Howland ON: Mississippi State
On Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado:
"First of all, their big kid (Jarvis Varnado) is a really good player. I think he's the all-time leading shot-block leader in the history of the NCAA. He has 37 blocks in their first seven games. Varnado, he's a very good scorer. They do a lot of pick-and-roll stuff to get him the ball inside."
On Mississippi State's offense:
"They have a very good point guard, Dee Bost, he's a smart player. Shoots almost 53 percent from threes thus far. They're a pretty good shooting team. They have another kid (Ravern Johnson), he's long athletic and a starting three-man, really a good athlete."
On Mississippi State's defense:
"They pressure you and try to get after you defensively. They can really get out and get after the ball. They're athletic. They're a very good rebounding team and obviously they block shots with the big guy inside."
On playing zone defense against MSU:
"You know what? Old Dominion, who's a really good team this year, tried to zone them and actually it didn't work. They do a lot more zoning that we do. We'll look at it but they're a good shooting team. It's a thing where we'll have to see how we do as the game progresses. At some point, we're going to use it. It's not going to be...I feel like our young guys, like Reeves Nelson and Tyler, they need to learn how to play man-to-man. We have to keep working on getting them better."
I think our old guys, like Roll and Drago, need to learn how to play man-to-man.
I just dont think Roll is quick enough to play man D well. Drago has his moments, but both are served better as roll players shooting 3's. Mike Roll got stuck guarding guys much too quick for him early this season.
Drago knows haow to play man, but he is a step slow and lacks the DESIRE. If he shoots an airball, he comes back on defense and mopes, getting beat to the rim time and time again. Also, there is hardly any weak side rotation. No communication whatsoever. At the Anaheim Classic, I sat courtside and heard NOTHING when our front line got beat to the basket. NOTHING! I am actually sitting there yelling HELP! HELP! HELP! and we actually got some weak side rotation. Not a difficult concept. I don't think the UCLA bench appreciated it though, they just kept looking over at me.
Cop-out. Our players are too slow to play man effectively, but have the length at every position to be very good in a zone. Turnovers generated by a zone would really help our offense as well.
@UB
That sounds really bad but good job. I hope you also encouraged the players to start talking on defense.