Ultimate CHOKE job II

[Cue Card]

I'm wondering if we'll look back on this game as a watershed moment for Mack. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to wonder if he's the answer for us. I didn't like the way he handled that sideline reporter last week, and now this. With a meltdown of this magnitude, you can't put the blame on any one person's shoulders. But Mack has to bear some of it. The players won't be here in 3 years but Mack will, so I'm most concerned about his contribution to the meltdown. I hope it was an aberration and he learns from it.

You're joking. Yes? Coach Mack has done a pretty good job with what he has to work with. Right now he is on a short list for coach of the year honors. He might not stay there though if this team continues to fold down the stretch. Losing 3 of the last 4 with 2 of those games literally thrown away is not a good resume for coach of the year.

 

[shadow force]

The three missed bonus front-ends cost us the game. It allowed them back in and in turn we pissed straight down our leg for ten straight minutes. Unbelievable.

Yeah the missed one and ones were really bad and a big contributer to allowing Duke back in the game. Gotta capitalize on those. Just another factor in this game where the Cards did everything possible to give the game away.

 

[nccardfan]

They only had a couple of practices since the FSU game before playing last night.

It's going to take more than just a couple of practices to fix this glaring issue. Ball pressure is the kryptonite for this team.

I guess what I’m referring to is not changing anything. Passing the ball 2 feet from the baseline underneath your goal is just bad. I kept waiting for us to bring Enoch or Williams down (like we used to do with Dieng) and throw it to them high and let the guards screen off him to get open. Never happened. Enoch came down one time but when the ball came in he sprinted down to the opposite end of the court as if we were going to throw a Hail Mary to him???

 

[Cue Card]

I guess what I’m referring to is not changing anything. Passing the ball 2 feet from the baseline underneath your goal is just bad. I kept waiting for us to bring Enoch or Williams down (like we used to do with Dieng) and throw it to them high and let the guards screen off him to get open. Never happened. Enoch came down one time but when the ball came in he sprinted down to the opposite end of the court as if we were going to throw a Hail Mary to him???

Yep, it was puzzling. IDK what to say other than ish happens. It just seems to happen to us a whole lot more than it does to other teams, especially as of late.

 

[Louis III]

I'm wondering if we'll look back on this game as a watershed moment for Mack. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to wonder if he's the answer for us. I didn't like the way he handled that sideline reporter last week, and now this. With a meltdown of this magnitude, you can't put the blame on any one person's shoulders. But Mack has to bear some of it. The players won't be here in 3 years but Mack will, so I'm most concerned about his contribution to the meltdown. I hope it was an aberration and he learns from it.

I hope you are kidding........

 

[chevelle99]

IU fans would probably trade Archie for him straight up if anyone has buyers remorse.

 

[Louis III]

And about 326 other schools........

 

[Thecycle27]

The main job of any coach's job is to put his team in the best position to win the game. Mack has put his team in that position just like last night. At some point the players have to make plays. You can't gift wrap turnovers. Getting you pocket picked is going to happen, what can't happen is careless/lazy passes over and over.

Mack gets some of the blame because the players didn't execute what he was asking them to do. At the end of the day that is his job. The problem in the last 2 games when the game went sideways the players stopped executing the game plan. It's not it was just 1 player it was everyone that handled the ball. There aren't many more buttons he could have pushed.

 

[earsky]

I wouldn't be too hard on any of them. It's been a good ride. Gotta feel bad for everybody that participated,whether players,coaches or fans that were there.

Time to move on,improve and see where the ride goes next.

 

[Falls City Beer]

This team is reaaaaaly low on native inborn talent, size, and strength. Coach Mack has squeezed several cocktails out of these stones of players. This is not a memorable bunch of kids yet they will play in the NCAA tournament and probably upset a team or two. Stop whinging.

 

[ShortCreek]

Whinging? Cut Falls City off!

 

[nccardfan]

The main job of any coach's job is to put his team in the best position to win the game. Mack has put his team in that position just like last night. At some point the players have to make plays. You can't gift wrap turnovers. Getting you pocket picked is going to happen, what can't happen is careless/lazy passes over and over.

Mack gets some of the blame because the players didn't execute what he was asking them to do. At the end of the day that is his job. The problem in the last 2 games when the game went sideways the players stopped executing the game plan. It's not it was just 1 player it was everyone that handled the ball. There aren't many more buttons he could have pushed.

Breaking the press is execution. Yes, the players failed to do that. Running the same inbounds play.. throwing to a small guard 2 ft from the baseline underneath your own goal repeatedly is coaching... run a different inbounds play. Bring Enoch down, throw it to your big who is also a good FT shooter and have the guards screen off him to get open.

 

[ShortCreek]

Breaking the press is execution. Yes, the players failed to do that. Running the same inbounds play.. throwing to a small guard 2 ft from the baseline underneath your own goal repeatedly is coaching... run a different inbounds play. Bring Enoch down, throw it to your big who is also a good FT shooter and have the guards screen off him to get open.

Yes, agree. Flashing CC to the corner (and trapping spot) 92 ft from the basket is on Coach Mack and the staff. They must have multiple inbounds options ready going forward.

 

[LouisvilleKid79]

I agree as well. No one will disagree about the talent and what Coach Mack has done overall this year with limited talent, but the fact that they keep repeatedly throwing the ball to the corner and going into prime trap areas on the baseline and mid-court on the press (there were several times when Nwora was directly under Duke's basket as CC's help/release)... is on coaching to some degree. It's not just all on the players.

It does not appear that they have spent any significant amount of time working on a press break as evidenced in several games this year and especially highlighted at the end of the Duke game. Duke is uber talented, long, athletic... but there were several gaps in Duke's "desperation press." Blame has to go on players and staff for what happened Tuesday night in the last 9 to 10 minutes of that game. Once Duke had that thing going I think it overwhelmed the players and coaches. They went from attacking Duke to complete panic...we cannot lose this game... we cannot lose this game... oh no we cannot lose this game. It just snowballed.

 

[Cue Card]

I agree as well. No one will disagree about the talent and what Coach Mack has done overall this year with limited talent, but the fact that they keep repeatedly throwing the ball to the corner and going into prime trap areas on the baseline and mid-court on the press (there were several times when Nwora was directly under Duke's basket as CC's help/release)... is on coaching to some degree. It's not just all on the players.

It does not appear that they have spent any significant amount of time working on a press break as evidenced in several games this year and especially highlighted at the end of the Duke game. Duke is uber talented, long, athletic... but there were several gaps in Duke's "desperation press." Blame has to go on players and staff for what happened Tuesday night in the last 9 to 10 minutes of that game. Once Duke had that thing going I think it overwhelmed the players and coaches. They went from attacking Duke to complete panic...we cannot lose this game... we cannot lose this game... oh no we cannot lose this game. It just snowballed.

It was somewhat a reversal of fortune in reference to the 1986 championship game. Duke came out dominating a UofL team that was being coached by a legend, only to see the legend SCHOOL the young and up coming coach at Duke in the end. Granted, the stage was a LOT bigger in 1986 when Denny Crum coached circles around a much younger coach K, but he learned from it. Just look at coach K today. One of the best coaches of all-time. Coach K was like 40 or so in 1986.

Coach Mack is still young when looking at the bigger picture. He's not even 50 yet. He is a really good coach who will only get better as he grows older.

 

[Thecycle27]

Breaking the press is execution. Yes, the players failed to do that. Running the same inbounds play.. throwing to a small guard 2 ft from the baseline underneath your own goal repeatedly is coaching... run a different inbounds play. Bring Enoch down, throw it to your big who is also a good FT shooter and have the guards screen off him to get open.

I agree that they have to get some size in handling the press but at the end of the day the ball is going to end up in a guards hands. The other night even when they broke the press they turned it over in the half court.

Now what you can say is they weren't prepared for the 2-2-1 press. Has Duke used that press all year? If not it is possible they didn't work on how to break that press. It is possible he told them exactly how to break the press. Bottom line the blame game is pointless at this point because we don't see the preparation into a game.

 

[davecmc]

I can't believe Mack is taking any heat this season from anyone in the fanbase.

You can't unspin:
This team lost 4 starters from an NIT squad.
There were no incoming recruits to help.
No major grad transfers came.
The lone returning starter is too timid to play at this level and now gets walk on type minutes.
4 of our top 7 players received no Power 5 offers other than ours.

We're 18-8 and Top 20 vs. brutal schedule. 5 of those losses were OT or single possession.
We have a Top 5 recruiting class for next year with FBI cloud still looming.

You wonder if he's the answer bc he shrugged his shoulders at a goofy half time question? Wtf man? Your expectation level is off the charts.