One of our problems in recent years (going back to Crean's Time) is that we recruited too many of the same type of player - the 6'6' to 6'8" players with great athletic ability but who lack Basketball IQ and Game Smarts. On this team, Justin Smith and Devonte Green are examples. And yes I realize that Smith had his best game of the year yesterday against Purdue, and that Green is shorter than 6'6". However, these two exemplify what I am talking about. Both of them make too many fundamental mistakes including dribbling into double teams, holding the ball too long, lapses on defense, and generally poor decision making. They are the kind of players who grew up being able to out athletic their opponents and weren't required to work on their weaknesses. Many of these players never improve over the course of their careers and they don't make their teammates better when they are on the floor.
Granted, you can't have an entire team of average athletes with high basketball IQ nor can you have all great athletes with limited basketball IQ. The key is to find a way to meld these players into your system and have them play together consistently.
As far as recruiting goes, we place too much emphasis on the star system and highly recruited players. Due to our recent recruiting emphasis we have to play Morgan who would be an excellent power forward out of position at center, and we don't have a consistent outside shooter. My point is that instead of taking another highly rated recruit at a position you already have covered, maybe you take that 6'11" player who isn't fully developed that you can improve over time and get 3 productive years from, or that less athletic guard who will burn the lights out in the gym working to improve his shooting as well as other aspects of his game.
Granted, you can't have an entire team of average athletes with high basketball IQ nor can you have all great athletes with limited basketball IQ. The key is to find a way to meld these players into your system and have them play together consistently.
As far as recruiting goes, we place too much emphasis on the star system and highly recruited players. Due to our recent recruiting emphasis we have to play Morgan who would be an excellent power forward out of position at center, and we don't have a consistent outside shooter. My point is that instead of taking another highly rated recruit at a position you already have covered, maybe you take that 6'11" player who isn't fully developed that you can improve over time and get 3 productive years from, or that less athletic guard who will burn the lights out in the gym working to improve his shooting as well as other aspects of his game.
