superfluous posts below and focusing on the current team (which is sure to veer into other topics, I'm sure)... But I'd like to steer away from it for a bit and talk actual basketball.
This isn't a blame thing, they're observations.
Looking at this team, three starters (Ike, Jerome and Pat) have been very inconsistent. In different ways, but their overall effectiveness has been really inconsistent. You can't expect a player to put up their season averages for 35 games, it doesn't work that way. But you have to expect the most experienced to be the most consistent. And they've been anything but consistent.
Then you have a 4th player, Zimm, who hasn't seen the minutes anyone expected because of injuries and foul trouble.
The fifth starter, Dwayne, is playing his role as a glue guy/blue collar man pretty well. He's a forgotten man because he's not putting up huge minutes, but his effectiveness (whatever level you put it at) has been pretty consistent - yes, we still see some flashbacks to last year, but they have been drastically reduced.
Off the bench, we've had Ben who has been everything I expected. Just a good, solid player, hard-nosed, makes the right plays.
Then there's Cornish. He's added to his game a little bit because he can put it on the floor instead of just launching threes. And he's a little bit better than he was defensively. But his shooting has completely tanked and he went from pretty automatic to pretty rough from the outside. Full disclosure, even with his great shooting last year, I never thought he was a great shooter. A good shooter, yes, but not as good as he put up last year. But he, too, has had opportunity and he hasn't made the most of it.
You have Derrick. A ton of hoopla surrounding him. Everyone was all in and blinded by his dunks. I know I wasn't. I do think that in a few years, he's going to be a very good basketball player. But he's only "showed up" against teams south of the Mendoza line.
Cook is back. I wish he were here the entire season but that's his own fault. I don't think he's a savior but he can help. How much? I don't have a good feel.
Then we have Poyser. Last game showed me a lot. I liked his abilities before that, but last game showed me some moxy. He still has a long way to go, too, especially on the defensive end, but he showed me he was a guy that wants the ball and isn't afraid of a big moment.
To me, the key moving forward is getting Ike, Jerome and Pat "right". You aren't going to win with 60% of your starters playing far below their capabilities. If this is them topped out or playing near their very best, then there was a ton of misjudgment of talent. Quite frankly, I think it's going to be difficult. I think they'll continue with the inconsistency. Sometimes you are who you are and that's going to be more true with more age - and Jerome and Ike are seasoned guys. So the staff has to find a way to minimize those capabilities. Whether it's through teaching or more direct and active by replacing some of their minutes with other players. UNLV had a deep bench, have to take advantage of it.
There's still a lot of basketball left to play. The season is only over if the players and/or staff thinks it's over. It doesn't matter if a fan in section 103 thinks it's over, if a poster with 20K posts thinks it's over, if a journalist or school president think it's over, if you or I think it's over.... It's just not. I'm not super confident at this point and I wasn't even before the Fresno game (I was pretty confident before the ASU game). Alot of uncertainty I had at season's start was PG play. It is what I was hoping what it wouldn't be - inconsistent. People have to figure it out....
This isn't a blame thing, they're observations.
Looking at this team, three starters (Ike, Jerome and Pat) have been very inconsistent. In different ways, but their overall effectiveness has been really inconsistent. You can't expect a player to put up their season averages for 35 games, it doesn't work that way. But you have to expect the most experienced to be the most consistent. And they've been anything but consistent.
Then you have a 4th player, Zimm, who hasn't seen the minutes anyone expected because of injuries and foul trouble.
The fifth starter, Dwayne, is playing his role as a glue guy/blue collar man pretty well. He's a forgotten man because he's not putting up huge minutes, but his effectiveness (whatever level you put it at) has been pretty consistent - yes, we still see some flashbacks to last year, but they have been drastically reduced.
Off the bench, we've had Ben who has been everything I expected. Just a good, solid player, hard-nosed, makes the right plays.
Then there's Cornish. He's added to his game a little bit because he can put it on the floor instead of just launching threes. And he's a little bit better than he was defensively. But his shooting has completely tanked and he went from pretty automatic to pretty rough from the outside. Full disclosure, even with his great shooting last year, I never thought he was a great shooter. A good shooter, yes, but not as good as he put up last year. But he, too, has had opportunity and he hasn't made the most of it.
You have Derrick. A ton of hoopla surrounding him. Everyone was all in and blinded by his dunks. I know I wasn't. I do think that in a few years, he's going to be a very good basketball player. But he's only "showed up" against teams south of the Mendoza line.
Cook is back. I wish he were here the entire season but that's his own fault. I don't think he's a savior but he can help. How much? I don't have a good feel.
Then we have Poyser. Last game showed me a lot. I liked his abilities before that, but last game showed me some moxy. He still has a long way to go, too, especially on the defensive end, but he showed me he was a guy that wants the ball and isn't afraid of a big moment.
To me, the key moving forward is getting Ike, Jerome and Pat "right". You aren't going to win with 60% of your starters playing far below their capabilities. If this is them topped out or playing near their very best, then there was a ton of misjudgment of talent. Quite frankly, I think it's going to be difficult. I think they'll continue with the inconsistency. Sometimes you are who you are and that's going to be more true with more age - and Jerome and Ike are seasoned guys. So the staff has to find a way to minimize those capabilities. Whether it's through teaching or more direct and active by replacing some of their minutes with other players. UNLV had a deep bench, have to take advantage of it.
There's still a lot of basketball left to play. The season is only over if the players and/or staff thinks it's over. It doesn't matter if a fan in section 103 thinks it's over, if a poster with 20K posts thinks it's over, if a journalist or school president think it's over, if you or I think it's over.... It's just not. I'm not super confident at this point and I wasn't even before the Fresno game (I was pretty confident before the ASU game). Alot of uncertainty I had at season's start was PG play. It is what I was hoping what it wouldn't be - inconsistent. People have to figure it out....
