Colgate

[Amberlycolonel]

Originally Posted by Hogsack

Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 people that would take that shot with 6 seconds left in the game....Cumberland, Mike Tyson, and Vontaze Burfict.

Lmao!!! Classic

[cincyguy13]

Originally Posted by justinhub2003

And you know what I’d say. I’d say John Brannen started the season 24 in kenpom and Is now 61

UCLA started at 114 and is currently 116

One is living up to expectations and one is no where close to meeting expectations.

If Jarron gets hurt or is hurt, 60 is probably exactly where this team should be. Would you agree? I’m not saying brannen is doing great coaching job, he’s not, but the guy you claim is a great coach is currently 116 in Kenpom with more talent..

[cincyguy13]

Originally Posted by justinhub2003

NOTHING has improved. We are still losing games in the same way we were losing to start the year,

I expect game over game improvement. But I’m Not seeing that at all.

Not true, we never lost a game throwing up a 70 footer with 6 seconds left. So we aren’t losing them the same way.

[Bearcats92]

Originally Posted by justinhub2003

Just wanted to make sure you realized that throwing stones from glasses houses Is silly.

It’s funny you keep bringing it up. You bitched that I brought up Cronin originally on a board off topic. Now you can’t stop doing it haha. Just go join the UCLA board already and get off this one.

[TheRealMick]

Team needs a PG or new coach

[skyblade]

Among other things, Brannen is thus far terrible at making in game adjustments. He is set in how he wants to play. If a player goes off, he doesn't do much to adjust. It seems like he wants to play a straight, no helping man-to-man. If one guy goes off, the most Brannen will do is rotate a different defender onto him. If that doesn't work, Brannen is lost.

Also, what happened to all that talk of positionless basketball. That was supposed to be one of the exciting changes we'd get in a new coach. Instead, we've got one of the most traditional basketball teams I have ever seen. We've got a starting PG who can't score and a starting center who is great 5 or fewer feet from the basket on offense and useless everywhere else.

It is really seeming like Brannen is in over his head. He hasn't adjusted to the talent differences between the Horizon league and the AAC. He doesn't realize/accept that there are guys who just can't be defended 1v1. He won't accept that Vogt needs to be protected/hidden on defense for him to be on the floor. He won't accept that McNeal doesn't belong on the floor. In the press conference he just dejectedly said about Vogt's bad defense "it's just tough because Chris gives us so much offensively".

He seems even more set in his scheme and "my way or the highway" attitude than Cronin was. He wants to play exactly what he played at NKU and is unwilling to adjust to the personnel. Maybe that works out long-term, but long-term might not be soon enough for him to keep his job.

[cincyguy13]

If we don’t win at least one of the next two games, (doubt we win, I know), I say let everyone play. See what we have. Get them ready. Heck, let Diarra play too. We won’t have anything to lose at that point and they may be ready for the conference tournament.

[cincyguy13]

Originally Posted by skyblade

Among other things, Brannen is thus far terrible at making in game adjustments. He is set in how he wants to play. If a player goes off, he doesn't do much to adjust. It seems like he wants to play a straight, no helping man-to-man. If one guy goes off, the most Brannen will do is rotate a different defender onto him. If that doesn't work, Brannen is lost.

Also, what happened to all that talk of positionless basketball. That was supposed to be one of the exciting changes we'd get in a new coach. Instead, we've got one of the most traditional basketball teams I have ever seen. We've got a starting PG who can't score and a starting center who is great 5 or fewer feet from the basket on offense and useless everywhere else.

It is really seeming like Brannen is in over his head. He hasn't adjusted to the talent differences between the Horizon league and the AAC. He doesn't realize/accept that there are guys who just can't be defended 1v1. He won't accept that Vogt needs to be protected/hidden on defense for him to be on the floor. He won't accept that McNeal doesn't belong on the floor. In the press conference he just dejectedly said about Vogt's bad defense "it's just tough because Chris gives us so much offensively".

He seems even more set in his scheme and "my way or the highway" attitude than Cronin was. He wants to play exactly what he played at NKU and is unwilling to adjust to the personnel. Maybe that works out long-term, but long-term might not be soon enough for him to keep his job.

I agree somewhat,I just don’t think there are a lot of options. Whatever me or you think of Diarra doesn’t matter. He obviously thinks he isn’t good enough. The goal is to play a certain way. All coaches play their way. All of them. I’m not bothered by those things as much as the turnovers and stupid plays. And the fact that they don’t seem to be enjoying the game. But if you win a couple games, those things seem to change fast.
I think he has change things involving Jarron. He seems to get the screen at the top of the key now. Where he did most of his damage last year. Before he was getting it on the wing. for whatever reason Jarron can’t do what he did last year. Who knows why that is.

[skyblade]

Originally Posted by cincyguy13

If we don’t win at least one of the next two games, (doubt we win, I know), I say let everyone play. See what we have. Get them ready. Heck, let Diarra play too. We won’t have anything to lose at that point and they may be ready for the conference tournament.

Yeah, there comes a point where you have to let your young players develop. Brannen has been horrible at doing this so far. The only exception being Maw and McNeal forced his hand on that one by playing terrible. Even so, McNeal is still out there getting minutes he doesn't deserve.

If we continue like we have so far this year, only three players on next years team will have averaged >10 minutes per game this year. That plus our youth is a recipe for disaster. And it's possible it could be worse than that, if Keith continues to play like he has lately, he should at least test the NBA draft this spring. He's got the combination of height, defense and athleticism the NBA loves, if he can also hit threes he may be a first round pick as a Junior.

Of next years players. Keith is a star, MAW is a star in the making, Vogt is an average (at best) AAC center and pretty much every other player is an unknown that needs more playing time and experience to be judged.

[skyblade]

Originally Posted by cincyguy13

I agree somewhat,I just don’t think there are a lot of options. Whatever me or you think of Diarra doesn’t matter. He obviously thinks he isn’t good enough. The goal is to play a certain way. All coaches play their way. All of them. I’m not bothered by those things as much as the turnovers and stupid plays. And the fact that they don’t seem to be enjoying the game. But if you win a couple games, those things seem to change fast.

Yeah, Brannen seems not to be enjoying the coaching process right now. He actually got angry last night (I remember seeing him yelling and stomping his feet at someone - McNeal maybe). I though Cronin was too angry and intense, but at least he also showed happiness. Brannen looks like a stoic statue out there most of the time.

It would be nice to see Brannen make some sort of effort. Change defenses, or pull a guy and have him sit for a few minutes. I keep going back to Vogt because his bad defense stands out the most. It's obvious he lacks foot speed and has trouble with the pick-and-roll. He gave up multiple layups by vacating the paint to stick to his man and allowing a guy an unimpeded path to the basket - and the sad thing is, it seems like that is part of the game plan. Cronin used to change the defense up at times to protect Kyle Washington - or bench him to prevent the other team abusing him - Brannen changes nothing and watched the other teams center go off for 21.

Maybe in the Horizon everyone could be defended in a straight man-to-man. But in the AAC, we are going to face guys and offensive schemes where that just doesn't work. We need to make more in game adjustments that I have seen so far. Even if you don't think Diarra is our best defensive center and could have slowed down Ivanauskas, I think we can all agree something should have been done - play small, play a zone, or have Vogt play farther off and just give Icanauskas the open three (he doesn't shoot them all that well).

Brannen gives the impression of standing there passively on the sidelines and having no clue what to do when things go downhill. Regardless of if that is the case (it seems like he wants the team to learn to play through it and fix things on their own), it's a very bad look.