I am not happy by any means but I am not terribly upset.
This post is not meant to excuse our poor play.
Nor is it to debate Cal's coaching.
I said day one, this team seemed a bit soft and full of role players lacking take-over talent.
Thus I can't be very upset with them when they are who I thought they were.
Cal's reluctance to zone or call timeouts or slow the game down with leads are nothing new.
I can disagree with him, but he has proven his success many times over.
I believe the issue lies in two players.
People need to understand that recruiting is a 3-4 year process at most schools, we have the luxury to wait until the Junior year of most recruits and possibly even during the senior year of some. But still before our current season starts.
Thus Cal has to have a pretty good idea of what his returning roster will look like in advance.
It is no secret to those of us in Lexington that Dakari was an obvious option to return. Also, Booker was not recruited as a potential OAD.
Had these two returned as planned things would be much different. And I'm not saying they should have, especially Booker, but during the height of the recruiting season prior to any of our 2015 games this was the thought process.
And do not tell me all teams lose good players, we already had plenty of good players leaving, these were backups.
A lineup that includes Booker and Dakari improves this team tremendously, even without Murray.
A case for two other players.
Brown and Zimmerman.
Without Booker and Dakari, we would have been much better with Brown and Zimmerman.
Each of these potential tandems alleviate some of this current team's issues.
Thus we have a roster missing a better option on the wing (Booker or Brown) and a much better option in the middle (Dakari or Zimmerman).
Guys like Alex and Lee would look much better, even with their current skill sets, as the complimentary players they have been in the past along side a legitimate big.
This team has complimentary players posing as primary options and two players who simply have not lived up to suggested potential in Skal and Briscoe (shooting wise).
It's a rough scenario, and our only hope is that the rest of the teams continue their inadequacies as well with the potential to be beat on any night. Can we do it 6 straight times in the tourney, very doubtful, but if we remain openminded to the roster makeup and reasons for it, things become a little less frustrating.
This post is not meant to excuse our poor play.
Nor is it to debate Cal's coaching.
I said day one, this team seemed a bit soft and full of role players lacking take-over talent.
Thus I can't be very upset with them when they are who I thought they were.
Cal's reluctance to zone or call timeouts or slow the game down with leads are nothing new.
I can disagree with him, but he has proven his success many times over.
I believe the issue lies in two players.
People need to understand that recruiting is a 3-4 year process at most schools, we have the luxury to wait until the Junior year of most recruits and possibly even during the senior year of some. But still before our current season starts.
Thus Cal has to have a pretty good idea of what his returning roster will look like in advance.
It is no secret to those of us in Lexington that Dakari was an obvious option to return. Also, Booker was not recruited as a potential OAD.
Had these two returned as planned things would be much different. And I'm not saying they should have, especially Booker, but during the height of the recruiting season prior to any of our 2015 games this was the thought process.
And do not tell me all teams lose good players, we already had plenty of good players leaving, these were backups.
A lineup that includes Booker and Dakari improves this team tremendously, even without Murray.
A case for two other players.
Brown and Zimmerman.
Without Booker and Dakari, we would have been much better with Brown and Zimmerman.
Each of these potential tandems alleviate some of this current team's issues.
Thus we have a roster missing a better option on the wing (Booker or Brown) and a much better option in the middle (Dakari or Zimmerman).
Guys like Alex and Lee would look much better, even with their current skill sets, as the complimentary players they have been in the past along side a legitimate big.
This team has complimentary players posing as primary options and two players who simply have not lived up to suggested potential in Skal and Briscoe (shooting wise).
It's a rough scenario, and our only hope is that the rest of the teams continue their inadequacies as well with the potential to be beat on any night. Can we do it 6 straight times in the tourney, very doubtful, but if we remain openminded to the roster makeup and reasons for it, things become a little less frustrating.
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