That's the conclusion I've come to watching the games in Florida. FIU likely had more talent the we do. No doubt FAU did. We have a very limited inside game and are undersized at every position. Steve has done a masterful job of using our "center by committee" strategy to cover our deficiencies underneath- most games we've held our own although it finally caught up with the last 10 minutes against FAU. He's done an incredible job getting the most out of Matt while covering up his deficiencies. He used him incredibly well (15 pts. in 17 minutes) against FIU. He has been slowly but surely increasing Chucky's minutes and you can just see him growing and getting better every game. He has slowly worked Tramar into the rotation and he now is giving us valuable minutes on both the offensive and defensive ends. I feel we have a reasonable shot at winning every game left on our schedule. We can only do that by getting maximun effort and production out of what we have available on the bench, and I believe the coaches have been getting that out of this group.
I think he has done a great job of coaching this year too. Guy is the type of player that other teams have to plan for and if we get the bigs we signed to campus, it looks like we could be salty next year.
The lack of size and lack of overall talent is due to this staffs recruiting and hopefully it has been addressed in this recruiting class.
This recruiting class and next, definitely. A little bit of a light has come on, I think.
The style of play is considerably more tolerable. I am seeing purposeful movement away from the ball. I see screens and quicker opportunistic shooting. I see the ball going into the post and coming back out when it should. If Steve can continue this approach, I think he may be able to get us to postseason and advance the program and his own career.
He's done a much better job of coaching this season. Having better players makes most coaches look better. We're still not seeing them run plays to get the shooters open. Solo gets a lot of his by the jab step, getting his defender to step back, then he shoots the jump shot. The improvement is in having shooters for a change. Our inside game is still bad.
(01-24-2011 10:42 AM)Robert C Wrote: [ -> ]The style of play is considerably more tolerable. I am seeing purposeful movement away from the ball. I see screens and quicker opportunistic shooting. I see the ball going into the post and coming back out when it should. If Steve can continue this approach, I think he may be able to get us to postseason and advance the program and his own career.
In order to advance his career he's going to have to get to the NCAA tournament, maybe more than once. Division championships sound good, but they're not going to impress most higher level programs. For his sake and ours I hope he can attain that kind of success. A promotion for him and a fresh start for us. That's the best of both worlds.
I think this team shows some promise going into next year with a couple of SBC all conference type bigs.
(01-24-2011 07:24 PM)outsideualr Wrote: [ -> ] In order to advance his career he's going to have to get to the NCAA tournament, maybe more than once.
It's obvious that he won't have to do that to stay here. He hasn't done anything so far to warrant bigger programs coming after him.
I have to agree with you and Scotto. As long as we don't have more than one disastrous season back to back, I believe his job is secure.
At some point, maybe the law of averages will kick in. Over 20 seasons without an NCAA appearance is certainly testing the law of averages. Platt, Wimp, Sidney, Porter and Steve. Coaches since Newell. Wimp got the closest, as did Kestenbaum, pre-Newell. They both got knocked out of the tournament on last second shots. None of the others came close. Steve still has a chance. Maybe he'll make it this season.
(01-25-2011 12:07 AM)outsideualr Wrote: [ -> ]At some point, maybe the law of averages will kick in.
You have to figure that. Over the course of four different coaches, too.
(01-25-2011 08:08 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ] (01-25-2011 12:07 AM)outsideualr Wrote: [ -> ]At some point, maybe the law of averages will kick in.
You have to figure that. Over the course of four different coaches, too.
Steve's teams have gutted out several very close games and had a few lucky bounces (literally) over the last several years. I like our chances in the clutch with him at the helm based on the way he prepares his kids for dealing with adversity. The problem is, he has not been able to get us to the finals where it would count. The closest to that was the regular season division championship he coached in our last Alltel game.
Just getting the the finals of the SBCT will do it for me. And all we have to do is win 2 games in Hot Springs, assuming we can get a bye. The buzz around that final game would be felt all over town.
(01-25-2011 09:16 AM)Scotto Wrote: [ -> ]Just getting the the finals of the SBCT will do it for me. And all we have to do is win 2 games in Hot Springs, assuming we can get a bye. The buzz around that final game would be felt all over town.
Obviuously we can't win our tournament without getting to the finals. At some point, our luck has to change. We've had some heartbreakers in tournament finals, and maybe it's our turn to win one. Wouldn't that be something. To go from 6 D1 wins one season to the NCAA tournament the next.
That would certainly be a coaching achievement for Steve and a great achievement for our kids. Best of both worlds. Steve, like all coaches, do from time to time, has caught a lot of flak the last couple of seasons, and it would be nice for him to have that NCAA appearance on his resume. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. When you look at his accomplishments, we have run a clean program and graduated players.
That obviously counts for a lot. Add getting to the post season, and that makes those other two items even more meaningful.
(01-25-2011 09:46 AM)outsideualr Wrote: [ -> ]When you look at his accomplishments, we have run a clean program and graduated players.
It's all good.
(01-24-2011 07:35 PM)insideualr Wrote: [ -> ]I think this team shows some promise going into next year with a couple of SBC all conference type bigs.
We need to successfully recruit a good shooting guard and a good point guard and Hooper Vint, and I will be very optimistic about the next couple of seasons.