Your team goes on a 16-0 run to close the half. And then you don’t use that lineup to start the second half. I don’t understand. Someone please explain.
Explain this Coach Mack
- Thread starter Knucklehank1
- Start date
JMO....I don't think he can coach. If we go to the NCAA tourney we will be out the first round. My eyes hurt after watching that mess.
I don't know if Mack is the guy for UofL or not. I've supported him from the beginning, and still do, but these lackluster performances when there is so much on the line is concerning.
Though I do acknowledge he has also been hamstrung since taking this job with the NCAA crap still hanging over the program. And yes this season was off track from all the injuries and Covid pauses. This is a different team with a healthy Malik and probably Minlend too. But I do also see that these types of performances are troubling. But barring a complete collapse, Mack is the coach for the foreseeable future.
Though I do acknowledge he has also been hamstrung since taking this job with the NCAA crap still hanging over the program. And yes this season was off track from all the injuries and Covid pauses. This is a different team with a healthy Malik and probably Minlend too. But I do also see that these types of performances are troubling. But barring a complete collapse, Mack is the coach for the foreseeable future.
Agree 100% with all this. He’s getting paid enough that he needs to figure some shit out. And assemble a roster that can respond when the chips are all on the table.
He is getting Grade B or lower players. Unless you can get 4or 5 Dwayne Suttons or similar, we will be a 63% winning team. The players are shorter than their opponents, not as quick, nor better shooters. Recipe for mediocrity.
One senior the rest are freshmen and sophomores he has a good class coming in next year with more size.
This is very true. There are a handful of coaches that win consistently with less. Unfortunately Mack is following the best at doing just that.
I think next year is big for Mack. He has to get a 1 or 2 bigs depending on what Williams ends up doing. Withers has to play the 4 he may leave if he has to play the 5 again.
I think next year is big for Mack. He has to get a 1 or 2 bigs depending on what Williams ends up doing. Withers has to play the 4 he may leave if he has to play the 5 again.
In addition to needing a few bigs he's going to need a few guards. He's basically going to need a lot.
Fans have been tested for a few years since Rick's exit but up to this point the program has been relatively competitive, we're just accustomed to better.
Going from a HOF coach who nearly always had the program in contention for a F4 to what we're seeing now and expected to see in the near future is quite a difference, and I understand fans struggling to handle it.
Programs are supposed to take a step back if they get busted with the off court problems this program has dealt with. Sadly the Cards are nowhere near close to the potential bottom.
Fans have been tested for a few years since Rick's exit but up to this point the program has been relatively competitive, we're just accustomed to better.
Going from a HOF coach who nearly always had the program in contention for a F4 to what we're seeing now and expected to see in the near future is quite a difference, and I understand fans struggling to handle it.
Programs are supposed to take a step back if they get busted with the off court problems this program has dealt with. Sadly the Cards are nowhere near close to the potential bottom.
This is all wrong. We beat Duke twice with the same players... The problem is Coach K realize we are a poor outside shooting team so they close the inside and made us shoot from outside. Our coach adjusted by sticking Brickleberry out there (who hasn’t seen the court in awhile) and hoist up 3 after 3. If Mack had scouted Duke their last few games, he would have realized that Williams was going to present a problem inside with 2 bigs. Instead he counters with a small lineup and starts the 2nd half as if everything was just a fluke that Duke got out to a big lead.
We have the talent, it's just young and developing. It's frustrating, but I'm going to say this year isn't on Mack 100%. And I say this as a guy that is VERY SKEPTICAL about Coach Mack, I do not know if he's the guy, but this season is not any evidence of his coaching.
We had the early COVID-19 Pause after we had started the year with momentum, 18 days between games. From January 28th through March 5th, WE ONLY PLAYED 4 GAMES! Malik was out, came back, then goes out again. Minland was out to start the year. Nickleberry was out at times. Sam was injured a good bit. Aidan has been out for a bit.
2 long COVID pauses and 5 scholarship players that had injuries. How can you build a rotation with that, how can you learn who to play, how can the players develop chemistry, how can the guys get themselves in shape? Basketball is all about game reps and practice, how can you get that if you are not on the court?
We were not able to really have a fair look at this team. We already had to replace 6 rotation players from last year to start the season, so a team that never played together before with all the injuries and breaks were just supposed to click like that? Not buying it.
We had the early COVID-19 Pause after we had started the year with momentum, 18 days between games. From January 28th through March 5th, WE ONLY PLAYED 4 GAMES! Malik was out, came back, then goes out again. Minland was out to start the year. Nickleberry was out at times. Sam was injured a good bit. Aidan has been out for a bit.
2 long COVID pauses and 5 scholarship players that had injuries. How can you build a rotation with that, how can you learn who to play, how can the players develop chemistry, how can the guys get themselves in shape? Basketball is all about game reps and practice, how can you get that if you are not on the court?
We were not able to really have a fair look at this team. We already had to replace 6 rotation players from last year to start the season, so a team that never played together before with all the injuries and breaks were just supposed to click like that? Not buying it.
Covid again? Are we the only team affected by it?
We should have had a plan that didn’t include Malik being able to realistically make it back this season. We know about Aiden and his issues but I think we knew at the outset of the season, he wasn’t ready to be a major contributor. That left giving JJ and Gabe more opportunities, which Mack seemed reluctant to do. He seems resistant to change.
I saw enough talent, Carlik, DJ, Williamson, Withers (as a 4), and a lot of promise in JJ if he was given more chances. I saw tremendous effort from Slaz and Davis even though they played out of position.
What I didn’t see was an adjustment made by the coaching staff to get all of these players playing well together. Blame it on the talent of the players but I think it’s more
coaching.
This is a great point. The "bigs" were unhealthy and that was not some shock we knew this in the fall really. I agree, JJ and/or Gabe needed to play. Or at least given more opportunity to play.
1. How many teams had 2 COVID pauses of 20 days? Yes, everyone is dealing with it, but we had to stop our season twice and try to get started. I mean is your point "that darn Mack, we paid him good money to be able to coach in a global pandemic without fans where his season with games and practice can end in a second"
2. 5 scholarship guys faced injuries. We already were down a scholarship. So with injuries like that, game to game who are we supposed to play? We don't know who is gonna play game to game and day to day.
3. 6 of our 8 rotation guys from last year left. So we were essentially a brand new team this year. So in a COVID world, we had to bring in an entire new team that essentially have never played big minutes together.
So let's review. Yes, every team dealt with COVID. But we had to have a COVID year in a year we replaced almost all of our production from last year. New guys that needed chemistry to play together in a year where practices are limited. Then add in that we had injuries to someone just about every game, never really got to be at full strength. On top of that, we had essentially had 2 months worth of stoppages that took out games and practices. We also did not get our 2 scrimmages and lost a few non conference games on the schedule.
Decision making, yes Mack is not great. I'm not fully on the Mack train. But to just blow it off and say "Awe well everyone dealt with COVID" just ignores everything. You play less games and you practice less, your intensity and conditioning won't be as strong as teams that have been playing more games in a row. When you don't have you full roster most games and you haven't seen your guys play, how can you know who to play?
Too often we just see coaches as a superman that can essentially do whatever they want. I'm not giving Mack a full pass, the Miami game happened, but there were a lot of circumstances out of his control this year that fans demand him to navigate through flawlessly. He also did not get to have a tournament last season, so he didn't get his chance to prove himself.
We loved Rick because he was proven, but we forget the NIT year after the Final Four when we still had Taquan Dean and were ranked top 5 early in that year. We forget 2010 & 2011 when we went out in the first round both of those year, I mean Morehead State? Now Mack isn't Rick and honestly, we're not going to get a guy on that level, but we do need to take things into consideration when evaluating a season.
Villanova didn’t play for 27 days. Clemson, Michigan, Duke and probably dozens or more other teams suffered from Covid pauses. Duke also had two players opt out, one a potential top 5 NBA pick.
Here’s another question. After your team has tested positive once, is there any responsibility by the coaching staff to keep players and staff healthy. Hell, even Coach got it.
Bottom line, this team is not good. Fans have a very difficult time accepting that. I get it.
Just an atrocious 3 pt shooting team. 3 pt accuracy wasn't gonna improve significantly no matter how many practices this team was able to get in. The 3 pt shot is a really big deal at this level. Hello!
And this team has a RS hybrid F playing C.
It's hard to project the future because the landscape changes and players move it along much sooner than in the past. The realist tells me this program is heading south for a few years hopefully just a few. These are outcomes to be expected when having gross off court issues and rulings on such linger.
Just an atrocious 3 pt shooting team. 3 pt accuracy wasn't gonna improve significantly no matter how many practices this team was able to get in. The 3 pt shot is a really big deal at this level. Hello!
And this team has a RS hybrid F playing C.
It's hard to project the future because the landscape changes and players move it along much sooner than in the past. The realist tells me this program is heading south for a few years hopefully just a few. These are outcomes to be expected when having gross off court issues and rulings on such linger.
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NC, it's a virus. That's what viruses do, seek out a host any way they can to survive. Just like the flu, that seems to have disappeared since '20. These are 18-20 yr old boy men. What did you do at that age? Bubble boys don't work. Mack lives with a wife and 3 children. For all we know it came from within his household.
You can't blame folks because they picked up a virus. Come on! BTW, the damn masks don't do a thing to stop the spread of covid. It's for perception. A year of this experiment has proven this concept of mask wearing to be a failure.
I do agree with a lot of this. There are many things that aren't Macks fault. The NCAA crap, having no juniors because of a lost recruiting year, reduced schollys, Covid, injuries, etc. That's why he has a longer leash so to speak, from my point of view. He needs, and will get, more time to prove himself which is fair.
If Mack would've come in after Pitino rode off into the sunset leaving a completely clean program behind, I would be a lot harder on him. I can acknowledge all of the hardships that Mack has to deal with and believe they are making his job much more difficult than under normal circumstances.
However, there are some fair criticisms that are at least somewhat concerning. Going back to last season, his teams have repeatedly come out unmotivated with no energy or urgency in big games late in the season. While keeping all of the hardships that Mack faces that are not his fault in perspective, it also seems fair to question some aspects of his coaching that are seemingly becoming bad trends.
All that said, I still fully support Mack and hope he can lead UofL out of this seemingly never-ending cloud and into better days.
@shadow force Something I've never understood was the low energy look. Last night we came out running and gunning and I was like ok, haven't seen this much the last few years. I got excited watching it, even though they were struggling early making easy baskets. Then the switch seemed to be turned off and it was right back to low energy bb. Then high energy bb was turned on again and we out scored them and were in the game. Then the switch was flipped to low energy again. Just my perception of the game I've been trying to understand for some time now. We play in a confused looking way that I attribute to coaching.
Going to back peddle when I say "this team is not good" I mean by Louisville standard. They are probably a tourney team, maybe... whatever it is, they are not awful probably just a little bummed like the rest of you. The team is maybe average overall or even slightly above avg. They did have a winning conference record though we know the conference is way down.
Coach didn't have a ton of options here this year. Hopefully future teams can at least have more guys and options for him to sub in. It's hard to nail down a #1 reason a team doesn't have a good/great season. If the Cards had a few more player options for sub patterns and more practice time, Mack may have gotten more out of a lot of guys. The bench can be a motivator.
Next year probably is a big year for Mack as one poster said here or another thread.
Coach didn't have a ton of options here this year. Hopefully future teams can at least have more guys and options for him to sub in. It's hard to nail down a #1 reason a team doesn't have a good/great season. If the Cards had a few more player options for sub patterns and more practice time, Mack may have gotten more out of a lot of guys. The bench can be a motivator.
Next year probably is a big year for Mack as one poster said here or another thread.
Great discussion and very valid points.
Next year is extremely important to the program and to coach Mack. It’s year 4 and despite injuries and Covid and potential punishment , 4 years is enough time to establish an identity and provide an understanding of what Cardinal Basketball will be under Chris Mack. I’m not sure a lot of us know the identity of our program.
One but if disinformation needs to be addressed though.
Appropriate usage of masks is beneficial in slowing the spread of the virus. I work in a health related field , understand science and masks help ,as do other measures .
Don’t take medical advice from a Moderator on a
Fan message board. Get vaccinated, wear a mask and socially distance and wash your hands regularly. 525,000+ people have died.
Next year is extremely important to the program and to coach Mack. It’s year 4 and despite injuries and Covid and potential punishment , 4 years is enough time to establish an identity and provide an understanding of what Cardinal Basketball will be under Chris Mack. I’m not sure a lot of us know the identity of our program.
One but if disinformation needs to be addressed though.
Appropriate usage of masks is beneficial in slowing the spread of the virus. I work in a health related field , understand science and masks help ,as do other measures .
Don’t take medical advice from a Moderator on a
Fan message board. Get vaccinated, wear a mask and socially distance and wash your hands regularly. 525,000+ people have died.
Steven Rummage
@StevenRummage
·
3h
Did open my eyes a ton when
@lukeskywalka11
reminded us this morning that this is the 2nd youngest team in the ACC. The core is solid on this team.
Some people are calming down and thinking with logic and perspective now.
As disappointing as Louisville’s lack of success in the ACC tournament has been, I suppose it’s worth pointing out that it took us a little while to hit our groove in the Big East back in the day.
Louisville has played in five ACC tournaments (self-imposed ban in 2016, canceled in 2020). They’ve had a double bye twice (2015 and 2017), and lost their quarterfinal opener in both those years. The other three years they’ve started in the second round, winning one game in 2018 and 2019, and losing in that round last night.
In the Big East, Louisville won just one tournament game in its first three seasons, losing in the first round in 2006, starting in the quarters and losing in the semis in 2007, and then losing in the quarters as the 2-seed in 2008. They then won the whole thing in 2009.
What I’m saying is that if drama hadn’t ripped through the program right before the start of the 2017-18 season, we absolutely would have won the ACC tournament that year. It’s science.
I don’t know, I just really miss Friday night semifinal thrillers and then spending all day Saturday counting down the hours until the Cards played for a conference championship.
4. As disappointing as things like the fluctuating effort and some of the shot selection were last night, there were other things where you just sort of shrugged your shoulders.
For instance, Mark Williams going off for 23 and 19. That’s a dude who is simply bigger and better than any post player we had available to throw at him.
Jae’Lyn Withers experienced life at the four and flourished, so it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that he hasn’t appeared to be overly enthusiastic about going back to war with guys four inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than he is. JJ Traynor fought valiantly — and seemed to be on the floor every time anything positive was happening for Louisville — but the size disparity between he and Williams was also glaringly apparent on several occasions.
Duke has two very talented players that are both taller than anyone who plays major minutes for Louisville. Knowing this, Coach K ran offense that resulted in a mismatch for one of those two players on nearly every one of the Blue Devils’ halfcourt possession. Williams and Hurt wound up scoring 43 of their team’s 70 points and shot a combined 16-of-26 from the field.
Sometimes it’s a simple game.
As disappointing as Louisville’s lack of success in the ACC tournament has been, I suppose it’s worth pointing out that it took us a little while to hit our groove in the Big East back in the day.
Louisville has played in five ACC tournaments (self-imposed ban in 2016, canceled in 2020). They’ve had a double bye twice (2015 and 2017), and lost their quarterfinal opener in both those years. The other three years they’ve started in the second round, winning one game in 2018 and 2019, and losing in that round last night.
In the Big East, Louisville won just one tournament game in its first three seasons, losing in the first round in 2006, starting in the quarters and losing in the semis in 2007, and then losing in the quarters as the 2-seed in 2008. They then won the whole thing in 2009.
What I’m saying is that if drama hadn’t ripped through the program right before the start of the 2017-18 season, we absolutely would have won the ACC tournament that year. It’s science.
I don’t know, I just really miss Friday night semifinal thrillers and then spending all day Saturday counting down the hours until the Cards played for a conference championship.
4. As disappointing as things like the fluctuating effort and some of the shot selection were last night, there were other things where you just sort of shrugged your shoulders.
For instance, Mark Williams going off for 23 and 19. That’s a dude who is simply bigger and better than any post player we had available to throw at him.
Jae’Lyn Withers experienced life at the four and flourished, so it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that he hasn’t appeared to be overly enthusiastic about going back to war with guys four inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than he is. JJ Traynor fought valiantly — and seemed to be on the floor every time anything positive was happening for Louisville — but the size disparity between he and Williams was also glaringly apparent on several occasions.
Duke has two very talented players that are both taller than anyone who plays major minutes for Louisville. Knowing this, Coach K ran offense that resulted in a mismatch for one of those two players on nearly every one of the Blue Devils’ halfcourt possession. Williams and Hurt wound up scoring 43 of their team’s 70 points and shot a combined 16-of-26 from the field.
Sometimes it’s a simple game.
Carlik Jones was open and honest with his answers during the postgame press conference.
Here’s how Jones explained Wednesday night’s game going so differently than rounds one and two versus Duke:
I think the first two times we wanted it more. I think we came ready to play, and I think today, kind of like what our coach said in the locker room, (Duke) treated this game like a championship and they competed for all 40. They came into the game locked in, and we kind of played the game today in spurts. When you play like that against a good team, it doesn’t always work out for you.
Here’s how Jones explained Wednesday night’s game going so differently than rounds one and two versus Duke:
I think the first two times we wanted it more. I think we came ready to play, and I think today, kind of like what our coach said in the locker room, (Duke) treated this game like a championship and they competed for all 40. They came into the game locked in, and we kind of played the game today in spurts. When you play like that against a good team, it doesn’t always work out for you.
