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

lawmanfan said:
My observation about the last ~2 pages of this thread is this:

Winning requires more than talented players. It requires putting the talent that you have in the best position to optimize their ability. A team that has less talent but makes better use of it can often beat a team with "better players."

UConn has both - excellent talent and they are all put in situations to succeed. DePaul obviously has neither.

Two teams in the league that have a lot less talent but are getting everything out of the players they have are Seton Hall and Xavier. You could throw Providence in there also (though I think some of that may just be Carter and his will to win). Consider Butler in this category also.

A team that is getting way less out of the talent it has is Nova, which runs virtually nothing to maximize the skills it has on the roster.

And then we get to SJU, which resembles Nova a lot more than Xavier or the Hall. I have seen some argue that it is due to lack of talent. I have seen others argue that it is lack of effort. My own view is that the staff has refused to make adjustments to what they want to do to match the abilities of who they have.

Now, that may be part of a long-term plan to take some lumps to install a system for which better fits are expected to be acquired, or it could just be stubborn. But either way it has definitely had something to do with some of the outcomes this year.

For next year, I agree with Paultz - it's about finding the right fits for what the staff wants to do, since it seems pretty evident that the staff is not generally inclined to change what it wants to do to fit the players it has.
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It all starts with giving 100% and regardless of adjustments also ends if that doesn’t happen. IMO the coaching approach has worked just fine it just hasn’t been sustained for 40 minutes because neither has the effort. See, SH, Butler, Providence, Xavier; the teams you cite; there is nothing magical or strategic any of those coaches are doing, but those teams compete for 40 minutes pretty much every game, not 25 or 30.
SJU has consistently built double digit leads in many games; they did that via bad coaching approach? They invariably have given many of those away so quickly it is like they never had them, hiw, with dumb play and lackadaisical effort, not via lack of coaching adjustments.
I
 
NCJohnnie said:
Don't really disagree except to say I think there was plenty of blame to spread around and CMA deserved some of it for sure as he put the group together and didn't really coach them much especially last year.
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I understand, and certainly Anderson is not blameless but character comes out when times are tough and the players showed very, very little.
 
Redenbacher said:
Well, Anderson was fired "for cause" which is not done lightly. Let a bunch of 20 year olds do whatever they want and 99% of them will take up that offer.
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Fine, and then you get rid of those “20 year olds” and find the 1%. And the 99% is just a wee bit overstated, no?
 
logen said:
Fine, and then you get rid of those “20 year olds” and find the 1%. And the 99% is just a wee bit overstated, no?
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Posh was 21, Storr was 19. Too lazy to look up the ages of the others. But I do believe the vast majority of kids that age will push the limit of what you allow them do. Play selfishly, hoist up dumb shots, etc.
 
dk423 said:
Whether we or Rick likes it or not, every year is going to be 4-6 new guys. Last year was extraordinary, but it's not going to be that different in other years. I hope he's ready for that.
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Oh, I think Rick, who won national championships with two different schools and coached in the NBA, is ready. The question is, are and will the players be ready?
 
dk423 said:
Pitino and staff are responsible for the roster. I don't think they entered the fall semester thinking their roster is as limited as it actually is.
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True. I also don't think they entered the fall semester thinking their potential stud player would be out with a hand injury and then shin splints for so many games.
 
logen said:
I understand, and certainly Anderson is not blameless but character comes out when times are tough and the players showed very, very little.
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I do think it's a little over the top to say last year's kids had little character. If that was the case, it would follow them to their next stop. Matta has been effusive in his praise for Posh and his importance to their success, and whatever you may think of Storr's all around basketball ability I have heard nothing but good things about his character. I really think CMA's desperation move bringing in Curbelo torpedoed last year's season. But that's just my opinion.
 
Fin88 said:
We are 6 and 6 with 3 hopefully probable wins in February. When was the last we we had this ?
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20/21 but they lost at Butler and then to Depaul at home (SMDH).


PS Butler and Depaul ended up the bottom 2 teams in the BE that year. Win those two and they would have been 10-6 and had a 9 game winning streak before facing #7 Nova. Of course that year they started 1-5 so there's that.
 
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passitback said:
Need to win tomorrow.

We are due. Beating Marquette will give this team serious momentum.

I refuse to look further into the season than tomorrow.
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I won''t even say we need tomorrow, but we need atleast a split. Either way.

Though it would be great to just go crazy and win every damn game remaining.
 
lawmanfan said:
I don't think it hit the backboard. He is deadly from 12 feet and he was like 7 of 8 early in the season. I agree if he's going to shoot them like that then he shouldn't take them. But based on his midrange jumper and what he did before that, you would think he should take 1 or 2 a game.
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I believe Justin Simon hit his first eight threes as a Johnnie. Small sample size unfortunately not a good indicator
 
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