This program has major issues right now

[TheOCUte]

Defense generally comes down to effort and want to and in a game like tonight where Utah had the athletic advantage at all but one position…it’s magnified.  This team seemingly hasn’t played at anywhere near maximum effort in weeks, maybe months. High volume of transfers in and out of the program, suspensions, carelessness late in games coupled with poor decisions, and to cap it off this team has been push around by the opposition for most of conference play.  Combine all of that with the body language of the players and coaching staff tonight and you’ve got as close to a dumpster fire as you can have with a 20 win team.  This off-season should be very telling as to the true state of things…another year of mass exodus should put Larry firmly on the hot seat.  I know the majority of this board prefers football to hoops, but as a diehard fan of Utah basketball this season was tough to stomach, losses are losses, but they way you lose is telling…this program needs to get right.

[loyter]

I agree. It’s bad effort, bad preparation, bad coaching, and a late-season fade. Kuzma could possibly qualify as a graduate transfer and get an immediate year elsewhere, Daniels may be gone, and with Bonam gone, there would be major holes to fill.

I am now questioning whether to renew my season tickets. It’s not because we lost in the NIT, it’s because Larry’s teams don’t play good basketball. The product on the floor is sub-par. We could have less talent, and if they played really at or above their potential, I would totally buy in. However, they consistently fail in simple situations, like getting the ball inbounds, like getting a shot off at the end of a game or half, they don’t box out well, and they don’t defend well. Overall, they underperform. They almost never rise up and get a big win – they perform to their level, or below it. Majerus’ teams generally overperformed, played amazing defense, ran good sets, and had the ability to adjust to situations within a game. Larry is a poor game coach. As an example of that, Boise’s Hutchinson (or whatever) went off for 18 in the first half tonight – and then was allowed to do the same damn thing in the second half. He is an excellent player, but he isn’t a 34 point night type of player.

It’s odd.

[TheOCUte]

Odd is a great word.  I’ve been attempting to decipher the root cause since the Bay Area trip, but this thing feels dangerously close to completely coming off the rails

[Puget Ute]

Do we have weaknesses in the coaching staff? They seemed to make some adjustments late in the game on Offense, but seemed content to defend BS-U’s top player one on one.

 

Double that guy every time, deny him the ball, etc.

 

My Kingdom for a Brandon Taylor this year. Sheesh.

 

Oh well, bring on Football.

[crazyute]

Is coach K to demanding? Is he a micro manager? Are the kids afraid to let loose and play free? Is he too structured in his system, not letting the kids play? Or do we just not have the talent to play loose and free?

Something definitely feels off in the program and the way the kids are playing for him. I feel he lost his team this year. Would now be a good time to promote Tommy Connors? Does Larry get it figured out?

[Puget Ute]

Tommy Connor is the bad cop. And he is in no way ready for Prime Time as the HC. 

[Minnesota Ute]

I swore off this site due to politics combined with lack of bball discussion, but I couldn’t resist coming to see what folks were saying today after witnessing that abortion of a game last night. To you point, I think that Larry might be too demanding and negative. I think if a coach gives his players a lot of positive energy, they inspire the will to battle. This team looked to me like one that was anxious for the season to be over.

I didn’t listen to his presser, but some of the comments that have been attributed seem to confirm that suspicion. Like saying you need to recruit leadership, that is just a slap in the face to everyone on the team. So how is that productive? How is that useful? Coaches can blame execution, they can blame themselves, they can credit the other team, or blame refs, hell they can explain a loss in a variety of ways, but the one thing they should never do is to blame the players.

I think negative reinforcement is a trap that many coaches fall into, that they think they are challenging players to improve by putting them down. The reality is that negative feedback only erodes the relationship and destroys the players confidence. You are far better off complimenting them even when they suck. This is where you get kids to over perform because they will give maximum effort to try to please a coach that believes in them.

[ironman1315]

Which to me indicates that unless this gets rectified soon, it’d be a not bad thing to let LK go…maybe.

[Puget Ute]

The problem is LK3 just signed a contract through 2023. I don’t know what the buyout is, but it has to be substantial.

UW is stuck with Romar again, and will probably just wait out the final two years of his contract (he makes $1.7M/yr, buyout is $3.4M, a new coach will be even more expensive, and the UW athletic dept LOST $14M this year).

I do think there should be some changes in the coaching staff, however.

[ironman1315]

I’m not saying fire him, but at the same time, unless these problems get fixed I don’t think we should feel all to badly about him taking another HC position elsewhere either.

[Puget Ute]

I’m not sure who is downvoting us because we aren’t wrong.

I like LK3, but I also am concerned that perhaps he has peaked a bit. And I wouldn’t be too hurt if he did choose to leave, although I would probably miss him in a lot of ways. But I also know we can’t possibly afford to fire him, so we should make the best of it.

The best way to fix that is to shake up the staff a bit. This staff has been together for many years, and year after year we have the same set of problems, with vastly different sets of players. Is there some hot new up-and-coming coach we should add to the staff? Would Alex Jensen be an improvement (and could we afford to pay him more than he makes as an NBA D-League coach)?