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Post by rick on Jan 27, 2006 10:54:56 GMT -5
Did anyone notice anything out of the ordinary in the way the game was coached last night and the past couple of games in contrast to previous games?
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Post by rlh on Jan 27, 2006 11:10:07 GMT -5
Nothing I noticed....it was a pretty intense game from the start...we just never could get the key basket when we needed it....except for turnovers, everything else went pretty well...what did you have in mind?
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Post by rick on Jan 27, 2006 11:23:23 GMT -5
Not having seen many of the recent games myself, I am just wondering why the guys can play with so much intensity on both ends of the court(a few games ago) and then just peter-out especially defensively. The coaching staff seemed to raise the bar in expectations and acccountablity, intensity, and consistency after the UMKC loss. The hallmark was the win over ORU. Those guys had fire in their eyes, confidence, and they were taking care of business but also seemed to be having fun with the pressure lifted off of them. I presume that was because Homer got pissed off and stopped being Mr. Nice Guy. Then we get what we have seen recently. It just seems it has been difficult for the coaching staff to keep the sharp focus and intensity and the fire under their butts. Judging from some of the radio comments about sluggishness, etc., I just wonder if there has been a change in the coaching recently or even a letdown in expectations and accountability. I can't figure out why we keep losing with so much athleticism and talent and depth. Just wondered if some of you on the inside or who have actually watched the games have noticed anything. Getting the players ready, motivated, and executing is the job of the coach. Otherwise we resort to street ball. We should be beating the teams that are beating us.
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Post by rlh on Jan 27, 2006 11:40:47 GMT -5
Nothing that I noticed...I just think that we lost some chemistry with the problems (sickness, etc.) over the last couple of weeks, and it will take a little time to get it back. As far as last night, you have to give Oakland credit...especially Wooten. He was in the "zone" and we couldn't do anything about it. We tried several people (Jarryd, Ron, Brandon) and he still kept scoring. I think we'll be OK....we just are going through a down period, but I haven't noticed anyone giving up....Actually I was pleased with the effort last night, especially after getting behind 9-0 before we got in our seats....The only other change that I've seen is that other teams are really ATTACKING Dan. When he gets the ball, there are at least 2 and many times 3 defenders on him immediately. The other guys have to step up and take the heat off....ORU has had the same problems with Green in the middle. Other coaches have decided that the way to beat us is to take Oppland out of the game and right now it's working to some degree.....we'll see if it continues....
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Post by walldozer on Jan 27, 2006 12:54:17 GMT -5
I am worried right now about the future of Valpo's program. I do not know exactly why though. My best guess is that we have had a couple of guys not able to play (albeit some very good players) and all of a sudden we can not beat some of the teams in the league with very poor records. Even with our problems, we should be able to beat those teams. This is especially troubling since we were supposed to have good depth this year. Maybe I was just overconfident, but before we lost to Chi State and SUU, I would have said we could have beat them with our 4 best guys on the bench. I was wrong. Especially when taking "chemistry" into consideration. Sorry to be such a downer, I just needed to get that off my chest.
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Post by rick on Jan 27, 2006 13:18:59 GMT -5
Nothing that I noticed...I just think that we lost some chemistry with the problems (sickness, etc.) over the last couple of weeks, and it will take a little time to get it back. As far as last night, you have to give Oakland credit...especially Wooten. He was in the "zone" and we couldn't do anything about it. We tried several people (Jarryd, Ron, Brandon) and he still kept scoring. I think we'll be OK....we just are going through a down period, but I haven't noticed anyone giving up....Actually I was pleased with the effort last night, especially after getting behind 9-0 before we got in our seats....The only other change that I've seen is that other teams are really ATTACKING Dan. When he gets the ball, there are at least 2 and many times 3 defenders on him immediately. The other guys have to step up and take the heat off....ORU has had the same problems with Green in the middle. Other coaches have decided that the way to beat us is to take Oppland out of the game and right now it's working to some degree.....we'll see if it continues.... If Wooten was beating everyone who guarded him, why didn't we double-team him? With Kone in the middle we have enough quick guards to trap/smother him the whole game. They do that with Dan. Where are the adjustments? Why do we just let them keep pounding us with the same weapon and don't have an answer?
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Post by oruterry on Jan 27, 2006 14:27:08 GMT -5
I did not see the game, but I have seen Wooten at the Mabee Center..... the kid is an offensive machine. And as RLH has stated, he plays within the offense - which makes it even tougher to guard him because he doesn't really force things. He can make shots with guys in his face, etc. The only real defense against him is to try to deny him the ball. Scary to think how good this kid could get.
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Post by rick on Jan 27, 2006 17:18:57 GMT -5
I did not see the game, but I have seen Wooten at the Mabee Center..... the kid is an offensive machine. And as RLH has stated, he plays within the offense - which makes it even tougher to guard him because he doesn't really force things. He can make shots with guys in his face, etc. The only real defense against him is to try to deny him the ball. Scary to think how good this kid could get. I think sometimes your coach Sutton doesn't seem to make the adjustments during the game that tend to hurt you. Some coaches are better than others at doing whatever is necessary to stop whomever is beating you, or at least slowing the person(s) down. It seems clear that the teams in the Mid-Con are finding an answer to the heretofore unstoppable Dan Oppland. Now some of that may be Dan is just going through a drought; however, I'm sure the coaches are liking what they have seen lately with teams shutting him down. I'd risk letting the other Oakland players put up a shot rather than just single-guarding Wooten. Even if they make the two's, they don't beat us because we gave up so many three's. And no other player on Oakland is going to get near the shooting percentage as Wooten. He's not Michael Jordan for crying out loud. We should be able to find an answer! This isn't rocket science.
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Post by jmill on Jan 27, 2006 19:27:28 GMT -5
Nothing that I noticed...I just think that we lost some chemistry with the problems (sickness, etc.) over the last couple of weeks, and it will take a little time to get it back. As far as last night, you have to give Oakland credit...especially Wooten. He was in the "zone" and we couldn't do anything about it. We tried several people (Jarryd, Ron, Brandon) and he still kept scoring. I think we'll be OK....we just are going through a down period, but I haven't noticed anyone giving up....Actually I was pleased with the effort last night, especially after getting behind 9-0 before we got in our seats....The only other change that I've seen is that other teams are really ATTACKING Dan. When he gets the ball, there are at least 2 and many times 3 defenders on him immediately. The other guys have to step up and take the heat off....ORU has had the same problems with Green in the middle. Other coaches have decided that the way to beat us is to take Oppland out of the game and right now it's working to some degree.....we'll see if it continues.... If Wooten was beating everyone who guarded him, why didn't we double-team him? With Kone in the middle we have enough quick guards to trap/smother him the whole game. They do that with Dan. Where are the adjustments? Why do we just let them keep pounding us with the same weapon and don't have an answer? That was my question as I sat in the gym last night watching in person. I said this in another thread ... not only didn't we double Wooten, our guys played OFF him.
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Post by rick on Jan 27, 2006 21:30:32 GMT -5
That was my question as I sat in the gym last night watching in person. I said this in another thread ... not only didn't we double Wooten, our guys played OFF him.
There is no excuse for allowing that to happen. Is the coaching staff on drugs? 89 points should win most games if we play defense and make appropriate adjustments.
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Post by humbleopinion on Jan 28, 2006 9:07:56 GMT -5
After we rolled over ORU, I remember no comments on the voy board about the great coaching job that contributed to it. However, on the ORU board, there was talk about how Drew just plain out-coached Sutton. I have a hard time presuming to know more about coaching than someone who has spent his life in the gym. I do believe that the mid-con attracts good enough athletes that on any given night there can be a player like Wooten who can unexpectedly float in the zone. Tonight of course we get to see coaching theatrics at its height. For those of you who want a more emotional coach, watch the IUPUI bench and think if that's really what you want. As for me, I'll take Homer any day.
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Post by vcboys2000 on Jan 28, 2006 10:02:11 GMT -5
I did not see the game, but I have seen Wooten at the Mabee Center..... the kid is an offensive machine. And as RLH has stated, he plays within the offense - which makes it even tougher to guard him because he doesn't really force things. He can make shots with guys in his face, etc. The only real defense against him is to try to deny him the ball. Scary to think how good this kid could get. I think sometimes your coach Sutton doesn't seem to make the adjustments during the game that tend to hurt you. Some coaches are better than others at doing whatever is necessary to stop whomever is beating you, or at least slowing the person(s) down. It seems clear that the teams in the Mid-Con are finding an answer to the heretofore unstoppable Dan Oppland. Now some of that may be Dan is just going through a drought; however, I'm sure the coaches are liking what they have seen lately with teams shutting him down. I'd risk letting the other Oakland players put up a shot rather than just single-guarding Wooten. Even if they make the two's, they don't beat us because we gave up so many three's. And no other player on Oakland is going to get near the shooting percentage as Wooten. He's not Michael Jordan for crying out loud. We should be able to find an answer! This isn't rocket science. Well i think coach Sutton did a pretty good job making the appropriate adjustments to slow Wooten down when they played us earlier this year. He only dropped 24.
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Post by rick on Jan 28, 2006 23:27:27 GMT -5
Why is it that every time we hear a coach make a comment on the radio or in the paper, the blame goes to the players? When are the coaches going to start publicly stating that at least part of recent horrendous performance of the the team is due to poor coaching? Many of these players are playing their hearts out and the coaches let victories slip away from us or they don't have an answer to what the other team throws at us.
Are they above criticism? Does anyone dare criticize the coach? Is that taboo? Do they believe they have no responsibility for these pathetic performances? Do they think it's all the players?
Charlie Weiss took public responsibility for the losses that Notre Dame had. Just read any of his former press conferences. But do our coaches think they are irreproachable? Are our coaches prima-donnas and have they lost the ability to be humble enough to look to themselves for these stupid losses?
I know, we all love Homer and he is the nicest man in the universe.
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TD
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Post by TD on Jan 29, 2006 7:35:27 GMT -5
Unfortunately, Rick, Homer gets to set his own agenda as to when he retires. I do think if he was a younger coach and he was new say at the time that Scott Drew moved up to Baylor the administration would at least give him this year and next to prove something before looking for a new coach. There is no way Homer will get fired at Valpo because winning doesn't mean that much at Valpo. How bad would the Crusaders have to get before Homer would get fired?
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TD
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Post by TD on Jan 30, 2006 21:08:57 GMT -5
Maybe Rick is used to having his threads closed but this is totally unnecessary. Just because we mentioned the possibility of the "god-like" Homer Drew getting fired. Unbelievelble(sp?)
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