I don't want to hear about the refs, the layoff, etc. We played exactly like who we are and have been all year (and for all but one of 7 years). Horrible on defense, struggled against a zone, virtually zero contribution from the bench (and virtually no opportunity given to contribute), completely soft at every aspect of the game where grit/toughness matters (except maybe for Francis) and we got outcoached by a wide margin.
The coach cares only about one thing really and that's how well a guy can learn and run his complex offense. As a result, we are a very good offensive team against man-to-man (but only in years when we are really experienced). But he doesn't care about anything else seemingly and we are below average or worse (much worse in some cases) at virtually every other aspect of the game. He certainly doesn't have accountability for anything else. How many times can guys drive past us before you try somebody/something different - - apparently there is no number of bad defensive plays that will get you pulled or cause us to switch something up defensively because he needs you to run his almighty offense (which is really only good against man). On the other hand, a non-top 5 player makes one mistake on offense and is pulled (happened to Gus, Wilson and Sal today). Sal probably plays harder than anyone on our team - - - how many minutes did he get in 2nd half? Because he's not smooth" in the almighty Mooney offense and its fine for your team to get out worked, out hustled, out physicaled as long as the offense runs pretty. I won't call out any players specifically because I truly believe they have simply taken on the attributes of their coach (the flip side of having a bunch of experienced guys out there I guess), but do we even seem to get mad about our defense ever? Just take a hard foul somewhere to discourage the other team from thinking its an 8 lane highway with a 75 mile an hour speed limit when going to the basket? The most we seem to muster is pouting and whining about calls.
There was not a single thing that happened today that I would consider out of character for this team. The other team simply knew who we are and took advantage (e.g. played zone, posted up our guards, owned every 50/50 ball etc.) and CLEARLY motivated their kids to play markedly harder for all 40 minutes than ours did. Everything that happened today is what's happened earlier this year and consistently over a large number of years. The coach gets what he emphasizes - - - good skill players who understand and execute good offense and really offer little else. Really all that happened today is what happens to us far too often - - the other team knew if they could just keep us to being only a slightly above average offensive team, they could win because they KNEW they would be better than us in everything else.
This may very well be the best class we've ever had, but without the coach to really maximize that!
The coach cares only about one thing really and that's how well a guy can learn and run his complex offense. As a result, we are a very good offensive team against man-to-man (but only in years when we are really experienced). But he doesn't care about anything else seemingly and we are below average or worse (much worse in some cases) at virtually every other aspect of the game. He certainly doesn't have accountability for anything else. How many times can guys drive past us before you try somebody/something different - - apparently there is no number of bad defensive plays that will get you pulled or cause us to switch something up defensively because he needs you to run his almighty offense (which is really only good against man). On the other hand, a non-top 5 player makes one mistake on offense and is pulled (happened to Gus, Wilson and Sal today). Sal probably plays harder than anyone on our team - - - how many minutes did he get in 2nd half? Because he's not smooth" in the almighty Mooney offense and its fine for your team to get out worked, out hustled, out physicaled as long as the offense runs pretty. I won't call out any players specifically because I truly believe they have simply taken on the attributes of their coach (the flip side of having a bunch of experienced guys out there I guess), but do we even seem to get mad about our defense ever? Just take a hard foul somewhere to discourage the other team from thinking its an 8 lane highway with a 75 mile an hour speed limit when going to the basket? The most we seem to muster is pouting and whining about calls.
There was not a single thing that happened today that I would consider out of character for this team. The other team simply knew who we are and took advantage (e.g. played zone, posted up our guards, owned every 50/50 ball etc.) and CLEARLY motivated their kids to play markedly harder for all 40 minutes than ours did. Everything that happened today is what's happened earlier this year and consistently over a large number of years. The coach gets what he emphasizes - - - good skill players who understand and execute good offense and really offer little else. Really all that happened today is what happens to us far too often - - the other team knew if they could just keep us to being only a slightly above average offensive team, they could win because they KNEW they would be better than us in everything else.
This may very well be the best class we've ever had, but without the coach to really maximize that!
