mdtd
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Post by mdtd on Mar 3, 2021 19:30:52 GMT -5
This was a very fun game that was so close to being a blown lead. Alas though, winning is fun, and the fact that I can be angry after winning is exactly how I want to feel.
The main thing imo on how we got the lead was TO's. Our defense forcing more TO's recently and us turning it over less has been a huge development. After turning it over approximately 75 times in the first seven minutes, we limited our TO's and took advantage of where we had advantages.
I said before the game our defense on Scruggs was going to be crucial and it absolutely was. Dante guarded him a ton from what I saw, but I'm pretty sure he saw Bile some too. Love it. Our defense was very very good for the first 35 minutes. The improvement of our defense gives us so much more hope for next year. It's not just shooting. It's awesome to see our defense improve. Keep it up. This is the key to sustained success imo.
Player wise, I thought Pickett and Bile were our best players again. Bile seems to start every game poorly, then hit a shot or two and step up. I'm pretty sure to start the game he missed his first 5 shots, but he turned it on. He hit some crucial catch and shoot three balls and he took exactly what the defense gave him. Also, early on I think someone beat him off the dribble and he missed a screen, but later in the game, his defense was very good. It's like he has to hit a shot to wake up. But, when he plays like this, I'll take that all day. Very happy for him. And Jamorko's consistency late in the season has been huge. I think his defense has been overstated by this board, but he did very well on Freemantle. We used this and used him to attack Carter and essentially play him off the floor, which I think completely changed this game. Carter was timid and he could've had any look he wanted. But, Pickett's defense on Freemantle allowed Q to roam the paint and his offense destroyed Carter. That was huge.
Blair was just bad again. Plain bad. His defense is just bad and offensively the ball is stopping with him again. If they run you off the line, facilitate. I understand he's not going to be our most efficient scorer since he is asked to create and shoot so many times, but he has to be alive on both ends. His defense has just been bad. Really bad. And the ball is stopping with him a ton and it's killing our offense. This team wins with team ball and not individual play.
Q and Dante were both pretty solid I thought. Q was better than Dante today for sure, but a lot of Q's work came on the glass. He was able to roam defensively (because of Pickett) and he was very effective on the glass. He ate them up on the glass. And his passing out of doubles was much better today. Not great early on, but it was much better after that. He had a couple of hockey assists and that's when our offense is at its best. Dante was very good defensively, but he did force it offensively. I'll take these mistakes from a freshman PG though. The injury probably doesn't help, but he can learn from these things. Not worried at all here. But, not his best night for sure.
Lastly, our late-game offense was awful. The 1-5 ball screen was just bad. I like the small ball unit, but the benefit is a continuing free-flowing offense. Running the clock to 10 then getting a ball screen is not effective in the last five minutes, especially since we don't have an elite shot creator. This team will win by team basketball. Going individual late game was a bad call. Other than this though, I thought Ewing coached an excellent game. We just have to be so much smarter late in these games. This is something that needs to improve. We could've won this game by 20 points. We have to take advantage of these spots. Just keep running our offense. That would've been much more effective. Other than this though, it was a very well-played game. Good win for sure. Onto those Huskies.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,567
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Post by mdtd on Mar 2, 2021 17:10:01 GMT -5
79-76 Hoyas
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,567
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Post by mdtd on Mar 2, 2021 14:44:58 GMT -5
Will you guys please stop with the whole "explosiveness" thing. Mutombo is incredibly polished and he's so subtle that he fools you with "finesse". His father taught this kid really well. Ryan is going to dominate the BE. Say what you want, but this kid has great hands, great feel for the game, great positioning, great touch and I could go on and on. He's definitely a 5 star kid. 4 star doesn't do him justice. He's a thoroughbred and GT is LUCKY to have him. I mean someone saying he isn't an explosive athlete (he's not) is not absurd criticism. You know who else isn't an explosive athlete? Luka Garza, the favorite to be the NPOY. Ryan isn't perfect. When you break down someone's game, you can talk both positives and negatives. The narrative that as fans you have to solely be positive is insane. I think Ryan is going to be a very good player. Maybe not starting level day one, but he's a very talented player and will be a big contributor for years. Doesn't mean he's explosive.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,567
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Post by mdtd on Mar 1, 2021 13:23:28 GMT -5
The post from rhw485 explains all of my thoughts much better than I could. That post says a lot about this game. It's really well done. Really the only thing I have to add is that is I think Scruggs is our worst matchup. He's the engine to their team and I don't know how well we match up with him. I think we'll start with Bile on him and go from there. It wouldn't shock me to see Dante on him also, to give him someone faster on the perimeter, but I think he can consistently beat either Carey or Berger. I think if we limit his ability to get inside, their offense will struggle to generate shots. Especially because if Tandy is on the floor, he's not great defensively and he will shoot it every time he touches it, at least from the couple Xavier games I've seen. This could give us more fastbreak opportunities and make their life on offense much more difficult. If Scruggs gets it going though, I think it's going to be tough to keep up with them. I think Blair on Colby Jones works (really just tell him don't leave your man whether it's Kunkel, Jones, Tandy, etc.), throw Dante on Odom, and let him torment their slashers. I also think the Q on Carter approach is the best. He hasn't shot it well, he looks really tentative and I think Q could beat up their guys inside if Carter doesn't force him outside. This leaves Pickett on Freemantle which is probably our best option. If Q or whoever is on Odom can help inside, I think that helps us a ton too. I think we can take this game. It's a very good spot for us to end our season strong. Xavier is coming off of a big win and has not been great on the road. I think we can take them.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 28, 2021 15:33:15 GMT -5
7-9 would be better than almost any of us dreamed back in November. If we could add a win in NYC that would definitely help bolster the optimism for next season. Why do you think that will to bolster optimism when the end of this season will bring a lot of unknowns outside of Wahab & Harris? Winning helps everything. Freshman get another year to develop, we bring in an excellent class, player development is less of a problem and not to mention, the best player our school has seen under Ewing is walking though that door. Defense looks better and winning builds momentum and gives good experience. Oklahoma State did the same thing last year. And while Aminu is no Cade, the model is similar. They had all seniors basically but Likekele and have build momentum and had the wins help with a culture (buzzword) and I think we're in a very similar spot. I think we return better talent than they did, just need to find someone on the grad transfer market imo. Next year is no sure thing, but there is much more room for optimism than if this team went 2-14.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 28, 2021 15:09:19 GMT -5
Very good win for the guys. Very nice to see the freshman play and us not lose the game, as was said would happen by some. Very solid performance.
Pickett and Bile were our two best players today. Pickett's stretch was why we won this game relatively comfortably and Bile kept us alive for the entire first half. Bile's hustle plays were huge and while I think he got the advantage of a couple of touch fouls, he got those because he was aggressive and took his chances at the right times. And Pickett just took over for a stretch of this game. He's going to have to do that more for us to take another game or two, but it was nice to see. He was unstoppable during that stretch. Would absolutely love to see that more.
I thought Berger was alright. DePaul defends the arc well and they didn't give him any looks. He was patient and made the right reads. Didn't play a great game by any means, but it was nice to see him getting some run. The drive he had was nice, but the finish was poor. And that pass to Holloway was an excellent pay, if that's Aminu, Riley, Beard, etc. next year, that's two points.
Same with Sibley. He looked much more confident with the ball today. He hit a couple of nice pull-up jumpers and those were huge. He looked much better, even though he only scored 4 points. He just needs reps on offense to run through his mistakes, but he has a lot of potential.
I didn't love the performance from our bigs, as Bile was easily our best interior player. They were iffy at best and Tim bit on every fake again. Q needs to start passing out of doubles.
I thought Dante was on and off today, he made a couple of huge plays, but Moore (an elite guard) had him from really deep a couple of times. Moore was always ready to shoot from really deep against our zone and he scored a lot when we went zone. Our zone just isn't great. Good to see him give it a go though, I have no idea who would've started without him and Blair.
I thought Carey played a poor game today. He dominated the ball for far too long and could've made a couple of skip passes to give our guys open looks. He held onto the ball too long in multiple spots. Box score wise he played a fine game, but he missed so many easy swing passes. He usually doesn't miss these passes, so I'm not worried for the rest of the season, but he has to make these passes if we're gonna steal a couple of games.
Defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job. Dropping in ball screens has helped our defense a ton. And I don't think we have the individual defenders we did even last year. Hopefully, this translates to next year (I still want that defensive assistant), but the scheme does look better there. Guys don't have to rotate nearly as much. That and DePaul isn't the team to beat you because of it.
Overall though, good performance from our guys. Leitao is an absolutely awful coach and he should be gone next year, but we got another in-conference road win. No complaints here, at all. It's insane their team is so bad offensively with all of those weapons, but at this point, that should be expected. Leitao sucks. Regardless, we've done an excellent job building momentum for next season and it's been fun to watch. Keep it rolling.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 27, 2021 11:59:42 GMT -5
67-66 Hoyas
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,567
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Post by mdtd on Feb 25, 2021 14:34:10 GMT -5
Maybe we can stop badmouthing XJ now that it looks like something might be rotten on the U.S.S. Capel? If I'm Ewing, I'm definitely looking into Toney as well as XJ. Both would be difference makers on next year's team and add some experience to a youthful squad. There can be something up with Capel and something wrong with Johnson. These things aren't mutually exclusive. Johnson is a bad fit, by all accounts a bad locker room guy including his awful technical foul record and not talented enough to significantly change the level of the program. That's a pass. You admitted to not watching Pitt play, yet are riding the Xavier Johnson train and I just don't get it.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 25, 2021 14:28:05 GMT -5
That’s Marcus Liberty’s nephew. Marcus was former high school player of the year went into the Fightin Illini and the NBA. Just did some quick research - Freeman-Liberty is in the concussion protocol. His status is pretty much day-to-day. If he doesn't play and we lose this one, the room for optimism will be low. He's their best player imo. I agree with this game feeling especially key, from an optimism standpoint. We've had some good shooting performances and beat Provy on a bad one, but let's make sure we can take care of business against teams we should beat before claiming the season to be an unbridled success.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 24, 2021 15:07:44 GMT -5
This is the UConn video of the game last night with all of their highlight plays. It turns out that Bouknight was Dante's primary assignment. Dante did do well for most of the game checking Bouknight. I mistakenly thought that Dante only checked Bouknight at the latter part of the second half because I just remember Cole burning Dante all night. However, overall Dante did do a good job and you guys have got to stop hating on him as the other posters have correctly stated. This is why I've been on Blair because I thought Blair was on Cole pretty much all night, or at least in most of the second half were Cole really took over. I really don't see why someone could be so negative about Dante, off all players, performance last night. It's insane to me. Not talking about you HFSEE, just combining two ideas into one post. I'm stunned by it. I thought Dante and Q were far and away our two best guys.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 24, 2021 14:05:25 GMT -5
No hating on Dante but Dante had no business checking Bouknight. Also, he shouldn't have egged Cole on. Both were big mistakes on Dante's part. Both of those guys really scored most of all of their points. The Bouknight alley oops distance them from us on their way to the win. Now, these weren't the only plays out of 40 minutes of action that were made by Connecticut that impacted the game but these plays took the air out of us and led them to go on to defeat us. If Blair could guard Cole I think we can win this game. It's at least closer. None of the seniors were really good offensively, with Bile bing the worst imo. But either Dante or Pickett were going to guard Bouknight. I wish we gave him multiple looks, but Bouknight hit his average. And if you include the lobs (those are on Q), the late game dunk where he beat our whole defense, and the possessions where he got a switch, he did a solid job I thought. Nothing to complain about, imo. Bouknight averages 20 and scored 20. That's doing alright, especially for a smaller freshman who also was the engine of our offense.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 24, 2021 13:52:35 GMT -5
I like Bile, but he pulled up and avoided decking Bouknight so he would not get his fifth foul. Not acceptable- we needed a hard foul on Bouknight on that lob. Brought back nightmares of Greg Monroe pulling up to avoid his third foul against Ohio when he needed to pancake that guy...ugh. Most of that was Bouknight leaving Dante in the dust and then Bile and Q would be in the position to have to help and pick up the fouls or give Booknight the alley oop. I don't like that trade off so I hope in the second game we see much less of Dante on Booknight. Blair should be on Booknight. If Booknight gets by Blair, Blair should just foul him and not let our bigs pick up unnecessary fouls. Blair was atrocious last night defensively. Atrocious. Why should he guard Bouknight if he can't guard Cole? And Q has to help off of a down screen. And aside from one play really late, did Bouknight ever blow by Dante?
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 24, 2021 13:45:51 GMT -5
Obviously we should do our due diligence, but I'm not inclined to believe everything spurned Pitt fans accuse online when their best player leaves. Same thing could be said for Akinjo and MacClung when they left Georgetown. They seem to be doing just fine in their new homes, despite what some spurned Hoyas fans alleged would happen. Also, Capel is a twice-failed high major coach from the Coach K tree. Guys like he, Chris Collins and Wojo all learned from the master of spite, they're just not as successful as Duke - so I generally don't give them the benefit of the doubt. This is an insult to Justin Champagnie. There isn't a way you could watch a Pitt game and think Johnson is a better player than Champagnie. No chance. That's an absolute exaggeration to make a point. Champagnie is a much, much better player. It's not close. Everything I've heard about Johnson is that he isn't a great shooter and is a team cancer. Yeah, I'd pass. Doesn't fit the type of player we need and I'm (much unlike yourself) not sure he's a better player than Dante.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 24, 2021 13:37:17 GMT -5
Alright, this game certainly happened. I absolutely don't understand any Dante Harris hate after this game. None. He and Q were our two best players.
Our defense on Bouknight was pretty solid I thought. Dante did a great job on him. When anyone else switched onto him he looked much better. I still don't trust our defensive scheme, because a lot of UCONN's offense was simply designed plays by Hurley with no adjustment, and Carey and Bile over-rotated multiple times and left shooters open. We've forced more TO's recently though, and I think this is our worst group of individual defenders Ewing has had (aside from maybe his first season), but I still think this is something that needs to be addressed in the offseason.
Also, Blair's defense on Cole was atrocious. All late possession simple dribble drives to the middle of the floor for an easy middy/floater. That I thought was the main reason we lost. Our seniors were really bad tonight. Bile was really bad last night, Blair was worse, and aside from one really solid stretch early in the second half, Jamorko was bad. UConn was bad with the ball and we didn't make them pay for it in transition.
In a game where you are not shooting well from three, you have to do the little things. Sticking to your man, being effective in help, avoiding TO's, and getting in the lane. Dante and Q were the only ones who did this. I would've wished we gave Bouknight multiple looks, but a lot of his buckets were schemed open by Hurley and just bad defense by Q. Dante had almost no help and still did a pretty decent job. Blair's defense on Cole is what cost us this game IMO. Wahab wasn't really in the right spots defensively and wasn't physical on either end. If he matches their physicality this game is much more close. This game was lost by all the little things.
I don't think this a game on Coach. They are a more talented team and the guys didn't do the little things. Hurley schemed them some points, but aside from a couple of plays, I don't point to coaching at all. I think it's on the seniors really. Pickett was forcing early, Bile forced all game and Blair just wasn't there today. Blair couldn't handle their PnR defense much and made some really bad passes.
This is where I thought Dante played pretty well. He torched their blitz coverage and the hard hedge. He split the defense and made a couple of huge plays. He's made tons of plays that I've been wanting a Hoya to make for so long. He needs reps on his jumper, but other than that I'm really confident we have a great talent here. Really confident.
One last thing, Sibley really needs work offensively. He's never ready for the ball and isn't very confident with it. He needs to make plays faster. Some of these problems are simply fixed by more PT, but he also needs a lot of offseason work. Defensively, he's a good player but offensively coach Crouch has his work cut out for him. He has potential on this end, but he's not ready yet. I think he will be ready and will be a good player in the future, but I'm not sure how soon. He has some things we can't teach, but he also needs a ton of work offensively. I fully trust Coach Crouch to get something out of him, but I'm not sure he's going to be ready to start at the four next year.
Overall, this was a loss to a more talented team. A team that I think is a Top 25 with Bouknight. Our seniors were our downfall tonight. Shots just weren't falling. I think this game is an excellent example of why our team should be so much better next year. Aminu would've made some plays for us and been able to create shots. We would have guys who can match their physicality. We have the athletes. Just need some guys who can confidently hit jumpers and we've got an excellent team next year. And a defensive-minded assistant.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 23, 2021 15:34:32 GMT -5
70-64 Huskies
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mdtd
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Post by mdtd on Feb 22, 2021 17:55:45 GMT -5
They don't count against the scholarship limit. No but you do have to pay for them with real dollars. A team that makes the NCAA tournament would more than make up for the financial "hit." If you believe that they help next year (and are willing to play second fiddle to Aminu), they all should be welcome back. It's whether or not they want to.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 22, 2021 17:49:54 GMT -5
He was 17 yrs old man . He didn't commit armed robbery he chose a different school. There's no reason to hold a grudge, he's just a kid. He's playing behind pros so it's not shocking he isn't playing a lot. He probably still ends up being a really good college player. Yaboy, that's a bit of a low-bar analogy. No one is saying he is a bad kid. Instead we are arguing one may not want to use scholarship space on a guy who has demonstrated a sort of unreliability, one who runs away from things when they are not to his liking (whether that be the program itself before he stepped one foot on campus as a student or the possible scenario of him bolting Ann Arbor because of a lack of playing time). I don't care what his age is, that's not an excuse considering other guys born the same year as him have demonstrated more certainty in their decisions. By the way I'm curious in who you see as the future pros on that current Michigan roster who had limited him to a couple of minutes in meaningless games. I may be undervaluing a couple of their guys. I myself don't hold a grudge against him which is why I also am telling people to let it go when they take shots at him for his lack of court minutes. I think he should stay at Michigan and earn that court time like players used to do before we fans became too quick to dismiss those who didn't show immediate results. I don't necessarily root for Williams but I am not rooting against him either...except if he is ever a part of an opposing team that goes against the Hoyas. Just for guys ahead of him, Wagner and Livers are NBA players. Maybe end of roster guys, but NBA players nonetheless. I also like Chaundee Brown's game a lot. He's a 1,000 point scorer and I think will have a very solid pro career. 41% from three says a lot with Brown. Those three are elite talents.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 22, 2021 17:40:46 GMT -5
You misinterpreted what I said. All my post was trying to do was give my take on specific players and shoutout a guy who's on staff to develop guys. That's his job and I think he's done a marvelous job at it. That's it. Nothing more than that. Professor made a good point in that Ewing should get some credit for either developing or getting someone on staff who's job it is to develop guys. So, I acknowledged that. You will twist anything to give Ewing credit, where I've seen a significant improvement in one area (player development) and wanted to give the specific man on staff to develop guys credit. He deserves it. The head coach position in college hoops is a lot like a GM. That position comes with a ton of criticism. If Crouch wasn't good at his job, it would be Ewing's job to move on from him and find someone else who can develop guys. However, since Crouch has done an excellent job, I think you give Coach credit for finding the right guy. Plain and simple. I think the gameplan for this game was good and the offense was very pretty (something I credited in my post, I love that screen the screener play) and I have never doubted that Ewing can coach an offense. The player development has been excellent (something I give Crouch a ton of credit for, since it's why he's on staff) and that's that. Me giving Crouch credit is not undermining Ewing, it's giving Crouch a ton of deserved credit. It really feels like you are trying to create a divide between people who will give Ewing credit for everything and everyone else and considering those people "fake fans" and that's just not how it is. It's not that simple. This run has been fun, let's enjoy it because we can argue all offseason long on this. I do understand what you're saying and you made your point very very clear. However, I personally don't think that Dante benefitted from anymore development at the end of the year than what was afforded to him at the beginning of the year. At least I don't based on "eye test". What I see and you can correct me if you think that I am wrong, is that Dante and the rest of the gang are playing different. I see Bile inserted in the starting lineup, which to me has made a big difference. I know that you don't agree with that assessment but it ain't about Bile right now. It's about Dante. I see Dante, not going as fast as he used to and it is making a difference. Same with Blair. I think with the insertion of Bile, coach has slowed the game down and thus is the reason for the recent success. You gave coach credit for X's and O's, fine. Someone pointed out that Blair still makes more turnovers and even Dante's turnovers are still too high. Someone even showed me stats that before the break we actually have less turnovers than after the break! How do you explain that? How do you have more turnovers now than before, yet have more wins? I point to coach's X's and O's and along with Bile being inserted into the starting lineup is the reason why for the recent success of the team. The correlation is there and you can't deny that. Before these things happen, we were losing. After these adjustments, we are winning. I'm sure Crouch was developing Dante during the time we were losing and Dante were making all those errors. Dante has slowed down and he is processing more now. That is the difference that I see in Dante that is making the difference for our team. He is a better quarterback now even with his still high turnovers. I think Dante looks a lot better. I completely agree with the better QB point, I think that's exactly it. He's hitting guys in the right spots and helping the offense a ton. I' very confident in what I've seen out of Dante. I think he's the most improved out of the break and I think he's the main reason, personally. There was an excellent post in one of the other threads about the live ball TO's and points off TO's. I don't have the numbers in front of me (and am far too lazy to check them myself), but I think some things helping us are that we are forcing more TO's now, Dante is running the offense much better and the guys are all on the same page. Earlier in the season, Blair, Pickett, Q, Dante and Bile were all forcing a ton. Mainly Bile, but all were victims to it. They all seem to be on the same page and aren't forcing shots. Because a bad shot basically is a TO and long, forced shots lead to long rebounds which lead to runouts and easy buckets for our opponents. The offense looks so much better from this POV, even with some bad TO's. I think Dante getting accustomed to this game has helped and he's making a lot more eye catching plays consistently. Also the later first appearance on campus and more help with Coach Crouch and the rest of the staff certainly helps. I don't think this changed much with the vets, but with Dante and probably the rest of the young guys, I think this helped a ton. Just more time to prepare and to ball out. Another thing is that the three point shooting on this team has been insane. 62% this game is remarkable. You won't lose many games shooting that well. That's another key point on why this team has been so improved. I don't think Bile starting is the main reason. He's been much better after this break, but that's not how I see it. I think he's forcing it a lot less and that helps. Defensively, I'm not nearly as high on his performance as others, and I think we played our best when he was off the floor when Carey was playing awesome. I think that players only meeting Bile mentioned helped a ton. The guys are all on the same page and working together very well. All of this has me very excited for the rest of this season and into next season. While there is correlation, I'm not sure it's the main cause. I think his improved play has made this team better, but I think the team all playing on the same page is what has made this team much better. Not many shots are being forced, everyone is on the same page and connecting well. This team doesn't have a great group of individual guys who can take over a game, but a group of guys who can play very well in a set team. That's what we are seeing now. Five guys all on the same page, all playing with each other. It's cliche, but I think that's the biggest change. The coaches put them in spots to succeed and you have to give them credit there and I think this season has been a success relative to our expectations for it. It has me very excited for the future. I'm not sure how much I buy into our defensive success, but I have never doubted that Ewing can coach an offense. I think that's showing now.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Feb 22, 2021 14:42:48 GMT -5
I am happy to give Ewing credit. We have won some games we weren't expected to win, so he should get credit. To your point, though, whenever we have a bad game (or multiple bad games) and somebody criticizes Ewing, certain posters on here twist themselves into knots making excuses for the guy. So, the ball bounces both ways. Similarly, you cannot take what Dante is saying at full face value, but then discount what other guys like McClung or Yurtseven say, when those statements may not be as flattering. Saxa, perhaps you don't know the context of what I'm speaking of. They are giving Crouch the credit for "developing" Dante. They imply it like they know this to be the case. Yet, in an interview, when asked about his success in the game, Dante himself said I give all the credit to coach Ewing. Now Crouch may be helping Dante and I can assume that he is. But to say that Crouch is doing it for Dante is nothing more than pure speculation. The people on here hate Ewing and it is very evident. They go out their way to criticize him when the guys lose games and never ever give him any credit when his boys do well and win games. The ones that give him credit are the ones that always give him credit. The others on the other hand even go as far as give assistant coaches who are not even on the bench credit for the players success. As if the X's and O's of Ewing don't matter LOL! I don't hear someone giving credit to Coach K's assistant assistant coaches for helping their players. But only on HoyaTalk do we get this stuff. It's amazing to me! You misinterpreted what I said. All my post was trying to do was give my take on specific players and shoutout a guy who's on staff to develop guys. That's his job and I think he's done a marvelous job at it. That's it. Nothing more than that. Professor made a good point in that Ewing should get some credit for either developing or getting someone on staff who's job it is to develop guys. So, I acknowledged that. You will twist anything to give Ewing credit, where I've seen a significant improvement in one area (player development) and wanted to give the specific man on staff to develop guys credit. He deserves it. The head coach position in college hoops is a lot like a GM. That position comes with a ton of criticism. If Crouch wasn't good at his job, it would be Ewing's job to move on from him and find someone else who can develop guys. However, since Crouch has done an excellent job, I think you give Coach credit for finding the right guy. Plain and simple. I think the gameplan for this game was good and the offense was very pretty (something I credited in my post, I love that screen the screener play) and I have never doubted that Ewing can coach an offense. The player development has been excellent (something I give Crouch a ton of credit for, since it's why he's on staff) and that's that. Me giving Crouch credit is not undermining Ewing, it's giving Crouch a ton of deserved credit. It really feels like you are trying to create a divide between people who will give Ewing credit for everything and everyone else and considering those people "fake fans" and that's just not how it is. It's not that simple. This run has been fun, let's enjoy it because we can argue all offseason long on this.
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,567
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Post by mdtd on Feb 22, 2021 13:14:47 GMT -5
And I thought Dante played an excellent game. He forced it in spots, but he's a freshman PG and if that's what I get from him, I'll take the occasional force. The move he had on Samuel in drop coverage was just excellent. The double-cross into the explode for a layup was just awesome. I've been looking for a move like that out of a Hoya for as long as I can remember. He has been our most improved player out of the break and I love to see it. His ability to run the offense, take shots when open, never forcing and get guys the ball in the right spots has been crucial. He's going to be an absolute star for us for years to come and I can't wait. Credit to his work ethic and to Coach Crouch. When a guy is on staff for player development, and you see clearly development, he deserves a ton of credit. That's a home run hire right there. Please keep him on staff. If he wants a raise, give it to him. Dante's progress is proof that it's all coming together. This is what has me most excited for next season. Let's see what he can get out of Sibley, Clark, Berger, etc. but what Dante and Crouch have done to get him to this point is amazing.. Just gonna add we need to give Ewing credit for player development of Dante as well. Because when people make the argument that we don't develop players, people always blame Ewing and never have blamed Coach Crouch. This is a very good point. Even if it's been all Coach Crouch, Ewing saw a hole in player development and found a guy who could really help there and addressed it. That's what a good coach and a good leader does. So even if he didn't have much to do with the physical development of Dante, he found a guy who did and that deserves credit. Now, if he could do that for the defense we are set.
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