Toldedo’s Finest
Coach is correct in saying that his team is not the 14th best team in the nation. There is no way they are gonna even contend with the likes of Duke, or anyone in March for that matter, with that many turnovers and being that slow on defense. For all those that heard his post game interview, you could just feel the angry dissapointment he had towards his players like my mom did when I got in trouble for giving my gym teacher the finger in the 4th grade for pulling me out of a soccer game in class.
It seems like no one is trying to push the ball up court when we are getting pressured. I know it is quite the setback not having a “true PG”, but it’s also scary to see a lack of moxy to push that ball passed the timeline. BJ is fersure not the best ball handler on the team, but seems like the only one lately who tries to push it himself. I am just sick of seeing guys catch a pass and just stand there and let three guys crowd him while he looks for someone else. I mean I understood last year when we had issues moving it up against Tennessee, cuz they were athletic as hell and played the nastiest defense we saw all season long. But letting Auburn come back to within 7 after being up 22 by giving up 37 points in 12 minutes…37 points in 12 minutes…means something needs to be fixed.
Conditioning cannot be the issue, because Coach subs in and out enough to keep the Muskie Men fresh enough to run (although I’m sure there will be extra running in practice just in case). Perhaps they just lack the eye of the tiger, and need a training montage or two. We all know that Toledo’s Tyrone Kent would not have scored 37 pts, most of which came in the second half, with Stanley Burrell in his grill, and we also know that SB was the most passionate player possibly ever to lace up some Nikes for XU. So maybe we are just lacking a little bit of “GRRRRR”.
That said, we somehow are still 7-0, and without BJ’s career highs last night, we might not be celebrating Coach’s 100th victory today. A positive that can be taken is that we finally shot well behind the arc, with even Kenny gettin’ in on it. But we are still garbage from the charity stripe, so I urge Coach to get in touch with Mark Price and have him coach the boys to shoot the free and easy ones. How much better would these wins look score-wise if we shot like, say, 75% instead of 66%?
Coach also mentioned the starting lineup perhaps looking a little different by next week’s game against the Bobcats of THE Ohio University. I am not too sure how it would or should change, but perhaps Bradley Redford will get the nod partly because of his improved play on the court, and mostly because of Dante’s 8 turnovers. My guess would be McClean for CJ, cuz CJ played pretty poorly. Irregardlessly, there is a whole week for Coach to whip the boys into shape for the next game, then the much-anticipated Crosstown Shootout. I’m so excited, I hardly want to get back to work in this cubicle…
So let’s all practice our free throws and harness our chi for next Wednesday. Ledgewood out.
