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We are at a crossroads


Dean Smith

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This has nothing to do with recording shot attempts but I did learn that there is some obscure rule that says if someone is fouled simultaneously by two different opponents while shooting a three point shot you get four FT's.

Just thought that was interesting. I wonder how many officials actually know that rule?

 

Interesting.  Doubt many do know that rule.  Not that it matters as someone always fouls first so they should make that judgement call and decide who it was.  It is so close to being impossible for 2 guys to foul at the exact same time that it would be a cop out to make that call.  Even if someone fouled a billionth of a second sooner which will always be the case.  Refs need to make the determination IMO and not reward someone with 4 FT because they were unwilling to make the determination. 

 

I agree....they should never make this call...

Well, unless we are behind by 3 or 4 at the end of the game and are fouled...then they have to call it.

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Ah, but there are two doeses in there. Does anyone know? And does that count?

Yes, someone knows. And no, that doesn't count. (Unless.)

And if there aren't two questions, then is the question whether anyone knows? Or is the question whether it counts?

The "does anyone know" clause in the above question doesn't work on its own.  Would "Does anyone know if you are fouled and miss?" work as a question where "yes" would be an appropriate answer?  That's how you answered it.  The second "does" offers up the actual question: Does it count as a shot attempt?  It's the comma that's telling us what the question is.  Had the comma come after "Does anyone know" it would work as its own question.

 

At least that's how I read/understand it.

 

Funny enough, when I read your initial answer I thought you meant "yes and no" as in "Yes, it counts if it goes in, and no, it doesn't count if it misses."

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Year two of the regime, after 3 wins and 2 losses, they are not at a crossroads.  They are at a point where they need to figure out rotation and which 5 work best together at a given time.  A crossroads is the football program, where you're looking at 6 years of work and trying to decide which way the program is moving.  This isn't even a bump in the road, we pretty well knew they'd be hovering around .500 at this point.  Miles needs to figure out essentially an entirely new rotation this year... if he had it figured out in 5 games he'd be the greatest coach in the history of the game and worthy of naming his salary.

 

All right let me clarify. I should have recognized in the over-dramatic, hyperbolic world we live in, where the meaning of "literally" has now become "figuratively," people would misconstrue the meaning of crossroads. Crossroads is simply a point in which traveling in two directions is possible.

 

I have never judged the success of my teams and the success of the teams I root for based on the win/loss record. I base success on how close a team comes to reaching its overall potential. You can play well and reach your potential and still have a losing record if that is where your potential lies. 

 

This team is young, inexperienced and playing in what projects as the toughest conference in the nation. They are going to have trouble winning games no matter how well they play, but there is still a level of performance that they can still reach. Some teams do over-perform and some under-perform.

 

Trying to stay with the drama people have attempted to turn my position into: There now seems to be a struggle for the soul of this team. It is possible to turn a team around once it has gone off course but it is hugely difficult. If they do not get these issues of rotations, roles, and attitude fixed this will be an under-performing team. If Coach Miles can get his team to "buy in" as he stated in his interview posted somewhere on this site today, then they have the opportunity to reach their potential or even over-achieve. This is the crossroads they are at. That does not mean that we should pack in the season or begin discussing how well of a job Miles is doing. Every season has a crossroads and some years you can have several. Sometimes it is impossible to identify when you arrived at that crossroads until the season is over and you can look back in retrospect. This season that is not the case. It seemed obvious to me (which is why I started this thread) that there was problems with the attitude, effort, cohesion and everything else that some just call team spirit. In reading Coach Miles quote it appears he has come to the same conclusion, I assume long before I did.

 

Whether the Huskers win tomorrow or not will not answer the question as to whether we have these problems sorted. I mentioned I had questions after game 3 & 4 but no one seemed to care because we won those games. Winning did not change the fact that this problems existed and I'm sure Coach Miles was aware of them at that time. The losses just brought these issues out into the bright light. These are issues that can stunt the growth of a season or completely decimate a team if things do break down into an us against them within the team. I don't think our coach will allow that to happen. 

 

We are now at the crossroads. We can go one way and even though I'm sure we will win some more games, be an underachieving team. Or we can use the experience and pull together to start to make strides to reaching our potential. That would be the two directions we have available at this crossroads. You know, that place where it is possible to start going in one of two different directions. One direction being underachieving and the other being potential reaching. Should I have maybe used the phrase "fork in the road."

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twqa9AppfeE

 

If this is what you meant, than your post was rather pointless as a young team like this can go any number of directions every single day.  Calling us over-dramatic when you picked one arbitrary game to deem a "crossroads" is a bit absurd.  That being said, I now better understand what you are trying to say.  I still disagree.

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Year two of the regime, after 3 wins and 2 losses, they are not at a crossroads. They are at a point where they need to figure out rotation and which 5 work best together at a given time. A crossroads is the football program, where you're looking at 6 years of work and trying to decide which way the program is moving. This isn't even a bump in the road, we pretty well knew they'd be hovering around .500 at this point. Miles needs to figure out essentially an entirely new rotation this year... if he had it figured out in 5 games he'd be the greatest coach in the history of the game and worthy of naming his salary.

All right let me clarify. I should have recognized in the over-dramatic, hyperbolic world we live in, where the meaning of "literally" has now become "figuratively," people would misconstrue the meaning of crossroads. Crossroads is simply a point in which traveling in two directions is possible.

I have never judged the success of my teams and the success of the teams I root for based on the win/loss record. I base success on how close a team comes to reaching its overall potential. You can play well and reach your potential and still have a losing record if that is where your potential lies.

This team is young, inexperienced and playing in what projects as the toughest conference in the nation. They are going to have trouble winning games no matter how well they play, but there is still a level of performance that they can still reach. Some teams do over-perform and some under-perform.

Trying to stay with the drama people have attempted to turn my position into: There now seems to be a struggle for the soul of this team. It is possible to turn a team around once it has gone off course but it is hugely difficult. If they do not get these issues of rotations, roles, and attitude fixed this will be an under-performing team. If Coach Miles can get his team to "buy in" as he stated in his interview posted somewhere on this site today, then they have the opportunity to reach their potential or even over-achieve. This is the crossroads they are at. That does not mean that we should pack in the season or begin discussing how well of a job Miles is doing. Every season has a crossroads and some years you can have several. Sometimes it is impossible to identify when you arrived at that crossroads until the season is over and you can look back in retrospect. This season that is not the case. It seemed obvious to me (which is why I started this thread) that there was problems with the attitude, effort, cohesion and everything else that some just call team spirit. In reading Coach Miles quote it appears he has come to the same conclusion, I assume long before I did.

Whether the Huskers win tomorrow or not will not answer the question as to whether we have these problems sorted. I mentioned I had questions after game 3 & 4 but no one seemed to care because we won those games. Winning did not change the fact that this problems existed and I'm sure Coach Miles was aware of them at that time. The losses just brought these issues out into the bright light. These are issues that can stunt the growth of a season or completely decimate a team if things do break down into an us against them within the team. I don't think our coach will allow that to happen.

We are now at the crossroads. We can go one way and even though I'm sure we will win some more games, be an underachieving team. Or we can use the experience and pull together to start to make strides to reaching our potential. That would be the two directions we have available at this crossroads. You know, that place where it is possible to start going in one of two different directions. One direction being underachieving and the other being potential reaching. Should I have maybe used the phrase "fork in the road."

If this is what you meant, than your post was rather pointless as a young team like this can go any number of directions every single day. Calling us over-dramatic when you picked one arbitrary game to deem a "crossroads" is a bit absurd. That being said, I now better understand what you are trying to say. I still disagree.

You can disagree, but it still doesn't sound like you understand what I said. It was not after one game. I realize my questions were across multiple threads and I'm sure that lead to many people's confusion. I expressed concern after game two and again after game three. We of course won those so the vast majority saw no problem.

We were (hopefully no more are) scoring almost entirely off of individual initiative. As the articles since the team meeting after UAB said at that point they were all concerned about the lack of assists. Assists usually mean easy baskets and as the first two tournament games showed, we will not be able to create and finish those shots against better teams. We have to create multiple easy baskets to be able to compete in B1G.

I don't claim to have supernatural insight because I was a basketball coach, but I have lived this particular senerio. This was more than a day were a team can go multiple directions. I was not talking about a program crossroads or that we needed to bring Miles coaching into question. But it was a crossroads for this season. These are the type of things that spread dissent and distrust through players and creates a situation that makes team-building impossible. Players form into camps or simply individuals and pulls a team apart.

I would like to say I was above saying, "I told you so." But I'm not. After reading about Miles intentions going into the meeting and what happened starting with Smith and then all the players reactions it completely echos my original concern. They realized how serious the situation was and that it needed addressed immediately for the sake of the season.

And I would like to think I was above feeling the need to respond to you, but it does seem that I have not progresses past that pettiness. So even if you think my thread was pointless, based on the reactions of Coach Miles and the rest of the team they completely agreed with me. There is little doubt in my mind that Miles had these concerns before the first game.

It appears that the players are reaponding in a positive manner, but as I previously said we are not out of the woods yet. I look forward to seeing how they react as a team the next time they are under real pressure.

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