Is It Just Me?

[grandpa jacket]

I tried watching some college basketball games tonight, including the GT game with Notre Dame.

I found them, by and large, pretty unwatchable. And what I mean by that is that the offensive efficiency....which I define as % of time a team scores on a possession.....seems VERY low to me.

It may be me, but between poor shooting, and turnovers, it sure seems like teams usually only score on about 25% of their set offensive series (once you take fast breaks out of the equation).

Maybe I am just that crotchety old guy in the corner who always says everything was better in the past. But I remember watching Villanova-Georgetown in the NCAA Finals, when it seems like the efficiency was more like 66% or so. Turnovers seemed much more rare back in the day. Shooting...oh, I dunno...maybe it was about the same. But today's teams (not just GT mind you) seem to be much more prone to dribbling the ball off their foot or throwing it out of bounds for unforced errors.

I'd love to know two things...
(1) Is it Me? Am I just romanticizing the teams of the past and thinking how much better they were than what we are seeing now? I mean, I think Lethal Weapon Three would bury our current team by at least 20 points on a BAD night! Or is it true that today's college game is much more ponderous and poor on offense than the past?

(2) If it's not just me, then....WHY? Is it as simple as the best guys are now gone to the NBA early? Is it that AAU ball has encouraged poor playing habits? What is the problem?


I miss the old college game. Maybe I am just an old fool....(entirely possible) but I though I'd ask the wiser folks on this board to enlighten me!

It us hard to get interested when our team is a non-factor

 

[Gtbowhunter90]

I stated in one of these other threads that we are 3-5 at home, 0-3 in the ACC.
Inexcusable to not defend your home court. This was not a program barren of ACC talent when he took over.

Totally agree about the game today. Fundamentally, including FT shooting, and being mentally involved in the game, are all lacking. I’m so tired of seeing cross court passes from one sideline to the other-low % passes.

I'd rather watch the women play. They are not worried about dunking or tipping it in and fundamentals are in effect for what can be executed.

Good take. Agree 1000%

 

[gte447f]

I've come to believe that getting rid of the 3 point line would help the game of basketball. The game revolves too much around it and that's why the mid-range game has virtually disappeared. That's my simple solution to improving basketball.

I’m kind of in agreement on this, but when I mention it to other people they usually think it’s a dumb idea (to get rid of the 3 point line).

 

[MWBATL]

I’m kind of in agreement on this, but when I mention it to other people they usually think it’s a dumb idea (to get rid of the 3 point line).

Yup.....kinda like home runs in baseball...you can slant the game towards home runs and then you get a ton of strike outs and a boom or bust type game...or you can go back to the old style basics of advancing runners and getting them in from third with less than two outs, making contact instead off striking out, etc.

Seems like both sports have decided that chicks dig the long ball.

 

[JacketOff]

z

 

[JacketOff]

Yup.....kinda like home runs in baseball...you can slant the game towards home runs and then you get a ton of strike outs and a boom or bust type game...or you can go back to the old style basics of advancing runners and getting them in from third with less than two outs, making contact instead off striking out, etc.

Seems like both sports have decided that chicks dig the long ball.

I wanted to make this exact comparison. Statically and analytically 3 pointers and homeruns are the best and “easiest” ways to score in both sports. They’re also “sexy” ways to score. But if you overload the games with too many it becomes stale, and a waiting game for the big play. It seems like both sport are choosing the analytical routes without giving much concern to the excitement of the game itself. Remember, sports as we know them only exist as a form of entertainment. If you take the entertaining aspects out of sports their value decreases significantly. Basketball needs more 12 ft J’s, and baseball needs more singles and stolen bases.

 

[LibertyTurns]

I agree. I watch tons of NBA and its hard to watch college bball. Its so sloppy, no one can make shots, and kinda boring unless im watching Tech or a top nba prospect. Its night and day.

Last night there were a dozen or more shots in the 2nd half that didn’t even hit the rim. I can’t even remember once that I failed to hit the rim in all the years I played and I had to heave it from downtown damn near every shot because my team sucked.

 

[YlJacket]

No
No fever

 

[mstranahan]

analytics has taken over and it has produced the dunk or 3 pointer offenses we see now. In the 80's, the mantra was get the ball in the lane an shoot in close since every shot was worth 2 and (in theory) you shoot a higher % the closer you are to the hoop. Thus, 80s ball was all about shooting 15 feet and in. No big man ever wandered out and hoisted 25 foot jumpers (which is now the norm)

I saw a shot chart from a mid-90s NBA game recently. (Friend of mine played in the game so he saved it. Was his career high game) There were a ton of shots taken by both teams. Easily 50% or more were in the lane or just outside. 30- 40% were the so-called "midrange" and almost none were three pointers. I don't remember exactly, but believe there were fewer than 10 3s attempted all game. The three point line hasn't moved (I don't think) in the last 25 years, but the analytics gurus arrived in the early 2000s. Since their arrival, the NBA has become an unwatchable game of 5 guys on the three point line, one of whom gets an isolation and tries to drive for a dunk. If someone helps and slows him down he throws it out to one of his brethren on the line for a 3 point bomb. Lather rinse repeat. It's not basketball. It's a modified game of HORSE.

Sadly, college hoops almost always follows the NBA in terms of trends. The NBA stopped calling traveling in the 70s and the NCAA followed several years later. Ditto for three seconds, palming and other transgressions our children have never seen called in a game. The NBA outlawed two hands on an offensive player and the arm bar. Three or four year later, the NCAA does too. etc etc etc. So now, every NCAA coach thinks the key to success is take as many threes as possible.

Like all the other NBA fads / trends, I hope this passes and we get back to basketball before I'm 70. (Remember Laimbeer and the Bad Boys? That brand of ball was trendy for about 6 - 8 years, then it went away. So did other trends. Really hoping this one follows suit and is gone soon)