8 replies to this topic

[BSLZackKiesel]

BSL: Analyzing Mark Turgeon

http://baltimorespor... ... k-turgeon/

In this article, I take a look at the pros and cons of Mark Turgeon as a college basketball coach, and give Terp fans reasons for optimism entering the 2013-14 season.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Interesting thoughts Zack.

I think you will find many people who agree, and disagree with this part of the article:

"Coaching is not Mark Turgeon’s strongest talent. There are legitimate questions about his coaching ability, especially on the offensive end of the floor. The Terps were great defensive teams under Gary Williams, and that has continued under Mark Turgeon. In fact, rebounding has improved under Turgeon on both ends of the court. But offensively, the team seems to constantly struggle despite huge amounts of offensive talent on the roster. Timeouts also pose problems for the Terps, who can never seem to execute plays out of timeouts. How much of that is inexperience on the court and how much is on the coach is yet to be seen."

After Turgeon was hired by Maryland we spoke with Jay Bilas (ESPN), Mike DeCourcy (Sporting News), and Jason King (then of Yahoo, currently with ESPN) in May 2011:

http://baltimorespor...nt-part-1-of-2/

One of the questions we asked those analysts was:

Baltimore Sports and Life: “I’ve seen Turgeon described as a very competitive, emotional guy, that believes in man-to-man defense. I know he was a player and Coach under Larry Brown, and later served on Roy Williams’ staff as well. What else can you tell me about him personally or his Coaching philosophies?”

Jay Bilas: “He is no-nonsense. Mark is just good people. He is disciplined and expects his players to be disciplined on and off the floor. He is tough, and his teams play that way. His teams play hard at both ends, defend and rebound, and they value the ball. But, most of all, his teams and players compete. Mark is not a showman, but he is emotional and he bleeds to win. I think Terp fans will love him. ”

Mike DeCourcy: “His offense is very patient, and they get high quality looks. One of the things I’ve liked about what he runs, is that he makes sure his best players, get the most shots. Sounds simple enough, but sometimes missed elsewhere.”

Jason King: “The thing that’s impressed me the most about Turgeon is how well-prepared his teams always seem to be. If they lose it’s not because they beat themselves. They play extremely hard and take PRIDE in playing menacing defense and in sharing the ball. For the most part, you won’t see his players taking ill-advised, selfish, “streetball” shots. He’s won a lot of games with somewhat marginal talent. He finds a way to get maximum effort out of almost all of his players.”

Having seen Turgeon for a couple of years up-close now, it is interesting to go back and see their thoughts. The next two years will be interesting to see as well.

[BSLZackKiesel]

Those comments seem to line up with what we've seen (minus the "no ill-advised shots, and patient offense parts). He wears his heart on his sleeve, and has limitless energy on the bench. He's a defensive-minded guy, and that part of the ball has been great for the Terps.

I think he may need to hire a better offensive-minded assistant coach. Spinelli is one of the best assistants in the country, but he's a defensive guy like Turgeon. There has to be a better offensive system than base motion, which doesn't seem to be working. Watching other teams, I think backdoor cuts and better interior passing are things we have to see more of from the Terps. We have a lot of talented big guys, so better interior passing has to take place.

I also think he is learning how to coach more talented players. Having such talented scorers is something he's not used to having. He's used to coaching up guys like Gary did, but he doesn't really have to do that now. He just has to reel in the guys and have them play as a unit, not one-on-one.

[Mackus]

I don't think is accurate or fair to say that he isn't a good X's and O's coach or even a good in-game coach. He certainly had that reputation coming in and I was impressed with his work last season.

I do think it's accurate and fair to say that he didn't have a good season overall at coaching up this particular group of players. Whether they were unreachable or unteachable in terms of figuring out how to effectively score points and limit turnovers or if Turgeon just couldn't get through to them is open to opinion, the bottom line is the team simply didn't get better as the season went on. Or at least not until a couple nice games last weekend, when it was already too late.

I'm very optimistic about Turgeon and the program going forward, but this was a disappointing season. Not getting into the tournament is a failure on the part of Mark and the players, IMO. Hoping for some promising things throughout the NIT and much better results next season.

[bnickle]

Sorry, but anybody who thinks Turge can't coach, even on the offensive end of the floor isn't paying close enough attention. Now, I did miss tonights game but generally over the 2nd half of the ACC schedule they started getting better looks at the rim. They were executing the offensive X's and O's well. They simply couldn't find a way to actually get the ball to go through the hoop despite getting good looks. Pretty much exactly what Decourcey said above. You saw what happened when they were able to get their looks during much all of the ACC tourny.

People are looking at the end result and not everything leading up to the end result as far as offensive execution.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Those comments seem to line up with what we've seen (minus the "no ill-advised shots, and patient offense parts). He wears his heart on his sleeve, and has limitless energy on the bench. He's a defensive-minded guy, and that part of the ball has been great for the Terps.

I think he may need to hire a better offensive-minded assistant coach. Spinelli is one of the best assistants in the country, but he's a defensive guy like Turgeon. There has to be a better offensive system than base motion, which doesn't seem to be working. Watching other teams, I think backdoor cuts and better interior passing are things we have to see more of from the Terps. We have a lot of talented big guys, so better interior passing has to take place.

I also think he is learning how to coach more talented players. Having such talented scorers is something he's not used to having. He's used to coaching up guys like Gary did, but he doesn't really have to do that now. He just has to reel in the guys and have them play as a unit, not one-on-one.

I think it will be easier to evaluate him as an offensive coach, when he has a competent PG running the offense.

That said, I do think Turgeon himself limited the offense this year. They would have been better off running the offense through Wells (and to a lesser extent Faust) earlier in the year, instead of trying to slow the tempo and run 1/2 court sets through Len (without having the PG's on the roster that could consistently get Len the ball).

I think I agree with Mackus in this thread. I don't think Turgeon had a great year, but I remain very optimistic about him and the program as a whole going forward.

[BSLZackKiesel]

I think it will be easier to evaluate him as an offensive coach, when he has a competent PG running the offense.

That said, I do think Turgeon himself limited the offense this year. They would have been better off running the offense through Wells (and to a lesser extent Faust) earlier in the year, instead of trying to slow the tempo and run 1/2 court sets through Len (without having the PG's on the roster that could consistently get Len the ball).

I think I agree with Mackus in this thread. I don't think Turgeon had a great year, but I remain very optimistic about him and the program as a whole going forward.

I agree that it will be easier to judge the offense with Howard or Peters running the point next season. They should be able to implement a better offensive system this off-season especially with so many guys coming back. The big thing next year will be getting the ball to Mitchell and Cleare inside. Those guys can be beasts underneath if you use them correctly. I'd also like for the big guys to not have to come out to the perimeter to screen off defenders. If you can get one of your forwards to do that, it allows Mitchell or Cleare to stay underneath and keep the offense moving. Too often we saw Len 3 feet outside the 3-point line setting screens which takes away from what he should be doing (getting the ball in the paint and manhandling defenders).

[glenn__davis]

I agree pretty much whole-heartedly with Mackus. I still believe Turgeon is a good on-court coach and developer, but I don't think he did a very good job with this year's team.

I think he tried to make an offense that revolved around Len, but he didn't really have the outside shooters to make that work. So he sort of tried this hybrid type offense with Len and then switching when the other bigs were in (hence so many wholesale substitutions) and in doing so, he sort of just got lost.

I'm still optimistic about his future here. I will say, though, that this team was atrocious out of time outs this year, both offensively and defensively. I mean, awful. Whether that is on Turgeon or simply the players not executing I do not know, but it must improve next year. Think about how many close games this team lost, and plays coming out of time outs could have had a big effect.

[BSLMattJergensen]

Turgeon will be fine. I'd expect next season for MD to be in and out of the Top 25 and back to the NCAAs.

He knows the game. He's emotional but not overly so. He seems to relate well to players and of course we know he can recruit. I think those that question his X's and O's are a bit overly critical. While I don't think it's his strongest trait he's shown to me over the past weeks that he can adapt to his players.

I do feel as though he could have done a better job in some areas this season. He seemed slow to change from his more deliberate half court offense that he used at A&M to one that emphasizes the break and more cutting and driving lanes in the half court. His move to a one post over the past two weeks I think fits the personnel much better but I would have liked to have seen that change a bit sooner. I also grew weary of his hangdog press conferences. The woe is us attitude doesn't sit well with me when you are coaching a young team. It's going to look ugly sometimes, that's the nature of learning. You need to embrace the youthful exuberance and mistakes and just keep teaching. The light eventually will come on. Honesty is refreshing to a point but I prefer to keep comments about kids private and within the confines of practice and private conversations. It may not make great copy but it builds trust.

I saw a much more animated and positive Turgeon over the past two weeks on the sideline and I think that is reflected in the team's play.

I'm very excited about next season. I expect even bigger and better things from a program that looks to be on the rise.