Paul Mills Not Hot Seat

[Stickboy46]

Honestly, I understand the frustration, as I have it too. And while this will be an unpopular view on SN, I have seen improvement, but its not benn used consistently. Last night was a prime example. 1st half we had players cutting, players making good passes, active defense. 2nd half, they just threw that out the window and went back to dribble, dribble throw it at the rim. I highly doubt that was PMs plan coming out of a successful 1st half.
That being said I do fault him for not making mass substitutions to correct the problem, and mass ass chewing. As far as Ballards PT last night, it really is a mystery, but I don't know the details of why he made that choice. Was there a health issue?
But I stand by the statement I made a month ago. Question his ability to lead us where we want to be , teetering yes. Call for his head, no.

I just really wonder why its very consistently that our 2nd halves of games go to complete crap. Its not a one off or here and there. The only time it doesn't go to crap is when the other team manages to out-crap us (i.e. Tulsa). That's my biggest concern. One sign of good coaching is strong second halves after making adjustments at halftime. We don't have that.

Its also hard to say it wasn't his plan, when the players that made the first half successful didn't get on the floor.

[shock-it-to-me]

I just really wonder why its very consistently that our 2nd halves of games go to complete crap. Its not a one off or here and there. The only time it doesn't go to crap is when the other team manages to out-crap us (i.e. Tulsa). That's my biggest concern. One sign of good coaching is strong second halves after making adjustments at halftime. We don't have that.

Its also hard to say it wasn't his plan, when the players that made the first half successful didn't get on the floor.

Well, one clue may be the different 2nd half starting lineup? Warts and all, Cortes needs more time at point. Bell backing up at the 2. And obviously way more Ballard. Doubt we'll get any one those things though

[Stickboy46]

Well, one clue may be the different 2nd half starting lineup? Warts and all, Cortes needs more time at point. Bell backing up at the 2. And obviously way more Ballard. Doubt we'll get any one those things though

I'm not sold on Cortes. He works well with Ballard .. but that's about it. Cortes is a walking turnover unless he can just chuck the ball up to the rim in the hopes that Ballard can bring it home. It works REALLY well with Ballard on the floor ... It doesn't work at all with him off the floor as no one else has that skill set. Then Cortes is just a well below average PG. He's awful on the defensive end.

Bell has his own problems for sure though. Gotta find a way to keep Ballard on the floor.

[BostonWu]

I'm not sold on Cortes. He works well with Ballard .. but that's about it. Cortes is a walking turnover unless he can just chuck the ball up to the rim in the hopes that Ballard can bring it home. It works REALLY well with Ballard on the floor ... It doesn't work at all with him off the floor as no one else has that skill set. Then Cortes is just a well below average PG. He's awful on the defensive end.

Bell has his own problems for sure though. Gotta find a way to keep Ballard on the floor.

Agreed. We're not going to win with either at PG. Mills needs to bring in two ready to go PGs next season. One of which should come from the juco ranks.

[asiseeit]

Don't like what I have seen thus far but willing to see how transfers and recruiting goes. I am very skeptical of his in game coaching ability and that is important. His current scheme is NOT working which is why I'd like to see him shake things up by playing QB and KP together and pound pound pound it inside repeatedly like we did the first half yesterday. If he has the stamina I would agree QB needs to be playing 25 minutes a game. KP should have the other 15 with another 10-15 at PF. No question the time the two are in together 3-2 Zone keeping both no farther out than eight feet on each side. XB should start and BC have limited minutes with a short string based on his turnover rate.

[rjl]

I'm not sold on Cortes. He works well with Ballard .. but that's about it. Cortes is a walking turnover unless he can just chuck the ball up to the rim in the hopes that Ballard can bring it home. It works REALLY well with Ballard on the floor ... It doesn't work at all with him off the floor as no one else has that skill set. Then Cortes is just a well below average PG. He's awful on the defensive end.

Bell has his own problems for sure though. Gotta find a way to keep Ballard on the floor.

Well, coincidence of all coincidences, Ballard needs a lot more time, too.

All these on-the-fly adjustments (Cortes is the hot hand, Ballard is doing better this game, etc.) sound great, but damn if I know why Paul Mills doesn't see it.

[Atxshoxfan]

I just really wonder why its very consistently that our 2nd halves of games go to complete crap. Its not a one off or here and there. The only time it doesn't go to crap is when the other team manages to out-crap us (i.e. Tulsa). That's my biggest concern. One sign of good coaching is strong second halves after making adjustments at halftime. We don't have that.

Its also hard to say it wasn't his plan, when the players that made the first half successful didn't get on the floor.

As far as the player rotation, I agree. As far as second half issues, it's totally a culture issue and will not be resolved until you get team leaders who know how to win.

[Stickboy46]

As far as the player rotation, I agree. As far as second half issues, it's totally a culture issue and will not be resolved until you get team leaders who know how to win.

Agree to disagree on the 2nd part. Its without a doubt a coaching issue when the team consistently falls apart in the 2nd half. The biggest "team leader" is the coach.

[Atxshoxfan]

Agree to disagree on the 2nd part. Its without a doubt a coaching issue when the team consistently falls apart in the 2nd half. The biggest "team leader" is the coach.

Don't mean to piss you and others off, but as evidence, I give you Sark year 1 at Texas. The best team leaders are players, I give you FVV, X, Antoine.

[Stickboy46]

Don't mean to piss you and others off, but as evidence, I give you Sark year 1 at Texas. The best team leaders are players, I give you FVV, X, Antoine.

Not gonna comment on Texas football because I don't follow college football.... but FVV, X, Antoine all had pretty darn good coaches .... some would say they were great team leaders ...

[shoxlax]

What’s between warm and scald your balls hot?

[rjl]

Don't mean to piss you and others off, but as evidence, I give you Sark year 1 at Texas. The best team leaders are players, I give you FVV, X, Antoine.

Sark had the history of being a successful D1 head coach at Washington and USC before he drank that away. When not a D1 head coach, he was an assistant under Norm Chow, Pete Carroll, and Nick Saban. While at Alabama, he coached Mac Jones and Tua. Sark also had huge NIL money to lure in some good players.

In other words, Sark had the resume to calm some nerves and the resources to do something about year one and bring in some talent that would fill any coaching holes that he had.

Mills has the resume of a few good years based on a few players who should not have been in the Summit League. He was also third or fourth fiddle on a Baylor team.

I certainly hope you are right and Mills pulls a Sark, but that seems pretty optimistic.

[rjl]

Here is where I'm at right now and why I'm feeling so dejected.

Say you get a hot stock tip on a "surefire thing." You put $10,000 in the stock and hope for the best, but within a year it's down 50%. Now you've got $5,000.

Here's the thing. In year two you don't just need 50% gains to get back where you started. That's only $7,500. No, in year two you need 100% gains, and 100% gains just gets you back to $10,000.

This team is at a point where the "percentage" improvement needs to be DRASTIC just to get to the point where it's decent. And all those other first-year head coaches in this league will presumably be improving too. Can we out improve them? Is that the rock bottom metric that we are using now?

[1972Shocker]

I am beginning to feel that Paul Mills and Isaac Brown, while having two distinctively different personal styles and different approaches to how he game is coached and played, may prove to be very similar in that they are both very good assistant coaches but just not head coaching material. It is costing WSU an awful lot of money and perhaps the viability of their entire athletic department to discover that.

Once Golden/Boatright pummeled the program and put it on the ropes, Wichita State had no margin for error with the transfer portal, NIL and realignment making things even more dicey in making a recovery. In fact, one might argue the getting rid of 3G was strike one. Hiring Isaac Brown especially with the sweetheart, nonsensical contract they gave him was strike two. AKDS has elected to go to bat with Paul Mills needing a clutch home run badly. At this point HCPM is down in the count 0-1 and it doesn't look like he is seeing the pitches very well. I guess the next pitch will be the roster reconstruction that should be coming this spring and summer.

[Maizerunner08]

Someone will be the scapegoat. Look for some assistant coaches to “find other opportunities” in the offseason.