defensive numbers will look good but in reality, X played terrible defense.

The team has shown the ability to play very good defense in several games and several more halves. It was a nice win against Butler but they gave a ton of space unnecessarily to a 41% 3 point shooter at the beginning of the game. That is bad defense and/or bad strategy.

Offensively the team should take what the defense gives them as long as it is within the skillset of the player. Run when it is there. Work the ball for clean looks or open lanes. With limited shooters (Trey could make a huge difference), the team will need to play more consistent in your face defense. Cut off lanes, close out on shooters and prevent off ball cuts to the rim.