Over Steele not knowing how to coach.

[skyhops]

Mukieman, Scruggs just didn’t have an off night he played one of the worst games both offensively and defensively I have ever seen my a Muskie. Steele is a below average coach at best, but sometimes you swing and miss with a coach and it’s happened to us.

[tacitus]

Mukieman, Scruggs just didn’t have an off night he played one of the worst games both offensively and defensively I have ever seen my a Muskie. Steele is a below average coach at best, but sometimes you swing and miss with a coach and it’s happened to us.

Is there a logical relationship between the first sentence and the second?

[edgecliff hall]

I'm not sure what that relationship is. Maybe Skyhops is saying that Scruggs had an off night, and that Steele somehow caused it? Or allowed it to happen by not taking corrective action? He doesn't say exactly, but his intention is, of course, to land hard on Steele.

[skyhops]

I understand having a rough night shooting like Scruggs has had many times in his five year career, however his defense was terrible. Steele mad little adjustments defensively, which made it easy for Iowa State to exploit defense. I won't be able to watch the game this evening due to Hops Jrs game, but I hear that Hunter and Stanley were shooting "lights out" from beyond the arc in the shoot around yesterday.

[muskieman]

Let me just say this about that - Last evening's performance on the court by players and coaches was HORRIFIC. Only Mr. Nunge deserves to hold his head up high. The litany of bullcrap has been well laid out on this thread and the main ISU game thread. Bottom line, we got beat by a very mediocre team. More precisely, we got embarrassed by two players, a true freshman PG, and a transfer who can only operate when moving to his left... latter part of 2nd half, when ISU iced it, they threw a 1-3-1 zone against us. X responded by appearing to not even recognize it and running the normal motion-man offense against it first few times down. You are going to have games when players are flat, when stars like Paul lay an egg, fine. But Good Lord, it's an early season holiday tourney Coach Steele, expand your bench. Stanley should have spelled Hunter more and Tandy should have been tried in the 1st half as a fill in for Kunkle. Maybe not as many minutes as Kunkle normally gets, but as some other poster commented, to insert Kyky for the first time with 2:37 left and the outcome decided is beyond pitiful when no one else all game showed they knew where the basket was. Finally a comment in general about Steele and his staff. I have not watched a ton of other games yet this year as season is early and have been a bit busy with work, So maybe all head coaches work a game like this. But Steele stands there gawking at the game the entire time away from his staff standing at the coaching line. Seems he is only accessible to and communicating with them during time outs and you would hope halftime. Seems I see other head coaches standing at times like Steele but at other times sitting at front of bench and able to converse with asst coaches in-game. Who is our best asst coach with in-game X & O talent?? I am sorry, as I have mentioned this before, I know that in-game deer in headlights look. I have succumbed to it a few times when my junior high level girls AAU teams have been run out of the gym by a superior squad. Never a good look for a coach and the talented ones, even in a bad loss, maintain their composure and proactive mindset. I bleed XU Blue & White. I root for and respect Coach Steele. I just sense that in-game management is his Achilles' heel. We seem dazed at times, slow to react, and far from composed and proactive.
That said, it is one game, and we are missing some key players, and it is Thanksgiving. A day to enjoy our blessings and loved ones.

Sorry I have to do this because it will put a target on your back but I agree with most you said. I watched the Memphis game after and knowing that Penny is the head coach I was mesmerized by Larr Brown their consultant coach basically directing the floor and thought to myself X could use that I still think Kyky could not have been a turning point or even a spark. What X needed was more active D players, not someone who pretends to guard without getting into a typical defensive stance bending his knees. What X needed was Paul acting like Brockington in the second half because Brockington brought it when it was needed. No amount of coaching makes a team miss at the rim like X (and Paul) did at the rim. Watching that game it looked like State had 6-8 men on the court at times because they were so aggressive on D. X looked like they were afraid to pass and dribble. Reminded me of Puerto Rico quite a few years ago, when the team was really good but wanted to get to the party.

[X-lucidity]

agree with your additional comments MM. I was actually thinking about the Memphis situation of having the luxury of L. Brown as a bench coach when I wrote that. Also agree ISU's D effort was off the charts and X let that get into their heads. Kyky may not have brought much, but what does it hurt to add him into a rotation earlier to test the waters when we know we have no Kunkle? Let's hope Paul and Nate show some Sr. leadership tonight and bounce back with some venom in their hearts. Great opp to erase the stain of Wed's debacle.
Let's go X

[Anti-Homer]

agree with your additional comments MM. I was actually thinking about the Memphis situation of having the luxury of L. Brown as a bench coach when I wrote that. Also agree ISU's D effort was off the charts and X let that get into their heads. Kyky may not have brought much, but what does it hurt to add him into a rotation earlier to test the waters when we know we have no Kunkle? Let's hope Paul and Nate show some Sr. leadership tonight and bounce back with some venom in their hearts. Great opp to erase the stain of Wed's debacle.
Let's go X

Nice posts X-Luc.

Travis Steele can recruit! I don't know why he is getting hammered on Twitter. Even the great writers at D & V, known Steele sycophants, are questioning many things like the carnival, three point shooting philosophy he employs, and often seen in AAU games. Like Mman said previously, the ISU loss is Scrugg's fault, just like all the losses were someone else's fault in the previous three years. This includes blowing must win games to bottom feeders like DePaul in the BE Tourney two years ago, and then blowing a 20 point 2nd half lead to the Zags last year. Wait, it's even worse. It wasn't the Zags, but Butler. BUTLER! Repeat after me and Mman, "It ain't Steeles fault".

Dadgummit, I should know his philosophy about guys who have never been good outside shooters, still shooting them like it's hot, in volume, will work, previous three years be damned. As he has said in the past about the shooting woes of the likes of Q, Marshall, Carter, Hunter, and any other snipers under his mentorship, "I'm not concerned about it. They will start to fall." Hunter is at 10%. He'll hit a couple in the next few games, and Steele will sleep well in his Napoleon pajamas knowing that he was right.

Remember, this is the same guy, who didn't foul the other team (opponent?) when they had less than two seconds to catch and shot the ball, down by three. The team got a clean look but missed. You can't make this stuff up. I guess, again he cay say the end justifies the means. Damn, if only we can pretend that albatross, his postseason record, wasn't what it is. DIL has to liquidate one of his many accounts to write another big check. He can give it to Christopher when he finishes raking the leaves in his yard.

Steele's presser was also a delight. He mentioned a lack of toughness, turnovers, rebounding, etc... Odd that he did not address the zeppelin in the room: horrible three point shooters hurling them like it is hot. This can be copied and pasted after every game this year, win or lose. Hell, after every one in the previous three years as well. Scruggs, as great of a career as he has said, played the worst (offensively and defensively), and most selfish game of his career. He's lucky Schrand graduated, or Steele would have flexed his pseudo ACCOUNTABILTY muscle, and pulled Scruggs with 8 seconds left.

If you want to see what coaching is all about, look across town 4.3 miles. UC was down to Illinois 23-8, so Miller called a T.O. and doubled down on Cockburn. They were plus 35 on Illinois the rest of the way. Seems simple, yet, there are some coaches who wouldn't have done that. Let's not review that list. Miller has taken a team with top 50 talent, playing like one with top 15. His track record speaks for itself, so this was no anomaly, unfortunately for us.

Ok, I'm just venting. X is 4-1 for goodness sake. I'm also confident, b/c I know Steele will really really, really, motivate the heck out the guys. Tangerine Jersey of the Game, Junk Yard Dog Chain, and now he is going to roll out the Tickling Talcum Powder Award for the guy who cheers the most on the bench, Steele's most coveted metric. Great coaches like Pitino, Stevens, Coach K, and Bennet only wish they were this inspirational.

BTW, Travis Steele can recruit.