A win over Cal. would make the Stanford game look better. However,
shooting 32% from the floor, 19% from 3 and 57% at the line may not win another game this season. ND's main ballhandler had 8 T.O.'s and shot 3/8 fts. The other 3 guards shot 1/18. This was as ugly as it gets (I hope). Not having a backup PG is certainly akin to not having a back-up QB. The Cal game will be an indicator where this season is going.
Replies to: A win over Cal. would make the Stanford game look better. However,
The players gave extraordinary effort on defense, which meant that offense would suffer some.
That's just how it works. Players have a finite amount of energy. Last night's game required the team to shut down an extraordinary scorer on the other team, so it was necessary to sacrifice some offense to slow him down, and they did better than just slowing him down. One way a defensive-oriented team can improve offensively is to be more deliberate in working for higher-percentage shots. This was the entire basis of Dick Bennett's teams over several decades. One thing Shrews did last night was called "dorking." This is when a coach has his team ignore an offensive player who is outside the key and beg him to shoot, while double-teaming an opponent he doesn't want shooting or driving. Shrews did this at PSU sometimes.
I really don't like what ND does offensively most of the time, but trust me when I say that Shrews knows X's and O's. Other coaches recognize this as well, because they have to prepare to play his teams.
dorking
A long time ago, DIgger did that at SU to their guard Stevie Thompson. Stevie was wide open for all the 3's he wanted. So wide open he spooked himself and missed practically everything, and ND won.
Digger was outstanding at X's and O's. Like with Shrews, there was criticism that he overmanaged.
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Consent Management