The Coach's Chess Match

A month ago it looked like Duke, Carolina and State basketball were headed to one of the worse years ever when all their records were added together.  All of a sudden Duke looks like Duke and Carlolina and State are not as bad as once thought.

Even closer to home a chess match has been going on.  Mike Gainey has one of the tallest teams in eastern North Carolina if not in the whole state.  The Big East however hardly has any six five players at all.  Almost every team in the league plays three guards a small forward and a power forward who has to play the center position.

Gainey's Gryphons  from day one on this season has not found a guard that has shown the ability to bring the ball up court against all these teams with three guards and get the ball inside where no one has shown an ability to match the Gryphon big men.  Those teams how ever have made it tough on the Gryphons to match them with the outside speed and shooting ability that teams playing against the Gryphons have shown.

So Rocky Mount has started trying to out power other teams, gamble that teams would not  make a great number out outside shots and this has been a year that it seems every team shots are falling.  Gainey has also gambled that he continued the up tempo  game even without a guard to run the fast paced that they would have enough chances to score to over ride the negatives.  For a good portion of this season that thought has not worked.

Coaches schedule games based on what he thinks his team can handle based on the ability of what he thinks his team will be when they make the schedule in the spring.  This year there were no games with SouthWest Edgecombe but those two games have been against stronger 4-A programs. Hertford County is the only  2-A school on the schedule but in the past the Bears have been one of the strongest in the Northeast.

So when you play a tougher schedule and you find yourself with a weakness all of a sudden the Gryphons have six losses four to 4-A teams,Hunt and Hertford County.  Teams have burned the Gryphons on the outside.  Harassed the Gryphon guards enough to keep the ball from going inside like the Gryphons want.  So how do you stop the other teams outside shooting?

Instead of going with the three tall men  replace one with a guard.  Now the Gryphons have two shooting guards a so called point guard and two tall men on the floor all the time.  Still with only two big men the Gryphons are still the biggest team in the Big East and now all of a sudden they have enough speed outside to cover those hot shooting outside shooters.  Now they have a rested big man coming off the bench.

The result is the Gryphons have won two conference games with the new line up in which they controlled the games most of the way.  If you remember in both 2010 and 2012 it was mid January before the teams came together to put runs on to win the state championships.  This team is coming together.  They still have flaws.

  Right now with six conference games to go they have five at home and then the last game of the season at rival Northern.  Do you realize this team has played only three home games all season?  The Miami Heat would be glad to be 9-6 having played 12 of 15 games on the road. Looks to me this team is right where Mike Gainey wants them.   I know he wants and needs someone to say I am the guard you are looking for.  If that happens that team might be a force into late Febuary or early March.  The guards have got to play better to think about  mid March and Chapel Hill.