I think the 1 of 16 lags tells a fair bit about the approach taken by US this year. Note, they got smashed on the lag most times, it's not like it was a lucky run.
Instead, they were doing quantifiable stop shot drills, aka college training nonsense and bringing in a Navy Seal for inspiration.
Sounds like something out of a C grade college movie about a bunch of misfits coming back from behind.
I'd reckon Ahmed from Community would have done better to unify the team and get them playing good pool... perhaps via some Rocky style training. ;-)
I didn't read or see the USA team training by "using quantifiable stop shot drills, aka college training nonsense" so I don't know about that.
But one thing that I noticed is that the European players were more precise not just in lagging but especially in their position play.
The Euro players seemed to get much better shape,
more consistently than the American players. As Jaden had mentioned in another thread, the Euro players for the most part, have a shorter back-swing than their American counterparts.
Now I don't presume to know how to play better pool than any of the USA team members, but I was in a position to watch what was happening unencumbered by the pressure of the event and some of the things I saw, gave me pause about the precision of American play versus European play.
I heard my buddy John Schmidt answer Corey Deuel about shape on one particular shape needed. Corey was not sure where John wanted the cue ball to wind up at and John remarked something to the effect that either way Corey wanted to do it was fine with John and John said, "I'll make it work." That kind of talk imo, led to Corey having less than good shape for John to make the next shot and John had to use some side spin to try and get the cue ball back on line and missed the object ball. The miss most likely could have been avoided if Corey would have been asked to place the cue ball in a specific spot, which would have made the pocketing of the object ball, easier for John to make and get shape on the next ball.
Practicing better speed control on fast, NEW CLOTH, under lights (like that of the Mosconi Cup) and more precision in obtaining shape and more precision in thinking in general is what is needed by the USA team for them to compete better.
Again, I'm not foolish enough to think that I play as well as any of them but the European players just have better precision. The Euro players' shorter back-swing most likely helped slow up the speed of the object ball to the pocket and increased their pocketing abilities.
Justin Bergman, was on a roll, playing really well in one particular single match, running out with abandon and put a big stroke on the cue ball. I think he was shooting the 6 ball and tried to go 3 rails with the cue ball using inside follow and a big stroke, but the new cloth didn't allow the cue ball to grip the cloth and the cue ball slid and when it came off the side rail, the cue ball went racing to the side pocket. At the time, I believe the score was tied at 3-3. I don't even remember who he was playing (maybe Niels) but that type of lapse in paying attention to the table conditions cost him this match, imo. Justin would make that shot 10 out of 10 times if he had it to do over again. Again, I think more experience in playing on similar equipment, an increase in precision in everything they do is what is needed for the USA team to compete.
The short races make mistakes very costly and too many of them were made by the American team. The generous pocket size allowed for better pocketing if you prepared by shooting the object balls at slower speeds on fast, slick cloth like they were playing on in the MC.
Overall, it was a great learning experience for me. I enjoyed this Mosconi Cup more than any I have watched in the past.
Our players carried themselves like gentlemen and I'm proud of that. There were some glimpses of superb talent but that talent has to be refined, worked harder and smarter in the months to come.
I'm sure the American players learned a lot as well and I doubt if there will be many excuses and I like it that way. They got beat by the better team and that's all there is to that.
Navy Seals are cool guys and you can learn a lot about competition, honor and discipline from them but if I were the Mosconi Captain, I would HIRE a top Sports Psychologist for all of the USA team nominees
and REQUIRE them to pay for a few sessions with him. It is obvious that the European players were in a very different emotional state from the very beginning, all of the way throughout the event and it wasn't just because they were winning.
JoeyA
