Norm Peterson

I guess this settles it:

Waited too long? Brady Heiman frame but really runs the floor well. Very smooth runner for a kid his size.

You're not serious are you?

We don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves. Wisconsin on Tuesday.

Fuck.

Interesting you should bring up Doc. Funny thing about that is that a lot of the complaints I've heard levelled against Miles were also levelled against Doc and Barry and Danny and Moe and ... And a lot of it by, I think, the same people. Nobody ever develops. Except when they do. But in those cases, you can't give credit to the coach because those players would have developed anyway. But other than those players who do develop, nobody ever develops, and that's the coach's fault. Our offense is sluggish. We run the weave. Can we please not run the weave anymore? That's so middle school. We need to be up-tempo. No one wants to play slow-it-down ball. You want recruits? We need to increase the tempo. Oh, but now we're giving up more offensive rebounds. Can't we slow it down? I'd rather win 45-40 than lose 90-88. And maybe run the weave once in awhile (kidding, no one ever said that.) People who think Tim Miles runs a middle school offense aren't going to suddenly think he's running a sophisticated NBA-style offense next year if he happens to be retained. I just don't want to hear the same shit a year from now, that's all.

My old buddy knows stuff.

Sure, coaches evolve. Not sure why a coach would change with greater success. Success is usually an indication that what you're doing is working. Failure is what usually provokes someone to make changes. But my issue is that we have this same discussion every single year. And every year, the people who want to see Miles gone make the same complaints. We lose 4 senior contributors off this team, including a couple of the best players we've ever had. We might have some decent recruits coming in but you have to figure we're going to backslide a bit next year. Who knows? We might not make the dance this year, in which case this discussion is academic. On the other hand, we might not only make the dance but also win a game there for the first time in program history. But, if we do have NCAA tourney success this year, are we just putting off the annual "fire Miles" discussion for a year? I honestly want to know: If he's the same Tim Miles you wanted fired a year or two years ago, why would anything change just because he wins a game in the dance?

There are still a lot of games to be played and lots can happen. Make the dance and, especially, win a game when there, and Miles does not get fired; fail to make the dance, and he almost certainly will. I don't know which scenario will occur and I think either is a possibility at this point. But let me ask this: Let's say the first scenario occurs and we reach the dance and win a game. Miles is still who he is. And, for all you people who have been critical of his "middle school" offense and inability to recruit a big man and keep guys for 4 years etc. etc., he's still going to be that guy. That ain't gonna change. So, I'd like to see a show of hands: Even if this team reaches the dance and wins a game once they get there, do you still want to see Miles let go? If not, why would you want to keep a guy who continues to run a "middle school" offense, etc?

Had to do a double take. At first I thought you said "castration."

Rutgers loss is the only one that could be considered bad. Fortunately, we didn't get dumped by Incarnate Word this year, so getting dumped on the road by an NET top 150 team, while it sucks, isn't the end of the world. But losing at Minnesota (65), Maryland (20) and Iowa (24) can hardly be considered bad losses. We're either good enough or we're not. If we're good enough, we'll win enough of the remaining games to make the tourney. If we don't, it's probably Miles' last season. I think we're good enough. But I've been wrong before.

I find that people are too quick to push the panic button. They're also too quick to do the opposite. Just a week ago, people who last year were calling for Miles to be fired were projecting us as a top ten team at the end of the year. Losing to Rutgers doesn't help our cause but it's not an insurmountable obstacle, either. I just go back to what I said 5 years ago when we last made an NCAA tourney run: "Either we're good enough or we're not." We're neither in nor out at this point.

Probably time for a players only meeting.

I'd heard rumors, but I still doubt Miles is among the top 25 laid coaches.

jayschool always has the answer. Ok, not ALWAYS always, but ... you get what I mean.

He needs to change the spelling of his name to John Hugely.

His normal feel for the kiss off the glass just wasn't as sharp last night. I think Miles said in his post game that we were 12 of 26 at the rim. That pretty well sucks.

A good way to do that would be winning most of the rest of our games.

Plummeted all the way to #12 after that discouraging loss at home to a bottom feeder like ... Oh, wait ...

Like I said somewhere else: We were missing good, open looks that we normally hit. Make just a few of those and we win. Bottom line is we just had an off night shooting the ball. We were their equal otherwise.

Tom really showed us something tonight. Kid is going to be very good.

Sweet 16.

Ew, ick, definitely not me. I bought myself a pack of Red Man leaf chew once. ONCE. Back when I was in the Army and you were hanging out, laying in the grass, waiting for your squad's turn to get on the range and zero your weapon, guys would share their chewing tobacco. It was something to do. I must admit liking the flavor of the leaf tobacco. I bought myself a pack once. But I decided if I do it again and it becomes a habit, my teeth will fall out. It's tough enough getting laid as a fat guy. But a toothless fat guy? There's not enough wine at Sam's Club to get Vera in the mood if I have no teeth.

It's not like we didn't have the looks, either. The offense produced the shots; the players just didn't connect. Bad time for an off night shooting the ball. A few more of those errant shots connect and we win. I also say if JPJ had gotten rolling just a bit sooner, the outcome changes.

Fuck yeah! Sorry about the F-bomb. (Not sorry.)