West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

All good points and very true. With regard to the 8 remaining players at Nova, number 1 and 5 are the salient points. They may mouth the words about being committed to the new system but it is not what they have grown up playing and not the style they were recruited to play. They MAY have the individual skills to play this new style, but do they truly believe in it? My guess is that it will be 50/50...4 will be able to make the switch and 4 won't. The question is will it be the 4 most skilled returnees or will it be the 4 returning bench warmers? If it's the former and Crutch hits on all of his recruits this year, Nova will have enough skilled players to be pretty good. Buuutttt...If one or two of the top 4 returnees don't truly buy in and one or two of Crutch's recruits are not ready to be front line starters their first season, it could be a rough first season.

But as I've said before, if anyone can do it, Crutch is that guy. While I don't think they will get to 20 W's, I'm not willing to bet against Crutch being able to do it!!!

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Why there are not imitators:
You raise some very interesting points. I think his style is not imitated because it requires fundamental changes in attitudes and belief systems of both coaches and players. Humans have real problems with fundamental changes in these areas.

1. Many coaches and player's styles reflect the way they have been taught growing up and serving under other coaches. So solutions to every problem or challenge tend to be some modification to that base of knowledge. Elon Musk develops very innovative approaches to problem solving. He said that his approach is "Start with the physics"; which means start with fundamental truths, not what we think is the truth. Otherwise we tend to develop solutions that are just based on the past. Like Musk, Crutch has the ability to "start with the physics" and look at everything without any baggage from the past.
2. Many coaches make decisions by the "Book" and never question whether the "book" represents reality. Similar to Crutch, there is a high school football coach at Pulaski Academy in Arkansas who determined that the best chance of winning is to NEVER punt and to always onside kick after scoring. I first heard about them when I saw the headline: "Team losing 29-0 in first quarter and they have not yet run a single play". They have won several state championships and play teams all over the country. Statisticians have validated that his strategy is indeed the best one and coaches are far too conservative, based on data from thousands of games at different levels (college, pro, etc.). But it goes against the "BooK" so no one imitates them.
3. Since we fans believe in the "book", coaches believe it is high personal career risk to go against the book. It's like plausible deniability to avoid criticism, should a loss occur. Pressure to win "now"!
4. I don't think players and coaches really believe in synergy; i.e., the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
5. Many very talented players find it very difficult to subvert self and focus on team for an entire game. Example is the Cavs. Cavs do not need better players IMHO. The Cavs lost because they could not focus on team instead of self for an entire game, despite the best efforts of LeBron and Kyrie to play unselfishly for the most part. Cavs played team ball for about 90% of the game which is great for the NBA, but that is not enough against the Warriors. Remember them not getting back on defense in transition, Player doing a "heat check" shot (translation: terrible shot), and sub fouling Curry near the half court line after Curry received the in-bounds pass?
6. One often has to be desperate to overcome resistance to change, especially when coaches are having mostly good seasons, with some great seasons every few years with their system

In summary, imitating Crutch is rare because it is considered risky, subject to criticism, and requires attitude and belief changes in players and coaches.



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[cavsfan94]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

So with all that is going on with the Hilltopper basketball team, how do you feel about how the MEC will turn out this upcoming season?

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Given WLU's success over the Crutch era, if it was as easy as getting your players in great condition and then running the WLU "system," I would imagine there would be a bunch of successful imitators. Fact that WLU and Crutch were the only team able to do it says to me that it ain't that easy to do!!! Crutch has one player who has been successful in his system, a 4 or 5 other guys he recruited who he believes can play his system and 8 holdovers who MIGHT be able to do so. My opinion...to get to 20 wins, Crutch needs to have hit on all they guys he brought in and most of the holdovers as well. He has some of the cards he needs, but to win 20, he will need to draw to an inside straight....not impossible...but not as easy as just getting them in good shape.

I will say that if anyone can do it, Crutch is the guy!

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

My hunch: That 6-24 (or something like that) from last year turns in to 18-12 or 20-8 this season. There's some talent there and with Dennis he has (entering his junior year) perhaps the best point guard in the country.

Hoehn will be a key member of that team. Obviously not as a player but he'll be the grad assistant who is essentially dressing for practice every day. That should really help the system implementation.

You'll see that instant change from a year ago in that team's conditioning. My thought is people always talk about the Crutch 'system' ... I never agreed with that analysis. If that was the case, everybody would run that 'system'. What always jumped out to me as the key to WL's success was having top-conditioned and intelligent players -- along with, of course, high-percentage (unselfish) shooters. That's my 'non black and gold sunglasses' view.

Who knows ... maybe we'll get a home-and-home going here in the near future. Enough with Cheyney and Mansfield. And, yes, I'd agree ... one for one ... not the 2 or 3 for one stuff IUP wanted.

In addition, all the players are well balanced in fundamentals of passing, defense, dribbling, rebounding as well as shooting. Other coaches tend to recruit for a position and not emphasize balance. I have heard they also practice differently with more emphasis on team play. Rather than a system, it seems to be more of a philosophy. As crutch said there is no one magic system but how players execute and buy into whatever the system is. His stresses getting more possessions and good shots than the opponent by forcing turnovers, not taking off balance shots and tiring the opponent.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

And ... All good coaches have to play the hand dealt.

[IUP Extra Mile]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I see Nova as a 10-15 win team this coming season. That would be a big improvement. Much of Nova's success, or failure, next year will be based on weather the 8 players that remained from the previous regime truly buy into Crutch-ball AND if they are physically capable of playing that system. The 8 holdovers were brought in to play a COMPLETELY different style of ball and they may not have the right skill set to be a success in Nova's new style.

I dont' know much about Nova's philosophy from past regime, I don't know much about their team...But let's be real....Conditioning is one aspect of basketball that can be taught....They will be well conditioned...they will play the WL style....do they have the players to be super successful? We'll see...He has a good start with Dennis and Nick Smith, FR....I'm predicting 18-19 wins...He's a good coach..they'll be conditioned...

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I see Nova as a 10-15 win team this coming season. That would be a big improvement. Much of Nova's success, or failure, next year will be based on weather the 8 players that remained from the previous regime truly buy into Crutch-ball AND if they are physically capable of playing that system. The 8 holdovers were brought in to play a COMPLETELY different style of ball and they may not have the right skill set to be a success in Nova's new style.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I agree with your assessment. I saw West Lib play them last year and Nova did OK against them. They definitely were not incompetent. They just did not value every offensive possession. That 6 ft 9 guy who was freshman on yr in his conference at Salem. Hits 40% of 3s. Got 19 against West Lib. Some of their international players are decent too.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

My hunch: That 6-24 (or something like that) from last year turns in to 18-12 or 20-8 this season. There's some talent there and with Dennis he has (entering his junior year) perhaps the best point guard in the country.

Hoehn will be a key member of that team. Obviously not as a player but he'll be the grad assistant who is essentially dressing for practice every day. That should really help the system implementation.

You'll see that instant change from a year ago in that team's conditioning. My thought is people always talk about the Crutch 'system' ... I never agreed with that analysis. If that was the case, everybody would run that 'system'. What always jumped out to me as the key to WL's success was having top-conditioned and intelligent players -- along with, of course, high-percentage (unselfish) shooters. That's my 'non black and gold sunglasses' view.

Who knows ... maybe we'll get a home-and-home going here in the near future. Enough with Cheyney and Mansfield. And, yes, I'd agree ... one for one ... not the 2 or 3 for one stuff IUP wanted.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

South FL is a TOUGH market for sports teams. For a team to "draw" they need to be a winner and even then it is a "what have you done for me lately" thing. A proven winner will see their game attendance drop considerably even within a season if the team hits a rough stretch! There are just soooo very many other things a person can do in South FL rather than go watch a team they think might lose!!!

But the good news is Nova is coming from as close to zero as a program can get...and Crutch's style is pretty fan friendly. Even if they don't put up a whole lot of W's if they can score 100+ every game and lose "shootouts," they might be able to draw some interest.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Off topic fyi:
Crutch got a 12 ft by 32 ft nevco jumbotron at Rick case arena at nova se. Looks like they are giving him every tool to attract recruits and fans.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Tough situation for Howlett. He can be a great coach and lead the Toppers consistently to four loss regular seasons and several NCAA playoff W's each season and still be seen as a "failure." The bar is just so very, very high for him. He will have to be dam close to perfect and have WLU in the hunt for a NC most years to even have a chance to be seen as "adequate." I understand why he took the job and I think he's up to the task but DAM...talk about zero chance to grow into the job!!!!

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I'm most interested to see the dynamic of the new coach going from buddy-buddy cheerleader assistant to the head coach. Always an interesting transition.

I think we will have to be patient. Very big shoes to fill. On the other hand i understand he did much of recruiting so he has an eye for a player that fits the style. The in game adjustments are the biggest unknown when compared to crutch who had so many more years of experience.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I'm most interested to see the dynamic of the new coach going from buddy-buddy cheerleader assistant to the head coach. Always an interesting transition.