After the men lost the other day, a friend texted me, "What can we do to get better?"
The $1,000,000 question.
I said "I don't know," but then I put some thought into it and came up with a few things. After I was done I realized, "Man, we are close, just a few things and we are right back at the top."
1.) Player development
- Leon and Kevon.
I honestly expected almost nothing from them at the beginning. You could make a strong case they showed the most improvement over the year. More development from them only means bigger and better things.
- TJ and Ivan
Honestly, in TJ's case, I didn't see the step up in his game I thought we wood. Still very good, but not the dominating force many of us thought. Ivan was such a confounding player. Felt like he actually regressed through the year. These two get straightened out and LOOK OUT!
2.) Health
- Not much expansion needed. The TY and SAMMI injuries just put that kink in the offense that we seemed to never quite figure out.
3.) Coaching development
- If we are going to expect our players to develop, then it is fair to expect the same from the coaches. I was a hard as anyone on Keller, but i have softened my stance, given time to understand the circumstances of what he came into. But, I think he can use a lot of work on the in game coaching. There seemed to me to be too many times he was not quite sure what to do/what adjustments to make. The excuse of "it's is first job and he has so many young players," was viable this year. Not next year. His development could be a crucial as anything.
4.) On-Court Execution
- I mean this in a general sense. It means a lot of things. Like, boy, we need some outside shooting in the worst way. It means we sure could use some stability at ball handling, cause we sure do like to give it to the other team. It means making smart choices. No more fouls 60 feet from the basket. No more force-feeding the triple teamed player in the post. Crap like that.
5.) Don't stop the effort
- One thing I noticed in every game...man we play hard. Not always smart, not always efficient, not always good, but lord. we play hard. The intensity we bring to the game is worth a a game or two over the year, just because some teams are not mentally ready to handle it for 40 minutes.
Probably seems like more than it really is. But, again, we are not that far away.
Nicholls, McNeese, ACU. SELA, SAM lol...they are much further away.
And they live in crappier cities, YAY NAC!
We'll be back.
The $1,000,000 question.
I said "I don't know," but then I put some thought into it and came up with a few things. After I was done I realized, "Man, we are close, just a few things and we are right back at the top."
1.) Player development
- Leon and Kevon.
I honestly expected almost nothing from them at the beginning. You could make a strong case they showed the most improvement over the year. More development from them only means bigger and better things.
- TJ and Ivan
Honestly, in TJ's case, I didn't see the step up in his game I thought we wood. Still very good, but not the dominating force many of us thought. Ivan was such a confounding player. Felt like he actually regressed through the year. These two get straightened out and LOOK OUT!
2.) Health
- Not much expansion needed. The TY and SAMMI injuries just put that kink in the offense that we seemed to never quite figure out.
3.) Coaching development
- If we are going to expect our players to develop, then it is fair to expect the same from the coaches. I was a hard as anyone on Keller, but i have softened my stance, given time to understand the circumstances of what he came into. But, I think he can use a lot of work on the in game coaching. There seemed to me to be too many times he was not quite sure what to do/what adjustments to make. The excuse of "it's is first job and he has so many young players," was viable this year. Not next year. His development could be a crucial as anything.
4.) On-Court Execution
- I mean this in a general sense. It means a lot of things. Like, boy, we need some outside shooting in the worst way. It means we sure could use some stability at ball handling, cause we sure do like to give it to the other team. It means making smart choices. No more fouls 60 feet from the basket. No more force-feeding the triple teamed player in the post. Crap like that.
5.) Don't stop the effort
- One thing I noticed in every game...man we play hard. Not always smart, not always efficient, not always good, but lord. we play hard. The intensity we bring to the game is worth a a game or two over the year, just because some teams are not mentally ready to handle it for 40 minutes.
Probably seems like more than it really is. But, again, we are not that far away.
Nicholls, McNeese, ACU. SELA, SAM lol...they are much further away.
And they live in crappier cities, YAY NAC!
We'll be back.
