How many of MSS's missed layup and point blank shots is MR to be blamed for?
He’s responsible for being over-reliant on a 6’7” center and then not designing an offense that helps him thrive. He needs regular help down low, and we need taller and bigger guys. We also need more legit shooting threats to open our offense up.
How many missed open threes is MR to be blamed for?
He’s responsible for not recruiting shooters who can score in this system at this level, and then refusing to tailor his system to the talent he has. Maladaptive.
None of us know why DJ has only marginally progressed the last three years.
This is on coach IMO. Player development is part of the job, pushing, motivating, structuring practice and conditioning to maximize the player’s potential, and then holding the player accountable for it.
There's a difference between being held accountable and being the reason why things are happening.
He is the reason why things aren’t happening though, like player development (except MSS who is clearly self-motivated via his social media) and motivation. Also targeting our weaknesses and cultivating/demanding discipline on and off court. The attitudes are poor and lazy out there.
I have a hard time believing he suddenly forgot how to coach
I thought he looked like a good not great coach last year which is how he looks now, except the defense which has now slipped. ME hero ball carried us in a few wins and the rest we just had more talent/athleticism. But our offense was pure garbage. The award seemed results-based, and his results looked more impressive than they actually were. The A10 was more of a mid-major conference last year and then we got destroyed in the tourney.
Whatever the problem is MR has to identify it and address it.
I don’t understand why he hasn’t addressed it yet? It’s been months, really even since last year that ME’s core adjustable issues (turnovers, poor shot selection, inability to assist or run an offense besides iso and flopping) have been stagnant. The lack of response, or delay in response is what is so concerning and points to a significant flaw.
It doesn’t feel too early to criticize all of these things. They demonstrate a clear lack of efficiency and effective adjustment. Frankly I’m confused as to why people are so ready to defend MR and throw the seniors under. It’s like blaming soldiers for losing a war, it makes no sense.
I do see your opinion and it makes a lot of sense in that the issues are based on the players not performing well, but I happen to think they aren’t performing well because they haven’t been set up to succeed. I think we just differ in philosophy in that I think a coach can influence everything to a pretty significant degree, and that if they don’t they aren’t optimizing the team which is just my perspective and I’m not claiming it as truth. Will Wade was bad with building relationships but I enjoyed his micromanagement approach. It seems MR is more dependent on players to figure their own problems out. Obviously the popular consensus here agrees with your sentiments though.
And your missing the point regarding putting faith in leadership. We have succeeded taking such risks, doesn’t mean those coaches were beyond critique or had earned good faith just by being hired by us. They just produced results and got hired away. Regarding Rice, I didn’t gloss over anything. He had a winning season at a low-tier program. That does not suggest he knows what he’s doing now. He’s never competed in high-tier D1 until now at VCU. It collapses the Ethos-based argument in favor of MR. This has already been explained but you haven’t liked that point over the last few years.
PRock’s point is the one that makes the most sense. It’s all about ME. But that’s the key. MR was TOO dependent on ME, who was known to be injury prone already. You need multiple backup plans.
TL;DR - We’re not going to agree and that’s fine.