Big East tourney thread

[ChitownSteve]

Chitown,

You're the 2nd most measured poster on this board after yours truly (btw Board, thanks for the acknowledgement) followed closely by Edgecliff. What do you think of Travis Steele as a coach? Try and pretend he coaches a team you don't care for like San Jose State. BTW, congrats on DePaul.

Thanks for the inquiry. There are many others more insightful on the Board, putting pressure on with the compliment!

Information I ran across tonight,

“X is 23-26 in the regular Big East games under Coach Steele. Lost 11 Conference games at the Cintas. 1-3 at Madison Square Garden. 18-0 in buy-in games, 33-37 vs. the rest of the schedule”. There is a bit more, but since I am not citing the original author, truncated and double-checked.

Losing to DePaul last year and now to Butler in the BE Tournament, along with two consecutive years of poor conclusions to the regular Conference seasons has caused me to decide a change is in order. Coach Steele was properly given the benefit of the doubt in Years 1 and 2. There is no joy in coming to this conclusion. Like most, supported his hiring, and understood the struggles of the first two years. Coach Steele appears to be a good person, sincere and likable.

Objectively, tonight was the game-changer for many, yours truly included.

[skyhops]

Well said Chitown. I still can't believe that Steele continued to make Carter a focal part of his offense and scheme in 2021. Our bigs got lit up on the boards and on defense, yet still the same players. We go on a run in the first half and Steele decides to slow down the game in second half against a team that hardly subs. Steele is a used car salesman based on his comments, but I'm sure he was a good student manager. Next time hire someone that has at least played the game. No offense to many on this board that have not. Good luck to KyKy, I'm sure you will get your revenge on X someday.

[bluegrass]

Quote from Byron in post game show, "Carter took 3-4 bad shots, and X wouldn't have gone in overtime otherwise.". Paraphrased. Harsh, and Carter didn't lose the game for X. Steele did. Awful coach. I have a feeling the next time Tandy eats in a Chinese restaurant, the piece of paper will simply say Karma.

That's about as harsh as you'll hear Byron get so you know he's wondering what Steele is thinking too.Also mentioned Wilcher needed more minutes. Did Steele tell Carter "this is your time big fella.Go out there and win it for us" ? 11 shots from our worst shooter.Any word on who Freemantle was getting into it with at the end? Announcers said he was having words with someone

[AirJordan]

anyone the least bit surprised at tonight's debacle does not really know basketball. For those now looking towards next year and trying to imagine our recruits will save us with our post & clutch shooting woes, do not really know basketball. (unless we can sign a proven, talented JUCO or 5th yr "5" like Hankins of course, but that ain't likely) So let's face it, we have mediocre Big East talent and a subpar coaching staff. Going to lose Tandy for sure, would not be surprised if we leak one or two others that we were not anticipating. Players know when their coach is in over his head. This game was a microcosm of the season. Inconsistent offense, defensive lapses, and out-coached in clinical fashion after halftime adjustments. The real shame is, that even though it is glaringly obvious that Steele is in over his head, (and yes, he is a nice dude that earned his shot), our Admn will not have the brass balls to cut the cord. Meaning next year we will slide a bit farther as a program making it likely a 3 to 4 year rebuilding cycle needed after we finally do clear the deck after next season's tourney drought decent into DePaul'ville..... Bail me out here Bill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrYkeXNYOG8

Echoes my thoughts completely---every single sentence. And, I also do not see Travis being replaced before next year which means the program slides deeper into the abyss next year. Which means, as you pointed out, the eventual turn-around (if it comes) takes much longer. But, I will add, it will also put exponential pressure on the search for and hiring of a good coach to replace Steele. Every year this goes on, makes it much harder to eventually fix.

This was a DEVASTATING loss to everyone on this board but, sadly, not to Steele. I enthusiastically supported his hiring and, clearly, my head was up my arse.

[longliveskip]

Quote from Byron in post game show, "Carter took 3-4 bad shots, and X wouldn't have gone in overtime otherwise.". Paraphrased. Harsh, and Carter didn't lose the game for X. Steele did. Awful coach. I have a feeling the next time Tandy eats in a Chinese restaurant, the piece of paper will simply say Karma.

That's about as harsh as you'll hear Byron get so you know he's wondering what Steele is thinking too.Also mentioned Wilcher needed more minutes. Did Steele tell Carter "this is your time big fella.Go out there and win it for us" ? 11 shots from our worst shooter.Any word on who Freemantle was getting into it with at the end? Announcers said he was having words with someone

you can add Scruggs to that list as well. 2-3 just inexcusable shots he took in the last 5 minutes. off balance, forced, early in the shot clock. just can't have that from your senior leader. he's been around long enough has enough bball IQ to make better decisions/shots than those.

[longliveskip]

We have a former manager as a coach who looks scared in close games, gets no calls, and has no game management skills. It looked like Odom thought we we had a foul to give, which is on coaching staff (pretty lame call). Not playing Tandy at all is just awful and so is not playing Odom the first ten mins of second half. What a shock, but the freshman PG scored 19 in second half. Paul is a baller, but doesn't show up at season end in big games. How depressing.

very depressing but I don't think the coaches asked for that foul. Odom was reaching which is where he gets a lot of calls and Harris had beaten him and his instinct was to reach. The assistant coach basically said it was a brain fart but the Fox announcer said freshmen that have had few actual practices make freshmen mistakes Normally, they are not freshmen after play 27 games but 3 practices in a month and basically no games.

I hate seeing them in the NIT but getting freshmen time on the court can only give them more experience, which they didn't get this season. BTW coaches like to play guys that will be loyal... that is all I am saying.

Really? Was Steele a coach on the X team when a player was very disloyal to a close family member of a coach, causing his departure? .....That's all I'm asking.

disloyal? is that the best you can do (trying to be PC) because it seemed a bit more harsh than just "disloyal" is all i'm saying.

[skyhops]

I think Free was pissed he wasn’t getting the ball late in the game when he was effective, can’t blame him although his TO’s didn’t help

[longliveskip]

I think Free was pissed he wasn’t getting the ball late in the game when he was effective, can’t blame him although his TO’s didn’t help

agree. were all 5 of his TO's in the 2nd half? felt like it. although you take good/bad with him because he's one of the few that can score in multiple ways.

[thecoach]

Mediocrity sucks, thanks Steele. It could be worse next year no bigs.

So i'll as the million dollar question, were Ramsey or Miles dressed tonight as i had to listen on the radio. I'd never thought they'd shoot 40% from 3 and lose. Free's 5 turnovers hurt. Funny thing is they'll likely be back up there next week for the NIT.

Irrelevant question. We obviously didn't need the depth at the post positions, though Butler's bigs were 16 for 21 with 39 points. Despite this, their only legitimate big played a mere 9 minutes. You just can't make this stuff up. Steele must have a million four leaf clovers in his backyard. That, and a big pocket donor-board member contact.

I don't think it's a question of depth as much as a question of trying to dissuade opponents from continually going to the hoop. Freemantle and Carter are certainly not the guys to do that as we've seen. It's certainly worth a try to use some of those 5 fouls if need be to see what happens defensively having a bigger kid around the bucket.

[ChitownSteve]

Butler hit two three and was up six when a Carter three after a Carter two brought us back to 1 point down?

MM:

Well, if my recall is correct, one of those two Butler three’s was directly attributable to the fact that Bo Hodges snared an offensive rebound that Carter misplayed. Why else was Carter in the game?

Coach Steele decided to stick with Carter. He has the right to make that decision and now must also bear the responsibility for tonight’s result.
[/quote]If you say so. Was Free in the lineup at the time or was Carter the only big. You know had Jones had 2 points in the second half after having a great first half X wins. Hey if Paul makes one of the many at the rim shots he missed, X wins. As for the misplayed rebound, I guess Carter three is a net-zero at the time but what about the other three Harris made? The fact is if Carter was not in the game what big would have gotten that rebound and who they have gotten a three to nullify the other three? The blame game is easy to do and Carter has not been the only player, coach, or team manager that has disappointed this year. I take the road that Covid was to blame and not playing a game for a month while only being able to have three practices along with 2 major injuries made this season ripe for failure.
[/quote]

Free was in the game at the time and in the proper position on the opposite side of the basket. Putting it politely, Carter looked awkward and failed to box out.

Agreed, there were many other “contributors” to the loss. However, generally these players are of BE caliber to warrant their playing time. Carter appears to be a wonderful young man, but there is no justification for him playing 26.6 minutes per game at Xavier University in the Big East Conference.

Moreover, my post about how in the world could Carter take 2 shots in the final 2 minutes of regulation remains unchallenged. Carter has the lowest FG percentage on the team at 37.7%. He is second lowest in 3’s at an abysmal 18.2% and has the second worst FT % at 55.0%. The individuals behind him in the respective 3 and FT categories had far fewer attempts. Not trying to pin the loss just on Carter. I noted this is on Coach Steele for enabling those shots to occur down the stretch in a must-win game. By the way, elsewhere there was a post about Free in a post-game “discussion”, do we know with whom?

This may sound harsh, but there this thought keeps running through my brain. When it comes to Carter and his playing time, this is not second guessing, because it has been a bone of contention all year. Simply put, many of us have sought to save Coach Steele from this destructive decision. I feel like the old line from a Marx Brothers movie and will paraphrase and attribute. It is as if Coach Steele is asking us “[W)ho are you going to believe me, or you lying’ eyes”?

Lastly, consider Dave Leitao, who is the hot seat at DePaul and a poor Coach, is 2-0 in the last 2 years of the BE Tournament. X and Coach Steele are 0-2 in the BE Tournament games which were meaningful to NCAA hopes.