Ireland v. Switzerland

cfitz

I went to see Ireland v. Switzerland in the Arena in Tallaght on Saturday. I don't know that much about basketball, but here's what I thought of it. Would like to know what other people thought.

First of all, Ireland seemed well out of their depth - throughout the game they struggled to penetrate the Swiss defence or make any room for themselves. The fact that the whole team was struggling so badly probably made some of our good individual players look a bit worse than they actually are. And also it was my first time to see most of these players. Having said that, I think Jason Killeen and Isaac Westbrook were the only ones who really looked like big day performers.

Thabo, the Bulls player, was very influential for Switzerland, but I think the result would have been the same without him. For me, Killeen was the best of the Irish. Westbrook was good too and worked hard. Bree looked like he had a bit to offer but seemed to foul needlessly too often. Naughten seemed to come to life in the last quarter (when the game was over as a contest). Cummins looked like a lad who was very nervous, had a terrible game in my opinion.

The game was not nearly as entertaining as a Superleague game - the style the Americans bring to the game was definitely missed by me.

Is that how it looked to the rest of you or should I keep my mouth shut in future?

nialo

I didnt see the game myself but your comments seems fair from your point of view. Going to have to get someone that saw the game thou to comment... From past games i have seen they arent out of there league, but have put up some ****ty preformances. I cant see ireland ever coming in the top three in europe any time soon..

There is usually more skill involved in an international game, less show boating that you get with the superleague...

my two cents for what its worth...

maherprobasket

cfitz and nialo…..Yes…I went to the game and reported on it for Eurobasket www.eurobasket.com. I have been monitoring probably more closely than anybody else the comings and goings of the team for the past number of years so I feel qualified to comment.
“The team struggled to penetrate throughout the game” Yes this was pretty much the way it was essentially because I believe how the team were set up offensively created a situation where the higher level players i.e. Bree and Naughton and the not so high level players were operating from the same “playbook” without cognisance being given to individual offensive skill.The effects of this coaching strategy (and it essentially has been unchanged since the team began to compete)…(.o.k. the last qualification attempt for the A group in Europe was different only because though there were enough higher level players to compensate for poor coaching knowledge cum strategy and these players would be very much aware of the nuances being carried by higher level players as they compete)….The effects of this coaching strategy…..allowed the Swiss team to get comfortable as a unit defensively (essentially because of the quickness of Chicago Bulls player Thabo Sefolosha and his ability to stop anybody coming into “the paint” and posing a scoring threat ) and they built and built on this defensive platform with some hiccups here and there as the Swiss coach experimented with players as his top player Thabo needed a break.What Ireland needed to do to compete effectively was incorporate a team passing system allowing each player the opportunity to “square up” to the basket in a genuine “triple threat stance” (where a player can shoot or dribble or pass).On the surface it may have appeared that all of our players had and were using this capability but in essence they were not and quite often a “pass on” was the option most often used despite players posturing.Again the effects of this was that our top guys carried a greater share of the offensive burden and allowed the Swiss to focus on these few players as a team,i.e. Naughton had situations right through the game where he was being double and triple teamed though without a support offensive strategy that allowed our “open” players
become legitimate scoring threats to capitalize on the double/triple teaming.
Kileen and Westbrooks may have looked to be playing great,the question is though did they have a positive team oriented game where each time they had possession they afforded all teamates the opportunity to read the defence and act accordingly for the benefit of themselves and the team…..Probably not…though to be sure of this they need the opportunity to prove themselves with a different setup where ambiguity plays no part in coach strategy.
Moving on to Bree fouling needlessly….It,s a habit from his days at Davidson College where if his comfort level drops to the degree where he feels the team defensive capability is so low that a foul is his/the teams final option.It did,nt happen as much with players like Burke,Conlon and Bowdler about him and when it did these players could see where the break occurred.(consistently it was with the lower level players) and store this info away for future reference.
Cfitz…it,s crital everyone has a voice and airs it..only with it can issues be openly discussed and solutions to problems be solved.
Nialo…This current team is pretty much out of the level of competition it,s competing in…the question is what,s behind the falloff of the Top level U.S. players that represented the Nation this time last year.
Can Ireland get to the top level in Europe soon ???.Only if there,s a rethink on BasketballIreland,s strategy which obviously is not working effectively.Dr I svan Balyi (world expert in periodization in sport) tells us it takes 10 years to produce a top athlete,
I agree and say Ireland can do it if we start today…though with a new strategy where people involved walk their talk and there is congruence,for this to happen though we need an investigation into the workings of BasketballIreland in terms of how it,s coaching system is operated.