CinderBiscuit wrote: ↑January 5th, 2019, 4:49 pm
gdgjr78 wrote: ↑January 5th, 2019, 4:33 pm
I was proud of the teams fight today, I feel better about the team today than I did yesterday so that's something. This team just needs to try and get into the tourney and hopefully, with Dean healthy, make a run. I still believe the offense needs to be tailored to the players strengths. Recruiting is a problem too imo, the staff has to close the deal on better players.
This is Bruce's 7th year here. What makes you think anything is going to change? We will continue to pull in a bunch of 3 star players where "needs to develop ... " appears rampantly in their bios.
Bruce is an average coach. We shouldn't expect more than average results.
Bruce is an above average coach who is a below average recruiter. That's a major problem for this program, and we will continue to struggle until we get it fixed.
We recruit good athletes (good athletes can play a stymying defense) but some of the 3-star athletes we recruit lack in two major areas IMO. Basketball is a game that requires both art and skill. A great athlete who is short on art and skill has a lower ceiling. The art comes from a mind that understands the nuances of the game and plays the game effortlessly. That's what can be called a player's basketball IQ. The skill part comes from an abnormal eye/hand coordination which enables the player to be a great shooter of the ball, a creative passer and a great ball handler. If you're athletic, and possess those two other things, then your ceiling as a basketball player is very high, and you'll likely make a living at playing the game.
Without mentioning names, we have certain players who are gifted athletically, but are average in basketball IQ and skill areas (average for a D-1 player, not average when compared to most of us). They have a lower ceiling for improvement. I think that's why we've seen so little improvement this season from certain players. They're just not going to get much better. The most complete player we have in terms of possessing all three (athleticism, art and skill) is Dean Wade. But having just one player like this isn't enough.
An example of a past player who had both art and skill, but may not have been a super athlete, was Jacob Pullen. He was a 3-star player in high school, but his ceiling was higher than most 3-star players because he had the art and the skill. Jacob wasn't a "great" athlete, but he ended up being a very, very good basketball player for us. I think we need to start looking for more Jacob Pullens.