Devo on Higgins

[SWC75]

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Still, no insight, no logic. Just not an intelligent response.

He’s still not understanding:

• Says some of the losses were winnable. Some free throws, a few possessions, etc. Yeah, that’s that separates winning from losing. And if you say we were close to winning in the losses, you have to also say we were close to losing in the wins.

• Not all the players play hard. Is that situation unique to SU? If so, then who is responsible for that? If it’s not unique, then every other team has to deal with it, too, and it’s not an excuse for us.

• We have no clue… what‘s going on behind the scenes. Well, every team has its own ‘behind the scenes.’ Whatever is happening is still under Red’s umbrella, ‘in Red’s house,’ with players he decided should be a part of the program. And we just lost to a bad team that is suing its head coach. Are our behind the scenes issues worse than that? Gotta wonder how much of the behind the scenes, insider-only issues might be related to dissatisfaction with both minutes and the results. If so, that’s also on the Coach. Saying there are secret problems doesn’t absolve the man in charge. He may be responsible for them. Managing personalities is part of the job.

• He asks himself, “Has he done the worst job of all time? No.” Is that the low bar? Nice, erecting an argument as a tower of straws that is easy to knock down.

• He’s just trying to put his system into place and get his guys in there…. Again, who isn’t? How are these Not His Guys? How will next year be any different? Every year will be an influx of freshmen and transfers. That excuse will be applied every year and the situation is no different that every other coach has to manage.

• What “system?”

• We need to be patient. When you are sliding down a cliff, patience is not the answer.

• He’s still trying to figure out the rotation and who plays well together? It’s January.

• “Ride it out.” Well, he’s not looking at the micro. We don’t do much if anything at a level of basic competence. The team is consistently not prepared to play good basketball. Talent is one thing. The poor skills, execution, defensive Cluelessness, lack of strategy, ’odd‘ minutes/substitutions... What indication has there been that this is evolving in a positive way?

I‘m halfway into this and don't see a purpose in listening to more. He’s just going to excuse his buddy and throw the unnamed players under the bus with more ambiguity and zero intellect or substance or logic. Still harping on “effort.” Uggh. Yeah, that’s important.

 

[AZOrange]

Bravo

 

[SWC75]

Still, no insight, no logic. Just not an intelligent response.

He’s still not understanding:

• Says some of the losses were winnable. Some free throws, a few possessions, etc. Yeah, that’s that separates winning from losing. And if you say we were close to winning in the losses, you have to also say we were close to losing in the wins.

• Not all the players play hard. Is that situation unique to SU? If so, then who is responsible for that? If it’s not unique, then every other team has to deal with it, too, and it’s not an excuse for us.

• We have no clue… what‘s going on behind the scenes. Well, every team has its own ‘behind the scenes.’ Whatever is happening is still under Red’s umbrella, ‘in Red’s house,’ with players he decided should be a part of the program. And we just lost to a bad team that is suing its head coach. Are our behind the scenes issues worse than that? Gotta wonder how much of the behind the scenes, insider-only issues might be related to dissatisfaction with both minutes and the results. If so, that’s also on the Coach. Saying there are secret problems doesn’t absolve the man in charge. He may be responsible for them. Managing personalities is part of the job.

• He asks himself, “Has he done the worst job of all time? No.” Is that the low bar? Nice, erecting an argument as a tower of straws that is easy to knock down.

• He’s just trying to put his system into place and get his guys in there…. Again, who isn’t? How are these Not His Guys? How will next year be any different? Every year will be an influx of freshmen and transfers. That excuse will be applied every year and the situation is no different that every other coach has to manage.

• What “system?”

• We need to be patient. When you are sliding down a cliff, patience is not the answer.

• He’s still trying to figure out the rotation and who plays well together? It’s January.

• “Ride it out.” Well, he’s not looking at the micro. We don’t do much if anything at a level of basic competence. The team is consistently not prepared to play good basketball. Talent is one thing. The poor skills, execution, defensive Cluelessness, lack of strategy, ’odd‘ minutes/substitutions... What indication has there been that this is evolving in a positive way?

I‘m halfway into this and don't see a purpose in listening to more. He’s just going to excuse his buddy and throw the unnamed players under the bus with more ambiguity and zero intellect or substance or logic. Still harping on “effort.” Uggh. Yeah, that’s important.

What would this team be like coached by Danny Hurley? I'm not saying he'd win the national championship with them. I'm asking if we'd be saying the same things about the team.

 

[cusefan88]

Fans can take losing. Fans can't take poor effort and confusion for 36/40 minutes every game.

 

[phil77]

All the problems you see = Not Reds fault

All the good things you see = Well there are none now but just wait in 4-5 years when he has his own players and installs his systems you will see them

 

[NKR1978]

What would this team be like coached by Danny Hurley? I'm not saying he'd win the national championship with them. I'm asking if we'd be saying the same things about the team.

If Red had Hurley's guys and Hurley had Red's, I think Red would win a closer than expected game.

 

[RF2044]

Still, no insight, no logic. Just not an intelligent response.

He’s still not understanding:

• Says some of the losses were winnable. Some free throws, a few possessions, etc. Yeah, that’s that separates winning from losing. And if you say we were close to winning in the losses, you have to also say we were close to losing in the wins.

• Not all the players play hard. Is that situation unique to SU? If so, then who is responsible for that? If it’s not unique, then every other team has to deal with it, too, and it’s not an excuse for us.

• We have no clue… what‘s going on behind the scenes. Well, every team has its own ‘behind the scenes.’ Whatever is happening is still under Red’s umbrella, ‘in Red’s house,’ with players he decided should be a part of the program. And we just lost to a bad team that is suing its head coach. Are our behind the scenes issues worse than that? Gotta wonder how much of the behind the scenes, insider-only issues might be related to dissatisfaction with both minutes and the results. If so, that’s also on the Coach. Saying there are secret problems doesn’t absolve the man in charge. He may be responsible for them. Managing personalities is part of the job.

• He asks himself, “Has he done the worst job of all time? No.” Is that the low bar? Nice, erecting an argument as a tower of straws that is easy to knock down.

• He’s just trying to put his system into place and get his guys in there…. Again, who isn’t? How are these Not His Guys? How will next year be any different? Every year will be an influx of freshmen and transfers. That excuse will be applied every year and the situation is no different that every other coach has to manage.

• What “system?”

• We need to be patient. When you are sliding down a cliff, patience is not the answer.

• He’s still trying to figure out the rotation and who plays well together? It’s January.

• “Ride it out.” Well, he’s not looking at the micro. We don’t do much if anything at a level of basic competence. The team is consistently not prepared to play good basketball. Talent is one thing. The poor skills, execution, defensive Cluelessness, lack of strategy, ’odd‘ minutes/substitutions... What indication has there been that this is evolving in a positive way?

I‘m halfway into this and don't see a purpose in listening to more. He’s just going to excuse his buddy and throw the unnamed players under the bus with more ambiguity and zero intellect or substance or logic. Still harping on “effort.” Uggh. Yeah, that’s important.

Yeah, I agree with most of what you summarize here.

The one thing I think is important to keep in mind is that Devo has been on a staff with some of these guys -- Red, Griff, and GMac [before he left]. They are his friends. So OF COURSE he's going to defend them, because he's tight with them.

Which is why you have to take what he has to say with a huge grain of salt.

 

[djcon57]

I'm just not gonna kill Devo for this. I disagree with most everything he says here...but I get what he's doing.

Note that I called "The fans have no clue" stuff about a month before the season. It's always the fans' fault somehow when expectations get out of hand. I TRIED to level the expectations and was told I was a debby downer. There's being positive and there is being a mark. Some people on this site are marks. The staff said how great everyone is and they bought it instead of being logical about who we were bringing in.

 

[Fly Rodder]

• What “system?”

Apparently it was to play no defense and simply outscore the other teams by driving and shooting mid-range jumpers.