Cudos to Travis

[finalfourorbust]

Travis has taken some criticism on this Board and among many conversations. Last night, Travis took a step forward in asserting his leadership with shaking up the line up. In addition to inserting Jones with Hankins, he took another chance with Harden. Many other coaches would have kept a guy like Hardin on the Bench to ride the pine until year end and then push him out. Not saying Hardin will continue to progress, but last night he played key minutes and added length and quickness to our 2-3 zone and it made a difference. On the offensive end he as two of three from three giving us much needed outside scoring to help open up the inside. Nice job Travis for taking another chance, it may be another coaching move that helps us improve and grow this year.

The other observation, Marshall and Scruggs didn't settle for quick threes and took it to the basket. Hence, we got to the line early and often IT made a difference down the stretch. I believe Travis and staff had big influence here.

One game does not make a trend, but hopefully we have found something and we will see how this carries into Sunday against Butler.

With Gooding out Travis played Harden out of necessity. That said, Harden looked much more active both offensively and defensively than he has looked all year.

[madness31]

As I said last time Goodin sat out, give the team to Scruggs until Goodin proves he knows how to play. Goodin could be a great asset to this team but only if he plays intelligently on offense - no stupid passes that get taken the other way and 3s only in emergency situations. He also needs to play with intensity on defense and take pleasure in getting teammates involved offensively. He is very capable of being a great team player and a leader but he needs to decide that the best way for him to lead the team is by getting others involved and giving it his everything on defense.

Hardin has played well when given time on the court. I have no idea why he struggles to get minutes on this team.

As for Travis, he is Mack 2.0. He lets the supposed star players do whatever they want on the court. There is little change from game to game on shot selection, sloppy passing, etc. This is exactly what Mack did with Tu and Lyons. Tu became a great player but certainly forced the action all too often. He was bailed out by officials quite often as he tended to get the benefit of the doubt. I do not know if that lead to him forcing the action more often as he was simply playing smart and taking advantage of the gifts the officials gave him or if he was forcing the action by mistake and getting lucky. Regardless he was a great player. There were similar issues with Crawford at time but the only game that stands out as him costing X a win is Baylor. The big men were dominant that game shooting close to perfect from the field but Crawford decided to hoist shots going something like 4 for 20. Mack should have stepped in and had the team feed the post until Baylor proved they could stop it.

Travis doesn't have the weapons this year but that is all the more reason to teach basketball. Develop these guys so they can contribute in a big way next year. Terrible shooters shouldn't be taking a majority of the shots. It just isn't smart basketball. As for developing the younger guys simply because they are returning, I'm not necessarily on board with that. At some point that makes sense but not yet. Playing Hardin over Castlin because Castlin isn't playing at a noticeably higher level definitely makes sense. Riding the hot hand while taking defense into account is the best answer. That goes for every position on this team. Scruggs is probably the only player I'd play through an off day. The rest need to adhere to proper shot selection and get after it defensively.

Travis is young and can grow. Mack certainly improved over the years. He was never great but he was serviceable. Steele can eventually be the superior coach if he is willing to learn from others with more successful models or if he can simply reflect on where things went wrong and make the corrections. Additionally he can look great simply by recruiting the right players and letting them carry the team. This was Mack's approach and it fooled most into thinking he was a great coach.

[muskieman]

Travis is young and can grow. Mack certainly improved over the years. He was never great but he was serviceable. Steele can eventually be the superior coach if he is willing to learn from others with more successful models or if he can simply reflect on where things went wrong and make the corrections. Additionally he can look great simply by recruiting the right players and letting them carry the team. This was Mack's approach and it fooled most into thinking he was a great coach.

and he did it again as the 'Ville crushed NC

[Anti-Homer]

Travis is young and can grow. Mack certainly improved over the years. He was never great but he was serviceable. Steele can eventually be the superior coach if he is willing to learn from others with more successful models or if he can simply reflect on where things went wrong and make the corrections. Additionally he can look great simply by recruiting the right players and letting them carry the team. This was Mack's approach and it fooled most into thinking he was a great coach.

and he did it again as the 'Ville crushed NC

CM is doing a very good job at L-Ville, but let's not pretend he came to a kitchen with empty cupboards like he left Steele at X, as he was "distracted."
L-Ville has 2-3 five stars, and am embarrassment of four stars relative to 99% of programs. I know of two five stars because X was in on them early in the recruiting proves. One was their wing King, from northern OH, and the other Williams (?), their power forward. These are Pitino recruits, so you know the roster is pretty elite.

Going to L-ville was a no brainer, and I don't blame Mack at all for doing so. The manner in which he did it left a hell of a lot to be desired however. I also think getting shellacked and embarassed by Nova 2x a year, rivaled only by DePaul definitely played a part in his decision, imo.

Excellent offensive and regular season coach, but wilted like Muskieman's cannabis plants in the Sahara in big games.

[muskieman]

Travis is young and can grow. Mack certainly improved over the years. He was never great but he was serviceable. Steele can eventually be the superior coach if he is willing to learn from others with more successful models or if he can simply reflect on where things went wrong and make the corrections. Additionally he can look great simply by recruiting the right players and letting them carry the team. This was Mack's approach and it fooled most into thinking he was a great coach.

and he did it again as the 'Ville crushed NC

CM is doing a very good job at L-Ville, but let's not pretend he came to a kitchen with empty cupboards like he left Steele at X, as he was "distracted."
L-Ville has 2-3 five stars, and am embarrassment of four stars relative to 99% of programs. I know of two five stars because X was in on them early in the recruiting proves. One was their wing King, from northern OH, and the other Williams (?), their power forward. These are Pitino recruits, so you know the roster is pretty elite.

Going to L-ville was a no brainer, and I don't blame Mack at all for doing so. The manner in which he did it left a hell of a lot to be desired however. I also think getting shellacked and embarassed by Nova 2x a year, rivaled only by DePaul definitely played a part in his decision, imo.

Excellent offensive and regular season coach, but wilted like Muskieman's cannabis plants in the Sahara in big games.

I don't want to get into a discussion about CM because he is past history but saying getting crushed by Nova twice a year would send him to the Ville so he could face powers like Duke and NC each twice a year not to mention Florida State

[webxu]

Castlin has proved exactly 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal and 4 TO's in 4 BE games. He has contributed NOTHING in conference play. Remove him from the lineup, play Harden, Kennedy and James and at least see if THEY could be players in the future. This season is a wash, Castlin is done after this year anyway. See what you have in the future.

Glad to eat crow.. Castlin was huge yesterday in the 2nd half. hope it propels him the rest of the way.

[Anti-Homer]

and he did it again as the 'Ville crushed NC

CM is doing a very good job at L-Ville, but let's not pretend he came to a kitchen with empty cupboards like he left Steele at X, as he was "distracted."
L-Ville has 2-3 five stars, and am embarrassment of four stars relative to 99% of programs. I know of two five stars because X was in on them early in the recruiting proves. One was their wing King, from northern OH, and the other Williams (?), their power forward. These are Pitino recruits, so you know the roster is pretty elite.

Going to L-ville was a no brainer, and I don't blame Mack at all for doing so. The manner in which he did it left a hell of a lot to be desired however. I also think getting shellacked and embarassed by Nova 2x a year, rivaled only by DePaul definitely played a part in his decision, imo.

Excellent offensive and regular season coach, but wilted like Muskieman's cannabis plants in the Sahara in big games.

I don't want to get into a discussion about CM because he is past history but saying getting crushed by Nova twice a year would send him to the Ville so he could face powers like Duke and NC each twice a year not to mention Florida State

I don't want to get into a discussion about CM because he is past history

Yet that's precisely what you did to prompt the last few responses. As I said, CM is an excellent offensive coach, but you can count on two fingers how many top 10 wins he had during his tenure, and an equal number of times he flamed out as a legitimate FF candidate in two of his last three years. Despite the "dooshie" way he left, I don't root against him. I just don't root for him. I think he did his damn best for X for 8 years and is genuinely a good guy.

However, if you think inquiries weren't made to a plethora of other coaches like Tony Bennet, Billy Donovan, Quinn Synder, Brad Stevens, Shaka Smart, and others, you are smoking too much of your own product. I predict an E-8 for him this year. You read it here 1st.