"Bare" Wisdom...

[Snapshot9]

Well, Knapp was calling all our players 'boy' before the game was over. He pretty much, 'owned' us.

[ShockTalk]

Cooks leads MSU in scoring, rebounding, and steals. He plays over 30 minutes a game and is .727 from the line. Would be nice to have a Senior on our squad that could do that. Just might take a load of others, especially underclassmen, and allow everyone to progress without the pressures I'm sure they're all feeling right now. What would the Shox be like as a team right now with a player like that? Well, we don't, so lets hope our Shox get it together. Right now, all I want to see is some fire in their bellies and smiles on their faces. At this time, this may be the biggest step in the right direction for the team.

[C0|dB|00ded]

What TNMSUFAN's theory doesn't take into account is how competitive Winthrop was out of conference in Marshall's last two years there.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/teams/schedule?teamId=2737&year=2006

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/teams/...2737&year=2007

I fully understand that Winthrop was competitive outside of their conference. So was the MVC as a whole over that period. If GG had players as good as any MVC team than he should have been competitive as well.

And if there is any advantage that could be spoken of being down in Winthrop, it would be that he is surrounded by an absolute recruiting hot-bed. There are tons and tons of highly athletic, black athletes on his doorstep to choose from. All he needs to do is nab a few that don't want to go too far from home or the "problem kids" that the other larger universities don't want to touch.

I don't think there is a coach in the MVC that doesn't have a firm grasp of the X's and O's of basketball. If given a full roster of highly talented, mature players, there isn't a coach that wouldn't be able to parlay that situation into a top 3 or 4 finish in the MVC.

The difference lies in a coaches management skills, and quite frankly, his understanding of the human condition. Here is another "Bare" opinion that I find interesting:

You can recruit all you want, but if you can't be a good in-game coach, you're just not gonna win very many games.

I said this over on BNation, I would hate to play for Marshall, he's constantly attacking his players, screaming at them even after he's taken them out of the game. I mean, I understand that coaches get upset some times, but holy crap, they're just kids.

Last year we discussed a possibility that our MT-recruited players just weren't tough enough to handle GG's style of coaching and eventually melted down under the pressure. Well, this year he has a lot of his own "tougher" players and they seem to be responding just as poorly to tough love as well.

Could it be that GG just doesn't handle losing very well? And by saying that I mean, could he have a problem separating his personal emotions from the actual duties of his job? A good coach yells, screams, and hollers when it is effective to do so. Could GG be yelling, screaming, and hollering, when it's effective and also when he just wants to let off some steam? The latter will reap dire consequences with kids (that aren't his own).


Look, we are going to get better, there is no way GG is going to keep us in the cellar. That would be the biggest coaching bust in the history of college basketball. However, there is a looooooooooooooooooong way from where we are right now and a MVC Championship.

It's amazing to say this with some of the recruits we have signed, but my stomach tells me that at this very moment, we are further from that Valley Championship than we have been in a very long while. I had such high hopes that this year I would see real improvement in the team. But after the deplorable state I currently see the program in, I feel that it is more likely that I will be disappointed next year than positively surprised. It doesn't make sense with what we have coming back and what is coming in but my faith in GG is severely shaken. Is it too much to ask for .500 in GG's 3rd year? :whistle: :roll:

I'm sorry but if we are looking at year four as the season we hit .500 it is ****-can time!


T


...8)

[GoShockers89]

Yep, no doubt about it, Marshall was a fantastic coach at Winthrop.

[jocoshock]

Marshall took over a program where the cupboards were bare. What little leadership the team had left last year. Ramon is the closet thing we had to a leader this year, and it takes more than one to guide young players.

The players HCGM has recruited, in my opinion, hare higher caliber than Turgeon's, but there are not sufficient veterans on the team to mentor or for them to pattern themselves after.

HCGM will get us there, but it will take a little longer. These kids have to grow up the hard way, but when they do....
8)

[SpanglerFan316]

Marshall took over a program where the cupboards were bare. What little leadership the team had left last year. Ramon is the closet thing we had to a leader this year, and it takes more than one to guide young players.

The players HCGM has recruited, in my opinion, hare higher caliber than Turgeon's, but there are not sufficient veterans on the team to mentor or for them to pattern themselves after.

HCGM will get us there, but it will take a little longer. These kids have to grow up the hard way, but when they do....
8)

I dislike posts that are overly critical and posts that are "pollyanna." The problem with "These kids have to grow up the hard way, but when they do...." is that most of them don't have to stay. I'll bet KSU would take GS or TM, for example.

I don't know HCGM but if I were as competitive as he seems to be and was losing like this, I might find a bottle or take up a martial art or do something else to relieve the stress. I wouldn't want to be a D1 MBB coach.

I'm trying to walk a middle path here. I have not given up on GM; the talent he brings in looks great on paper. You can see the potential in GS. TM is good. On the other hand, with the height and shooting ability demonstrated occasionally last year, how can AE be so bad? Also AJ? How can the ship be righted?

I want players to develop so next year is better. I don't like the way GM seems to treat his players. I love the passion GM brings to the game but I wish he would learn to control it. (Not saying Bobby Knight but ...) The WSU AD is a very people-oriented person; one has to wonder what he is thinking when he sees GM go off on players in games (e.g. grabbing a player's jersey and yanking him to get the player to look at him). Everyone gives GM a pass for last year because of injuries, a death and being shorthanded. Even though I'm a big fan of Shocker baseball and Shocker volleyball, I can't help but hope that the MBB and WBB teams have success; I'm frustrated by our basketball teams right now.