For Otz. I don't think a single person can be impressed with anything he's done. Fair enough, I'm in that boat. Even so, there are things I DO like about the guy. He does need time, he does need players, etc, etc, etc - that said, we shouldn't be seeing what we are seeing even with this group of players. We just shouldn't.
But tonight is on the players. Yeah, the scheme sucks. But this team had zero effort or urgency, they just didn't compete. That's on the players, it always is. When guys go through the motions... on them. Yeah, the "coach needs to motivate"... ok, that's a crock. I've heard that argument in the past. I promise you no coach takes any game lightly, they are worried about even minor games, like ones against Pacific. Staffs never take them lightly. But they cannot be on the court. This one is on the team, they need to search their souls and decide whether they want to give it a go. That was pathetic almost across the board. Severely flawed team, but effort is something anyone can bring and this team didn't.
What's worse? This team is short on talent and bodies and we don't play too many players. At some point, they're going to hit a wall. They are "conditioned" but it's certainly not superior conditioning (rarely happens anymore due to time constraints)... they aren't built to withstand the rigors of the season without losing something as time passes.
Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but I'm really, really hoping that this kind of humiliating season forces some desperation and urgency on the staff's part when it comes to recruiting. Oh, the recruiting class, Jenkins and Blake, maturity to the decent players that we have - yeah, it will be an improvement (once again, how can it get worse? Yet it seems still get worse, f me).... but man, this fan base is LONG gone. A tiny blip ain't going to do much even a moderate dip ain't going to do much and I certainly do not expect a big blip with the recruiting class plus returnees. Improvement, yes. Enough to make fans return? I've seen this movie before and we know the ending.
And this is what I'm talking about, it's my biggest worry about Otz here - we are in a deep hole, you cannot dig it deeper.... we need urgency, this recruiting class isn't showing that at all. It's going to get harder and harder to get these fans back. There's a lot of time left, but this looks an awfully lot like a repeat record of what just occurred. Next year "has" to be a "big" year because you lose a ton of significant parts after next year. I can't say what will happen next season, none of us can... I'm not at all confident for some major breakout year though. Improvement, yep. But I don't think that makes much of a dent if any, anything less than a bigger impact damages further. It's a shitty position to be in. But considering all of that - I really hope it forces a complete rethinking of recruiting. Get rid of the bums, get some JC's and 5th year guys in here, get Chuck.... it's time to get desperate with recruiting, not spending time beating out Elon for a raw talent.
I'm honestly trying not to be negative but this shit seems pretty damn clear to me.
But tonight is on the players. Yeah, the scheme sucks. But this team had zero effort or urgency, they just didn't compete. That's on the players, it always is. When guys go through the motions... on them. Yeah, the "coach needs to motivate"... ok, that's a crock. I've heard that argument in the past. I promise you no coach takes any game lightly, they are worried about even minor games, like ones against Pacific. Staffs never take them lightly. But they cannot be on the court. This one is on the team, they need to search their souls and decide whether they want to give it a go. That was pathetic almost across the board. Severely flawed team, but effort is something anyone can bring and this team didn't.
What's worse? This team is short on talent and bodies and we don't play too many players. At some point, they're going to hit a wall. They are "conditioned" but it's certainly not superior conditioning (rarely happens anymore due to time constraints)... they aren't built to withstand the rigors of the season without losing something as time passes.
Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but I'm really, really hoping that this kind of humiliating season forces some desperation and urgency on the staff's part when it comes to recruiting. Oh, the recruiting class, Jenkins and Blake, maturity to the decent players that we have - yeah, it will be an improvement (once again, how can it get worse? Yet it seems still get worse, f me).... but man, this fan base is LONG gone. A tiny blip ain't going to do much even a moderate dip ain't going to do much and I certainly do not expect a big blip with the recruiting class plus returnees. Improvement, yes. Enough to make fans return? I've seen this movie before and we know the ending.
And this is what I'm talking about, it's my biggest worry about Otz here - we are in a deep hole, you cannot dig it deeper.... we need urgency, this recruiting class isn't showing that at all. It's going to get harder and harder to get these fans back. There's a lot of time left, but this looks an awfully lot like a repeat record of what just occurred. Next year "has" to be a "big" year because you lose a ton of significant parts after next year. I can't say what will happen next season, none of us can... I'm not at all confident for some major breakout year though. Improvement, yep. But I don't think that makes much of a dent if any, anything less than a bigger impact damages further. It's a shitty position to be in. But considering all of that - I really hope it forces a complete rethinking of recruiting. Get rid of the bums, get some JC's and 5th year guys in here, get Chuck.... it's time to get desperate with recruiting, not spending time beating out Elon for a raw talent.
I'm honestly trying not to be negative but this shit seems pretty damn clear to me.