1. Layups. How many years in a row have we been the worst layup shooting team in the country? Don't know if that's factually true, but damn it it sure feels like it. I understand that there are contested layups, but how many games did we lose just because we missed probably 5 uncontested or semi-contested layups? Yellen always talks about Omar Thomas and his 1,000 jump shot work out. Maybe this team needs to take a 1,000 layups a day this offseason.
2. Perimeter defense. Julian Washburn probably missed out on one or two DPOY awards simply because he didn't have many stats. There was always someone with blocks or steals who got the award. That was a bit unfair because defensive stats really don't tell if someone is a good defensive player. This year's team is the case in point. Artis and Moore were top 10 in the league in steals, and both are charitably below average defenders. Perimeter defense obviously starts at the top, and if they don't improve, it's going to be another long year on the defensive end. This is also one of the Haskins defensive principles that hasn't aged well. You play off the outside shooters because probably there aren't more than a couple of players who could consistently make them. Not quite the case any more. We're going to see a lot more Marshalls in the coming years.
3. Rebounding. This isn't as high on my list as it probably is for many. I don't remember having a good rebounding team this century, and we've had teams that have been able to overcome. Probably because we've been good enough on the defensive that we could weather the storm a little easier. Again, that might not be the case again next, but who knows. The biggest issue I have is that, given our lack of depth inside, you should have seen Thomas, Jones, or Romine step up by the end of the year and steal some minutes from Hooper. Maybe it was more about the philosophy shift, but the fact that all three were buried at the end of the bench is a huge red flag for me (especially with Thomas and Jones).
4. Tempo. It's been brought up before, but are we going to continue the uptempo play we saw at the end of the year or are we going back to rigid offense? I can totally see Floyd saying OK the kids had their fun, now it's back to old school. And that would be a big mistake.
5. Scheduling. Of course, it needs to improve. I would really like to see us add a couple more road games than our usually one plus NMSU. Either a good low major team (Weber St., Long Beach, etc.) or a middling mid-major (WCC, MVC, etc.). Most of all, we need to win them. We've lost 15 of 16 non-NMSU non-conference road games (or something like that).
2. Perimeter defense. Julian Washburn probably missed out on one or two DPOY awards simply because he didn't have many stats. There was always someone with blocks or steals who got the award. That was a bit unfair because defensive stats really don't tell if someone is a good defensive player. This year's team is the case in point. Artis and Moore were top 10 in the league in steals, and both are charitably below average defenders. Perimeter defense obviously starts at the top, and if they don't improve, it's going to be another long year on the defensive end. This is also one of the Haskins defensive principles that hasn't aged well. You play off the outside shooters because probably there aren't more than a couple of players who could consistently make them. Not quite the case any more. We're going to see a lot more Marshalls in the coming years.
3. Rebounding. This isn't as high on my list as it probably is for many. I don't remember having a good rebounding team this century, and we've had teams that have been able to overcome. Probably because we've been good enough on the defensive that we could weather the storm a little easier. Again, that might not be the case again next, but who knows. The biggest issue I have is that, given our lack of depth inside, you should have seen Thomas, Jones, or Romine step up by the end of the year and steal some minutes from Hooper. Maybe it was more about the philosophy shift, but the fact that all three were buried at the end of the bench is a huge red flag for me (especially with Thomas and Jones).
4. Tempo. It's been brought up before, but are we going to continue the uptempo play we saw at the end of the year or are we going back to rigid offense? I can totally see Floyd saying OK the kids had their fun, now it's back to old school. And that would be a big mistake.
5. Scheduling. Of course, it needs to improve. I would really like to see us add a couple more road games than our usually one plus NMSU. Either a good low major team (Weber St., Long Beach, etc.) or a middling mid-major (WCC, MVC, etc.). Most of all, we need to win them. We've lost 15 of 16 non-NMSU non-conference road games (or something like that).
