Interesting perspective on the upset comments. Hadn’t thought much about that, but yes, think of the big Rick years. SO many upsets over very good teams. I attended nearly every home game of Rick’s entire tenure and watched nearly every road game. Rick game-planned like a madman and knew how to shut down every team’s offensive strength and/or every team’s best player. We don’t do that now. You shared some of my thoughts there.
Discipline?
My other observations have to do with the discipline of the team, which has been mediocre at best since the beginning of the LK era. By discipline I refer to things like playing solid smart defense, running actual offensive plays, screening, executing proper inboud plays (not throwing it away, improved this year), not turning the ball over etc. Coach K teams seem prone to turnovers, mental mistakes, like not knowing to shoot a 3 pointer instead of a 2, with no time left when you are down three. The current Utes don’t seem to learn not to do these things during the course of the season.
Improvement?
In fact, there isn’t much improvement team-wise over the seasons. Sure some players improve a bit, but Rick’s teams made huge improvements, like they were being taught and learning the game and strategies all the time. To the contrary, the football team does improve.
Attitude?
I also don’t feel like a LK team cares much if they win or lose. In the post game some after the loss last night players were laughing and smiling like it was no different than any other game. You just got a beatdown by your “rival.” Does that mean anything?
Yea we may all be sore after a loss like this, but these issues I’m pointing out are not just from last night. I hate to compare LK to Rick. That’s a bit unfair. Rick was like a basketball savant. Larry is good. Best we’ve had since the Majerus era, but perhaps this is as good as it is going to get.
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