I'm about done

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alathIN
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I'm about done

Post by alathIN »

After the last game which required engineering notation to express the opponent's score, I was, inexplicably, still on the fence.
Yesterday's farcical media availability kicked me off the fence, hard.

Accountability starts with demonstrating accountability. Punishing your people and calling it 'accountability' while taking no responsibility yourself is the opposite of accountability.

Still dizzy from all the contradictions. We lost the game because of missed shots. Our team identity is defense. No, this is gaslighting. Losing 52-44 is probably about missed shots. Losing 101-44 is a total collapse and certainly not a defensive team identity.

I kind of liked the Stackhouse hire initially. It's not likely Vanderbilt can attract a top tier power 5 head coach. Bill Self, Matt Painter, or Tom Izzo aren't going to come be our head coach for any amount of money. Stackhouse is (was?) a big name in basketball and had shown some coaching chops (albeit not college coaching). I saw the hire as kind of a gamble, but a gamble that could pay off.

It didn't.

Even now I will say I acknowledge some strengths Stackhouse has. He has an intensity and toughness that we have sometimes seen reflected in the team.

I suspect his greatest weakness is his ego. You can't learn anything if you think you know everything. You can't build an accountable culture if you take no personal accountability. You will certainly not win over a fan base by lashing out at them on social media. A lot of great or almost-great people get brought down by their own vanity and I'm afraid one of them is our head basketball coach.


alathIN
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Re: I'm about done

Post by alathIN »

Accountability:
"I don't blame the fans for being disaffected."
"As the head coach, it's my job to make sure this team is ready to play."
"We need to take a long hard look at ourselves, and that starts with me."

Not Accountability:
Lawrence was smiling too much in practice.
Robbins was rusty.
Stute was 1-7
The plays I called gave them open looks and they didn't hit them.
VUaskew
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Re: I'm about done

Post by VUaskew »

Players need to make shots, last time I checked.

I think the biggest problem is that we are at the back end of CJS first recruiting class, in which some players were taken in a scramble that helped to fill a class. Jordan, Trey, and QMB are all fine people and students, but I am not certain they are representative of a a class you can compete with at the mid to higher level in the SEC, no matter how hard they try.

Lawrence and Stute are examples of an upward tick in recruiting, but are they at enough of a level to move us into an upper SEC tier?

I will admit to being puzzled by the Lawrence benching. He was coming into his own as a penetrator and scorer, and played on both ends. Strange that smiling in practice set CJS off so much.

The jury is still out on whether CJS can recruit enough talent to catch up with the league. He's had some bad misses in the last few years (think Odusipe, Daniels, Janckovic, Frank, etc.)

I have less concern about his ability to coach players up, and all the players who have stuck around have improved their games.
VandyDores15
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Re: I'm about done

Post by VandyDores15 »

I’ve been saying frequently lately, how does our basketball program field a team in 23/24 that can make the tourney? I just don’t see it, losing Robbins and probably a few others to portal. We have no proof CJS can make major splashes in portal that take us to next level. And have the freshman really progressed? Dia and Lewis have shown some signs lately but injury to Dort and “stuck in neutral” Smith/Shelby do not provide optimism these guys can drastically improve by next season (that is, if they stay).
alathIN
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Re: I'm about done

Post by alathIN »

Lawrence is an uptick in recruiting?
Don't get me wrong; I love cheering for guys who have major limitations in their game but contribute by hard work in the areas they do have talent.
Lawrence is a good defender and he has the ability to slash to the hole. He's reduced his turnovers. He's had some nice games for us.
But he's a shooting guard who can't really shoot.
He's an upperclassman who has overcome hardship and worked on his game and developed himself to where he could be a valuable situational player off the bench on a good SEC basketball team.
But you can't win consistently with a roster full of pretty good situational players.

We keep saying why did Wright disappear in this game? Why didn't Lawrence take more shots in that game?
They're situational players, and when the game flow doesn't fit their skills profile, they can't do much.

The only all-around good player on the team is Robbins and he is perpetually injured.
I think Dort has the potential to be an all around good player.
Everyone else is a situational player who at their very highest ceiling could be a good 6th man off the bench in the SEC.

You can't win in the SEC with a roster like that. You need at least five legit SEC starters and we don't have them.
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Re: I'm about done

Post by volemtine »

I’ve played ball at multiple levels and against NBA players. One player is not going to make a 50 point difference. Alabama has 2 players who will be in the top 20 in the draft this year. As we use to say, “ players must play.” It was an awful shooting night against a team who would have been #1 in the nation if they did not lose to Oklahoma. You never want to face an anger team after that kind of loss. Tomorrow’s game will truly define the heart of the team.
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