greg.w.h said:

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hoya-ag said:

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Hogg does not need a mid-range game. He needs to shot the ball consistently from 3. if he does that everything else will be fine.

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Developing a drive and pull up or a fall-away jumper given his height would benefit him.

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Any additional development would benefit him, but our 2015-2016 team...it isn't like you saw House, Caruso, or Jones very often come dribbling down the court and then pulling up and sinking some mid-range jump shot. The majority of players don't have much of a 'mid range' game nor does a good college basketball team necessarily need players with much of one.

Yeah, again, by midrange, I mean like towards the top of the paint or a couple of steps out of the paint on the baseline. Everyone who follows analytics knows that anything beyond that is just a statistically bad shot. We'll get into all that on the Hogg thread though.

Getting the focus back to Admon, I'll throw in another thing he could do a little better and that's use screens better.

The only thing Admon can do is improve handle and accuracy. Everything else he's dependent on coaching to create.

Same thing for him on penetration. He needs to figure out whether he can consistently dribble to the basket when the second post is high to draw a defender or create a shot. My closest Aggie comparison is Sloan.

There is the question of whether the chemistry (and playmaking) between Admon and others is where it needs to be. The notion of an upperclassman guard who is a vocal leader seemed to get traction from BK last year. Perhaps we need Admon to be that guy this year and especially getting the new guards understanding the offense (I write that slightly tongue in cheek, btw.)

I think we can safely say that EVERYBODY who is returning needs to reduce their turnovers. How about we just list that as an automatic #1 improvement in each of these threads.

Play top-25 defense + normal turnover rate (say no more than 12 per game) = definitely NCAA Team. IMO.

But there's room for some nuance within "too many turnovers" that's worth discussing.

Davis was doing too much too far from the basket, Admon was lazy with passes at times, Hogg has to be stronger with the ball, etc.

It's sort of like how "shoot better" is going to be a key for almost everyone, but it's about being specific.

bobinator said:

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But there's room for some nuance within "too many turnovers" that's worth discussing.

Davis was doing too much too far from the basket, Admon was lazy with passes at times, Hogg has to be stronger with the ball, etc.

It's sort of like how "shoot better" is going to be a key for almost everyone, but it's about being specific.

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Yeah, just talking at a high level, personally I'm a fan who doesn't think shooting improvements are even that critical to at least being an NCAA team next season. We will have the kind of team that can be hell on lots of opponents on the offensive glass anyways. Just make sure to get a dang shot up to give yourself a chance at a rebound instead of dumb turnovers. Even if our guys are shooting bricks, if guys like Davis/Williams/etc. are getting some put-backs it will matter less. That seems to be how North Carolina has often won lately. Just relentlessly gets offensive rebounds.

Given our roster next year, if you told me right now that at the end of the season we will:

a) Finish ranked Top-25 on Kenpom in defensive efficiency (points per possession) and,
b) Average 12 or less turnovers per game (that would have had us ranked about Top-80-ish last year...versus averaging 14+ turnovers and being ranked #277 nationally)

Then I would say 'Yep, we made the NCAA tournament'.

Play good to great defense and make about 2-3 turnovers per game less than they did last season...to me those are the first most basic core goals to at least get an NCAA bid. If you are not accomplishing those two goals, then a lot of the other stuff won't matter much IMO.

And there are no excuses for next year's roster to not at least be a very good defensive team. We will have everything you want in terms of pieces to play elite defense.

Yeah, but just making the tournament shouldn't be our goal next season.

These threads, at least to me, are about nitpicking little things that could make our great players elite, our good players great, and our average players good.

And that's going to be the difference between us just making the field or us having a real chance to do something next year. This is going to be the most talented team we've ever put on the floor, but the little things are going to be crucial to it actually being the best team we've ever put on the floor.

bobinator said:

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Yeah, but just making the tournament shouldn't be our goal next season.

These threads, at least to me, are about nitpicking little things that could make our great players elite, our good players great, and our average players good.

And that's going to be the difference between us just making the field or us having a real chance to do something next year. This is going to be the most talented team we've ever put on the floor, but the little things are going to be crucial to it actually being the best team we've ever put on the floor.

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Bob, I totally agree.

Pumpkinhead said:

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Method Man said:

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Middleton did it with mid range.

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Most college players don't seem to have much of a polished mid-range game though. Neither do the pros really. Threes or dunks gets most of the focus.

Danuel House had sh#% for a midrange game. Shoot a three or go to the rim was most of his toolset.

I personally would rather Hogg work on goals of being a 40% three point shooter and 80% free throw shooter over this summer than working on a midrange game. Though I have seen video clips of his summer workouts before and it has included of course a variety of shooting drills.

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Completely agree on both. The FT percentage alone would likely add about 4ppg.

House was a great athlete though. Hogg isn't. He's more of a crafty player than an athletic player and some high post/midrange game would go a long way toward freeing up his game.

Yeah, without any sort of post game or some sort of expansion of what he does on offense, Hogg isn't going to get to the free throw line much.

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Yeah, again, by midrange, I mean like towards the top of the paint or a couple of steps out of the paint on the baseline. Everyone who follows analytics knows that anything beyond that is just a statistically bad shot. We'll get into all that on the Hogg thread though.

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Off topic, but really it's not because any player of Gilder's ability should have a mid-range shot as described here. BUT the college 3 point line has ruined that aspect of the game. Move it back so those analytics aren't true anymore. The reward for a 3 point shot is more accurately justified and the mid-range shot is not penalized.

I want to be clear that I wasn't really talking about a mid-range game for Gilder. Just for Hogg.

But a shot inside the arc but more than about 10-12 feet is always a bad shot, people just didn't have the numbers to back it up. I don't think it matters where you put the three point line.

AggieBaller98 said:

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Gilder as a freshman played significant minutes and made that last basket against Northern Iowa in our epic comeback in the tournament. He acquired quite a bit of experience in crunch time.

Last year he arguably became the go-to guy and we saw him play the whole game 8 games in a row. His last year reminds me of Alex's junior year in which he was depended on to do everything for the team and seemed to lose steam at the end of the year.

In my opinion, this year it's not so much how much he can contribute on the court because I think he will get better, but I'm counting on him to be a more vocal leader. We're gonna need a steady presence when things aren't going our way and because he's going to have the ball on his hands more than Williams and Davis. I'm expecting him to command the troops and have the ability to finish games better.

Edit... to add that he will play better by the simple fact that he was snubbed for the All-SEC team this past year.

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Underrated post. I am not worried about Gilder's shooting or offensive playmaking ability. I believe the biggest way that he can contribute to the Aggie's success next season is through on court leadership. He needs to step up his on-court presence with his teammates. There were times last season when both Hogg and Davis were trying to do too much and committed careless turnovers on consecutive possessions. Gilder needs to be able to get up in their face and settle his teammates down, remind them what they do best and then also provide direction to all the new Freshmen.

His biggest contributions will be as a stabilizing force as a leader but also becoming a lock down defender should be his next biggest goal. Those two things will drive the Aggies to success.

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But a shot inside the arc but more than about 10-12 feet is always a bad shot, people just didn't have the numbers to back it up. I don't think it matters where you put the three point line.

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A shot that you are open and that you practice is not a bad shot. Players would practice it more and they would be open from there more often if the line was moved back and opened up the court.

mallen said:

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There were times last season when both Hogg and Davis were trying to do too much and committed careless turnovers on consecutive possessions. Gilder needs to be able to get up in their face and settle his teammates down

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Crazy talk.

There were times last year when Gilder would go long stretches without even looking at Tyler in the post. Tyler needs to be in his face telling him what they are trying to do. Davis is the leader. Admon is an excellent player - especially on defense but he is soft spoken. He's not going to be getting in people's faces.

CactusThomas said:

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mallen said:

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There were times last season when both Hogg and Davis were trying to do too much and committed careless turnovers on consecutive possessions. Gilder needs to be able to get up in their face and settle his teammates down

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Crazy talk.

There were times last year when Gilder would go long stretches without even looking at Tyler in the post. Tyler needs to be in his face telling him what they are trying to do. Davis is the leader. Admon is an excellent player - especially on defense but he is soft spoken. He's not going to be getting in people's faces.

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Gilder may be soft spoken but the point is he truly needs to advance his leadership on the court for the Aggies to be successful. He is the most versatile, durable, and reliable player on the roster.

In addition, he will log the most minutes of anyone next year, so his on the court presence will be the most important to the team. Tyler is a great player and I love that Tyler is vocal and demanding of his teammates but Tyler will be on the court less than Admon will (260 minutes less last season). Both players need to exhibit leadership for the Aggies to succeed.

Yeah, can't argue with that.

Logan had a good interview with Admon on premium.

Admon said that his off season priorities are to work on his handle and to fix a couple of minor mechanical issues with this jump shot so he has a higher and quicker release.

mdanyc03 said:

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You mean 0.4 ppg? Because he only shot two free throws per game last year.

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k