Playing Poker with Next Season's Roster

R

Ray Morgan

Well-known member
Some posters think that with natural growth that comes with seasoning, and the addition of Sanchez, this is a sweet sixteen team next year. I don't see it. Too many holes in the lineup. When playing draw poker and basketball, sometimes you have to discard the hand you were dealt and look for better replacements. So who are you content with, and whose needs to be recruited over, or at least have their minutes cut or role changed? For me, here it is:

Bourgault: A liability on defense, and playing like his confidence is shot. He plays with the look of a guy who would rather be at the dentist. Please explain why Hooper, who didn't get minutes at Harvard, will be any different?
Branch: I know he was playing hurt and has half a year of experience, but I have seen enough to be concerned. Suspect handle, suspect outside shot, suspect decision maker, which is why we need a better option at the point.
Garrett: A good energy player who really tires hard, but needs his role reduced. Just should not have a green light past a lay-up. Should get limited minutes, primarily when we need some offensive rebounding and an energy boost.
Obekpa and Sampson form a great core. I will assume that Sanchez is the real deal and will show it from day one. That's three players that would start almost anywhere. Pointer brings so much raw athleticism, even with the poor decisions he makes. We know what Harrison brings. For all the knocks on Greene, he is the only player other than Sampson that can create his own shot. He has an inside-out game. I still see improvement coming.
My bottom line that unless we find a better option at the point and more fire power off the bench, then next year's team will be a one and done. After that, Sanchez and Sampson will be gone, and we will be out of the tourney for a few more seasons.
 
This team is far from a Sweet 16 Team next season right now
Bourgault - Should not be on a BE roster. Supposed to be a great outside shooter. Bad scouting report!!
Branch - Major disappointment. Not a PG. Can't shoot, either. Low basketball IQ. Makes way too many mistakes for a "PG"
Garrett - Plays hard but is useless offensively. Only shot he should be allowed to take is his wraparound layup. At least he makes half of them.
Pointer - Makes a lot of mistakes but has some value because he is a high energy guy who does a little bit of everything
Greene - Not a PG. Very inconsistent shooter. Developing a decent mid-range game late in the season
Obekpa - Must develop an offensive game. We are a poor shooting team and need more of an inside threat to open things up
Sampson - The real deal. Had a very good season but needs more seasoning to be NBA ready.
If Sanchez is as good as advertised and if we can bring in a quality PG, maybe a Sweet 16 run is possible
But, not with our roster, as presently constructed. Way too many flaws.
 
I think this team lacks mostly rebounding and outside shooting (and of course foul shooting).

I think:

1. Steve makes each kid shoot 500 free throws a day, gets them a FT coach and that could mean the difference in 2 or 3 wins right there.

2. Need to re-orient Garrett to rebound, rebound, rebound. There is NO reason he should be hoisting up outside shots. he
s probably a 10 minute a game spot player with GG and Sanchez back.

3. Branch needs to step it up, and we saw glimpses of it before he got hurt. To a large extent, a PG is really only as good as the players around him. if we have everyone playing in position next year, with a good inside / outside balance, I think he will look much better and be more productive. He also needs to assert himself on the offensive end, as I think he has the potential for being a genuine option.

4. I think Obepka will be better offensively next year, and the coaches should look to draw a few plays for him. But, he still needs to work on rebounding (better but needs to get better) and free throw shooting.

5. I think with the players coming back, we should be OK, but we will still struggle form time to time from outside, even w/ Harrison back. I just don't see Marco as a good shooter at this level, and Hooper is an unknown.

In the future, recruiting should balance the athleticism we have, with more BB IQ and skills like shooting. Since Lavin had very little time to contemplate how to construct his first class, I think we got better talent than we could have expected. I expect as time goes on, he will recruit in a more balanced way, and that will show in the results.

I remain very optimistic for next year and beyond.
 
I think this team lacks mostly rebounding and outside shooting (and of course foul shooting).

I think:

1. Steve makes each kid shoot 500 free throws a day, gets them a FT coach and that could mean the difference in 2 or 3 wins right there.

2. Need to re-orient Garrett to rebound, rebound, rebound. There is NO reason he should be hoisting up outside shots. he
s probably a 10 minute a game spot player with GG and Sanchez back.

3. Branch needs to step it up, and we saw glimpses of it before he got hurt. To a large extent, a PG is really only as good as the players around him. if we have everyone playing in position next year, with a good inside / outside balance, I think he will look much better and be more productive. He also needs to assert himself on the offensive end, as I think he has the potential for being a genuine option.

4. I think Obepka will be better offensively next year, and the coaches should look to draw a few plays for him. But, he still needs to work on rebounding (better but needs to get better) and free throw shooting.

5. I think with the players coming back, we should be OK, but we will still struggle form time to time from outside, even w/ Harrison back. I just don't see Marco as a good shooter at this level, and Hooper is an unknown.

In the future, recruiting should balance the athleticism we have, with more BB IQ and skills like shooting. Since Lavin had very little time to contemplate how to construct his first class, I think we got better talent than we could have expected. I expect as time goes on, he will recruit in a more balanced way, and that will show in the results.

I remain very optimistic for next year and beyond.
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A good PG is not "really only as good as the players around him"
A good PG makes the players around him better
Branch is not a good PG nor is anyone else on our roster
 
While I agree that a PG must make the others around him better, I think that a lot of what he does depends on the talent and abilities of the players around him. Branch showed flashes of being able to run the team, and to be an offensive option. Then he got hurt. I expect to see better next year. In any event, it is unlikely that we will have anyone better next year, so let's hope he improves.
 
Nice analysis all. Personally, there were things I liked about Branch prior to his injury. He has looked rusty since coming back. Admittedly he had a poor game today. I'm not sure how my moral would be seeing Jamal White and David Lipscomb taking my court minutes...how could that possibly make sense? I also agree that he might have been stymied to some degree by the offensive inefficiencies of our personnel. Lavin doesn't help much with his ill-advised weave, which costs us two to three possessions a game. Branch has demonstrated that he can penetrate, but many times he is doing so with time pressure, because we've wasted the clock away with meaningless passing. This is a coaching thing, not a point guard thing. We don't score from the wings...nor from the center spot..That makes things tough on a PG. Pointer doesn't even look at the rim, Garrett is useless, Bourgault has proven he is undependable, and Jones has no range. Sampson likes to create with the ball. So exactly what would you like this point guard to do. Yes, a point guard can make those around him better....assuming that those people have skills to amplify. No one on this team shoots the ball. We suspended the only player who could....and even he was an on again-off again marksman. We need someone that can score. I would work hard also with Obepka in the off season. There is potential there. Also some plays, motion, and on court spacing wouldn't hurt. The announcers today declared our offense as stagnant....no kidding. Allowing Phil Greene to dribble around looking for a slot to shoot in isn't offense. This team doesn't know how to score. How many good passes have we seen this year? For an athletic team, how many alley oops? There's no purposeful motion and no team involvement in our scoring. Like it or not...all of that is on the coaching staff.
 
Nice analysis all. Personally, there were things I liked about Branch prior to his injury. He has looked rusty since coming back. Admittedly he had a poor game today. I'm not sure how my moral would be seeing Jamal White and David Lipscomb taking my court minutes...how could that possibly make sense? I also agree that he might have been stymied to some degree by the offensive inefficiencies of our personnel. Lavin doesn't help much with his ill-advised weave, which costs us two to three possessions a game. Branch has demonstrated that he can penetrate, but many times he is doing so with time pressure, because we've wasted the clock away with meaningless passing. This is a coaching thing, not a point guard thing. We don't score from the wings...nor from the center spot..That makes things tough on a PG. Pointer doesn't even look at the rim, Garrett is useless, Bourgault has proven he is undependable, and Jones has no range. Sampson likes to create with the ball. So exactly what would you like this point guard to do. Yes, a point guard can make those around him better....assuming that those people have skills to amplify. No one on this team shoots the ball. We suspended the only player who could....and even he was an on again-off again marksman. We need someone that can score. I would work hard also with Obepka in the off season. There is potential there. Also some plays, motion, and on court spacing wouldn't hurt. The announcers today declared our offense as stagnant....no kidding. Allowing Phil Greene to dribble around looking for a slot to shoot in isn't offense. This team doesn't know how to score. How many good passes have we seen this year? For an athletic team, how many alley oops? There's no purposeful motion and no team involvement in our scoring. Like it or not...all of that is on the coaching staff.
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Whatever his faults, Coach Lavin has been to sweet sixteen and elite eights, and Coach Keady, whom I presume can add plenty of input, is a legend. I think the real problem is that Lavin, in a desire to get Big East caliber athletes, loaded the roster with players lacking in fundamentals. They have every symptom of players that got by on superior athleticism and one on one play. Sampson gets the ball, lowers his head, and forgets about everything but his desire to score. Same with Greene. Obekpa gets an entry pass, and goes blind in his focus, which is only on the basket. Garrett the same. Harrison mostly the same, although he is by far the most basketball savvy of the bunch. Hopefully, the others will learn from Sanchez, who has a reputation for being an unselfish player. The point is that it will take years for these guys to break the bad habits and develop better ones. As Calipari said about his Kentucky team, with all the talent, he just could not get the freshman to get it. I do not find that a way to deflect the blame. He has won every place he coached. The reason he won is the same reason Coach K and Dean smith and John Wooden won. They recruited great players. Throwing the blame on Lavin for the deficiencies here is making the assumption that all players are a clean slate that can just be "coached up". That's not the way it works.
 
Nice analysis all. Personally, there were things I liked about Branch prior to his injury. He has looked rusty since coming back. Admittedly he had a poor game today. I'm not sure how my moral would be seeing Jamal White and David Lipscomb taking my court minutes...how could that possibly make sense? I also agree that he might have been stymied to some degree by the offensive inefficiencies of our personnel. Lavin doesn't help much with his ill-advised weave, which costs us two to three possessions a game. Branch has demonstrated that he can penetrate, but many times he is doing so with time pressure, because we've wasted the clock away with meaningless passing. This is a coaching thing, not a point guard thing. We don't score from the wings...nor from the center spot..That makes things tough on a PG. Pointer doesn't even look at the rim, Garrett is useless, Bourgault has proven he is undependable, and Jones has no range. Sampson likes to create with the ball. So exactly what would you like this point guard to do. Yes, a point guard can make those around him better....assuming that those people have skills to amplify. No one on this team shoots the ball. We suspended the only player who could....and even he was an on again-off again marksman. We need someone that can score. I would work hard also with Obepka in the off season. There is potential there. Also some plays, motion, and on court spacing wouldn't hurt. The announcers today declared our offense as stagnant....no kidding. Allowing Phil Greene to dribble around looking for a slot to shoot in isn't offense. This team doesn't know how to score. How many good passes have we seen this year? For an athletic team, how many alley oops? There's no purposeful motion and no team involvement in our scoring. Like it or not...all of that is on the coaching staff.
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Agree Doc. And don't forget about our enemic zone defense. Branch looked alot more confident before his injury, especially with his outside shot. To me he looked hesitant or as if someone told him to cut down his outside shooting. I'm not giving up on him. Some of these guys have played in over 70 college games and our coach cries that we're too young. B.S. It blew my mind today to watch Phil Greene back up from the top of the key and dribble backwards almost to half court before starting our offense. Not his fault.
 
I really don't no what expect next season! I think Harrison will be back and better than before... Sanchez will be a huge addition, I also think Marco and Garrett decide not to come back! It's very clear that lavin needs to have a big off season as well...: he needs a right hand man in a bad way.... Also the recruiting has to start changing.... We need players who can play from day 1, athletes are great but we have all athletes and no palyers!! Gonna be a long off season
 
Nice analysis all. Personally, there were things I liked about Branch prior to his injury. He has looked rusty since coming back. Admittedly he had a poor game today. I'm not sure how my moral would be seeing Jamal White and David Lipscomb taking my court minutes...how could that possibly make sense? I also agree that he might have been stymied to some degree by the offensive inefficiencies of our personnel. Lavin doesn't help much with his ill-advised weave, which costs us two to three possessions a game. Branch has demonstrated that he can penetrate, but many times he is doing so with time pressure, because we've wasted the clock away with meaningless passing. This is a coaching thing, not a point guard thing. We don't score from the wings...nor from the center spot..That makes things tough on a PG. Pointer doesn't even look at the rim, Garrett is useless, Bourgault has proven he is undependable, and Jones has no range. Sampson likes to create with the ball. So exactly what would you like this point guard to do. Yes, a point guard can make those around him better....assuming that those people have skills to amplify. No one on this team shoots the ball. We suspended the only player who could....and even he was an on again-off again marksman. We need someone that can score. I would work hard also with Obepka in the off season. There is potential there. Also some plays, motion, and on court spacing wouldn't hurt. The announcers today declared our offense as stagnant....no kidding. Allowing Phil Greene to dribble around looking for a slot to shoot in isn't offense. This team doesn't know how to score. How many good passes have we seen this year? For an athletic team, how many alley oops? There's no purposeful motion and no team involvement in our scoring. Like it or not...all of that is on the coaching staff.
Click to expand...

Whatever his faults, Coach Lavin has been to sweet sixteen and elite eights, and Coach Keady, whom I presume can add plenty of input, is a legend. I think the real problem is that Lavin, in a desire to get Big East caliber athletes, loaded the roster with players lacking in fundamentals. They have every symptom of players that got by on superior athleticism and one on one play. Sampson gets the ball, lowers his head, and forgets about everything but his desire to score. Same with Greene. Obekpa gets an entry pass, and goes blind in his focus, which is only on the basket. Garrett the same. Harrison mostly the same, although he is by far the most basketball savvy of the bunch. Hopefully, the others will learn from Sanchez, who has a reputation for being an unselfish player. The point is that it will take years for these guys to break the bad habits and develop better ones. As Calipari said about his Kentucky team, with all the talent, he just could not get the freshman to get it. I do not find that a way to deflect the blame. He has won every place he coached. The reason he won is the same reason Coach K and Dean smith and John Wooden won. They recruited great players. Throwing the blame on Lavin for the deficiencies here is making the assumption that all players are a clean slate that can just be "coached up". That's not the way it works.
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A reasonable post.
 
Losing Marco would be addition by subtraction
I feel the same way about Balamou
We have very good athletes who are not smart basketball players
We need someone to teach them how to play sound fundamental, team oriented basketball
IMHO, bringing in a great x and o guy would be more helpful than a bringing in a great recruit at this point
I think there is sufficient talent on next year's roster to be very competitive
Getting them to play well together is of paramount importance
 
On JJ some people are talking about Lavin goinbg to USC and Mullen coming here.
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ludicrous. and "mullen"?? that's like saying walter barry.

this is one of the most disappointing seasons i can remember. if we had a worse shooting team in school history, i'd like to find out which year. this was downright embarassing. yes, we made a post season tournament as we did when looie coached. the difference is these guys were highly touted. the coaches were highly touted. so what happened?

besides the consistant embarassment at the three point line and the foul line...our number two problem is no point guard. can you imagine a big east team with no point guard? there's a reason quarterbacks in football get paid the big bucks. someone has to run the show. maybe we get jordan...maybe...but is he really a savior? maybe harvard hooper is being taught to run the point. i'd guess he's smart enough. no one else is at this point. maybe branch or greeneIV will have epiphanies. it happened to david cain back in the day. right now, branch gets a C with an E for effort playing hurt. greene merits no more than a D. maybe he turns lavin's head in practice...but on the floor he's horrendous.

harrison gets a C-. i'm being generous here. sure, he was third leading scorer in the big east. he's the consummate chucker who occasionally finds the basket. he's a cancer in the locker room. he hasn't learned basketball is a game where you're supposed to have fun and not a war. his attitude takes most of the fun out of watching the games. i'd prefer lavin tell him to stay home and let him go out and find a high schooler who plays no D but scores 30 odd points a game on high percentage shooting.

garrett is also a C player based on his skill set and how that translated to what he brought to the floor.

pointer and obekpa are B's. both improved enough to warrant higher grades than the others. maybe obekpa could get extra credit for being second in the nation in blocked shots. as with the others...these guys must take a thousand shots a day to bring that portion of their games to respectability. the same with sampson. yes, he was the big east rookie of the year. someone is seeing something. i'm missing it. he's another bricklayer.

incompletes go to jones, balamou and bourgault. jones played himself out of a starting spot...but who expected him to start anyway? balamou didn't want to red shirt. he looked good at first, then he didn't. bourgault's failure is on the coach. you bring in a player who has a history of shooting 40 percent from three. you play him single digit minutes and pull him after one miss...thus screwing up his confidence. the only reason i can see for this is lavin wanted to keep up with his mantra that "we're the youngest team in the country". when someone pointed out bourgault is skewing that number...frenchie sat.

i'm generous giving the coaching staff a C. we have nba coaches...and not much improvement in player skills. maybe the players aren't smart enough to get it in one year. not everyone can be reached. we have a hall of famer in keady. we have lavin whose record at ucla is something we'd dream about here. i don't know what happened. the recruiting was fine when it came to getting top 100 players. we're not even talking to mcdonald aa's or top ten high schoolers. without them, we're condemned to remain at the usual high level of mediocrity we experienced during the looie years.

sanchez? he averaged maybe a dozen points and eight rebounds in junior college. the skill levels are much lower there. don't believe the hype that he can play in the nba today. he'll be a good player. he won't be a savior. god's gift. he might be the savior we're looking for.

at least real baseball is about a week away. there's always something for the sports fan.
 
Whatever his faults, Coach Lavin has been to sweet sixteen and elite eights, and Coach Keady, whom I presume can add plenty of input, is a legend. I think the real problem is that Lavin, in a desire to get Big East caliber athletes, loaded the roster with players lacking in fundamentals. They have every symptom of players that got by on superior athleticism and one on one play. Sampson gets the ball, lowers his head, and forgets about everything but his desire to score. Same with Greene. Obekpa gets an entry pass, and goes blind in his focus, which is only on the basket. Garrett the same. Harrison mostly the same, although he is by far the most basketball savvy of the bunch. Hopefully, the others will learn from Sanchez, who has a reputation for being an unselfish player. The point is that it will take years for these guys to break the bad habits and develop better ones. As Calipari said about his Kentucky team, with all the talent, he just could not get the freshman to get it. I do not find that a way to deflect the blame. He has won every place he coached. The reason he won is the same reason Coach K and Dean smith and John Wooden won. They recruited great players. Throwing the blame on Lavin for the deficiencies here is making the assumption that all players are a clean slate that can just be "coached up". That's not the way it works.
In all fairness Ray, Coach Lavin's prior achievements were accomplished in the bubble of a UCLA power dynasty...where success was an expectation. Recruiting came like duck soup and he lost the job because he didn't get it done with a roster of All-Americans. Those Elite 8s may impress you, but apparently, not the Athletic Director of UCLA.
For me, the proof is in the pudding. If you can watch the way the Red Storm play basketball and can be satisfied with the coaching, I say, "More power to you". Coach Lavin and staff had a roster that featured the Big East's second leading scorer, The nation's leading rebounder, and the "Freshman of the Year" in the Big East. I thought the way those pieces were put together, were awful for the most part. For me it wasn't an issue of who, and who can't be, "coached up". What I saw was bad coaching! An offense that was aimless and helter skelter....silly weaves that used clock, and often left us forcing up bad shots...bad spacing...unimaginative and telegraphed passing....absolutely horrible decisions regarding playing time and player rotation (including playing some guys who shouldn't even lace up their sneakers)..failure to develop a stable team chemistry...poor opponent analysis.. Porous defense that surrendered lay-ups and penetration, poor team concept, lousy anticipation, blown assignments, failure to recognize opponent's strengths...failure to identify and emphasize perimeter coverage on drive-way shooters...non-existent adjustment to on-floor play.... bad boxing out and position (no wonder we were frequently outrebounded by teams considerably smaller). I could go on and on. Citing past accomplishments and holding up trophies doesn't mean jack. The play of this team this year was patently embarrassing at times. I turned off (for the first time in 40 years) my TV on several occasions, considering what I was seeing to be unwatchable. Trust me Ray, I'm not assuming anything. I let my eyes do the walking and my experience do the talking. Steve Lavin came to St. John's with a very decided book. He has been a wonderful recruiter and no one would rather see him succeed here than myself. But the baggage he dragged here with him is panning out to be true. We need a real X & O coach on the bench with him next year. Turns out the departure of Mike Dunlap may have been a bigger loss than Moe Harkless.
 
In about 2 weeks I will be over the disappointment of this season and start getting excited about midnight madness. I can't wait!
 
In about 2 weeks I will be over the disappointment of this season and start getting excited about midnight madness. I can't wait!
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You must be young because life is too short to wish the next 7 months away especially for more of this dog poo!
 
In about 2 weeks I will be over the disappointment of this season and start getting excited about midnight madness. I can't wait!
Click to expand...
You must be young because life is too short to wish the next 7 months away especially for more of this dog poo!
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Not young. With age comes the realization that some things are not worth being miserable about. Next year, we challenge for the championship. >-)
 
In about 2 weeks I will be over the disappointment of this season and start getting excited about midnight madness. I can't wait!
Click to expand...
You must be young because life is too short to wish the next 7 months away especially for more of this dog poo!
Click to expand...

Not young. With age comes the realization that some things are not worth being miserable about. Next year, we challenge for the championship. >-)
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Agree.... Not so much on the championship part (although, I know you were just clowning around). LOL

I wanna win just as much, as any other fan. I certainly enjoy the wins and hate the losses. But I'm not emotionally invested into it like I use to be. I've been there before (emotionally invested), so, in some ways, I may can see folks still being there. But I can also say, I'm unequivocally glad I'm no longer emotionally tied up in it.

IMO, I guess ball games are one of those things that isn't worth being miserable or going ape 'ish, as you get older.
 
Unless the non-conference schedule is a bear and everyone of consequence comes back, this roster should win 20 games. Sanchez and Gift combined should be worth two wins minimum and SJU lost two games at the end without Harrison. That's a push from 16 to 20.

Consdering the experience and potential growth from everyone else, I don't think 20 wins is too much to expect.
 
Whatever his faults, Coach Lavin has been to sweet sixteen and elite eights, and Coach Keady, whom I presume can add plenty of input, is a legend. I think the real problem is that Lavin, in a desire to get Big East caliber athletes, loaded the roster with players lacking in fundamentals. They have every symptom of players that got by on superior athleticism and one on one play. Sampson gets the ball, lowers his head, and forgets about everything but his desire to score. Same with Greene. Obekpa gets an entry pass, and goes blind in his focus, which is only on the basket. Garrett the same. Harrison mostly the same, although he is by far the most basketball savvy of the bunch. Hopefully, the others will learn from Sanchez, who has a reputation for being an unselfish player. The point is that it will take years for these guys to break the bad habits and develop better ones. As Calipari said about his Kentucky team, with all the talent, he just could not get the freshman to get it. I do not find that a way to deflect the blame. He has won every place he coached. The reason he won is the same reason Coach K and Dean smith and John Wooden won. They recruited great players. Throwing the blame on Lavin for the deficiencies here is making the assumption that all players are a clean slate that can just be "coached up". That's not the way it works.
In all fairness Ray, Coach Lavin's prior achievements were accomplished in the bubble of a UCLA power dynasty...where success was an expectation. Recruiting came like duck soup and he lost the job because he didn't get it done with a roster of All-Americans. Those Elite 8s may impress you, but apparently, not the Athletic Director of UCLA.
For me, the proof is in the pudding. If you can watch the way the Red Storm play basketball and can be satisfied with the coaching, I say, "More power to you". Coach Lavin and staff had a roster that featured the Big East's second leading scorer, The nation's leading rebounder, and the "Freshman of the Year" in the Big East. I thought the way those pieces were put together, were awful for the most part. For me it wasn't an issue of who, and who can't be, "coached up". What I saw was bad coaching! An offense that was aimless and helter skelter....silly weaves that used clock, and often left us forcing up bad shots...bad spacing...unimaginative and telegraphed passing....absolutely horrible decisions regarding playing time and player rotation (including playing some guys who shouldn't even lace up their sneakers)..failure to develop a stable team chemistry...poor opponent analysis.. Porous defense that surrendered lay-ups and penetration, poor team concept, lousy anticipation, blown assignments, failure to recognize opponent's strengths...failure to identify and emphasize perimeter coverage on drive-way shooters...non-existent adjustment to on-floor play.... bad boxing out and position (no wonder we were frequently outrebounded by teams considerably smaller). I could go on and on. Citing past accomplishments and holding up trophies doesn't mean jack. The play of this team this year was patently embarrassing at times. I turned off (for the first time in 40 years) my TV on several occasions, considering what I was seeing to be unwatchable. Trust me Ray, I'm not assuming anything. I let my eyes do the walking and my experience do the talking. Steve Lavin came to St. John's with a very decided book. He has been a wonderful recruiter and no one would rather see him succeed here than myself. But the baggage he dragged here with him is panning out to be true. We need a real X & O coach on the bench with him next year. Turns out the departure of Mike Dunlap may have been a bigger loss than Moe Harkless.
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Doc, your analysis of what the team did wrong game in, game out is spot on. What I disagree with is the amount of difference a coach can make. No coach wins with low IQ players who come in without skill sets beyond the ability to jump high. I don't even buy the level of athleticism anymore. Pointer, Garrett and Sampson can jump through the roof. But they are all lacking in strength, and it shows. As for the boxing out, I don't blame the coaches at this level for that. You have to come into college with some skill sets of your own. No doubt that Lavin will never be regarded as one of the game's great minds. I would not mind seeing a great x and o assistant next year. Maybe Keady can go on salary. but no coach ever went far with the type of players we have.
 
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