PeterRamTime wrote: ↑4 years ago
scine20 wrote: ↑4 years ago
This is bad but I don't think it reaches 2007-2008 level. To be honest that team was more talented than this team and they were, what, 20-3? 20-4? Something like that. And they went from one of those records to the 11 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Think about that for a second. They lost, what, 8 of their last 9 games or something like that?
As a college player, Will Daniels was better than anyone on URI right now. They never had a shooter like they had in Baron. Cothran, Ulmer, Bittee and Seawright were all solid players and better than almost everyone on the current team. If you were combining the two teams to make a 9-man rotation you'd have more players on the 2007-2008 team than today's team.
I realize that what's going on is fresh and I've seen some say this is worse than the collapses under Baron. It's not. At least when compared to the 2007-2008 team.
This collapse may be worse because of the timing of it. It also may be an understandable collapse in that we have dealt with the 8 man rotation we were dealt.
Cox went from great coach to nothing in just a few weeks.
I think you have to base our current situation on the roster management. Cox almost coached the team out of it, but only have the particular 8 guys we have, led by Fatts who is somehow capable of playing like an All-American and then playing like I dont even know.
I mean besides us relying on Fatts entirely, we have seen us execute plays offensively with a crispness that some here havent seen here in a while. We were pick and rolling like crazy and Fatts was lighting people up.
Our defense was up in peoples grill. Teams could never get going. Remember how we shut down Duquesne? They are a talented offensive team right there and we made them look like current us.
I mean, I think Cox has shown he can create good results. Last year we peaked at this time. Earlier in the year we peaked.
I think the goal HAS to be to not have to rely on Fatts. Then we neeeeeed a big. I would wager Harris and Walker will be better, but they wont be good enough and for heavens sake you need more than 2 freaking big men. We dont have JG JT EC Stan Dowtin and Fatts next year. Just hot cold Fatts. Cant have a year with just two guards and then follow it with just two bigs. I wouldn't even mind getting two more big guys!
We just need enough guys to pick up the slack if Fatts doesnt have it. Rese can do it. Love Dowtin, but he obviously struggles being an offensive weapon. Can Rese, Sheppard, Leggett, Wood, Toppin and everyone else be good enough to make shots and score some points? Good teams can afford multiple guys having off nights.
Ugh I'm just blabbering. This makes me sad.
I was so excited to pound my chest when we made the tournament. Give my profile picture the Rhody March Madness frame. Get to see all the hype leading up. And it's gone in two weeks.
Feel bad for the guys though. Must really suck for them
Ignoring all of the roster issues, my biggest issues with the coaching are taking the ball out of Dowtin's hands and the treatment of Fatts. Letting Fatts play hero ball is great if he's playing like Obi Toppin...but I've watched Obi Toppin and Dayton play, and they don't even let their consensus lottery pick play hero ball. EVERY DAYTON PLAYER TOUCHES THE BALL IN THE HALF COURT.
Seriously, when's the last time you even saw a single possession that had all 5 rams touch the ball?
This team was on a winning streak when Fatts was scoring. This team gets on a losing streak when Fatts isn't scoring. It's exactly like last year. Hero ball doesn't work. ESPECIALLY when the "hero" is a wildly inconsistent shooter. That's not good coaching. It's literally the same crap we bag on Ed Cooley about.
Speaking of Cooley - compare Fatts to Pipkins. Same exact thing - except Pipkins decided to shoot his team out of games in the beginning of the year, and shoot them into them at the end. Fatts went the opposite way which is way worse.
When it comes to the treatment of our "star" - Fatts' technical and subsequent lack of punishment told me everything I needed to know. Under Hurley, it wouldn't have mattered who was available on the bench. We'd have gone with 4 forwards or Eric Dadika would've come into the game to make a point that that behavior was unacceptable. Fatts gets the superstar treatment - which causes me issues because once you tell him he's a superstar he stops producing like one. His season turned the second he made that watch list. Dude is a Philly grinder which is awesome. He loves being the underdog. The second he's out front he loses his edge.
On top of that, I feel bad for Jeff. After his sophomore year I think a lot of people saw him as having a legitimate chance at making a run at the NBA. Then we took the ball out of his hands the last 2 years instead of letting him run the show. That's the biggest problem with this whole experiment.
There's no floor general. No leadership. That's why we take so many bad shots early in the clock. It doesn't excuse the lack of effort to get back on defense, but holy hell is it pathetic basketball to watch.
The lack of BBIQ from anyone but JD is really astounding. I think it's fair to put that on the coach - and I don't mean he's supposed to get everyone up to a Jeff Dowtin IQ level. I mean he's supposed to identify his smartest player and keep the ball in his hands. The games where that doesn't happen are the games we get embarrassed in.
There's just no excuse for us not to be a tournament team this year. Once again, we didn't have to beat Dayton. We didn't have to beat Maryland, LSU, or WVU either. That much was clear. Technically, we didn't even need to beat Brown or Richmond. We were CLEARLY in the NCAA field as of a week ago with all of those losses. We were a consensus 9 seed. All we had to do was beat a shitty Davidson team and St Louis at home. We couldn't do that. We don't deserve shit.
Hopefully Coach takes a lot of lessons from this season and makes the appropriate changes. I'd really prefer to not post on this message board in the "NIT or Bust" section.
