Auburn, Wed., Nov. 26, 8:00p, TruTV / 880 AM

Agree, this is absolutely not Darling’s fault. And heading into the season, he was not being portrayed by Pitino as our “next great point guard.” That was Ian Jackson! It’s also not Jackson's fault that he was touted by Pitino as being stellar at a position he’s never played. This was a recruiting blunder, plain and simple. I don’t know who in the organization is to blame, but it was a blunder of epic proportions.
I know Jackson’s camp felt his ticket to NBA was as a PG. I can’t believe Rick agreed, but he went along with that PT Barnum approach. He then could use him as a wing and probably thought they would land an elite PG. Well we see how that turned out.
 
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I know Jackson’s camp felt his ticket to NBA was as a PG. I can’t believe Rick agreed, but he went along with that PT Barnum style. He then could use him as a wing and probably thought they would land an elite PG. Well we see how that turned out.
Yes, and Pitino also needed to do the PT Barnum stuff about Jackson because the school was doing the big reseating at MSG in an effort to raise $$$. They had to sell the dream.
 
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I know Jackson’s camp felt his ticket to NBA was as a PG. I can’t believe Rick agreed, but he went along with that PT Barnum style. He then could use him as a wing and probably thought they would land an elite PG. Well we see how that turned out.
Didnt expect Ian to be Mark Jackson but figured after an entire summer of focus, given his talent, he'd be at least respectable. He's not even an option except a few times late in game yesterday.

Jackson while some height is slight framed and looks like he's never guarded. Cant believe this is after months of practice.
 
Yes, and Pitino also needed to do the PT Barnum stuff about Jackson because the school was doing the big reseating at MSG in an effort to raise $$$. They had to sell the dream.
So why not sell Boogie and Ian? That's PT Barnum and a winning combination.

I just think Pitino and Matt screwed up. It's all been discussed but they missed out on guys who never entered the portal, then didn't really go after respectable PG options in the portal & saw all of them go, then missed out on guys they targeted, and Rick had way too much hubris about turning Ian into a PG so they stopped targeting other top tier guys. And if anyone's defense is, "if we didn't promise Ian that, he would not have come here" then the simple answer is: so what? Then move on.

They overlearned lessons from last year, and it seemed like they were more intent on gobbling top talent for the 247 rankings than anything else.
 
After yielding 55 second half points last night, I think it wise to include defense as an area of asap improvement. We can’t win shootouts w SEC type teams w great guard play and really have to defend better. Not sure some players this year get that.
Not sure that can be fixed. Sanon, Jackson and Darling are poor defenders. Jackson and Sanon are both good athletes and should be able to get better, but that is a mindset that unfortunately not every player is born with.

I am not even sure the point guard thing can be fixed, but I will try. Start the 3 front court guys with Jackson and Sellers. Basically what Rick originally intended before he got frustrated and decided to punish Jackson for not being able to do something no one but he thought he could do.

Have Jackson, Sellers and Mitchell bring the ball up the have Hopkins/Zuby initiate the offense in the half court. Will this work? I don’t know but I would take my chances on superior athlete like Jackson being able to at least pretend to be a point guard over gambling on Darling getting more athletic and learning how to shoot by March. Now I know my good buddy LMF is probably having a heart attack after reading about my Jackson plan but honestly the lord created Darling to be a backup point guard and who are we to question him?
 
Yes, and Pitino also needed to do the PT Barnum stuff about Jackson because the school was doing the big reseating at MSG in an effort to raise $$$. They had to sell the dream.
Result - a ton of publicity, better MSG utilization, uptick in ticket sales, unrealistic ratings & expectations and potentially big disappointment. They will Dance, but hard to envision the success anticipated there. We’ll see.
 
Good to be optimistic, but I think Rick has more concerns w this team than last year’s primarily in having the passion to defend.

Lastly astute posters like LMF, Mug, dk, Logen & others hit it on the head early re roster composition and chemistry. If Rick can make this work, he will have done his best coaching job ever, not saying he can’t.
I’m just saying. There was a ton of negative posts about kadary Luis smith Scott and I can go on early in the season. Ha even late in the season when we were playing well.

My point is. We felt this way last year and look how we gelled. First year we were playing great at the end to only be snubbed by the committee.

It’s early. Feelings are raw. I know the make up of this team and roster construction is different. But let’s not forget how the last 2 seasons went and how we finished.
 
I know Jackson’s camp felt his ticket to NBA was as a PG. I can’t believe Rick agreed, but he went along with that PT Barnum approach. He then could use him as a wing and probably thought they would land an elite PG. Well we see how that turned out.
I also feel and this is just me pretending to be Dr Melfi here, that Rick is still kind of bitter that he had to go to Greece, then Iona and feels like is legacy is tarnished. Think not enough that made an irrelevant program relevant he is going for degree of difficulty as well to prove how great he is. Turn guy who can’t shoot into Donovan Mitchell. Turn guy who has no business playing point into NBA point guard.
 
This team has the talent to overpower and steamroll a lot of opponents. And, it will happen. However, there are some fundamental differences between last year and this year.

1. Last year we had 2 quality starting PG's. This year we have a solid backup PG.
2. Last year we had 2 closers. This year we either don't have one or someone hasn't stepped up into the role.
3. Last year we had a team that played elite defense. This year we play good to very good defense in spurts. We also have spurts where it looks like AAU level defense.

what does this mean? We will get our wins. We will bully bad and mediocre teams. We may even bully a few good teams. But, we are not going to win a good share of close games against good teams and may get it handed to us by a great team once or twice without a significant improvement in defense, boxing out and decision making on offense. I know most will agree with the first two, but the third one may raise an eyebrow. My philosophy is that a bad shot is almost as bad as a live ball turnover. It often leads to runouts the other way and can deflate defensive intensity as well as lead to more bad shots. We need to figure out what shots are great shots, what shots are good shots and what shots are bad shots. Time and score also factors into that. It may not be terrible to hoist one up when you are rolling, but it can be a killer to settle when the other team is on a 8-0 or 12-2 run. Last year's team figured it out (maybe due to having 2 PG's). This year has yet to do so. There are two ways to stop runs. 1. Get a stop. 2. have good offensive possession and get a high quality shot. Since option 1 doesn't seem imminent, then we better get damn good at option 2.
Well stated
 
I also feel and this is just me pretending to be Dr Melfi here, that Rick is still kind of bitter that he had to go to Greece, then Iona and feels like is legacy is tarnished. Think not enough that made an irrelevant program relevant he is going for degree of difficulty as well to prove how great he is. Turn guy who can’t shoot into Donovan Mitchell. Turn guy who has no business playing point into NBA point guard.
Yup. Over time his players do improve - but 1 year is way too challenging for him.
He does not even look like he enjoying coaching.
I think I would and rooted harder for Zuby - Prey - Brady - Wilcher and our freshman point guard.
I think they would have at least 4 wins so far this year as well —
 
I’m just saying. There was a ton of negative posts about kadary Luis smith Scott and I can go on early in the season. Ha even late in the season when we were playing well.

My point is. We felt this way last year and look how we gelled. First year we were playing great at the end to only be snubbed by the committee.

It’s early. Feelings are raw. I know the make up of this team and roster construction is different. But let’s not forget how the last 2 seasons went and how we finished.
Let’s not forget Luis, Kadary, Smith and Scott were proven players, some of whom got off a bit slow. Three of that group though embraced defending.

To me that distinguishes that group from unproven guys & a few allergic to D w/o naming them. Anyway, onward.
 
This board loves to compare two totally different scenarios that are wholly unrelated. What we did last year says nothing about this year. Generally, if you’re not good in November, you’re not good in March. Of course there are exceptions but the odds are not in our favor.
The 3 teams we have lost to are ranked teams and one of them was the 3rd game in 3 days. It doesn’t mean the team isn’t good. It just means we lost to 3 good, tournament caliber teams.

Also, I’d love to see proof that teams don’t improve. There are probably 5-10 teams each year that start the season slow then make the tournament come March.
 
I’m just saying. There was a ton of negative posts about kadary Luis smith Scott and I can go on early in the season. Ha even late in the season when we were playing well.

My point is. We felt this way last year and look how we gelled. First year we were playing great at the end to only be snubbed by the committee.

It’s early. Feelings are raw. I know the make up of this team and roster construction is different. But let’s not forget how the last 2 seasons went and how we finished.
We gelled last season in no small part because the Big East was a weak conference. We then had the dubious distinction of being the only 2 seed in the NCAA Tourney to not make it past the first weekend.

I predict we will again beat up on the weak Big East teams this season and make the Tourney. The committee won’t be so generous this year with the seeding.
 
We gelled last season in no small part because the Big East was a weak conference. We then had the dubious distinction of being the only 2 seed in the NCAA Tourney to not make it past the first weekend.

I predict we will again beat up on the weak Big East teams this season and make the Tourney. The committee won’t be so generous this year with the seeding.
They gelled year before too later in season. U can say due to down big east. Sure go ahead. Emotions are raw. I get it.
 
We gelled last season in no small part because the Big East was a weak conference. We then had the dubious distinction of being the only 2 seed in the NCAA Tourney to not make it past the first weekend.

I predict we will again beat up on the weak Big East teams this season and make the Tourney. The committee won’t be so generous this year with the seeding.
I think this is nonsense. We gelled last year because we were a great team that had everyone on the same page in regards to playing team defense. Don’t know why some of you feel intent on downplaying the best season the program has had in two decades. Miserable ass fan base
 
I think this is nonsense. We gelled last year because we were a great team that had everyone on the same page in regards to playing team defense. Don’t know why some of you feel intent on downplaying the best season the program has had in two decades. Miserable ass fan base
Who says I’m downplaying the season? It was a fun ride. But in the end, we were the only 2 seed to not make it past the first weekend. The Big East in general went nowhere in the Tourney.

But Happy Thanksgiving, my little friend.
 
Let’s not forget Luis, Kadary, Smith and Scott were proven players, some of whom got off a bit slow. Three of that group though embraced defending.

To me that distinguishes that group from unproven guys & a few allergic to D w/o naming them. Anyway, onward.
Wrong thread and I do apologize for responding. But there were plenty of question marks about smith putting up numbers at Utah and mostly in a small stretch to inflate those numbers. Scott coming from mid major and Luis before he became what he was here. But yes they all seemed to be more able to play defense especially Scott from the get go. But again. Not at first. They became great defensively as a group as year went on. And Scott was still questioned on his offense all year as we all thought he would be more offensively.
 
The 3 teams we have lost to are ranked teams and one of them was the 3rd game in 3 days. It doesn’t mean the team isn’t good. It just means we lost to 3 good, tournament caliber teams.

Also, I’d love to see proof that teams don’t improve. There are probably 5-10 teams each year that start the season slow then make the tournament come March.
Exactly. Disappointing week, but we're essentially watching the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in November.

Right now, we're not ready. Come March? We'll see...
 
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