newmexicuse
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- Aug 15, 2011
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It is totally unrealistic to expect a team of seven of whom three cannot score at all to be very good. If we do not get James back, we will be lucky to end up a mid-pack BE team.
Amongst the four who can score you have two legit players in CJ and Brandon. You have a PG who has a low shooting percentage and can get off his clangs at will. You have a freshman in Jerami, who has exceeded all expectations, but who, as a frosh, cannot be expected to play efficiently all of the time...and today he looked like a frosh coming close so often but with no stogies to show for his effort.
Looking at the three who cannot score - BMK is what he is and that isn't going to change. I have never been as high on Rak as most others on this forum, but he has a man's body and elite athleticism. How can he not get at least three or four dunks a game by moving wo the ball, running the court hard, and getting some O-board follow ups ??? It is beyond me. Trevor is playing too scared to even look at the hoop. He has zero confidence left, and I can't really say that based upon his shooting earlier in the season that the zero confidence is not justified. He is not the same player as the one who looked so fantastic on his HS vids.
Looking at the two MIAs. James situation is inexcusable. How this happened is beyond me. On the court his play makes a huge difference in the flow of our offense and is critical to our depth. There simply has to be someone coming off the bench who can score. Right now there is literally nobody. As for DC2, Boeheim has ruined his confidence with the 3 minutes and done for the night garbage. I hate this strategy of starting cameos. Let the kids who deserve to start be the starters. DC2 has a long ways to go - he definitely has come way short of the productivity I was expecting from him. That being said, he is potentially our best low post scoring threat. Early in the season he got some looks and actually converted a few into hoops. He went for rebounds aggressively. Once the competition toughened, nobody would even throw him the ball & he was so scared of making a defensive lapse & getting pulled that he stopped playing aggressively & tossing bodies around to get the ball. I put that on the coach, and I said so prior to this two game losing streak. If he actually got 10 MPG instead of three and was force fed the ball a few times, just maybe, he might have shown some development. Now, he is a lost cause for this season. Even if he gets back on the court in 30 days all he will be is a lukewarm body. It is too late for him to develop this year.
The Hall of Fame coach - on one hand he did a great job in getting this team to 18 & 1, but there was a cost to that. And that cost was the development of DC2 as mentioned above, and maybe even Rak could do a bit more in the middle if we ran a few plays for him. One also has to question, if the eligibility issues two years running with key players should have been prevented by the staff. These are 18 YO kids, strutting their stuff. They need some guidance. Somehow, I can't help but think that the losses of both Fab and James should have been preventable. Anyways, every year there is some excuse for tournament disappointment. It seems to me (and I have said it often over the years), that you need to risk a few early season losses to get kids developing and improving for March. It seems almost every year there is somebody who should have been given a greater opportunity. Last year it was MCW. Maybe, if he had more minutes last season, he would be playing better this season. Also, our recruiting has been terrific, so how is it that we only had nine kids on scholie ? It was certainly forseeable that academics &/or injuries would likely strike one or two guys down for at least some number of games.
This season will not be salvageable wo getting James back. If we get him back, we can make some noise, but we will need better play from Rak and from MCW. Run a few friggin plays for Rak. Even if nothing directly positive happens, if it simply motivates him play harder overall we will be a better team. As for MCW, some of the TOs are people just taking the ball from him. Those have got to STOP. Also, he has to finish better at the rim. He will never be a great outside shooter, but there is no reason he can't shoot 45% overall.
Enough venting for me...I am frustrated. This team appeared to have the potential of greatness, and things have not gone in the right direction.
Amongst the four who can score you have two legit players in CJ and Brandon. You have a PG who has a low shooting percentage and can get off his clangs at will. You have a freshman in Jerami, who has exceeded all expectations, but who, as a frosh, cannot be expected to play efficiently all of the time...and today he looked like a frosh coming close so often but with no stogies to show for his effort.
Looking at the three who cannot score - BMK is what he is and that isn't going to change. I have never been as high on Rak as most others on this forum, but he has a man's body and elite athleticism. How can he not get at least three or four dunks a game by moving wo the ball, running the court hard, and getting some O-board follow ups ??? It is beyond me. Trevor is playing too scared to even look at the hoop. He has zero confidence left, and I can't really say that based upon his shooting earlier in the season that the zero confidence is not justified. He is not the same player as the one who looked so fantastic on his HS vids.
Looking at the two MIAs. James situation is inexcusable. How this happened is beyond me. On the court his play makes a huge difference in the flow of our offense and is critical to our depth. There simply has to be someone coming off the bench who can score. Right now there is literally nobody. As for DC2, Boeheim has ruined his confidence with the 3 minutes and done for the night garbage. I hate this strategy of starting cameos. Let the kids who deserve to start be the starters. DC2 has a long ways to go - he definitely has come way short of the productivity I was expecting from him. That being said, he is potentially our best low post scoring threat. Early in the season he got some looks and actually converted a few into hoops. He went for rebounds aggressively. Once the competition toughened, nobody would even throw him the ball & he was so scared of making a defensive lapse & getting pulled that he stopped playing aggressively & tossing bodies around to get the ball. I put that on the coach, and I said so prior to this two game losing streak. If he actually got 10 MPG instead of three and was force fed the ball a few times, just maybe, he might have shown some development. Now, he is a lost cause for this season. Even if he gets back on the court in 30 days all he will be is a lukewarm body. It is too late for him to develop this year.
The Hall of Fame coach - on one hand he did a great job in getting this team to 18 & 1, but there was a cost to that. And that cost was the development of DC2 as mentioned above, and maybe even Rak could do a bit more in the middle if we ran a few plays for him. One also has to question, if the eligibility issues two years running with key players should have been prevented by the staff. These are 18 YO kids, strutting their stuff. They need some guidance. Somehow, I can't help but think that the losses of both Fab and James should have been preventable. Anyways, every year there is some excuse for tournament disappointment. It seems to me (and I have said it often over the years), that you need to risk a few early season losses to get kids developing and improving for March. It seems almost every year there is somebody who should have been given a greater opportunity. Last year it was MCW. Maybe, if he had more minutes last season, he would be playing better this season. Also, our recruiting has been terrific, so how is it that we only had nine kids on scholie ? It was certainly forseeable that academics &/or injuries would likely strike one or two guys down for at least some number of games.
This season will not be salvageable wo getting James back. If we get him back, we can make some noise, but we will need better play from Rak and from MCW. Run a few friggin plays for Rak. Even if nothing directly positive happens, if it simply motivates him play harder overall we will be a better team. As for MCW, some of the TOs are people just taking the ball from him. Those have got to STOP. Also, he has to finish better at the rim. He will never be a great outside shooter, but there is no reason he can't shoot 45% overall.
Enough venting for me...I am frustrated. This team appeared to have the potential of greatness, and things have not gone in the right direction.
