What if Dustin Kerns pulled a Jerry Moore?

Where Moore switched from Ball Control to The Spread, what if Kearns adapted a Paul Westphal run and gun, full-court press, high energy brand of basketball. (Or even played at the level that ETSU did in the days of Mister Jennings (who is the women's basketball coach at Lees-McRae), Greg Dennis, Calvin Talford, Major Geer, etc.))

Why?
Our current "Take the Stairs" approach may be close to the top floor of potential and our brand of ball is not the most exciting to watch.

A .500 record with high scoring, end-to-end basketball may at least be more exciting than watching 4 minute droughts each and every game.

Attendance: Students and other fans would certainly turn out to see a team the lights up the scoreboard. The energy of the Rock (or even watching wrestling in Varsity) is not in the building at Holmes.

Recruiting: That style of basketball tends to go 10 deep (or can go 10 deep) because of the pace of play. Recruits can be told that if they are in the Top 10 on the roster, they can expect 15-25 minutes. Scorers, high flyers and quick point guards would be in demand in this type of system. Also, our current roster turmoil may calm down a little.
We may have to hit the juco ranks or Division II to start shifting in that direction.

Brand: ESPN loves highlight reel material. This style is going to provide highlights, which again helps recruiting, and builds support for the program.

Sun Belt: Watching the ball handling in the Sun Belt, I'm not sure that many teams could handle 94 feet of pressure.

We've had great success in football by going off-script and using speed to overcome size.

Your thoughts:

I have pondered the same.The entertainment factor would certainly be elevated and for a lot of people that's what it's about.

Stonewall wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:25 pm

I have pondered the same.The entertainment factor would certainly be elevated and for a lot of people that's what it's about.

Ultimately, it's about winning. But, a rowdy Holmes Center and a high-paced game at 3,000 feet above sea level should lead to more wins.

I like the idea....a fun up and down game with pressure D.....it is similari to using 4 linebackers because we couldn't get the size to run 4 d linemen. We could probably find more run and shoot players than solid all around basketball players.

So we need to hire a Scott Satterfield to run the offense.

Not the worst idea I’ve heard. As it is, this team playing this style of basketball is almost unwatchable. And 4 minute scoring droughts would be a major improvement.

Not many can consistently win with stout defense along with slowing the pace down. It works for Virginia but that’s about it. And 4 minute droughts are being nice…we’ve gone 6, even 8 minutes without field goals consistently.

Fast offense is kinda whatever to me, but I’ve always been a fan of pressing defense. Basketball is one of the only sports where the defense just runs away and let’s the offense take their time moving over halfway down the playing surface. It’s been proven successful for multiple coaches/programs.
But I also defer to the professionals.

I am not sure we need to try to be " 40 minutes of hell" by pressing all game. Mix it up sure. You can be an up tempo team without pressing all game. It is what you do with offensive rebounds and, to a certain extent what you do with inbounds from made baskets. You can get out on the fast break on missed baskets if that is your intention. It has not been our philosophy....but it can be if we wanted it .you have to have a point guard that is fast and that can finish around the basket to make defense honest. If PG cannot finish around basket, defense will not rotate to open a passing lane to open man.

BambooRdApp wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 05, 2023 9:23 am

I am not sure we need to try to be " 40 minutes of hell" by pressing all game. Mix it up sure. You can be an up tempo team without pressing all game. It is what you do with offensive rebounds and, to a certain extent what you do with inbounds from made baskets. You can get out on the fast break on missed baskets if that is your intention. It has not been our philosophy....but it can be if we wanted it .you have to have a point guard that is fast and that can finish around the basket to make defense honest. If PG cannot finish around basket, defense will not rotate to open a passing lane to open man.

While I don't disagree, why not dial it up all game? Take advantage of our altitude and run other teams out of the gym. If we'd change to this style, we'd have more fast break points in 2-3 games, then we had all season against D1 schools. For a team that traditionally struggles to score the ball in the last few years, it's crazy not to get a few easy baskets. Most players want to shoot the basketball vs. waiting until there is 8 seconds on the shot clock to get into an offense.

Vanilla is not going to build fans (unless you are getting 25 wins a season). Follow the path of what Shaka Smart did at VCU. Not only did they win, but games were fun in their gym (it only holds 7500). They were selling out and you had to hit the secondary market to go watch them play, if you were not a season ticket holder.
Obviously, we're not going to get Marquette level recruits, but this year his team averages 81 points a game despite shooting 35% from three (ranked 122) and being ranked 197th in free throw percentage. They are 3rd in the nation in steals, 4th in assists, 8th in steals and 17th in turnovers forced. If you put that style of basketball in Holmes, our awesome football attending students are going to support the basketball. Right now, we're as vanilla as it gets.

Go after the smaller, quick point guards that are hungry and looking for an opportunity. (Almonacy was the difference during our tournament run a few years ago).

I am not disagreeing that we should dial it up ...for no other reason...we need fans in seats. Watching our offense, in its current state, is like watching paint dry...
We currently do not have the personnel or depth ..even this year before the departures mid-season. I also do not believe it fits Abson's game unless he is going to get in better shape and can finish better more than 2 to 3 foot from basket.
With that said, if Brown could finish around the rim and shoot FTs, we could do it to a certain degree now...with Harcum, Mantis and Huntley....but we have no one to spell them which you need for this type of offense.
Would love to see Kerns change philosophy and go after personnel to do it. As of now, we are just generating.500 records and that composite includes playing less than stellar competition.

I know all teams and levels of ball aren't the same but several years ago the team of the high school my kids attended had a nice run of winning seasons along with extended post season success and I believe a state championship. The main aspect of the coach's style was a full game pressing defense. They forced lots of turnovers and easy buckets. The center was the tight end for the football team who was about 6'5" (went onto the pros in football). He scored very little other than some garbage baskets. The team wasn't a high scoring group but won a bunch of games allowing like 40 points per game. It could be boring but it was highly effective.

Teams talk all the time about analytics and jacking 3's. Maybe the way to go is to increase shot opportunities. We have had way too many shot clock violations which in of itself is baffling. We seem to bog down too much on offense.

WASU 93 wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 05, 2023 10:14 am

BambooRdApp wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 05, 2023 9:23 am

I am not sure we need to try to be " 40 minutes of hell" by pressing all game. Mix it up sure. You can be an up tempo team without pressing all game. It is what you do with offensive rebounds and, to a certain extent what you do with inbounds from made baskets. You can get out on the fast break on missed baskets if that is your intention. It has not been our philosophy....but it can be if we wanted it .you have to have a point guard that is fast and that can finish around the basket to make defense honest. If PG cannot finish around basket, defense will not rotate to open a passing lane to open man.

While I don't disagree, why not dial it up all game? Take advantage of our altitude and run other teams out of the gym. If we'd change to this style, we'd have more fast break points in 2-3 games, then we had all season against D1 schools. For a team that traditionally struggles to score the ball in the last few years, it's crazy not to get a few easy baskets. Most players want to shoot the basketball vs. waiting until there is 8 seconds on the shot clock to get into an offense.

Vanilla is not going to build fans (unless you are getting 25 wins a season). Follow the path of what Shaka Smart did at VCU. Not only did they win, but games were fun in their gym (it only holds 7500). They were selling out and you had to hit the secondary market to go watch them play, if you were not a season ticket holder.
Obviously, we're not going to get Marquette level recruits, but this year his team averages 81 points a game despite shooting 35% from three (ranked 122) and being ranked 197th in free throw percentage. They are 3rd in the nation in steals, 4th in assists, 8th in steals and 17th in turnovers forced. If you put that style of basketball in Holmes, our awesome football attending students are going to support the basketball. Right now, we're as vanilla as it gets.

Go after the smaller, quick point guards that are hungry and looking for an opportunity. (Almonacy was the difference during our tournament run a few years ago).

3333 feet is not high enough to have that kind of effect on conditioned athletes. If this were Denver or Wyoming there is some effect but Boone isn't high enough to make that much difference.

In the USA game we took 10 more shots than they did , previous game it was 12 more.

Virginia plays very deliberate ball. They have no problem with attendance. Whatever style you play, if you win, they will come. If you don’t, they won’t.

Realize not your main point...But, Virginia's deliberate style is much better executed than ours...not necessarily talking about made shots. .but execution and how they get open looks. They should have beat Heels by 20. Missed quite of few open looks in first half. With their variety of screens they do different moves around the screens on different possessions. The team is constantly moving...that is not even close to what we do. We have too many ball watchers.
Realize that was not your point....we would win more if we ran an offense to perfection like they do No matter the style...as you say, winning purs fannies in the seats

BambooRdApp wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 11, 2023 8:38 pm

Realize not your main point...But, Virginia's deliberate style is much better executed than ours...not necessarily talking about made shots. .but execution and how they get open looks. They should have beat Heels by 20. Missed quite of few open looks in first half. With their variety of screens they do different moves around the screens on different possessions. The team is constantly moving...that is not even close to what we do. We have too many ball watchers.
Realize that was not your point....we would win more if we ran an offense to perfection like they do No matter the style...as you say, winning purs fannies in the seats

I did some research after original post. Almost all of the Top 20 Highest scoring teams in the country were in 1st or 2nd in their conference for the regular season. A majority of the Top 20 teams that kept their opponents from scoring were 1/2 or 3 in their conference. You can win with either style. But, part of my point was to create excitement and maybe we could recruit better high octane.

And you are correct that while Virginia plays pack line, they are much more fluid on offense and their offensive execution down the stretch against Carolina was very efficient.

saw this and thought about this thread

appdaze wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 12, 2023 7:19 am

saw this and thought about this thread

The Cavaliers were 25-7 and whipped the Heels twice. That's all that counts.

Based on the support the program receives , we are punching above our weight class.