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Friday, February 10, 2006
Jackets look decidedly indecisive
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, having seen an entire game in person, I can confirm — and this makes me really smart — that Tech indeed has issues at point guard although Zam Fredrick can score if that’s what he wants. But the Jackets have more than a few passing issues beyond that.
Mario West and Fredrick combined for six turnovers and five assists in last night’s come-from-ahead loss at Florida State. The PG situation is no secret.
The Jackets did enough to overcome their lack of a prototypical point in all other areas, however, except for turnovers (oh, and lax defense late combined with a palpable trepidation about shooting the ball in the final two minutes). They had 26 turnovers, just one less than the season’s worst of 27 against Clemson.
That’s almost unreal, and very, very tough to overcome, especially on the road, where, by the way, FSU’s only two home losses in 11 games were in overtime to Miami and by one to North Carolina. The ‘Noles took Duke to the wire in Durham last week so they’re not bums.
Still, the turnovers were unfathomable at times, and although the interior passing was a little improved (Jeremis Smith had six assists), there is a unanimous problem with soft passes.
Bottom line: Tech HAS TO be decisive with EVERY pass.
West had a soft pass tipped away in the open court in the waning moments only to have the FSU player then tap it out of bounds. When Smith’s lob on the inbound was intercepted in the final minute, I knew it was probably not going to end pretty. As Coach Hewitt said after the game, “We teach that lob passes are loose balls.”
There’s a tendency at first, when Hewitt points the finger at himself and his staff for failing to get players to learn and deploy the basics to believe that he’s just trying to relieve pressure on players. But when you see some of the Jackets’ passes, it becomes more believable.
When you watch FSU’s Andrew Wilson catch the ball in three-point range (having made 53.3 percent of his three-point shots this season) and see nobody fight around a screen to get a hand in his face in the final 95 seconds of a drum-tight game, maybe Hewitt’s right; he’s not getting through. There’s NO WAY players are taught to let that guy shoot that shot uncontested in that situation.
When you watch Zam Fredrick dribble quickly down the right side in the final minute, and put up an 18-footer with about 40-some seconds left in the game, a ton of time on the shot clock and nary a teammate yet on the glass — without squaring up and a defender almost right in his face — you know that’s not taught.
Anthony Morrow had eight TOs, including dribbling out of bounds with four seconds left. Tech still had a shot after fouling; FSU’s best FT shooter, Mims (92-plus percent), missed both freebies. Alas, Smith rebounded, got the ball to 55 feet, and heaved it off the backboard as time expired.
Player accountability, in my estimation, may be as big an issue as the absence of a true point guard. The teacher’s teaching, but the students may not be listening. And ball security is a problem across the board.
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