I'm no basketball expert, but were we the only team in the nation whose offense was built on the expectation that we will almost always miss the initial shot on basket??

I love that we were able to be kings of offensive rebounds and second chance buckets, but is there a reason why we can't be a team that can make a bucket on the first shot AND a top shelf offensive rebounding team???

That's what you have to do when you recruit a bunch of kids who can't shoot in a game where scoring matters.

And then Buzz word salads his way to an explanation of why this is good basketball based on some ridiculous "analytics" and the Brazos Valley blue hairs that cling to the Eagle for all their Aggie sports insight eat it up.

And the cycle repeats.

Easily one of my biggest knocks on buzz. Building a team and system around expecting to miss shots has to be a first, and not in a good way. Having the most offensive rebounds is admirable and impressive, except for the fact that it's the major metric we're targeting and the underlying reason of why. Using phrases like "predictable shots" is wild to me. I love the grit…marry that grit with even average shooting and you'd really have something. What we have now is Iowa football…and that's simply not going to get you to a final 4.

Buzz fell in love with an analytic and wanted to showcase Moneyball 2.0.

And that's why we've been the Moneyball A's the last few seasons. Good enough to get there, but eventually better talent is going to beat you.

Buzz paired with a legitimate offensive-minded coach would be a killer pair, but I honestly don't think Buzz has any interest in that.

I like buzz. I like being the team that beats you up and no one want to play, we just need some actual shooters and guys who can fill it up

Not sure why we as t get a couple of guys like that yo mix in

Proposition Joe said:

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Buzz fell in love with an analytic and wanted to showcase Moneyball 2.0.

And that's why we've been the Moneyball A's the last few seasons. Good enough to get there, but eventually better talent is going to beat you.

Buzz paired with a legitimate offensive-minded coach would be a killer pair, but I honestly don't think Buzz has any interest in that.

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Buzz is stubborn and will only hire his friends as assistants, doesn't matter if our offense has been horrible every single year

I've always framed it as "He is a coach that could make a great team elite, but not necessarily make a good team great."

If you got a talented team with a scheme that generated decent offensive looks to also buy-in to the offensive rebounding and the hustle that Buzz instills, it would be absolutely elite.

But when you don't put that team in position to get good looks and stress more "taking predictable shots", you get a rock fight team. Nobody wants to play them, but anyone can beat them.

Buzz's teams are tremendous rebounders until they run into teams with multiple bigs. Payne got worn down and then Michigan took over.

Good coaches adapt and win, Buzz is stubborn and will lose as long as it doesn't hurt his pride and ego

Also we got out-rebounded yesterday when it counted.

The offensive rebound strategy was at risk the second we were put in a bracket with a team with two 7-footers that were allowed to maul everyone around them.

To say "Buzz is stubborn" is not really true though. If anything he built a totally different here than he ever did before.

If you look Buzz's last two teams at Virginia Tech, what they were good at was shooting.

As a bit of an explanation what we're looking at here is the four numbers eFG% which is effective field goal percentage. Its basically shooting, how good are you at making shots from the field. Then TO% thats turnover percentage, its about not having empty possessions where you dont even take a shot. Third is OR%, offensive rebound percentage, how often do you get extra shots when you miss. Last is FTR, free throw rate, how often you're getting to the line for free throws.

https://barttorvik.com/team.php?year=2019&team=Virginia+Tech

This is a team that is mediocre at protecting the ball, mediocre at rebounding, not great at getting fouled, but shoots the lights out.

https://barttorvik.com/team.php?year=2018&team=Virginia+Tech

Previous year, maybe slightly better getting to the line and protecting the ball. But again, elite at making field goals, and this team is actually awful at offensive rebounding.

And when he got to A&M…

https://barttorvik.com/team.php?year=2020&team=Texas+A%26M

https://barttorvik.com/team.php?year=2021&team=Texas+A%26M

https://barttorvik.com/team.php?year=2022&team=Texas+A%26M

So where did this come from? Is it Buzz? The data incredibly might actually suggest its us. Its very weird.

Offensive rebounding was actually what we were good at when he got here…

Billy Kennedy's last teams.

https://barttorvik.com/team.php?year=2019&team=Texas+A%26M

https://barttorvik.com/team.php?year=2018&team=Texas+A%26M

https://barttorvik.com/team.php?year=2017&team=Texas+A%26M

So, what is it about Texas A&M that these are the players who come here? This is the type of player we get, thats my explanation? I dont know.

I think a significant issue over the past ten years is that our kind of players generally choose Houston over Texas A&M

Good data. I brought it up a month or so ago that the offense we've seen out of Buzz isn't what he did historically.

It really is like he got to A&M and he fell in love with a few random analytics and decided he wanted to "win in a way that bucked conventional wisdom".

It sounds crazy, but it absolutely fits the quirky Buzz mold.

He has repeatedly said we need to be predictable on offense. Which means we need to take shots at times from spots where we expect to miss so guys are in position for oreb. Hey dude, guess what, predictability works both ways eventually.

Mr.Milkshake said:

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He has repeatedly said we need to be predictable on offense. Which means we need to take shots at times from spots where we expect to miss so guys are in position for oreb. Hey dude, guess what, predictability works both ways eventually.

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His whole predictable shots schtick is so so so bad. There's a reason we've never heard any other coach say it

well, would you rather be right 65% of the tume, or 35%?

Buzz needs to stay so we can tell if it's Texas A & M or him, imho

I think there is something to Buzz recruiting "our kind of guys" leading to specific styles but I also think one or two of "our kind of guys" with a better all around game could break the mold. To me one guy can change the entire trajectory of the team and it's generally a ball distributor who can also score in many different kinds of scenarios. Take a Walter Clayton Jr or a Milo Uzan and put them on this yrs A & M team and it would look different in a good way. I loved Wade and his play but he has some limitations that did bracket the success. The ceiling was generally high when Wade was on fire but no one is on fire every game short of Michael Jordan.