Last night was the first time all year that I’ve been legitimately worried about the direction of our program due to the man at the top. All year I’ve dismissed the struggles of the team to being young and going through growth pains. That is, untill I watched us get dismanted at home by a Mountain West team that is even younger and more inexperienced than we are. Hell, I may have even understood this loss a little better in November, but certainly not in mid March.
All I wanted coach K to do after the game is to acknowledge his disappointment in being a one-and-done in the PAC12 tourney AND the NIT. I wanted to hear him acknowledge that he is not happy with the obvious regression of the team. I wanted to hear him acknowlege how much work he has to do in the offseason to get this team where it needs to be.
Instead, we heard how we were good for 32 minutes of the game (seriously?!?!…what game was he watching?!?! The game I watched we didn’t suck for about half of the game, then we flat out sucked for the other half. We played “good” for about 4 minutes. Gotta keep in mind the level of competition we were going against). We also heard how finishing fourth in the conference made the season a success and that it “didn’t end with a thud.” Umm…I’m pretty sure how we’ve played the last few games is the textbook definition of ending with a thud.
Coach K needs to take a page from Whitt’s coaching philosophy, which would lead to the following conclusions:
– If there are chemistry issues on the team, it falls on the head coach to fix it
– If there are leadership issues on the team, if falls on the head coach to fix it
– If the team can’t figure out how to inbounds the basketball, it falls on the head coach to fix it
– If the team hasn’t recruited enough talent, it falls on the head coach to fix it
– If the team shoots below 60% from the free throw line, it falls on the head coach to fix it
– If the team peaks in January and then sharply regresses from there to the end of the season, it falls on the head coach to fix it
– If the team is disinterested, disorganized, or lacks effort, it falls on the head coach to fix it
– If the team experiences a massive number of transfers every offseason, it falls on the head coach to fix it
Etc. Etc. Etc.
Yes, a lot falls on the head coach. But that is why he gets paid some seriously big bucks. Whitt understands this concept very well. He always acknowledges the deficiencies that exist on the team and shoulders the blame for poor results. For me personally, I find it far easier to cope with a negative outcome when the coach is willing to acknowledge problem areas. As a fan, it gives me confidence that the coach has diagnosed the problems and is at least willing to try to fix them. I didn’t feel any such assurances from Coach K after last night’s game.
I’m not panicking, but I am worried. It will be a telling sign to see if another exodus of transfers occurs within the next two months.
I will say this…if we’re not back in the NCAA tournament after next season then there is probably a good case that a change at the top is needed for our program.
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