Well Beast...I've given some thought to your Orchestra analogy...and while I understand your point, I fail to see how it applies in this situation. For one thing, Green, Pointer, Harrison, and Garrett hardly qualify as fledgling musicians. Also, a poor music teacher will always remain exactly that...a poor music teacher!
Coach Lavin came to St. John's with a clear reputation as being a clever and solid recruiter, but also being a compromised tactician. UCLA fired him for it! He fielded teams with more than one first round draft choice on his roster, but only advanced to the "elite eight" once (mind you, this is during a period when UCLA was still a high profile attraction to the nation's best talent). I'm sure it's fair to make the argument that he was treated unfairly there. Certainly, their expectations were very high. But where there's smoke, there's fire...and currently I see some cause for alarm in the seemingly similar pattern on display here at St. John's.
The purpose of this thread was to point out possible weaknesses in the way we are currently approaching games. Certainly there is something wrong. We have very good talent, and we are either losing to, or barely winning against mid-major talent, that most good teams would categorically beat the crap out of. San Francisco lost to "Holy Cross" and then lost it's next three games. We just lost a 17 point lead to an average team on our home court for a loss. I propose that these losses...along with the bevy of close wins against weak competition....signal strategical inadequacies far more complex than the simplicity of "well, they'll grow out of it"!
Anyway, I know that many are thinking about two years ago...and the admittedly wonderful turn around we experienced with the Dwight Hardy team. But that change came about largely with a turn in strategical direction. We stopped pressing...and Coach Dunlap had an immense impact when the team successfully digested his match-up zone. The shift of Hardy to point guard also paid dividends (who knows whose idea that was?) in that season.
This is the 2012-2013 season. So far, we are clearly under-producing. So far, we are clearly not playing smart basketball. You can blame the kids, you can blame inexperience, or anything else you choose to. This is a free country. But from the perspective of my own observations, using the current defensive and offensive approaches employed by this coaching staff, there isn't going to be any sudden euphoric improvement. For me, I'm stating the obvious. No need to beat me up if you disagree. Opinions are what make life interesting! Personally, I would be very pleased if you were right!
A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my Redmen.com brothers!
