hoyazeke
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,837
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Post by hoyazeke on Dec 10, 2019 14:07:14 GMT -5
Just to re-emphasize the context, there was a degree of discussion as to whether a particular player was "the problem" or whether a coaching decision about putting the best lineup on the floor--to limit "the problem's" playing time-- was in fact "the problem." Or at least that's how I see it. If Ewing had in fact benched James in favor of Allen as the starter, or continued to allow James to start but cut his minutes down into the low 20's, I think it's clear at this point that would've only expedited James decision to transfer. No way would James be cool coming off the bench, especially for a player like Allen, who I'm sure he thinks is a vastly inferior player to himself. My guess is Ewing likely knew this, that James' ego was too big to handle any sort of long term benching or major minutes reduction, which is why James was always given the longest leash of any player. Pat didn't wanna lose someone he probably considered to be his most or second most important player, both this season, and in the next two to follow. It's hard to coach someone if you know they're just gonna pout, tune you out, and then likely transfer if they don't almost immediately get their way. Pat would've had to walk a fine line between "coaching" James, yet being certain not to over do it out of fear of losing him. I'm sure Pat saw plenty of this at the NBA level... coaches having to cater to their star players... while not nearly as bad at the college level, it still exists. Also, I'm not so sure Ewing even recognized that James was the problem. Sure, he knew the team was playing selfish and that James was a part of that, but I don't think he realized James was by far the biggest catalyst of that style of play. In all fairness, I don't think many fans did either. I can't remember anyone calling for James to be benched or to have his minutes reduced. If anything, most folks in the game thread complained if he sat on the bench for more than a few minutes at a time. I would even say that after Josh, he was the most well liked/respected player on the team in terms of the general consensus on the board. I never thought JA was the biggest problem until the UNCG game when he took 6 straight horrible shots and pretty much forced Ewing to bench him....I felt at the time that JA had made the competition between himself and Miller personal....I didn't have an answer for why our shooters were shooting so poorly....
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Bigs"R"Us
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,650
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Post by Bigs"R"Us on Dec 10, 2019 14:17:00 GMT -5
Shooters got very few touches, less feel and rhythm.
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RG
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 182
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Post by RG on Dec 10, 2019 15:29:24 GMT -5
Living here in Portland, I have a decent impression of Damian Lillard, JA's mentor and hero. Lillard has always had a huge chip on his shoulder and has often talked about how hard he has had to work and do things HIS OWN WAY at times to succeed in basketball. While this is pure speculation, I see it as very possible that JA's me-first attitude may have been somewhat influenced by Lillard's intensity and ability to drive to the basket at will. Ironically, Lillard is not selfish and is a great passer, something JA was unable to figure out.
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 17,899
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 10, 2019 15:34:20 GMT -5
Living here in Portland, I have a decent impression of Damian Lillard, JA's mentor and hero. Lillard has always had a huge chip on his shoulder and has often talked about how hard he has had to work and do things HIS OWN WAY at times to succeed in basketball. While this is pure speculation, I see it as very possible that JA's me-first attitude may have been somewhat influenced by Lillard's intensity and ability to drive to the basket at will. Ironically, Lillard is not selfish and is a great passer, something JA was unable to figure out. He's also an incredible team leader who goes out of his way on and off the court to help his fellow players and make sure they accomplish their goals.
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,407
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 10, 2019 15:36:05 GMT -5
For the record, James led the Big East in assists last year by a considerable margin.
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LCPolo18
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,406
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Post by LCPolo18 on Dec 10, 2019 15:53:05 GMT -5
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RG
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 182
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Post by RG on Dec 10, 2019 15:54:20 GMT -5
Agreed, which makes it doubly interesting that he seemed to change his mindset so much.
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,407
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 10, 2019 16:10:24 GMT -5
Agreed, which makes it doubly interesting that he seemed to change his mindset so much. Small sample size for starters. Just trying to add a very relevant data point. I don't think there's any simple explanation.
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Post by doublehoya0310 on Dec 10, 2019 16:41:30 GMT -5
Agreed, which makes it doubly interesting that he seemed to change his mindset so much. Small sample size for starters. Just trying to add a very relevant data point. I don't think there's any simple explanation. The uncle.
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Post by SoCal Hoya85 on Dec 10, 2019 17:27:25 GMT -5
For the record, James led the Big East in assists last year by a considerable margin. This is a good naunced point. James was a talented player who did pass and generate a ton of assists...but he also dribbled a LOT. That prevented ball movement and we may see this season that it was not a winning strategy.
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HoyaDr
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 616
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Post by HoyaDr on Dec 10, 2019 17:32:13 GMT -5
We are talking about James and Josh more than the players we have left. They are gone, let it go people. Let them go ruin other programs, we still have one that could turn out to be successful this season.
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hoyazeke
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,837
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Post by hoyazeke on Dec 10, 2019 20:46:19 GMT -5
Living here in Portland, I have a decent impression of Damian Lillard, JA's mentor and hero. Lillard has always had a huge chip on his shoulder and has often talked about how hard he has had to work and do things HIS OWN WAY at times to succeed in basketball. While this is pure speculation, I see it as very possible that JA's me-first attitude may have been somewhat influenced by Lillard's intensity and ability to drive to the basket at will. Ironically, Lillard is not selfish and is a great passer, something JA was unable to figure out. He's also an incredible team leader who goes out of his way on and off the court to help his fellow players and make sure they accomplish their goals. Also while Dame gets the lion's share of the shots he embraces CJ carrying the offensive load....CJ can get hot and take 5+ shots in a row without Dame getting a tude.....
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joey0403p
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,586
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Post by joey0403p on Dec 10, 2019 21:52:28 GMT -5
Back to the string about Leblanc changing his mind - were people just speculating or is there reason to believe he might reconsider?
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Post by iheartdurenbros on Dec 10, 2019 22:03:30 GMT -5
Back to the string about Leblanc changing his mind - were people just speculating or is there reason to believe he might reconsider? Speculation. Personally I think the chance is next to nil. Really, would you want to return to campus after this? Besides the Office of Student Conduct has yet to issue its recommendations. There is a good chance of dismissal from school still.
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MCIGuy
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Anyone here? What am I supposed to update?
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Post by MCIGuy on Dec 11, 2019 3:51:08 GMT -5
Watching both the Penn State game live as well as the first half against Texas, it was noticeable how much better ball movement there were with our opponents as well as drives by the guards leading to assists for teammates. I kept asking myself why weren't the Hoyas doing the same thing. I recalled being a bit upset with Akinjo for not creating more for others. Even in games in which he had five to six assists I thought to myself he was good enough to have twice that number if he put his mind to it. He has amazing skills as a passer.
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rhw485
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 748
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Post by rhw485 on Dec 11, 2019 7:20:13 GMT -5
Watching both the Penn State game live as well as the first half against Texas, it was noticeable how much better ball movement there were with our opponents as well as drives by the guards leading to assists for teammates. I kept asking myself why weren't the Hoyas doing the same thing. I recalled being a bit upset with Akinjo for not creating more for others. Even in games in which he had five to six assists I thought to myself he was good enough to have twice that number if he put his mind to it. He has amazing skills as a passer. We've all known this but I think these games are showing that assist numbers just aren't a great measure. Looking back, it almost feels like Akinjo was assist hunting. He would dribble for so much and then try and create a dump off that would result directly in a shot (I wish we had the stats on how many of his assists resulted in 3s vs. 2s). That's not team ball movement and we're seeing the benefits of it now. Sometimes the guy who gets the assist is the person who makes the extra pass, not the person who makes the defense collapse. We needed Akinjo to be the latter and we're getting that more consistently from Allen.
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dchoya72
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,489
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Post by dchoya72 on Dec 11, 2019 10:04:07 GMT -5
Such criticism of Akinjo, this player was leading the team in many ways. For whatever his reasons, Coach put a lineup on the floor that surprised and took back many of us. Granted Terrell Allen is playing a different way, a better way given the optics and results. But there is no need to dog Akinjo. He led with a lot of heart. Yes, he was a fiesty cat but he came through for the Hoyas many times last year. This season was just beginning. There seems to be a lot we don't know, and probably won't know about team dynamics. Akinjo's departure surprises us all, and so do the allegations against Leblanc and his decision to depart. Innocent until proven guilty. Who knows what really happened? Coach hustled his butt off to land these recruits. Their departures are a loss for the team despite our current success!
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,407
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 11, 2019 10:12:37 GMT -5
Watching both the Penn State game live as well as the first half against Texas, it was noticeable how much better ball movement there were with our opponents as well as drives by the guards leading to assists for teammates. I kept asking myself why weren't the Hoyas doing the same thing. I recalled being a bit upset with Akinjo for not creating more for others. Even in games in which he had five to six assists I thought to myself he was good enough to have twice that number if he put his mind to it. He has amazing skills as a passer. We've all known this but I think these games are showing that assist numbers just aren't a great measure. Looking back, it almost feels like Akinjo was assist hunting. He would dribble for so much and then try and create a dump off that would result directly in a shot (I wish we had the stats on how many of his assists resulted in 3s vs. 2s). That's not team ball movement and we're seeing the benefits of it now. Sometimes the guy who gets the assist is the person who makes the extra pass, not the person who makes the defense collapse. We needed Akinjo to be the latter and we're getting that more consistently from Allen. I not really on board with undercutting the value of assist numbers based on the "eye test." They still have a relative value. But here's two other thoughts. It takes awhile to develop point guards--it's not going to be a bed of roses with sophs barely into a second year. And Terrell Allen, as a grad transfer, is obviously a more experienced guard, but a guard whom the head coach determined was best served as a backup all things considered.
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jwp91
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,204
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Post by jwp91 on Dec 11, 2019 10:15:18 GMT -5
We've all known this but I think these games are showing that assist numbers just aren't a great measure. Looking back, it almost feels like Akinjo was assist hunting. He would dribble for so much and then try and create a dump off that would result directly in a shot (I wish we had the stats on how many of his assists resulted in 3s vs. 2s). That's not team ball movement and we're seeing the benefits of it now. Sometimes the guy who gets the assist is the person who makes the extra pass, not the person who makes the defense collapse. We needed Akinjo to be the latter and we're getting that more consistently from Allen. I not really on board with undercutting the value of assist numbers based on the "eye test." They still have a relative value. But here's two other thoughts. It takes awhile to develop point guards--it's not going to be a bed of roses with sophs barely into a second year. And Terrell Allen, as a grad transfer, is obviously a more experienced guard, but a guard whom the head coach determined was best served as a backup all things considered. “was best served as a backup all things considered” includes the psyche of his PG and his ability to be resilient in the face of change.
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Post by professorhoya on Dec 11, 2019 10:20:14 GMT -5
We've all known this but I think these games are showing that assist numbers just aren't a great measure. Looking back, it almost feels like Akinjo was assist hunting. He would dribble for so much and then try and create a dump off that would result directly in a shot (I wish we had the stats on how many of his assists resulted in 3s vs. 2s). That's not team ball movement and we're seeing the benefits of it now. Sometimes the guy who gets the assist is the person who makes the extra pass, not the person who makes the defense collapse. We needed Akinjo to be the latter and we're getting that more consistently from Allen. I not really on board with undercutting the value of assist numbers based on the "eye test." They still have a relative value. But here's two other thoughts. It takes awhile to develop point guards--it's not going to be a bed of roses with sophs barely into a second year. And Terrell Allen, as a grad transfer, is obviously a more experienced guard, but a guard whom the head coach determined was best served as a backup all things considered. This is college basketball. If they are pro level players they're gone pretty soon. Only a soph is not a valid excuse in the modern age. Allen was a backup because JA was the incumbent. Coach wasn't going to change that unless JA played extremely poorly and stopped listening.
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