Prototypical BY - you left out the context to distort the meaning - you can get a job in the media!
Prototypical BY - you left out the context to distort the meaning - you can get a job in the media!
Quite frankly, Steve has good soft hands, strength and adequate speed/quickness. A big, strong body with soft hands is rare with a big and that's why so many experienced elite coaches made the assessment to go after him despite his underperformance at UConn.
No doubt Steve had something to work with, but Coaches can't make the player 'work'. Lebron James is super talented and has a work ethic 2nd to none. Kevin Ollie's NBA work ethic and dedication is legendary but even he can't transmit that to his college players. Furthermore HS does not prepare kids for D1, and many All Staters come to schools expecting to produce based on 'yesterday' only to find out they are true freshman.
If Enoch, Vital (or insert any name with talent) puts in the work results will follow. What's mind boggling to me is that any 7 footer with basketball skills has an opportunity to become a millionaire, its a matter of how much they invest in their craft. Yet they don't improve or even positively make adjustments (now coaching does affect this).
What I will say is that HOF Calhoun made you work or you weren't going to play (hence ruining your NBA dreams). I'd be curious to know how many transfers out of Calhoun's system made it to the NBA.
Not saying Ollie is soft, he had no options/leverage with a depleted roster and the Senior Boatright team was a tragic situation. However this season I expect Ollie to be a mean SOB with increased demands. Each position has a backup, so no tolerance for lack of effort/work. Looking forward to a change in direction for our basketball program.
From what I understand many guys thought he was a mean SOB last season and at least for him it did not work well. Granted, another standard seemed to apply to Purvis and Brimah and that also had consequences.
From what I understand many guys thought he was a mean SOB last season and at least for him it did not work well. Granted, another standard seemed to apply to Purvis and Brimah and that also had consequences.
Chief called you on that and now it's all a joke.
Prototypical BY - you left out the context to distort the meaning - you can get a job in the media!
"We worked Steven out and right away anytime you say a kid was a top-40 player in high school, didn't play at UConn and he's a great person, something just didn't make sense," Pitino said. "We were blown away by his aggressiveness and shooting ability.
I don't believe anything coming out of Pitino's mouth but I do get the feeling we're going to hear a lot about Enoch when he's eligible to play.
We probably would have heard a lot about him if he stayed, too... if he asked Ollie to let him red shirt a year, worked his butt off at UConn for the next 12 months, and then spent two years playing as our starting center I'm sure he would have ended up a fantastic college player like Adrien. Pitino implicating another coach as the reason Enoch didn't succeed, even if doing so subtly, isn't the best form."We worked Steven out and right away anytime you say a kid was a top-40 player in high school, didn't play at UConn and he's a great person, something just didn't make sense," Pitino said. "We were blown away by his aggressiveness and shooting ability.
"We came away with the conclusion that UConn just went with almost like if we had Mangok (Mathiang) and Anas (Mahmoud) and we went with Anas even though we knew Mangok was a good player. So they went with a defensive guy and not the offensive guy."
UConn transfer Steven Enoch turns into a major addition for Louisville basketball team
I don't believe anything coming out of Pitino's mouth but I do get the feeling we're going to hear a lot about Enoch when he's eligible to play.
ALL the younger players got more minutes than any of them dreamed of last OctoberCare to elaborate? Did the younger players think that Purvis and Brimah got to play through mistakes, while they were benched instead?
If that's the case, not a smart calculation on KO's part.
"We worked Steven out and right away anytime you say a kid was a top-40 player in high school, didn't play at UConn and he's a great person, something just didn't make sense," Pitino said. "We were blown away by his aggressiveness and shooting ability.
"We came away with the conclusion that UConn just went with almost like if we had Mangok (Mathiang) and Anas (Mahmoud) and we went with Anas even though we knew Mangok was a good player. So they went with a defensive guy and not the offensive guy."
UConn transfer Steven Enoch turns into a major addition for Louisville basketball team
I don't believe anything coming out of Pitino's mouth but I do get the feeling we're going to hear a lot about Enoch when he's eligible to play.
No argument that he has the tools to play. He just didn't do it at UConn and it wasn't because the defenses were too complex. He got beat on simple 1 on 1 matchups regularly. It doesn't get more simple than that. I have to believe that it was more desire to play D than anything else. We've had bigs with much less talent who managed to at least challenge their man. Steve didn't do that very often.I remain an idiot then because I very much think the the dude can play. Additionally, my argument has never been solely that we did not use him right - although true that's a part of it. We basically did not have a functioning S&C program for Bigs and our Bigs coaching was nonexistent. We also changed defenses last season like a Chinese fire drill and more often than not different guys were playing different defenses at the same time. Hopefully, with the staff changes we will see improvements in those areas but it remains to be seen if Carlos is really our Bigs coach behind the scenes?
Quite frankly, Steve has good soft hands, strength and adequate speed/quickness. A big, strong body with soft hands is rare with a big and that's why so many experienced elite coaches made the assessment to go after him despite his underperformance at UConn. These guys are not idiots - they get paid millions to evaluate/recruit talent and win games.
He can seal a guy, catch the ball and put up a nice soft shot. No question the kid can be a rebounding machine and I think his defensive problems were more playing mentally slow than anything physical. Coach Miller's defenses were overly complex and all our Bigs often looked confused. I think Pitno will simplify things in comparison so Steve will be able to play at game speed.
I hope this helps. Good luck to your aunt next season.
We will see - I can't argue he needs more fire on the belly.No argument that he has the tools to play. He just didn't do it at UConn and it wasn't because the defenses were too complex. He got beat on simple 1 on 1 matchups regularly. It doesn't get more simple than that. I have to believe that it was more desire to play D than anything else. We've had bigs with much less talent who managed to at least challenge their man. Steve didn't do that very often.
We needed Enoch to play a lot last year and why? development sure, but he was our future center. Let him play, develop and make mistakes, it takes floor time especially after those devastating injuries happened. Our season was toasted so there was nothing to lose at that point. Watching Brimah go out there in games and be the same ineffective player had to piss him off, and of course his father would play on that. Especially when he knew how much better he was offensively. We saw his capabilities, and forget about statistics because when you play 12 minutes a game those numbers are meaningless. KO cast his lot, lord knows why and we are left to cobble together some kind of front court. Enoch is a kid who wants what most kids who transfer wanted, PT. KO poisoned that well for him. I understand Pitino's quotes.
We needed Enoch to play a lot last year and why? development sure, but he was our future center. Let him play, develop and make mistakes, it takes floor time especially after those devastating injuries happened. Our season was toasted so there was nothing to lose at that point. Watching Brimah go out there in games and be the same ineffective player had to piss him off, and of course his father would play on that. Especially when he knew how much better he was offensively. We saw his capabilities, and forget about statistics because when you play 12 minutes a game those numbers are meaningless. KO cast his lot, lord knows why and we are left to cobble together some kind of front court. Enoch is a kid who wants what most kids who transfer wanted, PT. KO poisoned that well for him. I understand Pitino's quotes.
We needed Enoch to play a lot last year and why? development sure, but he was our future center. Let him play, develop and make mistakes, it takes floor time especially after those devastating injuries happened. Our season was toasted so there was nothing to lose at that point. Watching Brimah go out there in games and be the same ineffective player had to piss him off, and of course his father would play on that. Especially when he knew how much better he was offensively. We saw his capabilities, and forget about statistics because when you play 12 minutes a game those numbers are meaningless. KO cast his lot, lord knows why and we are left to cobble together some kind of front court. Enoch is a kid who wants what most kids who transfer wanted, PT. KO poisoned that well for him. I understand Pitino's quotes.
Lead a horse to water.....Play Enoch over Brimah and we go 9-23. That's not fair to the other players who are working their asses off. The question is why couldn't KO and Glen Miller motivate Enoch to play defense, not whether the demotivated Enoch we saw should get more playing time.
Lead a horse to water.....