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Last night was difficult to watch unfold. Whether you have a timeout or not, you have the ability to control the pace of the game, put the breaks on Cade, and tell him that we are taking the last shot. And you call the set you would like to see him do it in. Therefore, you have the secondary options in the right place as well. He says well Cade thought he saw an opening in the press conference. So what? Stop him, call a play, and worst case scenario is overtime.
Having Cade inbounding and not having him as the guy to shoot free throws is unimaginable as well. In presser, MB says Cade is our best decision maker so that's why he was inbounder. Cade leads our team in turnovers, and the next closest guy is 10 behind him (I am aware he has the highest usage but he's also played 2 less games than many of them as well). Cade is the same "best decision maker" who thought it would be smart to take the last shot with 10 seconds left. Then in the presser, MB is talking about he was more upset with the decision of the guys to chase the ball in the backcourt instead of getting back on defense. The players were probably completely stunned and confused as to what Cade just did. Last week, Cade decided he would not start because Boone earned that spot. Cade decides the starting line ups now?
I like MB but he has to coach Cade. He can't treat him with kitten gloves in the press conference when Cade/&MB clearly made the critical errors late and throw the other players under the bus. Cade won't be here next year. What is the fear in coaching him and making him better? He averages 3.5 turnovers a game. Calling him our best decision maker to avoid the question of having him be the free throw shooter. The numbers are clear. Cade is 83% FT shooter and he has proven to make them late. Cade seems like a great kid. I am guessing he wants to be coached. Cade is an absolute stud. Don't miss this opportunity with a great player by being afraid to coach him or be critical of him.
I won't get into how we continue to play on the line, up the line man to man that just simply doesn't work like it did 20 years ago when you were allowed to hand check a dribbler. Underwood has adapted from that knowing this isn't the Southland any more. This is power 5 ball and the ballhandlers are too good to be left on an island.
Alright, I was going to avoid posting the frustration of the end of the game, but then I watched that press conference and it got me irritated. MB has a few weeks to get this figured out, and he needs to remember that he wants the other players to be good next year, as Cade will be gone. But most importantly, MB is the head coach. In his press conference, it doesn't always sound like that.
Sorry for the long post. I like Coach Boynton. I think he's the man for the job. And this is a perfect opportunity to grow as coach and coach a player like Cade Cunningham.
Having Cade inbounding and not having him as the guy to shoot free throws is unimaginable as well. In presser, MB says Cade is our best decision maker so that's why he was inbounder. Cade leads our team in turnovers, and the next closest guy is 10 behind him (I am aware he has the highest usage but he's also played 2 less games than many of them as well). Cade is the same "best decision maker" who thought it would be smart to take the last shot with 10 seconds left. Then in the presser, MB is talking about he was more upset with the decision of the guys to chase the ball in the backcourt instead of getting back on defense. The players were probably completely stunned and confused as to what Cade just did. Last week, Cade decided he would not start because Boone earned that spot. Cade decides the starting line ups now?
I like MB but he has to coach Cade. He can't treat him with kitten gloves in the press conference when Cade/&MB clearly made the critical errors late and throw the other players under the bus. Cade won't be here next year. What is the fear in coaching him and making him better? He averages 3.5 turnovers a game. Calling him our best decision maker to avoid the question of having him be the free throw shooter. The numbers are clear. Cade is 83% FT shooter and he has proven to make them late. Cade seems like a great kid. I am guessing he wants to be coached. Cade is an absolute stud. Don't miss this opportunity with a great player by being afraid to coach him or be critical of him.
I won't get into how we continue to play on the line, up the line man to man that just simply doesn't work like it did 20 years ago when you were allowed to hand check a dribbler. Underwood has adapted from that knowing this isn't the Southland any more. This is power 5 ball and the ballhandlers are too good to be left on an island.
Alright, I was going to avoid posting the frustration of the end of the game, but then I watched that press conference and it got me irritated. MB has a few weeks to get this figured out, and he needs to remember that he wants the other players to be good next year, as Cade will be gone. But most importantly, MB is the head coach. In his press conference, it doesn't always sound like that.
Sorry for the long post. I like Coach Boynton. I think he's the man for the job. And this is a perfect opportunity to grow as coach and coach a player like Cade Cunningham.
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Yeah, I've heard that comparison before, but it's kind of way off so far. Capel took OU to the Elite 8 in his 3rd year.......
Guys, any way you slice it, when you start looking at things objectively, if we aren't worthy of an NCAA Tournament appearance (I say "worthy" because of the NCAA appeal) at the end of this year, that means without a doubt that this coaching staff has failed, and failed quite miserably.
It concerns me that there did seem to be a lack of effort for some noticeable stretches last night. I'll admit, I haven't watched every game this year start to finish, but every time I've watched so far I was at least encouraged by the effort. Last night, not so much.
I agree with an earlier post, we change defenses too much, leading to no identity on defense, which was one of Ford's biggest flaws as well. On offense, my opinion is that the offense is absolute junk. We don't move, we don't cut with effort, we don't screen away from the ball, we dribble too much, etc. etc. We have excellent athletes, and they do appear to have great attitudes. I'm just questioning how much the coaching staff is really pushing them to be their best and to play with discipline. I see no evidence of any accountability from Boynton in regards to playing with discipline.
On the flip side, the season's not over. There's still time to score some impressive wins and finish good enough in league play to warrant an invite to the Big Dance, if things go our way with the appeal. I agree that usually around this time is when Boynton gets his teams to start to play better. That's why last night was so discouraging.
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It certainly didn't make me think he has things under control. He was disappointed in our focus, said we never locked in on defense, and never locked in mentally. He said this was really the first game this year that he felt we didn't focus well. Personally, I have a problem with him thinking that. We've been a turnover machine most of the season, and that's focus. Personally, I think he's way in over his head, but there's no one who wants to be wrong more than me.
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Good observations. I still think the biggest problem is a complete lack of accountability and commitment to discipline & basketball IQ. This shows up in fundamental ways. 2nd half w Cade we start drawing double teams on the ball on a wing. We swing the ball to the top & TCU has all 5 men on the right side of the floor instead of reversing To a wide open left side or short corner, we drive the ball from the top back into the right side of all 5 defenders. On most of our missed free throws guys were bailing off the line after the release. We continue to play D on the hip of the ball handler 40 feet from the basket w no awareness for the skill set of the opponent w the ball or what that players tendencies are. Miles drives strong to the right. So what do we do when he starts that way? We pressure up on his left hip and give wide open drives w zero help.
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Circumstances are far more different this year than his first couple years. He has a superstar. This is new to him. He has to coach him.
When Holder hired him, surely the plan was to give him plenty of time. You don't hire some young, green guy like this and plan on kicking him down the road if doesn't figure it out right away. I know some people want him out. I'm guessing Holder intends to give him 5, maybe 6 years. And if we do that, I'm good with that. MB has the character that makes me feel comfortable with him continuing to build. If it turns out, he can't soon turn that into winning and being in the top half of the league, then he will be gone but he will have left the program with a strong foundation at the very least.
When Holder hired him, surely the plan was to give him plenty of time. You don't hire some young, green guy like this and plan on kicking him down the road if doesn't figure it out right away. I know some people want him out. I'm guessing Holder intends to give him 5, maybe 6 years. And if we do that, I'm good with that. MB has the character that makes me feel comfortable with him continuing to build. If it turns out, he can't soon turn that into winning and being in the top half of the league, then he will be gone but he will have left the program with a strong foundation at the very least.
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Couldn't agree more with a lot of your points. I'll preface my points by saying I really like Coach Boynton as well and really want him to be here for the long term. That said, and I said this after the West Virginia game, he won't survive if he continues with the late game collapses. For a coaching bench with 3 individuals who are or have been head coaches, our late game coaching decisions are very poor.
I also don't like the lack of coaching going on around Cade. Everyone realizes he's going to be drafted in the lottery (though if I was a GM, I'm not sure I'd draft him), but when a lottery pick's +/- in a game versus TCU is -10, something is off. Without question the offense has much more movement when Cade isn't in the game. When he's in the game, our offense typically reverts to the James Harden Houston offense of dribble, dribble, dribble and drive into a double team. This isn't a shot at Cade, but at the coaching staff. Cade excels in an uptempo, open court scenario (as does the rest of our very quick and athletic roster). However, when Cade walks the ball upcourt (as he did the last 5 or so possessions last night), the rest of our team stands and watches. Again, coaching.
Defensively, I think this roster excels when they play an active zone defense. Think back to the Marquette game. They were destroyed last night by TCU's back cuts when they played man. Again, our roster is very quick and athletic, which is perfect for an active zone defense.
Last, I'm not sure what happened to Ice and Boone last night. I never thought I'd see the day when Ice was benched - maybe he's injured? Boone reverted to his early season form where he looked lost on the court, after playing three outstanding games in a row. This team has to have Boone play well to succeed.
I'll never understand bad free throw shooting. I played in a very competitive hoops league about 5 years ago at the age of 50 - stupid decision, as it resulted in a planter fascitis issue. However, before I was injured, I was 16 of 20 at the free throw line, and I hadn't played in over 10 years. How does a 20 year old who practices for multiple hours every day not shoot at least 75% from the free throw line? For everyone who throws out Shaq as an example, I respond with Karl Malone. His first year in the NBA he shot sub 50% from the free throw line. He finished his NBA career with an overall FT% of 74%. He practiced shooting free throws.
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Exactly! Our high school coach would have us shoot free throws periodically throughout practice, but at the end of the practice, during sprints, he would randomly choose one guy to make both ends of a one and one in order to stop running and end practice. If he missed either free throw, we continued running. It definitely created a game scenario type of pressure for the shooter.
We were a good free throw shooting team as well!
We were a good free throw shooting team as well!
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They haven’t been the same team since the COVID break. I’ve watched every game but the Baylor game and they had been getting steadily better. Even the Baylor game they competed hard just ran out of gas. Since then it’s been low effort turnover fests. Luckily they have done enough to still win but last night their luck ran out.
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