Just a random question.  My D3 Defiance team has a stud soph class which I start all three players and I also start a senior who I just brought in my first year (as a junior) and a freshman.  I think they should be pretty good, especially in my weak conference, but I've been losing lately despite a good start.  Was just wondering, since I have IQ's in the B range is that why I am losing close games?  Or is my game planning just that bad? lol

jaymc2007, short answer IO's have relatively little to do with your difficulties here. If you don't get the info you want here on the forms sitemail me.

That might be the most overtime games I've seen in a season in quite some time. I'd be packing some extra blood pressure meds to the arena with that trend!!

My first thought was that it was a fatigue/stamina issue since you're leaning on nine guys, but every PBP I opened up, you seemed to be showing the fresher team on the floor at precisely the time your opponents were making a move. I still wonder if the constant uptempo isn't playing a contributing factor to some extent there, but it isn't nearly as clear from the data presented as i thought it would be to point at that.

IQ matters a lot, but I have not looked at your games, sorry

My diagnosis is a BH/P issue.  When you look at the PBP, you'll notice that your team is turning it over at an alarming rate.   IMHO, motion offense emphasizes BH over P.   Williams looks like he'll be a good guard at D3, but there isn't another sure bet on that roster.   The only other plays at guard are Cipriano & Stephens and both have BH<40 (but decent passing).  Your 4th best guard is Fowler.

I think you're stuck playing Stephens at SG and Guion at SF and hoping that they keep improving at PER.  It would really help to have at least 2 players with PER at 70 or more.   Everyone except those two should be set to -2 on 3pt shots.  Those two could be set to -1 (although Guion would be at 0 against zones).  Almost every ounce of your distribution should go to those outstanding forwards.  

Finally, if Newman ever gets off the bench, kick him in the nuts!   You want him to transfer.  He probably won't, but you need to give him every reason to leave early.  On the other hand, start letting Glover into the games.  If you play Fowler minutes at SG & SF, then Glover should be able to pick up more minutes somewhere.

Thank you all for your input... I really do appreciate it more than you all probably realize!!

I'm not sure how u lost those last 3 games. If it were my team, Brussard is the 5. I would play slow or medium pace only. Guion or whatever his name is is another scorer with Brussard, they need a lot of your distro and 30 minutes. The Pg who can dribble needs to play 30 as well if possible. If you slow the pace u can play with fewer guys. You have a couple guys with no ath at all. Don't let them play.
And IQ IS important.
Some of those teams that you lost to are really bad however. Your team has 4-5 guys that are much better than theirs.... Maximize them by not going uptempo.
GL, and get some more ball-handlers.
In D3 u can win games with no PE at all..... But if you can't shoot from outside you have to be dominate every where else..... And not turn over the ball....

Keep in mind tempo does not affect the defense. So you are not only tiring out your your limited rotation of 9 players, but you are not tiring out the defense.

Posted by poncho0091 on 5/17/2014 11:45:00 PM (view original):
Keep in mind tempo does not affect the defense. So you are not only tiring out your your limited rotation of 9 players, but you are not tiring out the defense.

i disagree that tempo does not affect the defense, that is almost absolutely not true, from observation. i know when seble said that, and quoted it myself, but it just doesn't pan out. there is no direct effect... but indirectly, the increase or decrease in # of possessions resulting from the change, absolutely impacts both sides.

that said, playing uptempo (which is what i take from this comment) with 9 players is probably killing the OP, so i agree with the thesis of putting a stop to that :)

Posted by gillispie1 on 5/17/2014 11:50:00 PM (view original):

Posted by poncho0091 on 5/17/2014 11:45:00 PM (view original):
Keep in mind tempo does not affect the defense. So you are not only tiring out your your limited rotation of 9 players, but you are not tiring out the defense.

i disagree that tempo does not affect the defense, that is almost absolutely not true, from observation. i know when seble said that, and quoted it myself, but it just doesn't pan out. there is no direct effect... but indirectly, the increase or decrease in # of possessions resulting from the change, absolutely impacts both sides.

that said, playing uptempo (which is what i take from this comment) with 9 players is probably killing the OP, so i agree with the thesis of putting a stop to that :)

Billy I agree with what you're saying in the sense that more possessions mean the opposing team will in effect wear down some also since they now also have more possessions. Yes I am taking this from what Seble is saying, but I've also considered what you're saying before. The issue is their wear down is still at a slower pace and only indirectly caused by your running of uptempo (unless they are also running uptempo) while your wear down will be at a faster pace. Maybe I'm not seeing this the same, but imo you can't think of it as real life where if I'm running an uptempo offense, the defender will effectively be more tired as he tries to keep up. In HD, they are only tiring faster, because their offense has more possessions, which can be somewhat cancelled out if they are running a slowdown.

Multiply that by the fact that he is only running a 9 man rotation and he is asking for problems.

Posted by poncho0091 on 5/18/2014 10:24:00 AM (view original):

Posted by gillispie1 on 5/17/2014 11:50:00 PM (view original):

Posted by poncho0091 on 5/17/2014 11:45:00 PM (view original):
Keep in mind tempo does not affect the defense. So you are not only tiring out your your limited rotation of 9 players, but you are not tiring out the defense.

i disagree that tempo does not affect the defense, that is almost absolutely not true, from observation. i know when seble said that, and quoted it myself, but it just doesn't pan out. there is no direct effect... but indirectly, the increase or decrease in # of possessions resulting from the change, absolutely impacts both sides.

that said, playing uptempo (which is what i take from this comment) with 9 players is probably killing the OP, so i agree with the thesis of putting a stop to that :)

Billy I agree with what you're saying in the sense that more possessions mean the opposing team will in effect wear down some also since they now also have more possessions. Yes I am taking this from what Seble is saying, but I've also considered what you're saying before. The issue is their wear down is still at a slower pace and only indirectly caused by your running of uptempo (unless they are also running uptempo) while your wear down will be at a faster pace. Maybe I'm not seeing this the same, but imo you can't think of it as real life where if I'm running an uptempo offense, the defender will effectively be more tired as he tries to keep up. In HD, they are only tiring faster, because their offense has more possessions, which can be somewhat cancelled out if they are running a slowdown.

Multiply that by the fact that he is only running a 9 man rotation and he is asking for problems.

i agree with all of this, but just to clarify, both offensive and defensive possessions cause fatigue, so its really the indirect effect of them tiring faster because both their offense and defense have more possessions.

still, your conclusion is absolutely correct.

I will slow down the tempo (I have my brother tonight and need to beat him! ).  I guess very early when I started getting on forums and reaching out for help, I always thought that if you have a better team then you run uptempo.  I don't think I took into account that I am only running 8 guys (9 only if the cards are played right).  So until I can grab a couple more recruits that I like, as still remember I am only in my second season and my upperclassmen are terrible, I need to slow the tempo down and see if I can't get a few more wins heading into the conference tourney!

Posted by jaymc2007 on 5/18/2014 12:57:00 PM (view original):
I will slow down the tempo (I have my brother tonight and need to beat him! ).  I guess very early when I started getting on forums and reaching out for help, I always thought that if you have a better team then you run uptempo.  I don't think I took into account that I am only running 8 guys (9 only if the cards are played right).  So until I can grab a couple more recruits that I like, as still remember I am only in my second season and my upperclassmen are terrible, I need to slow the tempo down and see if I can't get a few more wins heading into the conference tourney!

i've come around to the idea that uptempo has its uses, but really, you should not just run uptempo because you have the better team. generally speaking, i think most coaches would be better off never playing uptempo, than playing uptempo the way they play it now. so i'd definitely err on the side of not playing uptempo... you have to have the depth and the system (off/def) to be able to run uptempo without fatigue issues, usually, unless the opponent will really suffer from the extra fatigue. the extra possessions are nice, to be sure, but it seems the decrease in volatility is pretty modest, so i think its best to set a pretty high bar for when you play uptempo, only lowering it slowly when you are confident its working for you when you do use it, and are pretty sure it will help in the new cases, too.

Posted by jaymc2007 on 5/18/2014 12:57:00 PM (view original):
I will slow down the tempo (I have my brother tonight and need to beat him! ).  I guess very early when I started getting on forums and reaching out for help, I always thought that if you have a better team then you run uptempo.  I don't think I took into account that I am only running 8 guys (9 only if the cards are played right).  So until I can grab a couple more recruits that I like, as still remember I am only in my second season and my upperclassmen are terrible, I need to slow the tempo down and see if I can't get a few more wins heading into the conference tourney!

i've come around to the idea that uptempo has its uses, but really, you should not just run uptempo because you have the better team. generally speaking, i think most coaches would be better off never playing uptempo, than playing uptempo the way they play it now. so i'd definitely err on the side of not playing uptempo... you have to have the depth and the system (off/def) to be able to run uptempo without fatigue issues, usually, unless the opponent will really suffer from the extra fatigue. the extra possessions are nice, to be sure, but it seems the decrease in volatility is pretty modest, so i think its best to set a pretty high bar for when you play uptempo, only lowering it slowly when you are confident its working for you when you do use it, and are pretty sure it will help in the new cases, too.

From my understanding, the better team concept is more in relation to depth when running uptempo. So if you have a team where the backups are good enough to be starters and you don't mind your starting 5 coming out more often, run uptempo. On the other side, if you only have 5 that are studs and you'd like to keep the bench guys off the floor as much as possible, maybe a slowdown. Otherwise maybe just run normal tempo.

I would also add that if you have a significant athleticism advantage it might be a viable option to draw fouls, but again, you still need solid depth