Cuse_MN
Scout Team
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2011
- Messages
- 299
- Like
- 112
After the initial shock and a few emotion driven comments, some thoughts...
- Fab's legacy as someone asked about in another thread will be that of a kid who came in athletically unprepared his first year, then followed that up by being academically unprepared the second. I get being young and letting the distractions of college life get the best of you (I can't throw stones), but he knew he had a minimum threshold to live by and couldn't meet that. Clearly the vast majority of the blame falls on Fab, but the staff can't escape some of it. The laissez-faire way JB runs the program bit us. Kids need discipline. They aren't going to respect a student manager. The guy in charge needs to lay down the law. Its just amazing in a year that began with the fine mess, we end up losing two kids who couldn't meet the minimum standards of the program. I don't speak as an alumni but the school simply can't let scandal after scandal take place and say 'oh well, we did our best.' Its an academic institution first and foremost and at some point all the negative publicity hurts the academic reputation of the school (completely different deal, but just ask PSU alum about how their school is perceived differently).
- Gotta really feel for scoop and kris. Two out of the last three years these are guys who must have felt they were on the best or one of the best teams entering the post season only to watch their teams take a step back by losing a player. Mentally, I hope these two in particular can shake this off.
- I'm not ready to give up on a deep run. This may be more difficult to overcome mentally compared to an injury as the team has to have a lot of angst over Melo's selfishness and laziness to not do what he needed to do to stay eligible. Similarly, they can't rally around 'doing it for Melo' if it was an injury. That being said, teams have overcome losing players and moving forward in the past and this team has the parts to do the same. We SHOULD have beaten Butler even without AO. Michigan State lost the Big Ten player of the year in Kalin Lucas in '10 and still went to the final four. Loyola Maramount went on an emotional run after the tragedy of Hank Gathers. Just this week, Indiana and Michigan State lost key contributors and nobody is going to feel sorry for them. Its time to come together as a team and move forward. Excuses are for losers.
- Melo is a big defensive loss, not much on the offensive end. We have mostly been struggling offensively the last ten or so games and those struggles aren't much related to Melo. If those problems don't get fixed, we aren't going to go very far anyway, but if they do, we can beat anyone. Melo was the best big man at setting picks and rolling in the high pick and roll game, but we've seen flashes from Rak. Stating the obvious, he needs to step up and play with the emotion we haven't seen often this season.
- I don't think Rak can give us much of a post presence on offense. We haven't done a ton of it, but I think JB needs to run 6-8 plays per game for KJ on the post. Run some cuts of it. He is no carmelo, but clear out one side and let him play back to the basket similar to what we did in 2003 with the real melo. This will keep teams honest, force them to double and get some open looks for the rest of the team.
- We can't press a lot early in games due to fewer fouls to give from the bigs, but why not go small ball for a few possessions. I know JB is unlikely to change at all, but go with a no center lineup and put the press on. Give MCW a few minutes during these times and tell him to use every iota of energy pressuring the ball. Get the games into the tempo we like. Don't allow teams to slow it down and dump it down low.
- I know there is no chance this happens, but in later games it seems you have to start Dion. We can't afford 5 minutes at the start of each half having the best player on the team and one of the top players in the tourney on the bench. This team needs to play with emotion and confidence, which he brings in spades. I'm a Scoop fan. His struggles the last few games are well noted. It seems like teams have realized if they take his dribble penetration away, we are a different team offensively. Start dion, let him dictate the offensive side of things to begin the game, force teams to adjust their gameplan, then bring scoop in as a change of pace.
- Kris and CJ have to both bring their 'A-games' on the boards every game or we have no chance at a run. Likewise, James and Brandon have to shoot like they have shown flashes of, both at 35% or better clips.
- This challenge will show us a lot about these young men and even more about JB. While Fab is a an example of what can be wrong with college sports in this day and age (clearly by not meeting minimum academic standard he was simply focused on a paycheck next year), there are a number of players on the team that exemplify what is right about college sports and what can be satisfying for a fan, particularly watching boys grow into men before our eyes. Despite the angst of the situation and the string of recent problems plaguing the program, the kids that are going to be giving it there all deserve all our support.
- Fab's legacy as someone asked about in another thread will be that of a kid who came in athletically unprepared his first year, then followed that up by being academically unprepared the second. I get being young and letting the distractions of college life get the best of you (I can't throw stones), but he knew he had a minimum threshold to live by and couldn't meet that. Clearly the vast majority of the blame falls on Fab, but the staff can't escape some of it. The laissez-faire way JB runs the program bit us. Kids need discipline. They aren't going to respect a student manager. The guy in charge needs to lay down the law. Its just amazing in a year that began with the fine mess, we end up losing two kids who couldn't meet the minimum standards of the program. I don't speak as an alumni but the school simply can't let scandal after scandal take place and say 'oh well, we did our best.' Its an academic institution first and foremost and at some point all the negative publicity hurts the academic reputation of the school (completely different deal, but just ask PSU alum about how their school is perceived differently).
- Gotta really feel for scoop and kris. Two out of the last three years these are guys who must have felt they were on the best or one of the best teams entering the post season only to watch their teams take a step back by losing a player. Mentally, I hope these two in particular can shake this off.
- I'm not ready to give up on a deep run. This may be more difficult to overcome mentally compared to an injury as the team has to have a lot of angst over Melo's selfishness and laziness to not do what he needed to do to stay eligible. Similarly, they can't rally around 'doing it for Melo' if it was an injury. That being said, teams have overcome losing players and moving forward in the past and this team has the parts to do the same. We SHOULD have beaten Butler even without AO. Michigan State lost the Big Ten player of the year in Kalin Lucas in '10 and still went to the final four. Loyola Maramount went on an emotional run after the tragedy of Hank Gathers. Just this week, Indiana and Michigan State lost key contributors and nobody is going to feel sorry for them. Its time to come together as a team and move forward. Excuses are for losers.
- Melo is a big defensive loss, not much on the offensive end. We have mostly been struggling offensively the last ten or so games and those struggles aren't much related to Melo. If those problems don't get fixed, we aren't going to go very far anyway, but if they do, we can beat anyone. Melo was the best big man at setting picks and rolling in the high pick and roll game, but we've seen flashes from Rak. Stating the obvious, he needs to step up and play with the emotion we haven't seen often this season.
- I don't think Rak can give us much of a post presence on offense. We haven't done a ton of it, but I think JB needs to run 6-8 plays per game for KJ on the post. Run some cuts of it. He is no carmelo, but clear out one side and let him play back to the basket similar to what we did in 2003 with the real melo. This will keep teams honest, force them to double and get some open looks for the rest of the team.
- We can't press a lot early in games due to fewer fouls to give from the bigs, but why not go small ball for a few possessions. I know JB is unlikely to change at all, but go with a no center lineup and put the press on. Give MCW a few minutes during these times and tell him to use every iota of energy pressuring the ball. Get the games into the tempo we like. Don't allow teams to slow it down and dump it down low.
- I know there is no chance this happens, but in later games it seems you have to start Dion. We can't afford 5 minutes at the start of each half having the best player on the team and one of the top players in the tourney on the bench. This team needs to play with emotion and confidence, which he brings in spades. I'm a Scoop fan. His struggles the last few games are well noted. It seems like teams have realized if they take his dribble penetration away, we are a different team offensively. Start dion, let him dictate the offensive side of things to begin the game, force teams to adjust their gameplan, then bring scoop in as a change of pace.
- Kris and CJ have to both bring their 'A-games' on the boards every game or we have no chance at a run. Likewise, James and Brandon have to shoot like they have shown flashes of, both at 35% or better clips.
- This challenge will show us a lot about these young men and even more about JB. While Fab is a an example of what can be wrong with college sports in this day and age (clearly by not meeting minimum academic standard he was simply focused on a paycheck next year), there are a number of players on the team that exemplify what is right about college sports and what can be satisfying for a fan, particularly watching boys grow into men before our eyes. Despite the angst of the situation and the string of recent problems plaguing the program, the kids that are going to be giving it there all deserve all our support.
