First of all, great win for the Cocks but hats off to the fans, especially the students. I mentioned it yesterday in my open letter that fans make a difference. Let me share a secret, the fans were the difference today. No player, regardless of his or her ability, wants to be subjected to the harassment by other fan bases.
The Gamecocks were locked in defensively today and when you're successful on the defensive end on the court, your confidence is through the roof on the offensive side. One of the biggest misconceptions about basketball is that players have a lot of fun playing offense. Well, that's false. What's fun is when you're locked defensively and see the frustration on the faces of your opponents because they can't get comfortable. You can see the discomfort. You can see the uneasiness. You can see the lack-of-confidence because you've taken an offensive player and/or team out of their rhythm.
Now, that's fun, fun, fun.
The Cocks did a great job with their preparation. Associate head coach Matt Figger was responsible for the scout and what a good job he did (the assistant coach next to Frank, closest to the table is always responsible for scouting that particular game). A lot of the defensive success could also be attributed to the familiarity shared between the two staffs dating back to their Big 12 days.
In the past I've talked about how good the guards have to be every game, fair or unfair. That was evident today with the Notice, Johnson and Thornwell doing what they have to do every night. But Marcus Stroman was masterful today. What a terrific passer. He has great court awareness and his basketball IQ is off the charts. Truthfully, he has one of the highest basketball IQs of young players I've ever been around. Thornwell and incoming freshman P.J. Dozier both fall under that category.
By the way, you wouldn't believe the number of arguments/debates I've had with locals about Stroman. Many people doubted he could play at this level and dumb Carey Rich, who happens to know a little bit about the PG position in particular, argued in his favor. Now they all are calling to apologize. I've decided not to have anymore barbershop arguments.
The team did a really good job getting out running and scoring in transition. They were active. Rebounding, getting steals and deflections allowed the team to get easy scoring opportunities. This takes pressure off of having to score against a set defense. I don't care how talented you are offensively as a team, you always prefer to score when the defense is in disarray. It's easier.
The recipe we saw today is the recipe needed moving forward: tough defense, rebounding, winning effort categories, sharing the ball, making free throws and taking good shots.
One of the oldest adages in sports is that the team takes on the personality of the head coach. The team took on the on-court personality of Frank Martin today. They played angry. I loved it and enjoyed every minute of it.
After Frank scheduled Baylor, Oklahoma State and Clemson last year as road games, he shared with me how excited he was to get all three of those teams at home this year. Today was evident.
P.S. Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford was the starting point guard for Kentucky during my playing days. We opposed each other as the starting PGs for two seasons before he graduated.
ALSO SEE: DOZIER, SHULER, FELTON
This post was edited on 12/6 8:22 PM by Carey Rich
This post was edited on 12/6 9:23 PM by Carey Rich
The Gamecocks were locked in defensively today and when you're successful on the defensive end on the court, your confidence is through the roof on the offensive side. One of the biggest misconceptions about basketball is that players have a lot of fun playing offense. Well, that's false. What's fun is when you're locked defensively and see the frustration on the faces of your opponents because they can't get comfortable. You can see the discomfort. You can see the uneasiness. You can see the lack-of-confidence because you've taken an offensive player and/or team out of their rhythm.
Now, that's fun, fun, fun.
The Cocks did a great job with their preparation. Associate head coach Matt Figger was responsible for the scout and what a good job he did (the assistant coach next to Frank, closest to the table is always responsible for scouting that particular game). A lot of the defensive success could also be attributed to the familiarity shared between the two staffs dating back to their Big 12 days.
In the past I've talked about how good the guards have to be every game, fair or unfair. That was evident today with the Notice, Johnson and Thornwell doing what they have to do every night. But Marcus Stroman was masterful today. What a terrific passer. He has great court awareness and his basketball IQ is off the charts. Truthfully, he has one of the highest basketball IQs of young players I've ever been around. Thornwell and incoming freshman P.J. Dozier both fall under that category.
By the way, you wouldn't believe the number of arguments/debates I've had with locals about Stroman. Many people doubted he could play at this level and dumb Carey Rich, who happens to know a little bit about the PG position in particular, argued in his favor. Now they all are calling to apologize. I've decided not to have anymore barbershop arguments.
The team did a really good job getting out running and scoring in transition. They were active. Rebounding, getting steals and deflections allowed the team to get easy scoring opportunities. This takes pressure off of having to score against a set defense. I don't care how talented you are offensively as a team, you always prefer to score when the defense is in disarray. It's easier.
The recipe we saw today is the recipe needed moving forward: tough defense, rebounding, winning effort categories, sharing the ball, making free throws and taking good shots.
One of the oldest adages in sports is that the team takes on the personality of the head coach. The team took on the on-court personality of Frank Martin today. They played angry. I loved it and enjoyed every minute of it.
After Frank scheduled Baylor, Oklahoma State and Clemson last year as road games, he shared with me how excited he was to get all three of those teams at home this year. Today was evident.
P.S. Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford was the starting point guard for Kentucky during my playing days. We opposed each other as the starting PGs for two seasons before he graduated.
ALSO SEE: DOZIER, SHULER, FELTON
This post was edited on 12/6 8:22 PM by Carey Rich
This post was edited on 12/6 9:23 PM by Carey Rich
