@Marquette, Sat., Feb. 10, 6p, FS-1

RedStormNC said:
Read Pitino's post game quotes. Noted usual struggle of defense and first year team adapting to learn.

Concern is while we'll have a few or perhaps all eligible back, I'm not convinced that group will improve on defense exponentially to where Pitino expects it.

Even with some big portal names, we'll have work cut out to be at top
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Well, the vast majority of teams around the country including here are going to be mostly first year teams. We may not be replacing 10 guys every offseason but returning more than half of your team’s minutes is going to be the extreme exception going forward.

Pitino is going to have to figure out a way to get players up to speed within a couple months now because like Michael Corleone said “his way of doing things is over”
 
Adjustments start with Providence. Starting lineup: Jenkins, Luis, Allene, Edjifor, Ledlum. Dingle sixth man. Soriano and Conway as needed. Dunlap a maybe.
 
paultzman said:
Team has its flaws obviously, but flabbergasted that a team w so many veteran players can’t close out a close game, usually poise & experience prevails, but obviously not the case here
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90% of this team never played together prior this season.
They are veterans from different wars. Ledlum and Dingle played in minor skirmishes.
Taylor and Luis were veterans of defeated armies.
Only Alleyne was in a major war but he didn't serve on the front line.
Soriano wasn't dangerous enough for the Dominican army and was stationed in a non combat zone.
The Dirty Dozen this team is NOT!
 
Marillac2 said:
He hasn’t hit a layup all year.
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Doesn’t matter if that was the first shot he took all year. It was easier than a pregame layup line layup. Everybody needs to finish that in that spot especially a guy who has been in college since the Obama administration
 
Very disappointing. In these needed Quad 1 games, the other teams make the plays down the stretch, and we don't. We have the potential, but it's not translating to wins. Our record is who we are, love it or hate it
 
Marillac2 said:
True, but Luis is probably the quickest 4 in the conference when he’s playing there and Zuby is by far the most athletic 5. I don’t think Ledlum is THAT slow for a 4. He always seems to get switched onto a wing.
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Soriano and Ledlum slow lateral movement
 
vegasman2000 said:
No one is more disappointed than me. Preseason (and after) I said he would be our second best player.

Boy, was I wrong.
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That’s not his game. He has a bizarre skill set. He can score in the post and from deep. He can’t handle to save his life. He’s our best defender.
 
dk423 said:
I think Pitino knows what he’s doing. Him developing a jump shot and shifting to PF/C will give him 28 mpg next year
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I meant in terms of losing him to NIL offers. He looks so freaking good at times. There isn’t a more athletic center in the conference.

I have very little doubt he could play some 4 with his excellent feet.
 
Some thoughts:
I'm still surprised that this team does not know how to value the ball, especially late in the game.

Players don't seem to know what they want to do on defense.

This late in the season they still look like a CYO team bringing the ball up court vs. the press. Why was that player straddling the half-court line with the ball?

Can someone tell Soriano not to chase around the court after smaller guys leaving the basket unguarded?

Can someone other than Soriano set a pick up high?

Ledlum is one tough son-of-a-gun.

When Luis is good, he's very, very good. When he's bad he's rotten. Play Defense.

I WANT MARQUETTE AGAIN. NEXT TIME IN THE BET!
 
SJU61982 said:
I look at this team sometimes, and I wonder how we've won any games.

This team is probably slightly better than Mullin's first, in terms of talent, heading into the season. We need an upgrade in that area. No more settling for diamonds in the rough. Those type of guys can come later.

No more worrying about whether a guy can fit in your system. If he's a stud, you fit the system around him. I'm getting really bad vibes that Rick is a lot like Anderson, in that he is essentially telling guys, "forget everything you've done in the past, you're playing my game now." That just doesn't work anymore. Look at Shaka. You don't see much of the havoc style that you saw him employ at VCU. It's there in spurts, but it's not constant, because he knows he doesn't have guys who can play it, so he adjusts accordingly.

Why is this so hard for other, mostly older, coaches to figure out?
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Ridiculous post. This team is head and shoulders better than Mullin’s first team.
 
PARedman said:
Adjustments start with Providence. Starting lineup: Jenkins, Luis, Allene, Edjifor, Ledlum. Dingle sixth man. Soriano and Conway as needed. Dunlap a maybe.
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Can’t emphasize this enough — we will go as far as Soriano takes us. If we can’t get him right then season is over.
 
Jack Williams said:
pitino and staff will recruit much differently this offseason. We need wings who can lock the f**k up when we need them to.

I think ricks great mistake this year was he thought he could coach any team into a good defensive unit on the fly. Nah, In high level D1 hoops, you need the personnel to be a great defensive team. Like Zuby, he’s a great defensive big, but he literally might be our only good defensive player on the team. That can’t be the case if you want to win a lot at a big East level.

I’m torn between wanting to get one more shot at Kolek in the BET, cause man do I want to beat him. But also know that it’s probably better if we never see that dude ever again LOL

With all of that said, I do like our team more than a lot of you. Their shortcomings are clear. But I’m with marillac, it’s more about personnel to me, not just effort. If our team wasn’t trying, we wouldn’t be lethal on the offensive boards!

They are TRYING, they just aren’t a good defensive team. It doesn’t JUST take effort to be good at defense, you need to have lateral quickness, you need to know when to rotate; who to rotate to, you need to know how to stay in front of guys without fouling. Our team doesn’t have speed/quickness or the cohesiveness to be a good defensive team. It’s why I wanted #0 back because he would’ve at least been someone we could’ve thrown on a guard who was torching us.

Team is flawed but I will root like hell for them the rest of the season.
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The mistake was not really a mistake, he had slim pickings and no one knew Dingle and Ledlum would be so physically overmatched. Honestly none of the transfer guards other than DJ have worked out. Might be bad luck or just not enough talent available in a small window.
 
dk423 said:
I think it’s more tasteful to keep that assumption, so fair enough. But I just get the sense Taylor is playing a lot more scared and defeated now compared to November.
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Some guys can't handle an atmosphere where if you make a mistake or lack effort you go to the bench. That's why Storr isn't here
 
SLYFOXX1968 said:
Kolek is a Assassin at this level of College BB and I think he can play at the next level . Left Handed players who shoot , dish the ball and run a team are rare . Kolek is all that and more .
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Yeah, guys saying "why didn't Rick put someone on him as a stopper"...we have no one who can stop him. That's ok, it's a work in progress but also a fact. Not many teams have a guy who can just stop a guy as good as Kolek.
 
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