When I played junior high basketball – and I use the word “played” lightly – we had a guy on our team who was, give or take an inch, 6’5″ in eighth grade. As you can imagine, this guy Trevor was the centerpiece of our otherwise-runty team. His only problem was, as a 14-year-old who was taller than any of his coaches, he was not incredibly coordinated. His biggest problem was dribbling. It was for that reason our coach instituted the “Trevor-no-dribble-rule”. When Trevor got the ball, he was either shooting or passing. If he attempted to dribble, he was yelled at. In basketball, every player has their strengths and attempts to play to those strengths.
After watching MSU struggle against Alabama, I started thinking there are few Bulldogs who may need to have a “Trevor-no-dribble-rule” instituted. The number one problem with this is the full-court press ‘Bama ran so effectively against the Dawgs. After an opposing team scores, the same thing typically happens: Kodi Augustus passes it in to Dee Bost who takes the ball all the way up the court and sets up the offense. However, when the opposing team runs the full-court press, State seems to run into problems. When Bost cannot take the ball up the court himself, Augustus is often the only teammate in the area. Now, Augustus is a gifted athlete and is not your typical big man. But he is not the ideal player to bring the ball up the court, either. I’m OK with Augustus dribbling if he is driving to the basket for a layup or dunk, but when he is dribbling in the open court I just get scared, and often rightfully so.
Whether or not Augustus is the key, the Bulldogs will have to figure out how to answer the full-court press. Now that the rest of the SEC has seen the fits it causes, I have to think MSU will see it all game every game until it stops working.
It was also clear Bama’s main goal on defense, and likely the reason for the press, was to shut down Bost, who had been scoring bucket after bucket recently. Not only did the Tide suffocate Bost, it seemed to crush the entire Bulldog offense and gameplan.
If future teams attempt the same Bost-stifling plan, and it is all but certain they will, Stansbury’s club is going to have find yet another answer, and that answer will likely be another player. Barry Stewart and Phil Turner will have to step up their games, which may be a lot to ask. One of the key cogs to the Bulldog offense has been Bost driving to the basket and either making an acrobatic layup, getting fouled or passing the ball out to someone for an open shot. If teams no longer allow that to happen, then Stewart and Turner may have to take over the role.
Now, the Bama game was rough, and pretty disappointing. I certainly believe it gave the team cause for concern, but I also think a largely underrated factor in the loss was the long layoff. After playing two games in three days, the Bulldogs had to wait an entire week before playing again, and there is no doubt they seemed to lose their rhythm, consistency and flow after the long break from any real action.