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White's Injury/Laing's Future
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camels2008 Offline
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MyBB White's Injury/Laing's Future
Hey guys,

First, want to remind everyone I was the one who a year ago this month posted that Laing would be fired. That was from a source I have at CU who was wildly off with that (and he later apologized to me), so I'm sorry I started a minor wildfire with that. Obviously, he's still at CU, but surely his tenure here will be brought up again this summer after what can only be described as a disappointing (to date - still not over yet) season. That said, I'm a true Camel with a strong interest in their athletic success, so all I aim to do henceforth is engage is fun and productive discussion!

So, let's begin with the larger picture issue - why isn't this season essentially a lost season because of Darren White's injury? If he doesn't get hurt, how isn't CU receiving a bye in the Big South tourney, and thus we aren't questioning Laing's future? I'm sorry if I'm making it seem so simple, but a guy going for 21 ppg and 7 rpg and shooting over 50% FG is just not replaceable at any school. I understand the "next guy up" philosophy everyone has adopted in sports, but sometimes a team is built with no margin for error, and unfortunately CU falls into that category. I'm not saying coaching issues haven't hurt, or that effort/hustle isn't an issue, but White's impact as a player changes how everyone plays, and how everyone plays CU, and, to me, that means this season was flushed down the tubes once he got injured for good.

So, to move it forward (but, by all means, feel free to agree/disagree on the first point), I don't see any reason why Laing doesn't get one more year. White's the only Senior graduating, and they will have plenty of talent (and, of course, a much bally-hooed new group of players) returning with tons of experience.
03-02-2013 01:07 PM
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OrangeCamel Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
Welcome back, 08! Good thread topic.
03-02-2013 02:12 PM
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CamelCrazie Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
+1 for you!
03-02-2013 04:30 PM
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toley2345 Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
I don't think Roller should find a new coach. A new coach will bring change but is that necessarily a good thing. I think that Laing has finally got a stable coaching staff. I think we are getting talented players. I also think he is a coach that wants to be here. He is not someone who is looking for a higher paid coaching position or a more established program. Since we have moved to Gore the biggest problem we have had is keeping players on the court: injury, benching, suspension, transferring etc. Is that the coaches fault? I don't think so. The question is how do we keep the players from getting injured. This is a tough question, because some injuries you really cannot prevent. I think are strength and conditioning coach seems to be good. So maybe the issue is facilities. If that is the issue how much does the alumni, donors, etc need to race to have the adequate facilities to prevent injuries.

Now what I think and what will happen are two totally different realities. Someone mentioned in an earlier post, about Roller replacing two coaches already since he has arrived on campus. This could happen and I well not be happy about it. I asked in an earlier post how long is Coach Laing signed for? The reason I asked because if he is signed to a long to term deal that would show the athletic departments faith in him. Because if the department decides to find someone else I think they would have to pay him the rest of his contract. I could be completely wrong about all of this. I would appreciate if someone would correct me if I am wrong lol. Either way I am for keeping Robbie Laing at Campbell. But I think we should figure out a way to upgrade the program. Love to hear what everyone thinks!

Go Camels
03-02-2013 10:08 PM
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YaleCamel Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
I think the worst thing Laing has going against him is how the team has finished the past THREE seasons now. I understand that we have had some key people go down with injuries over the whole three seasons, but aren't injuries a part of the game? There at least should be some level of depth on the bench, right? Maybe it is an issue with the practice facilities or conditioning or just terrible luck with the injuries but after three years of this type of ending to a regular season, it's starting to look like a trend. I think we've hit our ceiling with Laing. The "regular season championship" year was probably as good as it gets (I don't even like calling that a regular season championship... it was a four-way tie at 10-8... weird year that year). He has shown that he has been able to recruit from what I can tell (granted 600-700 miles away and by mainly reading reports on gocamels.com and here) but I just don't think he can coalesce that talent and make it work night in and night out. He's had 10 seasons to prove otherwise. At some point you have to take a look at the results of the experiment and realize it's time to move on. Just one man's humble opinion. Great topic, by the way.

War Camel
03-02-2013 11:06 PM
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camels2008 Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
Great point about how the last 3 seasons have ended. It's one thing to start well in conference, but often it seems after teams get used to seeing CU play in conference, they adjust better than Laing and staff do. I've listened or gamecast basically every game the last 3 years, and I also feel like teams adjust so much better after halftime than CU does. It seems like CU loses so many halftime leads (see: today vs High Point), which is not only wildly frustrating but also a microcosm of the last few seasons. Start well, then finish poorly.

Are we starting to believe Laing is essentially a Ron Zook-esque head coach - highly capable of recruiting and building a program like Zook did at UF, but unable to adjust and make in-game decisions that push them over the edge? I know talent often makes coaches look great, but many programs are boosted by their coach's in-game management, and it just seems like we can't really say that with Laing.
03-03-2013 01:40 AM
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RedCamel Offline
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Post: #7
RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
From what I have heard (don't know it is reliable or not) that Laing has 1 year left on his contract. I agree with YaleCamel, I think this is as good as it will get with Laing. I have seen mentioned in other threads and heard about the teams lack of focus/effort down the stretch and that, if true, is disturbing to hear and frustrating. That falls directly on the players and coaches. Is it coaching or is it the type of players we are bringing in? As for Laing I am sure if they let him go they would have to pay out his contract. I like that Roller seems to want to raise the standard of the athletic department. Maybe the Camels will get hot in the tournament and we can forget about this discussion....or maybe not.
03-03-2013 06:52 AM
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toley2345 Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
All have brought about valid points in this discussion. I love the fact that we have a fan base that is concerned about the bottom line (wins). I think the reason we have not done well in tournament play is a combination of injuries and experience. We have never had a strong amount of senior leadership(# of playing seniors) and experienced players since we have been in Pope. Except for the year we won 19 games. I do not count the years in Carter because I do not think that is fair. Now every winning year the camels have had, was preceded by a losing season. I think this has been due to a lack of senior leadership. Now I am not trying to make excuses about this. I am suggesting that a fair assessment would be two years from this season as long as the group of sophomores we have stay in the program and healthy. By then we will have the leadership, experience and talent to make a strong wrong in the tournament. This will be leadership that will have been in the program for at least three years. Not junior college players that have only been in the program for two years.
The topic of Mr. White, is a frustrating subject for me to think about. The reason for this is that he was one of the best players not only in the conference but in the country. I think he was 7-8th in the country before he went down. Plus he was pulling down 7 boards a game and was the sole leader on the team. I think we he went down the team was forced to grow up. Plus they gained valuable experience against some strong BCS and non BCS schools. But without him in the lineup I knew the team was limited to what they accomplished.

Roll Humps
(This post was last modified: 03-04-2013 08:40 AM by toley2345.)
03-03-2013 09:45 AM
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YaleCamel Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
Good points on the adjustments Camels2008. It would be interesting to see what Laing's record is on return games during the season (the more advanced metrics the better!). And I definitely think injuries for whatever reason have plagued us but given the level of recruitment that he is brought in, again, shouldn't there be someone on the bench able to give a decent fraction of what was lost? I just worry that its been 10 years and there really hasn't been much improvement over the past 6 or 7 years (see OC's post) aside from the 19-11 year.
The JUCO point you bring up, toley, is also a good point. I've argued this in a previous post that I don't think this is a good way to build a program. We haven't had strong leadership from a four year player since J-Rod left in my opinion and he was there when Reggie and Jake and that group were there to learn under as well (sidebar: Why won't they retire his jersey? I don't want to picture anyone else in #3 for CU. Just J-Rod.). Toss in the buzz of opening Pope and I thought we were on to building a strong program. It is yet to materialize. Roller has proven he is willing to go out and get "his guy" much like Williamson got Laing after Collins and Lee left the program (let me know if I'm wrong about that, but I don't think there was much overlap between Williamson and Lee, but I was like 14 so... yeah). To borrow a phrase from J-Wall, "The Time is Now".
03-03-2013 10:15 PM
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YaleCamel Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
Oh... and War Camel. :)
03-03-2013 10:19 PM
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toley2345 Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
The JUCO player subject is a tough one because I feel like some of are best player (D White/EG) have come from the JUCO college ranks. We have also had some good roll players come from those ranks as well. Its just a question of turnover, they are not in program that long. So they don't have experience of someone who comes out of high school. It seems like a difficult balance gaining experience, leadership and talent. I think if we make a serious run in the conference tourney I think its going to show that we finally got over are postseason curse especially with the team this inexperienced. But like everyone has mentioned before tournament play is what wins conference and national championships. So if we ever want to be a championship program we have got to play better in the tournaments.

Roll Humps
03-04-2013 09:01 AM
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toley2345 Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
Just read an article about Trey Freeman playing the whole season with a broken toe. Kind of hard when you best player is out for the year and your other one is playing on one foot. Trey Freeman what warrior!
03-04-2013 09:16 AM
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CU in GA Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
(03-04-2013 09:16 AM)toley2345 Wrote:  Just read an article about Trey Freeman playing the whole season with a broken toe. Kind of hard when you best player is out for the year and your other one is playing on one foot. Trey Freeman what warrior!

Have followed the season pretty closely and thought I would add my two cents. I saw two games in person this year. The CU game at Charleston Southern and the Northwestern State game back in November.

One game had Daren White and the other did not. The constant was that I saw two losses. The Charleston Southern loss was about as embarassing a performance as I've seen since the horrible Billy Lee years nearing his end. They had doubled us at one time leading about 66-33 or something like that. All in a pathetic gym that is possibly worse than Carter.

My view is one mans opinion obviously just like everyone on this board. We all seem to love Campbell and this seems like a fairly "tame" board compared to most. I'm a little surprised that there is much suspense about what will happen this year. I have absolutely nothing at all against Coach Laing. I do believe we have enough evidence over 10 years including at least half of that in our new and very fine facility to see that it is what it is! Any other thought would be the famous definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. We have tried this for over a decade and this years team should not lose 20 games in a bad league no matter the injuries. It was a bad injury to Daren but Northwestern beat us at home with Daren. We were obviously terrible out in Las Vegas and Rio Grande and Longwood at home sealed the deal.
Yes I believe this team will beat a very bad Presbyterian squad tonite and I dont enjoy the hard world of firings. But I believe CU needs a new voice and a new start. The positives you hear about football and Minter are incredible but we need basketball to win more and that seems to be the bottom line. The record down the stretch of most seasons shows that this team just falters. We were healthy last year and heading for a 20 win season and lost the entire last month without even being competitive.
Those are my thoughts. I wish everyone the best. I do believe we win tonight but I believe a coaching change will happen soon. I have no "sources" thats for sure LOL. sorry for the long post. Work is boring today and I had time to download my thoughts. Go Camels. Win this whole tournament:01-ncaabbs
03-05-2013 03:42 PM
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Small_Wonder Offline
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Post: #14
RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
I'd have fired Robbie after he couldn't take JRod to at least to the A-Sun championship game. From my perpective, he hasn't been able to harness good potential to be great and allowed great potential to just be good. Losing close games, late season breakdowns, and unfulfilled potential has been the trademarks of Robbie's tenture at CU.

I like Robbie, he is a good guy and from all accounts he cares that his team graduates and become successful in life. But I know Roller can go out there and find a guy that can make CU successful, rather than struggling for mediocrity.

War Camels.
(This post was last modified: 03-07-2013 09:17 AM by Small_Wonder.)
03-07-2013 09:16 AM
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kingaling42 Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
(03-07-2013 09:16 AM)Small_Wonder Wrote:  I'd have fired Robbie after he couldn't take JRod to at least to the A-Sun championship game. From my perpective, he hasn't been able to harness good potential to be great and allowed great potential to just be good. Losing close games, late season breakdowns, and unfulfilled potential has been the trademarks of Robbie's tenture at CU.

I like Robbie, he is a good guy and from all accounts he cares that his team graduates and become successful in life. But I know Roller can go out there and find a guy that can make CU successful, rather than struggling for mediocrity.

War Camels.

I think you all need a new coach.. I don't know Laing from anyone, however I can't for the life of me figure out why Campbell isn't pressing the other team when they get down 10, 12, 15+ points with 3, 4, or 5+ minutes left in a game.. Campbell hasn't done that at all this year in the 7-8 games I've watched.. when you aren't even trying to make logical adjustments to put yourself in a better position to win or try to win a game- then you're basically giving up..

To me the coaches aren't making those types of adjustments.. Time for change unless the Admin is content with that type of effort..
03-08-2013 01:30 PM
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ODUCoach Online
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Post: #16
RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
(03-02-2013 01:07 PM)camels2008 Wrote:  Hey guys,

First, want to remind everyone I was the one who a year ago this month posted that Laing would be fired. That was from a source I have at CU who was wildly off with that (and he later apologized to me), so I'm sorry I started a minor wildfire with that. Obviously, he's still at CU, but surely his tenure here will be brought up again this summer after what can only be described as a disappointing (to date - still not over yet) season. That said, I'm a true Camel with a strong interest in their athletic success, so all I aim to do henceforth is engage is fun and productive discussion!

So, let's begin with the larger picture issue - why isn't this season essentially a lost season because of Darren White's injury? If he doesn't get hurt, how isn't CU receiving a bye in the Big South tourney, and thus we aren't questioning Laing's future? I'm sorry if I'm making it seem so simple, but a guy going for 21 ppg and 7 rpg and shooting over 50% FG is just not replaceable at any school. I understand the "next guy up" philosophy everyone has adopted in sports, but sometimes a team is built with no margin for error, and unfortunately CU falls into that category. I'm not saying coaching issues haven't hurt, or that effort/hustle isn't an issue, but White's impact as a player changes how everyone plays, and how everyone plays CU, and, to me, that means this season was flushed down the tubes once he got injured for good.

So, to move it forward (but, by all means, feel free to agree/disagree on the first point), I don't see any reason why Laing doesn't get one more year. White's the only Senior graduating, and they will have plenty of talent (and, of course, a much bally-hooed new group of players) returning with tons of experience.


'08, you should have stuck with your source. Laing is out.
03-11-2013 10:56 AM
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toley2345 Offline
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RE: White's Injury/Laing's Future
(03-11-2013 10:56 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  
(03-02-2013 01:07 PM)camels2008 Wrote:  Hey guys,

First, want to remind everyone I was the one who a year ago this month posted that Laing would be fired. That was from a source I have at CU who was wildly off with that (and he later apologized to me), so I'm sorry I started a minor wildfire with that. Obviously, he's still at CU, but surely his tenure here will be brought up again this summer after what can only be described as a disappointing (to date - still not over yet) season. That said, I'm a true Camel with a strong interest in their athletic success, so all I aim to do henceforth is engage is fun and productive discussion!

So, let's begin with the larger picture issue - why isn't this season essentially a lost season because of Darren White's injury? If he doesn't get hurt, how isn't CU receiving a bye in the Big South tourney, and thus we aren't questioning Laing's future? I'm sorry if I'm making it seem so simple, but a guy going for 21 ppg and 7 rpg and shooting over 50% FG is just not replaceable at any school. I understand the "next guy up" philosophy everyone has adopted in sports, but sometimes a team is built with no margin for error, and unfortunately CU falls into that category. I'm not saying coaching issues haven't hurt, or that effort/hustle isn't an issue, but White's impact as a player changes how everyone plays, and how everyone plays CU, and, to me, that means this season was flushed down the tubes once he got injured for good.

So, to move it forward (but, by all means, feel free to agree/disagree on the first point), I don't see any reason why Laing doesn't get one more year. White's the only Senior graduating, and they will have plenty of talent (and, of course, a much bally-hooed new group of players) returning with tons of experience.


'08, you should have stuck with your source. Laing is out.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...bbie-laing

Wow that stinks!
03-11-2013 11:01 AM
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