Crater Hurting the Offense

The 2010-2011 men's basketball team is simply awful. The team is a former shell of what it was last season (no more Jones). One of the biggest issues for the Bulls all season long is the awful play on offense. Last season, the Bulls could hand the ball over to Dominique Jones and expect instant offense. But a key player that played in the backcourt with him was the point guard, Chris Howard. Howard was able to run the offense effectively and even helped in scoring. This season, however, the point guard position has been a position of constant headaches, I'm talking about Anthony Crater of course.[keep reading]

The 6'1" 170-pound point guard has been consistently a non-factor in nearly every game this season. His inability (or lack of wanting to) shooting, poor judgment on the court, and overall sloppy play, has hampered the offense all season.

The transfer from Ohio State played in the shadow of Howard and Jones last season. He came off the bench to help on defense, but was never a factor on offense or moving the ball around. He averaged just 1.9 points per game and 1.1 assists per game. Crater did come off the bench and help lock down on defense at times, but never got anything done on offense.

Coming into this season, the position was given to him due to the lack of depth and talent at the point guard position. But since taking over, Crater has struggled. He averages 4.7 assists per game and 2.5 turnovers a game, scoring just 4.1 points per game (often doesn't score).

When it comes to shooting, it is hard to figure out why Crater simply does not take an open shot during a game. Crater was a decent scorer in high school, but has simply stopped shooting the ball coming to college. He does not have great range and his shooting stroke is not the best, but for a player to not attempt a shot during a game is strange. Is it because he is so focused on running the offense at the position? I don't think that is the case. I think Crater simply does not have the offensive tools to get open and make a shot. He will take a shot once in awhile, but simply never looks to score. This severely limits the offense. The Bulls are competing with only 4 offensive players on the court due to the poor offensive production of Crater, making it easy to lock down on other players, knowing Crater won't shoot.

On defense, Crater is decent. He has above average speed and lateral movement. Watching the game against Pitt, he was able to keep Gibbs and Wanamaker in front of him for most of the game. He was blown by on several plays and was not able to lock down the elite guards of a ranked team, but overall, he played well.

This assists game is where I can't figure Crater out. Watching the game, Crater would bring the ball up and wait for a high screen by Famous or Gilchrist. As he came off the screen, Famous and Gilchrist would roll back to the hoop, sitting right in the middle of the paint, begging for the ball. But Crater would hesitate to pass the ball. He continued to dribble to the wing, then back to the top of the key, never seeing the open man and never driving to collapse the defense. The few times that Crater did drive and take the ball into the paint himself, he would either one, back right out of the paint again or try to swing the ball to the corner to a shooter, but his passes lacked velocity to get to the open shooter in time (before Pitt collapsed the shooter) or simply threw the ball into the stands (I nearly caught a pass, trust me). Crater just couldn't and hasn't run the offense effectively all season. He has limited court vision and his decision making is questionable at best.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Bulls and the team works hard, but watching this team play, it's no wonder why they are 9-21. Crater is the trigger man on the offensive side of the ball. He is not a shooting threat, making it 4 on 5 on offense (defenses won't take Crater as a serious threat on offense). When he is trying to run plays, he often misses wide open players, has tunnel vision, and makes poor decision on passes when he actually does drive the ball.

The Bulls have one more regular season game before they head to NYC for the Big East tournament. The team is at rock bottom right now and facing the grueling schedule that is the Big East, I highly doubt the team will win another game (maybe steal one in the tournament if we get DePaul). Crater will return next season and unless he is able to step up and shoot the ball more than once a game and keep his head up on offense to spot an open man, the team will continue to struggle on offense.