I have never heard Jay so lifeless and subdued.

(02-02-2022 09:12 PM)RodShaw2 Wrote:  I have never heard Jay so lifeless and subdued.

Yes he is pretty much where we are now. What can he say? We play no defense and expect to win down the stretch. Every game the same story.

(02-02-2022 09:04 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  

(02-02-2022 08:57 PM)RodShaw2 Wrote:  It is like watching the same game over and over.

It *is* fitting that today is "Groundhog Day". <----- (gallows humor)

You are correct !

(02-02-2022 09:13 PM)bucs77 Wrote:  I'm ready for a change.

First home tennis match Friday against Presbyterian at the Bristol Racquet Club.

Well, you know, it is hard to win on the road Jay.

Well this hire was definitely a blunder. We cannot guard anyone and the offense is playground offense

So it's Oliver's fault he inherited a totally broken , half of a team. It's Olivers fault the recruiting season was all but over when he took the job. It's Oliver's fault Silas and Vonnie quit, after they committed to play this season.

The game tonight was a replay of what we saw last year and this year. Ladarius, Ty and Webber play no D. Lardarius is a reliable scorer, Ty is super athletic but has no definite position. He doesn't do anything consistently good. Both Brewers are turnover machines. Webber is a good kid but has no D1 skills.

Just think about the lack of D, turnovers and dumb fouls the Brewers committed tonight. I'm not putting all the blame on them, Oliver, like any coach, any worker, any supervisor, makes mistakes but they contribute by far the most mistakes and they repeat them game after game

This team is averaging over 80 pts in their last four losses. Plenty of points to win every game but the lack of D, the turnovers and dumb fouls from the Brewers kill the Bucs. They have very little basketball IQ.

You can blame Oliver all you want but I see the same players make the same mistakes every game. All of the players go through a breakdown of their play after each game. They are shown what they did right and wrong. The coaches work with these players everday to help them improve but it's obvious to anyone who really knows basketball that the coaching staff didn't call for a 40 ft 3pt attempt with plenty of clock left and only a 2 pt deficit. The coaching staff didn't tell Ladarius to drive in the lane and try to jump between two defenders and throw up a completely off balance shot that didn't draw iron, again with only a 2 pt deficit. The coaching staff didn't tell Ty to shove a defender 50 ft away from the goal and get a foul and a turnover that led to a 3pt shot that put Western in a postion to win.That dumb foul was a 5 or 6 point turnaround. I could point out plenty more unforced turnovers but if you watched the game tonight you saw losing the ball time and time again. You saw dumb fouls. You saw Western get uncontested rebounds, wide open shots and guards driving right to the rim for easy layups. These problems have plagued the Bucs this season and last season.

If you think Oliver and the entire coaching staff plus last years coaching staff are doing nothing to try to alleviate these problems, well I've got some prime swamp land for a bargain price.

Nobody wants the Bucs to win more than I do but let's be realistic. This team is short handed and players are playing out of postion but they have been very competitive. Its bonehead play that's costing the Bucs dearly.

(02-02-2022 11:34 PM)Buc76 Wrote:  So it's Oliver's fault he inherited a totally broken , half of a team. It's Olivers fault the recruiting season was all but over when he took the job. It's Oliver's fault Silas and Vonnie quit, after they committed to play this season.

The game tonight was a replay of what we saw last year and this year. Ladarius, Ty and Webber play no D. Lardarius is a reliable scorer, Ty is super athletic but has no definite position. He doesn't do anything consistently good. Both Brewers are turnover machines. Webber is a good kid but has no D1 skills.

Just think about the lack of D, turnovers and dumb fouls the Brewers committed tonight. I'm not putting all the blame on them, Oliver, like any coach, any worker, any supervisor, makes mistakes but they contribute by far the most mistakes and they repeat them game after game

This team is averaging over 80 pts in their last four losses. Plenty of points to win every game but the lack of D, the turnovers and dumb fouls from the Brewers kill the Bucs. They have very little basketball IQ.

You can blame Oliver all you want but I see the same players make the same mistakes every game. All of the players go through a breakdown of their play after each game. They are shown what they did right and wrong. The coaches work with these players everday to help them improve but it's obvious to anyone who really knows basketball that the coaching staff didn't call for a 40 ft 3pt attempt with plenty of clock left and only a 2 pt deficit. The coaching staff didn't tell Ladarius to drive in the lane and try to jump between two defenders and throw up a completely off balance shot that didn't draw iron, again with only a 2 pt deficit. The coaching staff didn't tell Ty to shove a defender 50 ft away from the goal and get a foul and a turnover that led to a 3pt shot that put Western in a postion to win.That dumb foul was a 5 or 6 point turnaround. I could point out plenty more unforced turnovers but if you watched the game tonight you saw losing the ball time and time again. You saw dumb fouls. You saw Western get uncontested rebounds, wide open shots and guards driving right to the rim for easy layups. These problems have plagued the Bucs this season and last season.

If you think Oliver and the entire coaching staff plus last years coaching staff are doing nothing to try to alleviate these problems, well I've got some prime swamp land for a bargain price.

Nobody wants the Bucs to win more than I do but let's be realistic. This team is short handed and players are playing out of postion but they have been very competitive. Its bonehead play that's costing the Bucs dearly.

I am not putting all the blame on Oliver I have pointed out several times that the players keep doing stupid stuff down the stretch BUT that is on the coach as well.
For whatever reason they aren't buying in completely, they aren't listening, they don't seem to trust his coaching. So YEAH that is on him, a large part of his job is teaching his way of doing things and selling why it is important to do them. So no it is not all on him. But you bring up "Half a team" etc. We didn't lose the last 4 games and several others over a talent gap. We lost them over stupid decisions down the stretch both the players and the coaches. Light a fire, jerk a knot in their ass, whatever but get them to buy into your system otherwise we are going to keep having players decide to win it on their own.

Maybe part of the problem is LA, Ty, Sloan and Weber have had 3 or 4 coaches in their college careers. Same with Patterson and Adheke before they left.

Maybe Oliver needs to get "his" guys into the system. Who knows.

I was following my alma mater who was playing at the same time, so I was only able to catch a little of the end of the first half and the last minute or so. I was hopeful at the half and completely confused at the end. And even looking at the box score, it's not apparent how we lost. I thought WCU wasn't particularly strong in the post, so no one can really point to that.

Although I am grossly disappointed, Coach doesn't need to go now. I still like most of the players on the roster and wouldn't want them to go away either. This season most likely won't meet my expectations, but it's not enough justification to start over again. The problem with getting rid of a coach is that you have to have some reason to believe the replacement will be better. They do have to change a great deal in the attitude toward defense and find some help in the post. If Coach feels like a returning player isn't buying into his system, he should find a way to let them gracefully exit - no shame in that, particularly in today's transfer-happy environment.

To say a player doesn't trust the coach or doesn't buy in the system is the coach's fault. Don't agree at all. The same players committed the same mistakes, unforced turnovers and lazy D last year under a different coaching staff. All of us have seen this team come out of a timeout in a crucial time in the game and absolutely do crazy stuff. They didn't execute the play the coaches called.

These players have run the offensive plays at least 500 times, the same for D plays and if you pay close attention you will see Sloan and King time after time motioning or telling the same players to get in the right postion after getting the play from the coach. We see the same players leaving their man wide open, loafing down the court with their backs to the offense and give up an easy shot or layup because they didn't have any idea where the ball was. How many times has Ty just lost the ball, charged over a player on a fast break or just stood on the weak side defense and watched a guard drive down the lane and get an easy layup. How many times has Ladarious gone one on one and either lost the ball or put up a horrible shot. How many times have we seen Webber get way high in the lane, gets in the way of our guard trying to get thru a screen and winds up forcing our guard to switch to the big causing a mismatch and leaves the lane open for layups and uncontested rebounds. All these scenarios happen every game.

It has nothing to do with trusting the coaching staff. It's simply refusing to be a team player. Not doing whatever it takes to win, playing D, rebounding, fighting for loose balls, hustling back on D, executing the game plan.

Think about why a freshman is getting a lot of playing time. He's doing all the things that a team player does. He was a late arrival, missed a ton of practice and yet he's learned the defensive and offensive schemes, he plays plays hard every play, on both ends of the floor. He fights for reboundings postion, he doesn't turn the ball over, he doesn't take crazy shots, he helps on off side D, he does all the things that make him a team player. He's a coachable player that will do whatever it takes to win

Oliver and staff will bring in players that want to be winners. Players that will play hard and smart. Players that will do whatever they are asked to do to help the team win. Bucs have several players that fit a team player mentality but also have players that for whatever reason just go lone wolf, causing poor execution and giving our opponents undeserved advantages.

ETSU is 1 game out of tied for last place. When is the last time ETSU finished last place? Ever? If that happens this season, no excuses. Oliver wasn’t ready. You got to draw the line somewhere.

(02-03-2022 12:36 PM)Buc76 Wrote:  To say a player doesn't trust the coach or doesn't buy in the system is the coach's fault. Don't agree at all. The same players committed the same mistakes, unforced turnovers and lazy D last year under a different coaching staff. All of us have seen this team come out of a timeout in a crucial time in the game and absolutely do crazy stuff. They didn't execute the play the coaches called.


It has nothing to do with trusting the coaching staff. It's simply refusing to be a team player. Not doing whatever it takes to win, playing D, rebounding, fighting for loose balls, hustling back on D, executing the game plan.

.

I said all of these things BUT I disagree part of it is the coach's fault, His job is to coach and teach. If that isn't getting done properly that is partially on him, yeah the players are screwing up but he hasn't adapted either.
Plenty of blame to go around.

My burn to all down comment was only partially in jest.
We have a bunch of guys who have gone through some stuff.
Maybe they are burned out, Maybe they are done.
Let Oliver recruit, get his type of player in here, and see if he can teach them.
It will mean rebuilding and more lumps. Which I am sure will be fun since this board feels so entitled.

Sloan is on his 4th coach in college
LA 4th
Ty 3rd
Weber 3rd
Patterson 4th
Adheke 3rd
Maybe they are just over it.

(I think all these 1 year, He. needs to be fired now, no excuses. get rid of him or just stupid, short-sighted, over the top and reactionary so par for the course for those fan base.
Yeah four coaches in four years that will fix it.

Am I happy? No. Do I think lot of these responses are way over the top? Hell yeah.

My biggest fear is losing important pieces from this team.
Like I said I am afraid King might decide, hey this was a mistake, I am better than this and it the cupboard looks pretty bare next year.
I would hate to lose Yasser and Seymour, I see a lot of upside there.
Charles seems to be buried. Nunez hasn't shown me anything to get excited about.
At this point I kinda bleh about Weber he showed something but since the ankle he has reverted back to norm
and has lost minutes because of it.
From reports I would like to keep Strothers and Tipler.

The defense has been bad for a while, and for this game it was atrocious. Really, just terrible. Notably, the problems in Cullowhee had little to do with handling screens, and practically nothing to do with having no true center. Our off-ball defenders consistently sagged when not needed, and, critically, they sagged to the point they were unable to get back to guard their own man. Even worse, time after time we simply let our opponents drive right by us.

There are lots of problems on this team, but the top priority has to be learning to play defense. It's awfully late in the season (and in the careers of some of these players) to be learning the basics of defense, but that's where we're at.

As bad as it has been, Coach Oliver is going to get a pass for this year. There are too many variables out of his control to assign blame to him with any specificity. Unfortunately, I also can't point to any specific positives thus far.

I remember Chattanooga's first couple of years under Lamont Paris. The players on that team had been through multiple coaches, and the squad had been decimated by transfers. Those teams were simply outmanned when they played the Bucs, and that made it difficult to assess his coaching ability. But, his team played hard from the opening tip to the final horn. And, I viewed that as a very big positive.

It is all-important for Coach Oliver to keep this team motivated and playing hard from now until the final buzzer in March.