[2018-19] Boston College, at Virginia, at Louisville, NC State

[rhfarmer]

Roy's weird. I don't know that I'd think of him as a good strategist. To me, Roy's strengths are:

1) Recruiting to his system
2) Teaching his system well
3) Player development (particularly in the post)
4) Recruiting

Recruiting has slipped off a little bit, but because of #1-#3 he can plug and play some lesser players and have it work. But of course, like Tony Bennett, having a great system comes with its own drawbacks. There's a certain inflexibility. K has shown that he'll make major changes in the middle of a game. Roy has too, but those changes are just randomly substituting out good players for bad ones.

Regarding number 3, the development comes with PT, which is both a feature and a bug in Roy's system.

His players develop because he plays them. So his teams suffer through some astonishingly bad substitution patterns that end up being worth it for the development of people like Luke Maye.

Think how many minutes Vrank would get at UNC.

 

[rome8180]

I also think that because he teaches a system, what he's asking his bigs to do is very clear cut. And he plays them and works with them until they can do it. He also probably recruits guys who seem like they'd be able to (even if they're 3-star bigs). He tends to like the lean floor runners, for example.

K doesn't really have a coherent system for how he'll use his bigs (nor which types of bigs he recruits). This is good and bad, just like Roy's system.

 

[rome8180]

The players that struggle in Roy's system tend to be wings. They don't have a defined role. And he usually insists on playing 3/4 hybrids solely at the 3, which doesn't always maximize them. So Roy's wings have to struggle against the system to an extent, just like K's big who aren't immediately good scorers struggle to break out of the "screen, defend, and rebound" box.

 

[rome8180]

On Keatts, I'm not sold on his greatness just yet. Is he one of those coaches with the potential for greatness, but who only brings it against Duke? We've seen that before. I want to see consistently good game plans.

It's like those players who light us up for career highs and then go right back to scoring nine points. Clearly they have that in them, but is it something they can do against GT?

And how good a motivator is he? Can he get his guys up for non-marquee games? (Okay, that was way too many wordy posts in a row.)

 

[deepdarkblue]

On Keatts, I'm not sold on his greatness just yet. Is he one of those coaches with the potential for greatness, but who only brings it against Duke? We've seen that before. I want to see consistently good game plans.

It's like those players who light us up for career highs and then go right back to scoring nine points. Clearly they have that in them, but is it something they can do against GT?

And how good a motivator is he? Can he get his guys up for non-marquee games? (Okay, that was way too many wordy posts in a row.)

Before landing at State, Keatts' strategy was to play at least 10 guys, lots of pressure defense, and run, run, run on offense. It was easier doing that at a mid-major against lesser competition, I think he's going to have to recruit pretty widely to bring in the talent to pull it off against elite teams.

 

[rome8180]

Sounds like a strategy that will be REALLY effective against Roy Williams.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Sounds like a strategy that will be REALLY effective against Roy Williams.

Exactly. His B-level scrubs against Roy's 4- and 5-stars who still somehow remain in college for 3 years.

I think Keatts will be a force if State will let him stick it out long enough to get the recruits he needs. There are 11 D1 Men's basketball coaches who are age 65 or older, and five of them are in the ACC. Combine that with the demise of the OAD rule and Keatts should be in good shape in a couple of years.

 

[rome8180]

That would require State having patience and putting aside delusions of grandeur.

 

[deepdarkblue]

That would require State having patience and putting aside delusions of grandeur.

And we know they're just the best at that.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

The game at Virginia just tipped on ESPNU.

 

[Devilsforlife]

The game at Virginia just tipped on ESPNU.

Sadly the last great game the 2018-19 team played.