“What Has Changed” Article
- Thread starter paultzman
- Start date
It's nice to see positive press but the article's glib superficial bullshit. Ten days ago Braziller announced that the wheels had come off and wrote Mullin's obituary. Everything was a problem: "Lack of depth, coaching, execution, discipline. It's all an issue." Now all of a sudden they go out for some sandwiches and poof! Mullin has "keyed the turnaround" that changed "their luck." That's nonsense. The fact is that nothing changed except the last couple they hit some free throws and got a couple of rebounds and the other guys clanked a three at the end of the game. Everything wasn't a problem before and everything that was a problem before is still a problem now. All that happened was they won a couple of games.
I am thrilled that we beat Duke and Nova. However, we should focus less on who/what "keyed the turnaround" and continue working towards getting a couple more wins in the Big East. Otherwise, the two wonderful wins just become a blip in a bad season. Like always the biggest win is the next win and I hope that is tomorrow. It would be nice to keep the momentum going for the team's confidence AND the overall confidence that the Program is starting to turn the corner. Most importantly to hold the team together now and for the solid (at least at it appears today) recruiting class that is coming next season.
Three reasons for the turnarounds:
1 Making a decent percentage of threes. They were terrible in the eleven games shooting threes especially Ponds
2 They seemed to improve their three point defense vs Duke and Vill. Very few wide open three attempts
3 Rotation got tighter reducing the number of minutes for non big east players. This will be tough to continue with foul troubles etc.
I think it was evident that the starters could compete with the big east teams even through the losing streak. The bench is a different story and will be a problem for the rest of the season
1 Making a decent percentage of threes. They were terrible in the eleven games shooting threes especially Ponds
2 They seemed to improve their three point defense vs Duke and Vill. Very few wide open three attempts
3 Rotation got tighter reducing the number of minutes for non big east players. This will be tough to continue with foul troubles etc.
I think it was evident that the starters could compete with the big east teams even through the losing streak. The bench is a different story and will be a problem for the rest of the season
FWIW, couldn't agree more. Players, players, players. I guess everyone expected we were going to pull off what the Cavs did and turn over the roster mid-season. We have remained competitive for the most part in the best conference in the country which is all anyone could expect after LoVett became "unavailable." To have expected anything else is ridiculous as is much, certainly not all, of the expert "analysis."
prjohnnies
Member
Agreed. And playing 5 guys will hurt us in these coming games, as well. No margin for error. An off-game or quick whistle does damage. And some of those free throws we hit, rebounds we snagged or close outs don’t happen because of fatigue (which has hurt us already in past close games).
Trimble can make the occasional 3 if you leave him but right now simply fills minutes more ably than anyone else.
Last year I thought Yawke was going to turn the corner after the Marquette game at MSG where he played his best game. Hopefully the ankle is better and we get a surprise performance. At minimum he still should be able to be a force defensively and rebound even with all the problems he has on the other end.
Trimble can make the occasional 3 if you leave him but right now simply fills minutes more ably than anyone else.
Last year I thought Yawke was going to turn the corner after the Marquette game at MSG where he played his best game. Hopefully the ankle is better and we get a surprise performance. At minimum he still should be able to be a force defensively and rebound even with all the problems he has on the other end.
One thing has seemingly changed in the last few games , Mullin has limited Amar and Yakwe playing time . He had that option because Owens, Clark and Ahmed didn’t get into the early foul trouble . Trimble got minutes , mostly to give someone a minute or two blow . Trimble , while slow defensively , can make some contribution , mainly ability to hit the open 3 . Yakwe and Amar rarely made anything positive happen and if they were in the game together it was not good . Yakwe’s stock has apparently faded , either through injury or the horrendous plays in the G ‘Town game ,which were player mistakes . As Mullin has said , in recent interviews , playing well on every possession , even early in the Game , are just as important as plays down the stretch . When Yakwe and Amar are in the game , we lose a lot on both ends of the Court . In close games , which we have been in numerous times , it can affect the final result and has . This isn’t player bashing but, if you look at when they are in there , we rarely score or , they can’t defend or, make bad decisions . They were getting playing time because of necessity . We don’t have a core of players that can contribute off the bench , which most of our rivals can . Look at Gillespie and his shooting in the game this week . We did take some advantage of him defensively as he could not keep up with Ponds and Simon . He does shoot lights out though . He will be a Starter next year for the Cats . We will have a much deeper Bench next season . Hopefully !