The final fours over the last five years don't really matter when it comes to current
perception of the program by the fans, and that perception, backed up by the record,
is that the program is declining. One can pick lots of stats, but JB is 72-45, 29-28 in
the ACC, 0-3 in the ACC tourney, one miracle run to the final four, one flameout in
the NIT, and this year looks to be another NIT run at the moment. I used to be a fan
of his, but I just got tired of things like ... another whiny press conference dumping
on a player, another on camera shot of him digging for oil, recruiting players who
used to be good PLAYERS but now recruiting the correct sized players for a defense
without regard to offensive shortcomings, and worst, a team that used to be fun to
watch but no longer is. I'm tired of listening to him state over and over that the team
doesn't run a good offense. Someone is a hall of fame coach in this conversation; I
thought the job of a coach is to fix things that aren't working? I'm tired of listening
to him state the team can't rebound. Well, fine, go recruit some rebounders. But when
you recruit the long, lanky, "SU forward", which has historically been poor at
rebounding, you cannot then go and continue to complain about that facet of the team
being weak. Come up with some sort of offense other than "give the ball to so-and-so,
and see what they can do". Last year, I think there was a string of games that SU won
where his press conferences or halftime interviews were something along the lines of
"well, we have to (had to) change our offense from isos to spread out and do this". It
was 3-4 games in a row of this, and my question was, "how about NOT starting the
game that way, fix it BEFORE you get down by 15 points?" Now, with UVa and FSU on
the horizon, it's the same as it was before the Kansas game, the fans seem to be
resigned to hoping to avoid blowout losses. There was a time SU could score 80 ppg
with no trouble. You didn't go into a game saying they're going to get blown out cuz
they can't score enough. I liked those teams. I don't like watching a team that
struggles to score 49 pts against a lousy defensive UND team. I didn't like watching
them win a game 46-45 against GTech three seasons ago. It sucks that SU fans are
reduced to watching that type of game. You have a coach that morphed from a fun,
fast-paced offensive team, to now coaching a team that walks up the court, has no
real offense, and plays a defense that allows teams to control the clock and rewards
patient teams. And I'm not sure the fan interest or the success rate of the team has
remained the same.
And here's a note for the future, you know, the offense will likely not have these problems
next year with the incoming class, and some will say "see, sanctions over, you can get
players", but SU has passed on lots of talent that would've helped the offense because the
kid didn't fit the zone. If you're going to recruit to be a defensive team, one shouldn't be
surprised that the offense regresses.
kev
