Friday March 28, 2008
Friday E-Mail Bag
Friday E-Mail Bag
Each Friday I publish your comments and answer your questions. To submit a comment or questions please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com.
Hey Mickey,
You say, "I think Oglesby is the best passer on the team also." What justification are you using when you say that? I can't recall seeing anyone pass as poorly as him on the entire team. Most of the time it seems his passes are traveling to slow and are then easily disrupted or picked off. His Assist to Turnover ratio is exactly 1/1 ... What is your justification?? He averaged 18 min/game while Stitt averaged 22 min/game. Stitt more than doubled Oglesby's total assist count (97/42) with only a marginally better A/T.O. ratio at 1.08/1. Neither ratio is good, but certainly Stitt has put the ball in the spot it needed to be in to help his teammates score a lot more than Oglesby statistically has. I groan a lot less when Stitt passes the ball than Oglesby. I'd say Oglesby's judgment on when to take a shot is sometimes better than the judgment he uses when passing.
Just my thoughts on the matter...
Ian
Ian,
Maybe it is best put to say that Oglesby sees the court better than anyone. If he has a fault it is that sometimes his passes are not expected by his teammates. His turnovers don’t all come from bad passes. Maybe he needs to recognize who is on the other end of the pass but I think he sees the floor so well and is a terrific passer.
Mickey,
While we are experimenting during spring practice, I think we should maybe try Rendrick Taylor at DE and K. Alexander at LB.....Both have the physical tools ...size, speed and talent to excel at these positions. Alexander has that " mean " side that all good LB have , and Taylor the speed and strength for end.
Martin
Martin,
They obviously are trying to find a spot for Rendrick. I remember talking to him at the Shrine Bowl his senior year in high school and he never came across as a guy that had a defensive player’s mentality. Maybe I am wrong but he always came across as a wide out. I think he can be a factor at running back but in the end I think he could go back to being a receiver and be effective. The hard part here is that Marquan Jones and Brandon Clear are doing so well.
I always thought Alexander would make a great mike linebacker. He was just growing so fast. When you talk to the coaches they all talk about DaQuan Bowers being a freak of nature but every time they also mention how good Alexander is playing and how hard he works.
Mickey,
I have come to one conclusion. Poor free throw shooting (Clemson style) is a cancer, not a cold. It should be dealt with like cancer. Tough choices have to be made to change the culture. I have heard that free throw shooting doesn’t lose games. It did Friday night and here is how. Villanova could play as rough as they wanted inside. If the ball goes inside, hack the ball handler. Booker and Mays shot 4 of 13 from the foul line. That encourages Villanova’s big men to be aggressive and causes Clemson to be tentative at best about getting the ball to our big men. Clemson’s big men were 4 of 5 in the first half and were not fouled while shooting. In the second half Clemson’s big men were 1 (Booker) of 5, but Booker and Mays were fouled 8 times. Mays and Booker shot the ball once each without being fouled. Booker made his shot. Booker and Mays were an effective 4 of 14 from the foul line since Booker missed the front end of a one and one. That equates to slightly over half a point each of the seven times down the court. That makes Clemson one dimensional. Clemson’s backcourt made 3 of 4 shots in the first 8:30 of the second half. During the same time Clemson big men were 3 of 8 from the foul line making one shot. After that Clemson’s backcourt was 3 of 20. Clemson’s big men scored one point (with 10:44 left in the game) the rest of the game shooting 1 of 5 from the foul line. That’s cancer. Fans should not be negative, but Clemson basketball needs to know poor free throw shooting kills dreams. Don’t let the big men practice down low if they can’t shoot two from the line.
Chasn79
Chasn79,
You make a lot of sense. It hurt to watch the awful free throw shooting last Friday. I think next year will get better because they lose two bad free throw shooters to graduation. Hopefully it will get better. It got better this year and hopefully that is a trend that will continue.
Hi Mickey,
I think the loss to Villanova, especially after having an 18-point lead, says that Coach Purnell has a ways to go before we can honestly say the Tigers have turned the corner in the ACC. Truly excellent programs beat easy opponents handily, win the close games, and one other thing: They do not blow big leads. Our Achilles heel this year is our FG shooting. We are simply not consistently good at shooting the ball from the field. I really hope he and the staff continue to make progress, but we obviously have considerably more work to do.
Kirk
Kirk,
I saw a bunch of teams blow big leads this year. In fact I saw more this year than ever before. It is obvious to me that the program still has a ways to go but I watched a lot of the NCAA tournament and saw a bunch of good teams lose. It is not fair to judge a team on one game. The program took another positive step again this season.
Mickey,
I am not sure where Eric is. I live in Gaffney and have a beautiful orange golf cart I ride around the neighborhood in. A friend of mine here in Gaffney refurbs used/leased carts and can fix one up any way he wants in any color. Rick Mullinax with Snappy Golf Carts - 864-487-9798.
Scott
Scott,
Hopefully Eric will see this and give them a call. Thanks for the information.
864-834-6060
The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency
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Martin, how the F do you know that "Alexander has that mean side" to him? You're so full of it, just go somewhere else, like the coot message board.
Posted by drock4484 on March 28, 2008 at 05:26 PM EDT #
I sure agree that TO is by far best passer on team. What happened often was that he saw opening where teammate SHOULD BE and made that pass that resulted in him having T/O that should have been charged to the team mate that did not go to proper spot on the floor. Sykes did this a lot!!When other players get ready to play @ TO level we will be much better team.
Posted by Litefoot on March 30, 2008 at 01:12 PM EDT #