Yeah Enoch sucks so bad that HOFer Rick Pitino decided to tie up a scholarship for 3 years with him. He must be unequivocally awful. And Durham is so clearly horrible that Mike Brey and other ACC coaches are interested. Cleary he is completely lazy and will never get better.
Everyone else always finds a way to defend KO and rip the players so at least I'm trying to add balance! And I wasn't blaming the coaches mau. I fully acknowledged Durhams flaws.
So we have Enoch, Durham, and VJ leaving because they don't see this as a great place to develop. And you could add Brimah and Facey as two guys who showed potential but never really came close to maximizing it. And you and so many posters are so quick to just blame them. Durham, Enoch, Jackson, Brimah. They all stink right? Nobody was raving about the Durham signing and excited Enoch's potential.
That's 5 guys. 5 different players. 3 different classes.
What is the only constant in all of this? KO and the coaches. But no, they certainly couldn't have anything to do with it. come on.
Clearly both parties deserve blame in all of this. But so far all I see on this board is people ripping these kids and calling them lazy, soft etc.
Well that seems to be a theme with our players. Wonder whose job it is to correct that?
I appreciate your view but I have one question - are/were you able to be with the team at all the practices and attend all their 1 on 1 sessions with the coaches? Do you know their practice attitude, level of participation and their ability to accept critique and work on their weaknesses? I haven't and wasn't but I have coached athletes for 30 years and you can tell a lot from body language and other character traits and all 5 you mentioned have displayed (in fairness to KF, not his senior year) a somewhat lackadaisical and emotionless attitude.
In the case of Brimah - I am convinced the guy just didn't work on the basics and without that, based on his limited playing experience, he never improved. He needed to want to work on the footwork, hand strength, leg strength - this is stuff an individual needs to set up as a regiment - it doesn't look like he did. He needed to go beyond shot blocking. If you think that the coaches didn't try to work on these areas - you are wrong. AB was a project to start. He showed more emotion and hunger on the sidelines than on the court
VJ received more playing time than he would ever have dreamed about. He has slow feet and is soft on man to man D. He has shown the ability to have a good outside shooting game but a shooter can't be afraid to shoot. I know for a fact, from my season ticket seats, that KO, R Moore and Killings would plead with the kid to take the open shot and we all saw VJ opt out too many times. Someone who wants a more viable presence/role on the floor doesn't do that. His handle was/is very suspect to have the ball in his hands as a primary handler. I can't say he didn't show emotion because at times he was very much into it but other times he appeared unattached. I think this a case where he and/or his father are thinking he is something that he may not be.
SE has the offensive skills but is the typical big guy who was the biggest guy in high school and didn't play a speck of defense. He never learned the basics and the needs footwork and bodywork to gain an edge. To be blunt - the guy has cement boots. Quickness is nearly impossible to teach and nearly every time that he came out for lack of D, I witnessed KO, KFree and GMiller talking to him and demonstrating movements and blocking out - it never sunk in. Again, he looks good at times on the offensive end but his defensive skill set is dismal at best. He appeared detached while sitting on the bench and one of the last to join the huddle. It's hard to play a kid who can score sporadically but gives up more due to his defense inabilities.
Durham is a completely different case - he was/is damaged goods but KO stuck to his commitment. He rarely practiced due to injuries and illness. He displayed glimpses of brilliance and a high skill set but was very tentative. Probably should have been redshirt but the lack of numbers and persistence on JD's part - it didn't happen. IMHO he owed much more to KO and the team than to turn his back and run away - that hurts
KF got lost in the numbers game his 1st three years and reports of not being a good practice player. He woke up over the summer and we all saw what could have been. Unfortunately he wasn't able to handle all the switching and double teaming that teams threw at him in the last part of the season and he somewhat regressed but he did show he could play a solid game. This is one case where I think the coaching staff, perhaps, could have done more.
No one likes to lose players. I don't think KO and the staff want to lose players. I have been to several practices and I can tell you that KO and the coaches are very involved and work on a number of things. If it's a case of personality conflict - I have no clue.
Sometimes kids, while they are the BMOC in high school, confront opposing players in D1 who are bigger/stronger/more physical, they become timid and that turns into soft. It's hard to gauge that in recruitment because these kids play in the same age groups growing up. I do think that KO and staff need to look for some players who have a physical presence vs the skilled only so it doesn't always seem to look like it boys vs men.
I think Pitino took SE because he wants a big body for his quality big men to go against in practice and with hopes that he just might develop as a role player in future years. Brey is looking at JD as a future project and would not surprise if he redshirts down the road.
