Learning on the fly

In the wake of Sunday's disappointing loss to Duke, Brad Brownell said the stage and the competition presented his five freshmen with quite a reality check.

They played a total of 52 minutes and produced seven points and four turnovers. Starter T.J. Sapp played 27 minutes and got off one shot (missing it) while committing three turnovers.

To me, the inconsistency from the freshmen wasn't the biggest problem against Duke and has not been the biggest problem on the season. Seems that inconsistency and lack of confidence from the veterans has been a bigger deal, because late in close games there's been no one to grab the game by the throat and make big plays.

Is it me, or did Milton Jennings' shooting form look great in the first half when he was playing loose and free, but erode late in the game when the pressure was on? He started fading away on his jumpers, and maybe that's what Brownell is talking about when he refers to a lack of confidence among his veterans. You see the same thing with Tanner Smith; he's far from a skilled shooter, but his stroke just does not look confident at some crucial times.

Back to the freshmen: A big part of this growth process has been learning the motion offense, and that's more difficult than some people might imagine.

Sapp and Rod Hall have the talent and athleticism to flourish in this offense, but grasping it has taken some time.

Here's what someone with the team told me recently:

"One of the drawbacks to motion is if guys don't see it, they're lost. Tanner and Andre (Young) see it, but sometimes they don't have the ability to do it. T.J. and Rod have the ability, but sometimes they don't see it."

I asked Brownell about the challenges of freshmen learning the motion offense:

"It's pretty challenging, because there's so many reads you can make and they don't have any experience doing anything like this. So there's a lot to it.

"T.J. is not bad. He has a better feel. And Rod does a good job of distributing and passing. And obviously both of those guys are ahead of the other guys defensively. That's why they play. But they're still a long way from really knowing exactly what to do.

"Rod kind of knows what he's supposed to do, but I'm not sure he knows what everybody else is supposed to be doing all the time. That's something that as a young guard he's needed to work on."

When you're relying on so many freshmen and none of those freshmen are supremely talented, it's a roll of the dice.

Bottom line, Brownell and Co. are in a position where they have to ask freshmen to do things they wouldn't have to do if the Tigers' veterans supplied more of an impact.

LW