Best piece of coaching I've ever seen

[Cuseregular]

And by seen I mean with my own eyes as I'm sure there's been hundreds of examples I just haven't been privy to catch.

But JB in that moment of high emotion to pull all measured professorial with Melo was an absolute thing of beauty. If there's been one criticism I've had with JB it's that I didn't think he was enough of an arm chair psychologist to handle the emotions and sometimes pyches of his players to help try and get maximium performance from them. He shut me up forever with any of that noise (though I've shut myself up in this regard already ever since 2003).

But that was a master at work. I got goose bumps watching a volatile situation with Autry looking pissed, MCW jawing, Dion jawing, the rest of the bench pissed, JB initially jumping out of his chair ready to pounce on Melo, and then seeing the on the fly quick reaction to amazing and so quickly reversing course, sizing up the situation and COMPLETELY defusing it with his measured nearly fatherly approach getting in Melos grill and forcing him firmly but not overtly so to get him to concentrate on him and only him, and to see the reaction of the other players from frustration to immediate support....which then ignites the knockout punches to show some killer instinct turning the situation 180 degrees around to finish off the game (helping the others even more than Melo and keeping things under control).

well I'm not sure I've EVER since that in any sport, from any team at any time before. Man you want to talk about the mastery of your profession? Ladies and gentlemen meet James Arthur ****ing Boeheim.

 

[Marsh01]

Well said!

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[heresjohnny88]

100% agree. That could've been a BAD moment for the team. Great job by JB settling everyone down.

 

[moqui]

maybe he needed to use the stick instead of the carrot, though, because Fab's disastrous defense on Napier's drive was an even worse play

 

[pearl31]

yeah that was looking a bit dicy as they went into that timeout after Fab's shot, but JB did a great job of diffusing.

 

[MSOrange]

I made a comment about it in an earlier post but you said it so much better than I ever could!

 

[mark79]

Great post.

 

[rrlbees]

Couldn't agree more Mike. Looked like a bad situation at first that quickly got diffused. But I don't think it sunk into Melo completely because after that he went back out and made 3 more huge mental mistakes that almost cost us.

 

[JLine]

Great game from JB, the defensive adjustments were key along with keeping CJ and Scoop out.

 

[Cuseregular]

Couldn't agree more Mike. Looked like a bad situation at first that quickly got diffused. But I don't think it sunk into Melo completely because after that he went back out and made 3 more huge mental mistakes that almost cost us.

yep Melo was just nuts out there at the end. Love the passion and the good news is that there's a few teachable/coachable moments and examples for them to use with him no doubt.

 

[LAOrange]

Great game from JB, the defensive adjustments were key along with keeping CJ and Scoop out.

UConn was allowing CJ to be the go-to guy in the beginning. That was their strategy. Double the shooter but that leaves one guy free. Once CJ was out and it was obvious Scoop was "bad-Scoop," they left him alone. Then Boeheim took him out and there were no more bad offensive players (today) on the floor. They had to go single coverage. That left Kris open to drive.

 

[Millhouse]

And by seen I mean with my own eyes as I'm sure there's been hundreds of examples I just haven't been privy to catch.

But JB in that moment of high emotion to pull all measured professorial with Melo was an absolute thing of beauty. If there's been one criticism I've had with JB it's that I didn't think he was enough of an arm chair psychologist to handle the emotions and sometimes pyches of his players to help try and get maximium performance from them. He shut me up forever with any of that noise (though I've shut myself up in this regard already ever since 2003).

But that was a master at work. I got goose bumps watching a volatile situation with Autry looking pissed, MCW jawing, Dion jawing, the rest of the bench pissed, JB initially jumping out of his chair ready to pounce on Melo, and then seeing the on the fly quick reaction to amazing and so quickly sizing up the situation and COMPLETELY defusing it with his measured nearly fatherly approach getting in Melos grill and forcing him firmly but not overtly so to get him to concentrate on him and only him, and to see the reaction of the other players from frustration to immediate support....which then ignites the knockout punches to show some killer instinct turning the situation 180 degrees around to finish off the game.

well I'm not sure I've EVER since that in any sport, from any team at any time before. Man you want to talk about the mastery of your profession? Ladies and gentlemen meet James Arthur ****ing Boeheim.

he not only saved the game he saved the lives of his team and his family. chris farley in the coffee commercial would've been nothing in comparison to the fab carnage they were close to

 

[djcon57]

Couldn't agree more Mike. Looked like a bad situation at first that quickly got diffused. But I don't think it sunk into Melo completely because after that he went back out and made 3 more huge mental mistakes that almost cost us.

Well you can tell fab didn't get it because he was screaming, "I can make it." (I think) Not quite understanding why everyone was mad.

 

[djcon57]

UConn was allowing CJ to be the go-to guy in the beginning. That was their strategy. Double the shooter but that leaves one guy free. Once CJ was out and it was obvious Scoop was "bad-Scoop," they left him alone. Then Boeheim took him out and there were no more bad offensive players (today) on the floor. They had to go single coverage. That left Kris open to drive.

CJ said on twitter he "didn't feel good"

So either sick or...ya know..

 

[arbitragegls]

JB was excellent today not only in diffusing that situation; but also playing the players who were ready to play today. Scoop and CJ just were not mentally nor physically into the game--have no reason why--and JB asserted his coaching by keeping them on the bench

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Man you want to talk about the mastery of your profession? Ladies and gentlemen meet James Arthur ****ing Boeheim.

Cool beans.

 

[SoBristol]

JB was excellent today not only in diffusing that situation; but also playing the players who were ready to play today. Scoop and CJ just were not mentally nor physically into the game--have no reason why--and JB asserted his coaching by keeping them on the bench

Yes -- this is hard for any coach to do; really wonder if the younger JB would have shown that degree of flex. Of course the key is to have three good options at the guard spots and three good options at the forward spots. Then you add flexibility in how the coach approaches the situations.

 

[JoeSU]

Great Point. JB seems to know when the situation calls for him to get in a player's face, totally avoid eye contact (like when he pulled Scoop after a horrible shot selection), or a provide fatherly pat on the back.

BTW, the TV replay of the team huddle after Melo's ill-advised clearly showed almost every player reaching out to give him a pat and a word of encouragement. In his post-game interview, Dion said he apologized to Fab for words said in the heat of the moment, which to me shows a lot of leadership and maturity.

 

[orange79]

Dion even referred to the situation in his post-game interview. Said something to the effect that he was upset, but then he realized he needed to be supportive. Not sure last year's Dion could have made that leap.

 

[AZOrange]

That was nice...for sure. But today was mastery on several levels.

1. Switched up the lineups and while it didnt work out for CJ, it certainly did for Rak and James.
2. Pulled bad Scoop for good early in the 2nd half.
3. Pulled bad CJ for James.
4. Got Rak and MCW some quality minutes...

 

[realorange]

Doug G. said that outburst and aftermath was the mark of a close team. His point being that if they were not close, the yelling would have created silence between the players. Our players talked it up afterwards and things worked out for the best.

 

[SarasotaPaul]

Everyone needs to calm down here. Its not like JB will ever be in the HOF or anything. Geez----- he got lucky - just ask Blue...

 

[chlywtr]

i loved rak's energy off the bench!

 

[Flacusian]

he not only saved the game he saved the lives of his team and his family. chris farley in the coffee commercial would've been nothing in comparison to the fab carnage they were close to

Yes! The entire team was in serious danger of becoming directional signals!

 

[stumpy78]

Rak was huge in the middle. Guy has unbelievable quick hops. He went and got several rebounds when he was out of position and just jumped higher than anyone else. UConn guys weren't slouches either.