royalfan

Every player should improve. Has not been even close to resembling that here. We certainly have not improved as a team during any seasons since Smith left, even though that could be merely coincidental, as many here think Molinari is as good. I think Miles having him as right hand man has been a disaster.

I am fine with Tim coming back. But it is a complete copout to act like we have a whole bunch of top 150 guys. We don't. Either they were highly overrated or we are doing one hell of a shitty job developing them as we don't have very many top 150 college basketball players on our team. Either reason reflects poorly as we are not evaluating talent well, or we are not developing players well. This doesn't even begin to tap into the philosophical problems with our schemes.

Let me start by saying, I don't think it will happen. I think we have checked out for some reasons that we don't know at this time. That being said, how do we change this up to make a surge? Here are some things I would do. 1. Go to almost all zone defense. Our man to man has gone off the rails. Nobody has any understanding of how much room to give whoever they are checking. Watson keeps getting beat so easily that it compromises the entire thing. And then we have to double too many types of post players, which leads to even more wide open threes. I would like to see a match up zone that has some man to man principles. Zone also creates less running around. If we are going to win 5 in 5 days we have to play mostly zone IMO with a lot of focus on who we don't want shooting the ball. We can also implement some box and one principles. Changing strategy can refresh teams. Give them a new lease on life so to speak. And momentum can be a funny thing. If something starts working then you have guys playing harder in the scheme. 2. In conjunction with the zone, we need to sit Taylor to start the game. When we struggle to shoot as it is, lets put Jack in to start the ballgame. Lets come out with Tai, Watson, Jack, Morrow and Jake. Gives us a little more offense and a little more length in the zone. And lets get Roby and Horne ready to come in asap. Roby needs to play a lot in said zone as his length is a great fit for this defense. Horne also can be hidden in a zone and ride him if he looks good on offense. If not, give his minutes away quickly. Sitting Taylor also gives us a natural rotation to use when Watson or Tai need a blow. I cannot envision either positively or negatively how Jordy fits with the zone scheme. No problem using him for minutes so long as he is playing well. Ride him if he is, bench quickly if he is not. 3. MARK THE SHOOTERS WE DONT WANT TO BE SHOOTING. Cannot be stressed enough and this is critical tournament basketball concept. 4. Use 15 seconds or so and then get in the offense so long as we are able to get looks this way. Watched Jacksonville st. punch a ticket doing just this and frustrating the hell out of their opponents. If we are winning 5 in 5 we need to get rest. This is a way to help do that. 5. Don't be afraid to use a 2-3 or match up zone. Just because we haven't done much of it doesn't matter. They aren't overly complicated defenses and the power of fresh minds and confidence are huge for us. We are better than we have played of late. Any bit of success, even if a bit random or fluky can go miles in a tournament setting. 6. Switch defenses constantly. Again a strategy switch. Anything fresh that gives us a chance to mentally engage rather than getting beat with the same old thing. 7. Let Roby free. Play him a bunch. I think back to Shields freshman year. He rose onto the scene in a huge way in this tournament. Would love to see Roby make any sort of step that remotely resembles that. 8. Tai Watson Jack Roby Morrow Jake Horne Jordy Taylor in that order for minute allocation. I would also not play Taylor unless absolutely necessary. Feel like he was sort of fools gold for us in a way this year. We need guys that can shoot the ball out there and live with some of the flaws for the greater good(IE opening up some driving lanes that have been erased) These are some of the ideas I have. Would like to hear some of yours.

Well I was screaming for Tai and the others to be taken out quite a bit earlier to get some legs for Wednesday. I cannot support Taylor's argument here.

Open up the wallet for Greg Marshall. Whatever it takes. This guy plays the perfect brand of basketball stylistically for college basketball, and he has a great eye for talent and his players always seem to get really good while there. He would be one guy that could win here. Cost probably out of reach, but he would be exactly who I would want.

There is no question you are right about how this typically tends to go. Typically it would end with a loss Wednesday as well. So damn frustrating to see seasons go off the rails with seemingly no hope to turn it around. Will to win completely jumped ship for whatever reason. But something is very toxic.

I thought this was going to happen tonight. Obviously not to this extent. This was easy to see coming. Seems like too many people have checked out. Our will to coach and our will to win is completely gone, just like that year. And again, I was only bringing up players names to reference the season. Wasn't my goal to claim either didn't play hard or checked out mentally. This is a sad situation. Nothing pisses me off more than clubs I love not playing hard, at least in the world of sports.

Teams didn't have much of us on film then. They do now and we are super non complex to defend. Close off the lane and then close off the lane. Contest the deep shots as best you can, but close off the lane. Teams know that now. We need more ways to score in a consistent fashion. White sure would have helped on this front.

Our wrestling team now infected by this never ending athletic department funk. Would have been hard to wrestle worse than we did this morning.

I was just giving reference to the season. Didn't intend to call anyone out individually like it probably came off. As a whole it was embarrassing and we did not care very much at all.

I really hope this season doesn't end without anyone caring like Pitchford Petteway etc. last year year. That was so sad to watch. Coaches didn't even seem to care very much. The team certainly didn't. If Miles knows the writing is on the wall, that is probably what will happen.

I think you were joking Norm, but it is actually exactly what they should be trying to do. Teams that don't get the best players, should strive to be great from the 3 point line and should strive to shoot a whole bunch of them and have all sorts of ways to get open ones.

No eye for talent. Get athletes and teach them to play baseball better. Instead we get guys that are grinders with no upside. Exactly what you should not do. Find athletes that have grinding traits, not grinders that don't have athletic traits. Hard to believe how shitty our baseball program is.

They are likely to be a tough out in that thing. For some reason I still hold out hope. That is what I do. And I want no part of them in a Wednesday game. Very confident our season ends if we see them.

It was written wrong. What it meant to say was that too may teams make it every year for us to rarely make it and each year many teams that I feel we should have a better program than are in while we sit and watch. And most of these teams seem to have guys that can shoot the ball and watching us lay bricks every year wears on me.

Tired is possibly a small factor, but it shouldn't be. The bigger problem is that we are so easy to defend and more and more tape on us being defended well is leading to others doing the same types of concepts. Everything is congested. When you can sag off guys without getting punished and have no reliable post game to go to for points, and none of them can pass worth a damn out of a double it is very tough against good defensive coaching. Defensively, we have to help so much as we get beat off the dribble way too easily, way too often. This results in our 3 point allowed debacle. It is disappointing that our staff hasn't figured out how to use sabermetrics better. Getting completely destroyed by the 3 point line on both ends. Needs to be the other way around to elevate a program quickly. I know Miles understands most of these concepts. For some reason he isn't very good at doing anything about it. It is such a frustrating situation hoping he can get it rolling, yet not knowing if he is capable of it. That dynamic in play as well as the dynamics of not wanting to start over right now, or having Eichhorst make an important hire. Too many teams make the damn tourney each year. Teams that we shouldn't be better than. Yet here were are again.

Boy, that is so true. Still think we would have won the Rutgers game immediately following had we got that one. Also the NW home game is an overlooked huge loss. Derailed insane momentum potential. We might have really started thinking we were good.

No it wasn't exactly the same. Some of the actions may look similar but the shots taken and by whom as well as the free throw line as a weapon are not the same. Does our defense look similar also?

Just because he is gone and is not coming back doesn't make it possible that he was a big part of the X and O process that led us to the dance. You bring up the other season and a half he was here. The first season amazes me that we won as many games as we did. It was incredible coaching by the staff IMO. Never forget closing out the Devaney with a great win over a decent Minny team. And won a tourney game if memory serves. What else would you hope for out of that season exactly? And while we did struggle the first half of that next season, we kept getting better. Something that has not occurred since he left. We have seemed to play worse in the years since he left as the season went along. Arguably better in both he was here. Just because you don't like the thought of him having a lot to do with our success doesn't make it the case that he didn't. It could all just be an incredible coincidence. I am not in that camp, nor have I ever been since watching our X's and O's get worse since he has been gone.

We could use a bit more swagger. He also shoots like we do, so that won't be an issue.

At least there is a chance of the ball going in when they shoot from what we have been told. So there is that.

Tough league. When you have flaws, these coaches will figure them out. As good of X and O coaches as any league. Probably the best. We are very flawed. You can see the paint getting closed off so much more as the season has gone on. When you cannot shoot that is a problem. The guys that can shoot are not good on defense. It is a bitch. We are flawed. Unfortunately, that means we are also not very good. No way to sugarcoat it. Our margin for error is extremely slim.

Nobody gets better during the season. Not enough guys get better from one season to the next. Player development has been a major concern of mine, and unfortunately it continues to be, after thinking there were minor signs of progress on that front.

This is pathetic. Most of the year our will hasn't been broken. It is the last few games. Nobody cares enough to keep their guy in front of them and the whole defense gets compromised.

We get beat so damn easily off the dribble it is hard to watch. That is why we give up so many easy 3's against most teams. These guys just finish the play themselves. Guys need to man up and keep guy in front so we don't have to help every damn possession.