For me the frustrating part is our stars were dominated by theirs…
Gafford was abused all day and their guards outplayed ours by far.
We had plenty of chances and didn’t knock down shots. They did. That and getting hammered on the boards after we had gotten the momentum told the story.
What’s sorry, they don’t defend the 3 pt very well. But today they looked like all Americans. Anderson didn’t develop play to help our shooters. How sad.
Yes, it is time for those who don’t want Mike here to have fun. Let them have their time. Team helped them out today to make their argument. To this group it is all about coaching and players are just pawns.
I am disappointed with the loss, but this team always had weaknesses which staff masked most of the season, but this was one of those games where it did not work.
But overall enjoyed the season. Proud to be in the NCCAT for another year and look forward to next year. Hopefully, our guards next year are better at defense than this group of guards. This group tried but were always susceptible to a quality PG.
Oh, I know you’ll have fun. This is a special day for guys like you.
I haven’t made any excuses. I’ve just stated the obvious–that our stars played and shot poorly and that is the primary reason we lost.
People like you call that an excuse because in your minds every loss is on MA and every win is luck.
But, I would be willing to bet money that Macon and Barford and Gafford agree that they played poorly, that there wasn’t anything magical that Butler did and MA didn’t, and that at the end, it basically came down to Butler guys making plays and ours failing to make plays they largely made all year.
There ya go…“it’s the truth”…NO it’s YOUR version of the truth. There are 3 truth or stories - yours, mine and the reality. I at least recognize the gray area that drives the black and white numbers/data. You apologists are SO busy telling us how we are stupid and that you guys are the only ones that know basketball and the only ones that have a TRUE opinion- Mike is the greatest coach ever and we can’t get anyone half as good as MIke. I hope you are proud of yourselves for perpetuating mediocrity.
Here is the deal, for me at least, in college sports, it is all about the coach. By “coach” I am not just talking about game day or game week stuff. It is recruiting, it is off season, it is game prep and it is game day decisions. I have NEVER EVER said, “Mike made bad in game decisions” or “Mike didn’t properly scout the other team” etc. It is simply this. WINNING. I don’t claim to know if we should be in a zone or not, etc. etc. etc.
Do I expect a team full of Seniors who we were told were the savior’s of the program to do better than this team did? Yes. Is that on Mike? In my opinion, YES. Be it not the right players, not the right prep, not the right in game decisions, something else. It is Mikes team, he, in my opinion, gets all the credit when things go well and the blame when things don’t go well. He has been here long enough that he success or not of the team is on him.
Now, as I have said and said and said, I DO NOT want him fired. Do I have STRONG doubts that he will ever get us back to being even a somewhat consistent sweet 16 team? Yes I do have those doubts. But with the improvement from where were were in the Pel years to the incoming class, there is no way I want him fired.
Lastly I think you are correct that the odds of getting a better coach (if we fired him) are not great. At some point do you take that chance? That is a discussion for another day, not now.
Blah blah blah blah. Never said Ma is the greatest ever. Never said he was great. Have said he is better tha. What we had the generation before him. That’s a fact. I don’t perpetuate anything. A fire the coach mentality helped do that beginning with NR’s firing. How did that turn out? What did it perpetuate?
I’m not saying he’s the best we can do. I’m saying that the hiring of Heath, Altman and Pelphrey are proof that an upgrade is anything but guaranteed and there is a real possibility that we could do worse.
It is people like you that started this decades long spiral to begin with. The same people who wanted NR gone in 1997 after one of the best 5-year non UCLA runs in basketball history.
But hey, you keep keeping it real. I really enjoy all your nuanced, objective “recognizing gray area” posts that weigh the pros and cons of things and give credit and blame where it’s due. There are so many of those and they’ve been a real joy to read.
I’m all for an uograde. I’d be excited to hear who you think we should go get. I’m sure it would be a clear upgrade and someone we can get because you’d never perpetuate mediocrity (ie the best 4-year run we have had in over 2 decades.
Blah blah blah…Stop perpetuating mediocrity by saying we can’t hire anybody better than MA. That is BS -this program is light years from where it was after the NR implosion.
Heath, Altman, and Pelfrey are in the past and Mike has done a good job of repairing the program. We don’t have the racial issues anymore that created the NR fiasco, we don’t have the Heath implosion, the embarrassment of the Altman cup of coffee in Fay, and how that really showed how messed up the program was. Pelfrey just couldn’t make it happen. By the time Mike got here we were embarrassed and irrelevant. Mike has repaired the program, brought back some excitement, signed better talent but we are not relevant yet. Stop perpetuating mediocrity by saying we can’t hire anybody better because this program is light years from where it was after the NR implosion.
I have to keep explaining things to you because you read what you want to read.
For the last time, because I have. I time for people who make stuff up, I’ve not once said we can’t do better. I’ve said that history suggests that will not happen. I base that upon the objective results. We’ve made 3 post NR hires. Heath. Pelphrey. Altman. All bad hires.
And, recently, many, other similar SEC programs have made hires that would not be considered an upgrade.
The exceptions are Barnes and Pearl. Barnes has a worse winning percentage than MA and, like MA, has never been to a FF. He had Kevin Durant and a slew of blue choppers and never got it done.
Make no mistake, he’s a good coach. He would be an upgrade. Could we get someone like him? Maybe, but when given the chance on 3 separate occasions the closest we have come is MA.
I, personally, don’t consider Pearl an upgrade. He’s a cheater and a liar and it will catch up with him againas it usually does.
But, can we do better than MA? Maybe. I’m just saying that history suggests it’s a risky proposition.
And, with that, I’m finished responding to you. You bring nothing to the discussion but a bunch of whining and teenage girl behavior.
You rip everyone and then if someone calls you on it then they’re the Gestapo.
I won’t directly respond to low quality individuals anymore. The low quality persons need to understand my post, "Stop perpetuating mediocrity by saying we can’t hire anybody better than MA. That is BS -this program is light years from where it was after the NR implosion.
Heath, Altman, and Pelfrey are in the past and Mike has done a good job of repairing the program. We don’t have the racial issues anymore that created the NR fiasco, we don’t have the Heath implosion, the embarrassment of the Altman cup of coffee in Fay, and how that really showed how messed up the program was. Pelfrey just couldn’t make it happen. By the time Mike got here we were embarrassed and irrelevant. Mike has repaired the program, brought back some excitement, signed better talent but we are not relevant yet. Stop perpetuating mediocrity by saying we can’t hire anybody better because this program is light years from where it was after the NR implosion."
Some of you are so emotional it is tragic how immature it makes you look.
Barnes does have a SEC Championship and it took a lot less time than Mike has been here for him to win it. If I am not mistaken he doesn’t have any guys on this years team that were McDonald’s All-Americans or one and done type players either.
The AD needs to meet with Mike to discuss limitations of his style, staff, and coaching adjustments while celebrating recent improvements in recruiting and a good season that ended terribly. Mike is too stubborn about this style and allowed his starting guards to become fatigued because there is no depth at guard which this style desperately needs. It all unraveled when our ONLY true backup guard lost his shooting touch in the CS Bakersfield game on Dec 27 so Barford, Macon and Beard had to start playing too many minutes in full court press, trapping man with switches. The UT game fatigued the guards especially with OT. Instead of switching to match up zone like he did last year, Mike found someone else to pick up some minutes but Hall is a 3 and not an ideal replacement. Eventually Mike switched to much more zone for a while but then wasn’t consistent against teams like UK that led to more losses. Mike just rode Hall while CJ was in a funk, but the funk lasted for 2 months…and Hall hit the freshman wall of late…until the last few games.
There is no reason why Mike can’t adapt and use trapping man as well as other defenses depending on the opponent. Mike could adapt and take us to another level. NOBODY is holding a gun to Mike’s head - Mike chooses to use the trapping man with switches that consistently leave bigs on the perimeter and our guards covering bigs in the paint. The players are running around at a break neck pace, out of position, reacting by using their hands because they out of position.