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Message: [QUOTE="Hans Sprungfeld, post: 4514770, member: 181"] I regard the team's woes as more mental & emotional than physical. I do not dispute that the games' results show up in the physical realm. Many of the venting comments ND my responses to them are in the mental & emotional realms. I highlight them and discuss them critically because I find them exhausting, just as you report finding my posts exhausting. That gives us some common ground. Many of my posts seek to draw the connection between the fans excessively adopting a negative posture and the negative posture's impact on small & large scale media. I consider The Boneyard small-scale media. I believe that the negative impacts overflow and negatively affect the coaches and players. Even those who find such an assertion preposterous should be able to see a consistency within my posts that bears out this point of view. Because you have asked, I'll respond to a basketball specific that I've posted on before. I believe that Newton needs to drive to the basket hard in order to get himself started or unstuck. He has prior history and now history at UConn to call upon. I (and others) have highlighted meaningful differences in performance statistics in games when he does not get to the foul line vs. games when he does. Last night, I disliked a second half shifts when he made his first timid dump-off (a sloppy turnover), and later when he took a shot where he stopped himself a put up a weak semi-floater. Both of those occurred after UConn had cut the huge deficit, but not taken the lead. Soon afterward, Xavier built back an 11-point edge. I hated it. I've only seen posters mention his dragged-foot travel as among the several key lapses in the closing minutes of the game. Within Newton's 23-point performance (w/9-12 FT shooting), those two plays looked like he was either poorly coached to redirect away from going strong to the basket OR that wasn't corrected back to his prior success doing so. They were drags on momentum at key juncture. Later, he DID have a successful kickout for a made 3 by Hawkins, but that was a confident pass. I don't have time to offer more now, but I appreciated the particularity of your post. Please note that I have no inclination to expand what I just wrote into any version of, "That's why the sky is falling and we suck. It's the same old crap, and this coach ain't getting it done and never will." First of all, that's an exaggerated set of escalating claims, probably what has been described as a hijacked amygdala, and which operates against emotional intelligent responsiveness. I truly don't think it's helpful, but instead is harmful, and it can be self-perpetuating. I've made note of posters who focus on Hurley's susceptibility to such suboptimal management of emotional resources without recognizing that they do pretty much the same thing. It's neither fully satisfying nor nourishing to point out the irony, but it's there for anyone who wants to fine-tune their negative energy. Thank you for reaching out and creating an opening for genuine engagement. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach