Mr Thompson take notes

[richfame]

Dan I think I agree with what your saying. People who says JT3 must GO and that our Georgetown offense is crap are posters that really as you say dont know much aboutbasketball, though they are entitled to there opinionis.

What Im saying is Jt3 seems to have the "go down with the ship" mentality.
I think hes slow with in- game adjustments. Why not be more aggressive on defense? With Vee, clark, chris, monroe and freeman youd have a nasty press or at the least an aggressive half court trap. Yet coach doesnt try to get some turnovers and easy points...

Dan basketball is simple you need 3 things:
1. Shoot the 3- ok we have very good shoooters, CHECK
2. Defend the 3- Opps needs work
3. Force turnovers- And this is my point we dont force turnovers!

Also I dont know why coach doesnt teach the boys to block out there mans for rebounds.. Its the same mistakes and thats my gripe...

I disagree with coach that this is a young team, its not young its just not correcting mistakes from last year or earlier in the year..

[lichoya68]

dan well said and WRIGHT on in my book.. go hoyas move mvoe move and moveon lets get in the weight room adn ready for kenner and to welcome the NEW crop of youngins they will contribute and if greg is really staying this crew could be well unbelievable yup go hoyas ps go ladies keep us watching and beat marist and then move on go hoyas

[hoya10]

Dan- I understand where you're coming form, but the bold assertion that III is one of the best 5 coaches in America is quite homer-ific. I don't know any non-Gtown fans that think that, and many of them see all of the flaws with the way he runs our program (and think he's horrible). While that's the other end of the spectrum, JTIII is certainly not among the elite.

Someone referenced winning 2 BE titles... that's great. But why are we complacent? We shouldn't be losing to teams like Davidson and Ohio in the NCAAs, and we should never have situations where we are the MOST underachieving team in the nation (last year) and the MOST underachieving team in the tournament (this year). Our team was stacked last year. Our starters were stacked this year. It's underachievement at its finest.

I appreciate the wins and BET successes that III has brought. But we can't just settle on making that our top goal. He doesn't need to be fired, but there needs to be accountability for blatant failures.

[DanMcQ]

Never said there isn't accountability nor that there were not things that needed improving, but my statement is not "homer-ific". I watched Adolph Rupp, Al Maguire, and John Thompson, Jr. coach in their prime as a season ticket holder for each and have seen many other top college coaches over 40+ years. I stand by my statement and I am not alone in holding that view.

[afalcon10]

JT3 is top 5? That's laughable. His arrogance is getting in the way of our player and program development. Proof? See the Ohio game. Great adjustments JT3. Way to take advantage of the enormous talent you have on your squad.

[michaelgrahamfan]

Dan,

Your comparison of Ohio to Nova in the 84-85 season is absurd. The Hoyas beat them once by 2 and once in overtime in the Big East regular season. It was the 9 and one half point spread that was screwed up. If you believe that Ohio could have come within 2 points or beat us three straight games I guess we have a sever difference of opinion. I agree with richfame's points on coaching. Most coaches have their weaknesses (e.g. Dean Smith's are hard to determine if any) but JTIII has a stuborn streak and a lack of fire that is troubling. JTII had a real problem with game adjustments as well but had no issues regarding in game motivation. JTIII probably had enough of that during his childhood, but that should really not be our problem now.

[skyhoya]

Some similiar comments:

www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/170730-is-thompsons-system-holding-hoyas-back?eref=sihp

[tashoya]

I'd like to know how you guys "know" that JT3 is stubborn, arrogant and/or lacking fire. You can (and it was said above) state that you think that JT3's in-game adjustments didn't happen quickly enough for your liking but the other stuff is not even a question of one's opinion; it's pure conjecture. None of you are in the locker room or the huddle. Unless you guys have JT3 on speed dial and I wasn't aware of it, get a grip.

[757hoyafan]

Mar 20, 2010 20:47:19 GMT -5 tashoya said:

I'd like to know how you guys "know" that JT3 is stubborn, arrogant and/or lacking fire. You can (and it was said above) state that you think that JT3's in-game adjustments didn't happen quickly enough for your liking but the other stuff is not even a question of one's opinion; it's pure conjecture. None of you are in the locker room or the huddle. Unless you guys have JT3 on speed dial and I wasn't aware of it, get a grip.

Thank you!

[afalcon10]

Just look at him. come on, be reasonable. jt3 doesnt have the same fire other coaches have. but he can succeed without it, hes proven that.

[jerseyhoya34]

If Jamie Dixon = fire or Jay Wright = fire, then count me out. Those two coach as if they haven't had a bowel movement in 3 weeks.

[afalcon10]

yea,more than jt3 but jt3 is more sucessful, my pt.

[richfame]

TAS- Im am not doubting that JT3 has the fire within him to be a dedicated coach and the passion to win. Im saying that when the players need a jolt of energy or a swift kick in the ass it seems that IN GAME he doesnt do it. Nor, does he get the occassional T too fire up the kids. I see the kids taking on the demeanor of the coach, and thats cool, calm all good things but also just too nice and passive..

As far as stubborn, it just seems that JT3 never changes it up. If somethings not working he just keeps trying it. No press, no pressure trap defense.. No new wrinkles? No working on boxing out your man to get rebounds? All problems not for ONE GAME, BUT 2 FREAKING YEARS!!

I dont have to be in the locker room TO HEAR from my buddies and co workers that all said the same thing."wow your team quit", " wow your team played with no heart", "how embarassing to lose to them"

Sorry Tas I just expect more..

[afalcon10]

Mar 20, 2010 21:17:22 GMT -5 richfame said:

TAS- Im am not doubting that JT3 has the fire within him to be a dedicated coach and the passion to win. Im saying that when the players need a jolt of energy or a swift kick in the ass it seems that IN GAME he doesnt do it. Nor, does he get the occassional T too fire up the kids. I see the kids taking on the demeanor of the coach, and thats cool, calm all good things but also just too nice and passive..

As far as stubborn, it just seems that JT3 never changes it up. If somethings not working he just keeps trying it. No press, no pressure trap defense.. No new wrinkles? No working on boxing out your man to get rebounds? All problems not for ONE GAME, BUT 2 FREAKING YEARS!!

I dont have to be in the locker room TO HEAR from my buddies and co workers that all said the same thing."wow your team quit", " wow your team played with no heart", "how embarassing to lose to them"

Sorry Tas I just expect more..

VERY good post. Summed up my feelings exactly. Every1 on the boards needs to read this, seriously.

[hoya95]

You can rank the college coaches any way you like, but we've got a terrific one here. The disappointment of this week will pass. But we've got someone in charge here who can entertain us and make us proud for decades. I hope like hell that happens.

[afalcon10]

address richfame's points instead of running from them, please.

[tashoya]

If you guys think Chris and Greg are calm, fine. I can't debate with people that lack the ability to watch.

As far as the technical to fire up the kids, not only is it cliche, often it's just a bad idea. I'd prefer calm and intense over fired up and chest thumping every day of the week. If the prospect of losing a ball game isn't going to fire up the guys, I'm clueless as to how a foul on the COACH that isn't even playing in the game is going to. If you had said foul hard if you're going to foul, that I get. The technical thing is ridiculous if it's not for cause.

As for not trying a trap or a press, you did see our zone defense that we switched to when man wasn't working in the beginning of the year? It was beyond awful. You don't switch to something that you haven't taught or worked on. You think we had a short bench this year? Imagine how much shorter it would have looked with running a press.

You want to get the guys fired up? You can tell them that they're losing. Tell them to make guys pay for going to the rack. Tell them to toss an oop to Hollis to get the crowd involved. The technicals and the whining on the sidelines is a friggin sideshow. If that's what fires up our guys, we have the wrong guys. If that's what you want, root for Villanova or Cuse.

With regard to JT3 motivating kids, if you haven't seen him yelling in a huddle, you're hitting fast forward on your Tivo too early when there's a break in the action. I think there were a lot of issues with this year's team. I don't think any of them would have been fixed by JT3 yelling and screaming and getting technicals. Screaming is not going to make Greg's lower body stronger or Hollis weigh more than 170 pounds or Chris taller than 6'1" or Julian have better conditioning or Austin have a fully functioning pancreas. If it were as simple as yelling and getting tossed, don't you think a guy as intelligent as Thompson would have figured that out years ago? Puh-lease.

[hoya95]

Amen, Tas. I saw a bunch of intensity in the huddle during time outs, etc. But there are a ton of coaches who like to highlight how much they are "coaching" by ranting and raving on the sidelines. A whole bunch of that is a show for the cameras, fans, boosters, owners, etc. III doesn't do that, and he tries to never humiliate a player publicly. Good for him. That is not the reason we're all disapointed this weekend.

[lichoya68]

WEIGHT ROOM nuf said

[krey23]

I'm tired of all the bs about how if JTIII yelled and got in peoples' faces we would have won this game. Coaches have different styles and it comes down to the mentality of the players.

Two quotes from a current SI article are of relevance:
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/kelli_anderson/03/20/UNI.kansas.insider/index.html?eref=sihp

First:
"It was after a late December win over Belmont that Kansas assistant coach Kurtis Townsend took senior point guard Sherron Collins aside for a little talk. Sure, the Jayhawks had blown out the Bruins 81-51 in the end, but the Jayhawks had been sloppy and sluggish in the first half. "Sherron, what's wrong with the team?" asked Townsend. 'Coach,' said Collins, 'We always feel we can go on a 20-4 run, at any time.'
"That's the kind of thinking that can you in trouble," Townsend warned him. "One time, you're going to try to go on that run and you're not going to do it. Something bad is going to happen."


I think this year's Hoyas team felt the same way. If it wasn't a top ranked opponent, we felt we could always come back. No matter what coaches say, it depends on the players.

More importantly:

The Panthers' poise comes straight from their coach, Ben Jacobson, who maintains a zen-like calm that rubs off on his players. He rarely gets mad or yells at players for ill-considered shots, which is one reason Farokhmanesh only hesitated a moment before launching his lethal three with 35 seconds left. "Coach Jake probably should have screamed at us in the last minute; we turned the ball over so many times and in so many different ways, but that's just how Coach Jake is, he is so even-keeled on everything," said Farokhmanesh after the game. "He instills the confidence in us to take shots like that. Players don't want to worry about a coach yelling at them if they miss it."


You don't have to scream like Calhoun to be a good coach