Musketeer Madness

Why do you believe X played so poorly the end of the season? I kinda believe they ran out of gas?

disagree. Mental errors, low BBall IQ, and an inexperienced coaching staff regarding end game adjustments and clock management doomed this team. Losing Scruggs was a death-blow. Got nothing from bench down the stretch as well except Tandy, and he was streaky and lacked poise. ( which is excusable since he is a true and promising Frosh) No excuses, we fizzled because we earned every ounce of that fizzlement....

Why does anyone think they fizzled out? They didn't wear down. So sick of fans blaming the coaches. How about the "core 4" just aren't that talented? They are good...but not great. Jones can dominate because of his physical abilities. Not much offensive skill around the basket besides dunking. Naji has a physical skill set being longer and faster than most. That same skill set gets him in trouble. Poor shooter. Scruggs-probably the most "skilled" but not great. Gooden-horrible shooter and just ok at everything else. These 4 were role players on 2 really good teams. When it was their turn to be leaders and be the "go to" guys, they weren't as good as the classes before. It's that simple. None of these guys developed like a James Farr. That doesn't mean it's the coaches fault. I saw a lot of great coaching and game plans from Steele. The team ran a lot of good plays out of timeouts. these players just didn't always execute because of poor shooting. This team played to their potential.

It could easily be argued that with Scruggs, they win their last 3 games. And maybe with ease. He is easily worth enough points in each of those games to produce a win. Now why they were having contact drills the last week of the season is a whole other topic.

James Farr didn’t do a whole lot til his senior year and his stats are nothing compared to Jones and Marshall. We missed Scruggs defense but he was also in a funk second half of season

JTG wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:30 pm

It could easily be argued that with Scruggs, they win their last 3 games. And maybe with ease. He is easily worth enough points in each of those games to produce a win. Now why they were having contact drills the last week of the season is a whole other topic.

not too sure how much contact the drill was. I was an accident but anyone can pull a hammy even in light drills

Fizzled out? When did you start watching? This team played like crap all year. They made poor decisions and couldn't shoot, dribble, or pass all year. Other teams improved while they continued to make the same mistakes over and over again.

jamestrammel wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:39 am

Why does anyone think they fizzled out? They didn't wear down. So sick of fans blaming the coaches. How about the "core 4" just aren't that talented? They are good...but not great. Jones can dominate because of his physical abilities. Not much offensive skill around the basket besides dunking. Naji has a physical skill set being longer and faster than most. That same skill set gets him in trouble. Poor shooter. Scruggs-probably the most "skilled" but not great. Gooden-horrible shooter and just ok at everything else. These 4 were role players on 2 really good teams. When it was their turn to be leaders and be the "go to" guys, they weren't as good as the classes before. It's that simple. None of these guys developed like a James Farr. That doesn't mean it's the coaches fault. I saw a lot of great coaching and game plans from Steele. The team ran a lot of good plays out of timeouts. these players just didn't always execute because of poor shooting. This team played to their potential.

These 4 were role players on 2 really good teams

I wonder why they were voted as a consensus Top 25 team during the preseason by most of the rags? I wonder why 247Sports rated the team composite as the most talented based on their player evaluations? I wonder why they were voted to finish 3rd in the best league in the country? I wonder why they had the most players along with Nova on the All BE teams, All BE rookies?

Anti-Homer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 13, 2020 7:26 pm

I wonder why they were voted as a consensus Top 25 team during the preseason by most of the rags? I wonder why 247Sports rated the team composite as the most talented based on their player evaluations? I wonder why they were voted to finish 3rd in the best league in the country? I wonder why they had the most players along with Nova on the All BE teams, All BE rookies?

NC was ranked preseason #14. Mich. St. was ranked #1 by many. UD and SDSU weren’t even mentioned. Polls are worthless, especially preseason polls. All-star picks aren’t worth much more.

It’s a TEAM game....individual plaudits mean nothing. DWest was national player of the year on TEAMS that were not as successful as other teams that had no all-stars.

Overall, this team was merely good, not great. It had some real deficiencies. It lacked some pieces that great teams have. Even it’s all star players were not complete players. Can’t really say that Marshall has a consistently good outside game, but he is a great driver. Jones is a great rebounder, but not really a good low post scorer and is absolutely horrible from 5 ft out and beyond. The freshman played a bigger role on this team than they would have on virtually any other team in the league, but that doesn’t mean that they are future league all-stars. This team was not UN-talented, but it certainly didn’t have great ALL-ROUND talent either.

Anti-Homer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 13, 2020 7:26 pm

jamestrammel wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:39 am

Why does anyone think they fizzled out? They didn't wear down. So sick of fans blaming the coaches. How about the "core 4" just aren't that talented? They are good...but not great. Jones can dominate because of his physical abilities. Not much offensive skill around the basket besides dunking. Naji has a physical skill set being longer and faster than most. That same skill set gets him in trouble. Poor shooter. Scruggs-probably the most "skilled" but not great. Gooden-horrible shooter and just ok at everything else. These 4 were role players on 2 really good teams. When it was their turn to be leaders and be the "go to" guys, they weren't as good as the classes before. It's that simple. None of these guys developed like a James Farr. That doesn't mean it's the coaches fault. I saw a lot of great coaching and game plans from Steele. The team ran a lot of good plays out of timeouts. these players just didn't always execute because of poor shooting. This team played to their potential.

These 4 were role players on 2 really good teams

I wonder why they were voted as a consensus Top 25 team during the preseason by most of the rags? I wonder why 247Sports rated the team composite as the most talented based on their player evaluations? I wonder why they were voted to finish 3rd in the best league in the country? I wonder why they had the most players along with Nova on the All BE teams, All BE rookies?

They were rated going into the season for the simple reason they finished strong last year and had most of their starters back. Everybody like the hot and predictable hand in just about anything anymore. That said, when Trevon was around, his shooting and scoring makes inconsistencies not so bad, and without that steady hand on the wheel it's been a very inconsistent offensive product since. Time will tell. Give Steele another year, and hope he holds the roster together to get some cohesiveness together. There is strength in numbers which often gets lost in the equation. Probably every team this year has been without key guys during the season. A guy like Scruggs on an already inconsistent offensive squad is invaluable even if he is somewhat inconsistent. This isn't a team that could lose any offensive production. Here's to hoping school isn't off very long. I really believe when kids are returning home and away from school it could lead to the transfer portal blowing up even more. This could be a crazy offseason starting early.