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Message: [QUOTE="SubbaBub, post: 3387474, member: 523"] There is a "winning" gene or a winner's mentality or whatever you want to call it. Some guys have it. They are willing to do the small things consistently everytime out, every day in practice. We have had these guys in the past whether they were All-American's or guys who did one thing particularly well, even if that thing was effort and hustle to make one meaning full contribution in the 2 mins/game they see the floor. And the back end of the Ollie era we were asking guys to do things they weren't capable of. I don't think there is any other explanation for this team losing to St Joes and USF than we don't have enough guy who are winners. If they didn't show up on campus with that trait, enough certainly didn't learn it in their time here. That's on Ollie breaking the chain of culture, the one reason to hire a former Calhoun player in the first place. Now it's up to Hurley to instill that. Can he do it? We don't know. He should have been around it based on his family, his father built a winning culture, but that was HS prep ball. He's not embracing the winner play and guys who keep making mistakes sit until they learn ethos of the Calhoun era. He is short or young in the positions that need the most work, but that isn't an excuse for bad losses. If I'm him, I still start AG or anyone else until they make the same mistake, then play the guys that are running the offense correctly and playing hard on defense. I'd have Adams on standby and give more minutes to Gaffney as he earns them. If that means moving CV to the point, that's what we have to do. If CV is taking plays off or taking too many heat check shots, in comes Bouk. If the freshmen, do too many freshman things, back to the bench. Same for Carlton, Polley, Akok, Whalley and Sid. That's 5 bodies up front even without playing bouk at the 3. Rotate, rotate, and adjust the sets accordingly. Carlton, Whalley, and Akok can all play minutes at the 5. Polley, Akok, and Whalley can all play minutes at the 4. Polley, CV, Bouk, and Adams can all play the 3. Hurley has versitility. He has no reason to stick so rigidly to a set rotation that appears to have a sole objective of stealing a few minutes rest before TV timeouts. Hurley needs to better there. Half way through the season and 0-2 in conference, no one's feelings should be hurt being held accountable for their performances to date. If they are, they don't belong here. There is a winning combination on the roster, I'm sure of it. It's just not roll out the most "talented" players and work in their backups for 40 minutes. It's watching what's working and not working then adjusting. That too is on Hurley. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach