Happy Thanksgiving!

NCC 87- Monmouth 98
93 Shots
63 Threes
29% ORB
28 TOs
+13 Shot Differential

Before heading out to our Thanksgiving family gathering, I'll update our progress!  As you can from the Formula Goals above, we've made some improvement, setting school records for FGA and 3FGA, and 3FGM (16-63). 

The +13 shot differential is a little deceptive... you can see that we did not meet our ORB goal (40%) or our TOs Forced goal (33), so how did we manage to have 13 more shots than our opponent?  Free throw differential, though not a System goal, accounts for this.  They shot 19-32 from the line while we wer 11-19, giving us about 6 more opportunities to shoot field goals instead of FTs. There were two reasons they shot so many more FTs than us:  First, we beat the snot out of them, lacking  defensive discipline while reaching, bumping, and chesting up on every trap.  Second, our game officials were new to the System and... say no more... it will even out eventually). 

Also, we did create 6+ shots  via our TO Differential... we had 22 but forced 28, so even though we didn't meet our defensive goal we did at least gain some extra shots here.

The score was tied 45-45 at the half, but again we lost our focus after intermission.  It will take this team some time to realize that they must fight the tendency to have a lull after halftime.  My teams at ONU did this all the time, and it's very frustrating to play well for the first 20 minutes, then stink it up the first five minutes of the second half.  But this highlights the reality that System success is all about focus and maximum effort, and when we have those letdowns, it shows up pretty quickly on the scoreboard.

You can see, too, that we shot poorly from the arc (25%) and the line (58%).  This is also a normal early season occurance.  Players just need time to adjust to the faster tempo.  They've played their entire lives at one speed (i.e. SLOW), and until they adjust to this new speed they'll feel like they are in a hurry, rushing their shots.  It's an art to learn how to sprint the floor, then instantly calm down, relax, and knock down a three at the end of the break.

But we are making progress.  Like the Pilgrims, we can't expect a bumper crop the first winter in the New World... so we must hang on, and hope that the harvest comes in before we starve to death.