The Good News: There's a small schedule break coming up.
The Bad News: TOs improved but now the defense is starting to stink
USC Current Ranking: 104 (down 1 spot from last ranking)
Quality Wins: None (#41 UAB, v. #75 Florida State (N) and at #87 Vanderbilt all Quad 2)
Quality Loses: Three (at #62 Clemson, v. #6 Auburn and at #9 Tennessee)
Bad Loses: Two (v. #116 Princeton (N), at #154 Coastal Carolina). Both teams moving away from Quad 2 and may stick as bad losses.
Remaining:
Quad 1 (7): at #49 Texas A&M, at #47 Mississippi State, v. #9 Tennessee, v. #14 Kentucky, v. #4 LSU, at #23 Alabama, at #6 Auburn
Quad 2 (3): v. at #85 Arkansas, at #111 Mississippi, v. #47 Mississippi State
Quad 3 (2): v. #87 Vanderbilt; at #225 Georgia
Quad 4 (2): v. #225 Georgia, v. #232 Missouri
South Carolina now sits at 1-3 in SEC play and will likely need to win all of the Quad 2-4 games plus 2 Quad 1 games to even have a chance. One site has South Carolina as the #57 team out so that means no NCAA and no NIT.
NET Efficiency: Offense #260 (up 1); Defense #33 (down 2). Of note, yesterday's game was the worst game USC played in terms of Adjusted Defensive Efficiency but fourth best in terms of Adjusted Offensive Efficiency (1. Army, 2. Wofford, 3. at Vanderbilt) - they missed a lot of shots but the reduced turnovers and offensive rebounds led to more points per possession. USC lost because they allowed Florida to shoot 55% from overall.
1. Player Numbers in SEC play (Minott not listed because of only 5 minutes played)
Player Efficiency Top 5 (Wilson, Leveque, Woodley, Stevenson, Chico Carter); Bottom 5 (D. Carter, Gray, Cousinard, Bryant, Martin).
Player Shooting Top 5 (Wilson, Leveque, C. Carter, Gray, Stevenson); Bottom 5 (Wright, Martin, Woodley, Cousinard, Bryant)
Win Share per 40 minutes Top 5 (Wilson, Leveque, Woodley, Stevenson, Reese); Bottom 5 (Gray, D. Carter, Martin, Cousinard, Bryant)
TO% Top 5 (Leveque, Stevenson, Reese, Wilson, C. Carter); Bottom 5 (D. Carter, Gray, Bryant, Cousinard, Martin)
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure who is helping and hurting the team offensively. However, you have Bryant starting (#4 in minutes played) and Cousinard #5 in minutes played. Of course, Wilson (#1 in many categories) has zero minutes played.
2. Where's Wilson: (Bias alert). This is where Frank loses me the most as a fan. First, after Wilson gets hit in the head earlier this year, Frank literally calls him out for being down on the floor and talks about how Frank was hit with a bat when he was younger. Now, Frank gets upset when questioned about Wilson not playing and says it's Wilson's fault because he can't find his way with the team. Then, Frank talks about how Cousinard and Bryant played so bad because the younger guys aren't getting it done. Also, let's not forget that Frank talked about how Cousinard and Bryant "couldn't find their way with the team" but Frank said "it was his job to figure it out." I guess that only applies to his pet carryover players? Let's add into the numbers the fact that Wilson was #23 in blocks in the nation last year, he's #3 in offensive rebounding (above Leveque and Gray) and #1 in defensive rebounding in SEC play. These were all things we needed yesterday.
In fairness, I don't know what happens at practice. I don't know if Wilson mouths off. I don't know if there is some subtle basketball thing that the numbers can't see but clearly there a personality dynamic going on here that is not helping the team.
(Rant alert) Personally, I think Frank has completely lost it. There were personnel dynamics we couldn't see last year that appeared to break down faction lines. Frank appears to be beholden to the two main guys who stayed at the detriment of the team. I think he cares more about making a point than actually winning a game.
3. Revenge Substitutions: Well, the revenge substitutions were back with guys getting yanked play-to-play without any chance to get into a rhythm. There are 8 TV timeouts a game in addition to team timeouts but Frank has an unwillingness to have any normal substitution pattern. There were many times he was yelling at a player after a made basket and I had no clue what the problem was that created his freak out. I see this the most with Gray. Gray seems to mope a little bit and yesterday (at one point) he seemed more active on the defensive and offensive end. However, for some reason, Frank freaked out at him (we guessed it was because he didn't go for a defensive rebound when it clearly would have been over-the-back) and Frank lit into him during FT attempts and then when he got to the bench. When Gray came back in, Gray went back to being passive Gray.
4. Woodley: The positive note is Woodley. The kid tries hard and gets into great position for someone so young. In SEC play his Player Efficiency rating is #3, his offensive rebounding percentage is #1, defensive rebounding percentage is #2 and he is #1 in TO percentage. He got 13 minutes last night, which probably about right. He needs a little more conditioning and should be a great contributor/starter in future if he stays.
Would love to see your comments.
The Bad News: TOs improved but now the defense is starting to stink
USC Current Ranking: 104 (down 1 spot from last ranking)
Quality Wins: None (#41 UAB, v. #75 Florida State (N) and at #87 Vanderbilt all Quad 2)
Quality Loses: Three (at #62 Clemson, v. #6 Auburn and at #9 Tennessee)
Bad Loses: Two (v. #116 Princeton (N), at #154 Coastal Carolina). Both teams moving away from Quad 2 and may stick as bad losses.
Remaining:
Quad 1 (7): at #49 Texas A&M, at #47 Mississippi State, v. #9 Tennessee, v. #14 Kentucky, v. #4 LSU, at #23 Alabama, at #6 Auburn
Quad 2 (3): v. at #85 Arkansas, at #111 Mississippi, v. #47 Mississippi State
Quad 3 (2): v. #87 Vanderbilt; at #225 Georgia
Quad 4 (2): v. #225 Georgia, v. #232 Missouri
South Carolina now sits at 1-3 in SEC play and will likely need to win all of the Quad 2-4 games plus 2 Quad 1 games to even have a chance. One site has South Carolina as the #57 team out so that means no NCAA and no NIT.
NET Efficiency: Offense #260 (up 1); Defense #33 (down 2). Of note, yesterday's game was the worst game USC played in terms of Adjusted Defensive Efficiency but fourth best in terms of Adjusted Offensive Efficiency (1. Army, 2. Wofford, 3. at Vanderbilt) - they missed a lot of shots but the reduced turnovers and offensive rebounds led to more points per possession. USC lost because they allowed Florida to shoot 55% from overall.
1. Player Numbers in SEC play (Minott not listed because of only 5 minutes played)
Player Efficiency Top 5 (Wilson, Leveque, Woodley, Stevenson, Chico Carter); Bottom 5 (D. Carter, Gray, Cousinard, Bryant, Martin).
Player Shooting Top 5 (Wilson, Leveque, C. Carter, Gray, Stevenson); Bottom 5 (Wright, Martin, Woodley, Cousinard, Bryant)
Win Share per 40 minutes Top 5 (Wilson, Leveque, Woodley, Stevenson, Reese); Bottom 5 (Gray, D. Carter, Martin, Cousinard, Bryant)
TO% Top 5 (Leveque, Stevenson, Reese, Wilson, C. Carter); Bottom 5 (D. Carter, Gray, Bryant, Cousinard, Martin)
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure who is helping and hurting the team offensively. However, you have Bryant starting (#4 in minutes played) and Cousinard #5 in minutes played. Of course, Wilson (#1 in many categories) has zero minutes played.
2. Where's Wilson: (Bias alert). This is where Frank loses me the most as a fan. First, after Wilson gets hit in the head earlier this year, Frank literally calls him out for being down on the floor and talks about how Frank was hit with a bat when he was younger. Now, Frank gets upset when questioned about Wilson not playing and says it's Wilson's fault because he can't find his way with the team. Then, Frank talks about how Cousinard and Bryant played so bad because the younger guys aren't getting it done. Also, let's not forget that Frank talked about how Cousinard and Bryant "couldn't find their way with the team" but Frank said "it was his job to figure it out." I guess that only applies to his pet carryover players? Let's add into the numbers the fact that Wilson was #23 in blocks in the nation last year, he's #3 in offensive rebounding (above Leveque and Gray) and #1 in defensive rebounding in SEC play. These were all things we needed yesterday.
In fairness, I don't know what happens at practice. I don't know if Wilson mouths off. I don't know if there is some subtle basketball thing that the numbers can't see but clearly there a personality dynamic going on here that is not helping the team.
(Rant alert) Personally, I think Frank has completely lost it. There were personnel dynamics we couldn't see last year that appeared to break down faction lines. Frank appears to be beholden to the two main guys who stayed at the detriment of the team. I think he cares more about making a point than actually winning a game.
3. Revenge Substitutions: Well, the revenge substitutions were back with guys getting yanked play-to-play without any chance to get into a rhythm. There are 8 TV timeouts a game in addition to team timeouts but Frank has an unwillingness to have any normal substitution pattern. There were many times he was yelling at a player after a made basket and I had no clue what the problem was that created his freak out. I see this the most with Gray. Gray seems to mope a little bit and yesterday (at one point) he seemed more active on the defensive and offensive end. However, for some reason, Frank freaked out at him (we guessed it was because he didn't go for a defensive rebound when it clearly would have been over-the-back) and Frank lit into him during FT attempts and then when he got to the bench. When Gray came back in, Gray went back to being passive Gray.
4. Woodley: The positive note is Woodley. The kid tries hard and gets into great position for someone so young. In SEC play his Player Efficiency rating is #3, his offensive rebounding percentage is #1, defensive rebounding percentage is #2 and he is #1 in TO percentage. He got 13 minutes last night, which probably about right. He needs a little more conditioning and should be a great contributor/starter in future if he stays.
Would love to see your comments.