bruiser wrote:wheelersburg-less talent-way better coached than ironton. it showed last night.
the waginger kid made some good plays in the 4th quarter and hit a big three getting ironton the momentum back and lafon takes him out right after he hit the three midway through the quarter. the wag kid never seen the floor again until 1 minute left in overtime. go figure.
as a former player it would be hard to play for lafon with all the substitutions. most players need to be in the game for a while to get in a rhythm. i think lafon takes this away from some of his players. it is hard to mess up as a coach when you have as much talent as itown does but i think that happened last night.jmho.
When you have someone hot keep him in the game.............
In defense of coach Laffon.. when you play the kind of style that he wants to play, which involves an extreme amount of ball pressure, a lot of times full court, you have to play a lot of kids and substitute frequently. Even if you are in great shape, it is nearly impossible to play that style and play it for long periods of time, unless you are taking breaks somewhere when you shouldn't be. That being said, I do agree that shooters need to get into a rythm. Wheelersburg did something very similar in 2007 with that team that was so deep. They pressed and trapped all game, full court man to man, and had a lot of different guys play a lot of minutes and contribute. Its really not a bad thing to do if you have the depth and talent, imo.. But as you guys were saying, if someone is shooting well you leave them in if they can go.
as far as wheelersburg goes, they are very raw. They are athletic and competitive, and that is giving them an edge early in the year. I think a key to this team is tyler craigmiles. He had a big game making 5 threes, but he is out there to rebound the basketball and defend people. If he truly buys into that gritty role that was filled by dustin cook, nick carrington, geoff givan players like that... then Wheelersburg has a chance to be a very good team. Also I feel like the development of Whitley as a scoring threat on the perimeter is key to this team. He has had some big games, and some games that he kind of dissapeared in. If he can be more conisistant that will help the burg. Burg is not nearly as talented as they have been over the last 3 or 4 years, but they are athletes and they are competitors, and with coach barrick that may take them a long way this year.