Quote:
Originally Posted by skyblade
The board used to have a meltdown after every loss. Justin is a little overboard, but some criticism is valid. Infinite positivity is almost as bad as the meltdowns.
Last year, the team looked like they would have won had Jarron played more minutes. They also played better in the second half.
This year, Jarron played the whole game, but wasn't as involved as we are used to. We lost the second half badly and even though it was close, a comeback seemed unlikely.
Brannen needs to be successful this year, because next year is going to be a down year - we will be very young. Cronin was given extra time because he walked into a mess. Brannen walked into a great team, but was unable to keep them all together.
He did have the opportunity to get replacements though and also kept 3 of the core 4. Even without Brooks, I am positive Cronin would have taken this team to the NCAA tournament (with Diarra/Nsoseme at center and a lot of isoball featuring Jarron). If we fail to make the NCAA tournament this year, I think it is very valid to question Brannen.
But for the first game of the season, it's too early. Like it was too early last after the OSU loss and many said we weren't an NCAA team.
We played a tough team and didn't look very good. But it's early in the season and we have plenty of room to improve. I'm waiting to see how we look when conference play starts before I make too many judgements.
Though I do think we need to start playing small ball. Our 7-footers (especially Sorolla) are not high-major level players.
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I don't mind some valid objective criticism if it goes both ways. But this whole concept of Brannen needs to make things happen this year is a little short sighted. These are not his players but he needs to get something out of them. from what I have seen and heard I think he will do just fine. But if he doesn't make the dance...we still have to weigh the circumstances end of year. He has 30% of his offense installed so far. If he can add 10% (a new wrinkle) each game over the next 7...and win at the same time...we will probably be looking pretty good. I am expecting another bump in the road and meltdown on the board but if we are progressing and getting better it will just be a blip on the radar.
I have no allegiance to brannen other than him being coach and that I think supporting him (rather than criticizing him) is the best for our program for the short term. I had no specific allegiance to Cronin but I supported him. I was critical at times of course and I will be critical of Brannen but it's too early for being overly critical. Demanding he play Cumberland ISO ball is just silly. Hoping he can find better ways to utilize Cumberland is not silly. Suggesting Cumberland is our only hope is silly. Expecting JC2 and Mcneal to keep missing shots at this pace would be silly. Expecting Scott to play that poorly would be silly.