Honest question

[RF2044]

Red didn’t adjust to Louisville’s gameplan of them taking JJ Starling out of the offensive actions.

Red still has his players giving half ass defensive effort for most of the game, even in transition defense, even though he’s been preaching it all year. It seems like the kids never play hard for Red, even last year too.

Agreed. At least last year, I could convince myself that it was because Red inherited most of the players, and that they were used to things being different under the previous HC, who was notoriously laissez faire.

I figured that once some of those players were weeded out and Red replaced them with HIS guys, we'd see a change -- but we haven't.

A very wise podcaster described it as Red getting the "substitute teacher" treatment from the players. Tough to argue with that. And at some point, as time goes on and the same stuff seems to be happening, it seems less likely that it's just on the players.

Sucks, because Red is a program guy, an all-time Syracuse great, etc. But it appears that his capabilities were significantly overestimated by not just ADJW, but a segment of our fanbase.

 

[justgold315]

We were down 4 with about 8 min left in the first half. If I recall correctly, Carlos came in, fouled on a made 3 and gave up 4 points immediately. The guards then let up 4 more threes to Hepburn. Carlos has no business being in the game, and this is on Red. We didn't score for the last 5 min of the first half, and keeping in players giving up wide open 3s is on the coach. Lville contained JJ easily and had a game plan. We didn't.

 

[Red2003]

We were down 4 with about 8 min left in the first half. If I recall correctly, Carlos came in, fouled on a made 3 and gave up 4 points immediately. The guards then let up 4 more threes to Hepburn. Carlos has no business being in the game, and this is on Red. We didn't score for the last 5 min of the first half, and keeping in players giving up wide open 3s is on the coach. Lville contained JJ easily and had a game plan. We didn't.

I saw the exact same thing. Our plus minus with Carlos in must’ve been terrible. Then! Carlos started the 2nd half.

 

[tptcuse]

We’re not just losing, we’re getting boat raced regularly. How is that not on coaching, especially at this level?

 

[capeorange]

How many years does Red keep McLeod and Chance on scholarships before he figures out that they aren't able to contribute?

Talent evaluation is a huge problem with this staff and hope is not a strategy.

 

[MikeSU02]

We’re not just losing, we’re getting boat raced regularly. How is that not on coaching, especially at this level?

Boatraced by Ville who is on the 8 seed line as of now. People are acting like we played Duke.

Eddie has been out of shape. JC has always been unable to perform at this level, recruiting a bunch of mid majors was always going to give us mid major quality and Red not being able to coach well was always going to hurt us. The fact that literally anyone said that JC would be good at this level is so hilarious to me. That people looked at Eddie this year and thought he'd be an offensive machine is ridiculous. And it's continuing.

You know Red can't coach when, this year, his contingency for playing atrocious m2m defense after recruiting bad defenders or players that can't play at this level has been to go to zone (where we still play atrocious D) instead of being able to improve our base defense in any capacity. It's like if someone on track and field ran a 13.77 100 so the coach said to fix it we'll put you in the 200 meters instead of trying to fix the form of the runner.

This is all a joke. You can't say these players were going to make a good team then just blame the players after the fact. We are 157 in NET ranking. We have ZERO quad 1 or quad 2 wins.

Our best win is Cornell who is 133 in NET.

This isn't "the players aren't trying" type of bad. This is catastrophic bad and the longer we pretend it is not, the worse it will get.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

How many years does Red keep McLeod and Chance on scholarships before he figures out that they aren't able to contribute?

Talent evaluation is a huge problem with this staff and hope is not a strategy.

Since the scholarship limit is being raised to 15 next season, I'm not seeing a problem.

Especially since McLeod is a Senior.

 

[PoppyHart]

Let’s just drop the “roster construction” and really think here. Does Red have anything to do with Lampkin dropping the ball 10 times a game? Bell not being able to make a free throw or throw a 2 foot entry pass ? JJ stepping out of bounds twice? You guys are blaming Red for everything and at some points it’s on the players. They care when they are playing well and don’t when they get boat raced Iike last night…

I played golf at every level including division 1. If I missed a 3 footer, should I blame my coach? Blame him for putting me in starting line up? Tell him it’s his fault for not teaching me how to make it? NO! It’s on the player. These kids have been playing basketball their entire life. At some point you have to blame them for THEIR mistakes

When Bell goes off for 6-7 threes like he did last year a few times, did Red have anything to do with it? When JJ saved our bacon against YSU with 40, was that Red?

The performances average out. Regression to the mean. But effort should always be there. If the players have mailed it in, or if Red can't properly teach/explain his system, then it's on him.

The premise of the OP, as I understood it, is not should we be a great team right now. But rather, could other (most) coaches do more with what we have. I think that's an unequivocal yes.

We should ask ourselves, if the team we faced last night was coached by Kenny Payne, how does the game go? Do we get curb stomped? Keep it close? Win? If either of the latter two options are in play, then we have our answer.

 

[MikeSU02]

So bc Eddie can’t hold on to the ball, that is reds fault bc of his weight ? Lol what on earth are we doing here

Players committing to be in shape or being penalized for it is on the coach.

There is no recourse of Eddie being out of shape, dropping the ball, etc.

Consequences for actions is on the head of the program who is Red.

The fact that he even went all in on Eddie is a joke as it is and a whole other level of incompetence by Red.

Blame Eddie all you want. You're stomping out a cigarette in the middle of a forest fire.

 

[Fly Rodder]

We should ask ourselves, if the team we faced last night was coached by Kenny Payne, how does the game go? Do we get curb stomped? Keep it close? Win? If either of the latter two options are in play, then we have our answer.

Kenny Payne had pretty good talent - 8 top 100 RSCI recruits last season - including some SU targets. And those teams were truly awful. Most of those kids transferred and are either starters or getting minutes on high D1 teams (e.g., BHH, Skyy Clark, Tre White, Ty-Laur Johnson, El Ellis, Jae'lyn Withers, Kamari Lands, etc.). All started/played minutes for Louisville and led to some historically bad teams. Coaching matters.

 

[ar inj]

No question and eddie getting injured certainly has had an impact. I wish I could upload videos from practice before the season started so everyone could see how Eddie was running up and down the court. You guys would genuinely be shocked. I know it doesn’t matter now bc he’s out of shape. But It would soften the blow mentally so you guys could see what the hype was about early with him

They were practicing against themselves and if they played defense 2x as well in practice as they do in games the practice offense would still have looked amazing.

 

[Bulldog04]

Red didn’t adjust to Louisville’s gameplan of them taking JJ Starling out of the offensive actions.

Red still has his players giving half ass defensive effort for most of the game, even in transition defense, even though he’s been preaching it all year. It seems like the kids never play hard for Red, even last year too.

Totally agree with you.

 

[Bulldog04]

you havent missed a 3 footer in 20 years

lol you’re right I just pick them up now …