Yea I was about to post the same. JC probably figured with all the issues going on b/w that team he didn't want to stick that on KO. They didn't respond to JC or Blaney, it would've been the same for KO, I can already see how badly this board would've trashed KO if he was in charge of some of the performances that we saw from that squad under JC and Blaney. , I've already seen some post that he should be ruled out for consideration based on how this team played.
That's an interesting perspective. I guess I would have liked to see how he handled the head coaching game-time duties regardless, compared to the alternative of not knowing how he would respond to game situations, especially handling adversity. Yeah, I can see some wanting to declare him a failure if the team didn't respond well to him, but I think you learn a lot about a coach seeing how they handle the worst of situations. H*ll, even I could look like a HOF coach coaching an experienced and talented team. It's seeing if a coach can get the most out of a team that needs a plus-effort to win or compete, tells you a lot about what a coach is made of.
What's interesting about your take on this as well as imno1's is what does this say about JC and George. Were there the players that un-coachable? As flawed as that team might have been, not to mention the NCAA jerking Boat around twice during the season, I felt that JC didn't deploy the right offense for that team. I almost pulled all of my hair out, and Fishy knows I don't have much left to pull, watching them run that high screen over and over again with the same failed results. They used dribble penetration way too much as if they still had Kemba Walker on the team. Bazz was solid early on, but I think his foot and likely other injuries prevented him from having the blow-by capabilities to get by his man. Boat has that ability but he was a freshman and in-and-out of the line-up twice thanks to the NCAA. Lamb was simply not very good when he had the ball at the top of the key and his man standing right in front of him. He was best when catching the ball off the curl and in motion. IMO, Lamb simply doesn't have a great first step to get the corner on his defender and get into the paint on a regular basis. After those three, tell me who had that type of game? I think JC should have run the motion type offense that he used with the 99 team. Run the guards and wings off multiple screens below the foul like to free up shooters. Or even do some big to big screens and dump the ball to the 4 or 5 in the post. I simply didn't see much of that and I think that would have worked a whole lot better than what we saw. They were dreadful to watch in the half-court. As much as I want to see JC on the sideline for the foreseeable future, I just hope he adjust the office to the personnel better than what we saw last year.
I know many of you are thinking, "H*ll, he's a HOF and 3 Time NC coach!" I agree, and he's usually very good at getting the most out of the talent he's coaching, but I just wonder if Kemba's individual scoring abilities bailed us out in 2010/11. Last year's team was predominantly the same cast of characters but the pieces just didn't work as well as I had hoped. We often forget that the 2010/11 team looked as good as dead going into the NCAA before Kemba
and his teamnates put it all together. Without Kemba, I just believe a change in the offense was needed. I think scoring opportunities generated from motion and screens for our shooters, Lamb, Bazz, Boat, Scoe, Giffey, Daniels and even Olander, all capable of knocking down Js, would have worked better than what we witnessed. Boy did I digress there. Sorry!
I'm curious to see what type of O and D Ollie would deploy and how intuitive he would be based on the personnel he has each season. I'd also like to see how accountable the players would be to him in doing what is expected. JC was very good at that. Players tend to learn quickly what will keep them out on the floor or on the bench. Though I must admit, I don't understand why he didn't make the players accountable for boxing out. A lot of games were lost last season due to all the 2nd chance opportunities they were giving up because of both the bigs and perimeter players failing to get their body in between their man and the rim. Standing around hoping the ball will fall in your hands is no way to go after rebounds. I hope that JC and the staff really make next season's team accountable for the little things like we used to see in the past. Rarely did teams outwork and out-will a JC coached team. How often have we heard the past few years the players say, "
they wanted it more than we did!" If I hear that again this coming season, I swear I'm going to put my foot through the TV. You'd never hear that from KO when he played. Never from KEA or Ricky. I seem to remember hearing those types of words as far back as the team that lost to George Mason. I hope to see JC kick the crap out of that type of work ethic this upcoming season and until we get to see KO at the helm, if ever, we won't know if he is able to get the out-will and outwork you type of effort out of his players.
Whoever take over, I want the following:
Good Xs & Os game time coach who knows what adjustments to make throughout the game.
Good motivator that gets his players to outwork and out-will their opponent
Good teacher of the game that is both good at individual and team development. Part of the individual development is getting his coaches to teach what he wants and/or making sure he has coaches that are good at teaching what each player needs to do to succeed at their position based on their specific skill sets.
Good with the alumni & press
Good recruiter/closer
I'm sure there are other traits. I think Ollie could be good at most of the above, but until he gets the chance we just don't know. Also note that there are no guarantees that a successful mid-major coach will exceed in all these things at the high major level. JC has been very good most of the time and on a consistent basis over the years. He's obviously improved as a coach as time's gone on. Lately, I do wonder about how he and his staff is doing with teaching all the positions, especially the post players. Seems the improvement with the bigs lately has been lacking, but how much of that has to do with the players and how much the coaches, I don't know. Also, I do wonder about the team teaching. Seems last season they failed to make adjustments. If you believe they were running the right stuff, then you have to wrestle with the issue of them showing little to no improvement, even regressing, in their execution of what they were running as the season went on. Their offense was brutal to watch at times.
