In the end the way this game unfolded was not totally unexpected. The problem is the win against Providence gave us hope we could be decent sooner rather than later. Merrimack was truly atrocious. Radford should have been better, but seems, to me, like a far better opponent.
I'm still convinced Collins is a good coach for us. But I might change my mind later, I've been way more convinced. For simplification purposes, I see coaching at the college level as:
Still not convinced we can, realistically, attract better coaching for recruiting. So I remain on thinking Collins is a good option for us.
Positives:
I'm still convinced Collins is a good coach for us. But I might change my mind later, I've been way more convinced. For simplification purposes, I see coaching at the college level as:
- 70% recruiting - A
- 20% practicing in a productive way (player development + choices on how to play) - C-
- 10% in game coaching - D
Still not convinced we can, realistically, attract better coaching for recruiting. So I remain on thinking Collins is a good option for us.
Positives:
- Nance. Don't even care what the stat sheet says. The kid was pissed off. Was trying to make it happen. That's what we want with that skill set. Against Providence I found myself often wondering how was it possible he was not getting more touches. We can blame him for not being assertive, treat the ball like a hot potato, etc. But I feel, by now, a big share of the blame is on coaching.
- Kopp. For me demonstrated that, if a coach knows how to use him, he can be a heck of a player. He's atrocious putting the ball on the floor facing forward. Dribble is too high, has trouble playing low with knees bent. But has some serious skills as a spot up shooter and can be super efficient using his butt to protect his dribble en route to a short range jumper
- Spencer. Just because I admire the heck out of that man. Heart, fierceness. Nothing sort of astonishing these are the first games he ever played in college
- Beran, Jones, Young. They have the tools to develop into great players
- The 1-3-1 zone. It was not great against Providence. They happened to miss a ton of shots and a lot of easy baskets. Young covers no one in the back of the zone. 90% of the time the kid is taking up space, not limiting the actions of anyone. A 1-3-1 zone is a good option to try to surprise or for a team who is very small and mobile. We should have dropped it 1/2 way into the 1st half. Instead we dropped coming out of a timeout, down by 21
- The lack of attitude. No excuse for that
- The 4 minute substitutions when we are up 12-4
- The overall offense. Our sets should be to give Nance and Kopp quality touches where and how they can be impactful.