Game 29: AT LaSalle, March 6th, 8 PM, NBCSN

[gmujim92]

What I've always been worried about though is not that Hewitt will implode the program in spectacular fashion, but will do just enough to hang on and allow us to cling to mediocrity for years.

QD, I think you've perfectly encapsulated my and many others' concerns as well.

Hewitt is a good enough recruiter to avoid a nuclear meltdown, but I think it's pretty clear at this point that he needs help to address his limitations as an in-game coach.

That said, I'd still rather have him than LaSalle's coach. For a guy coming off a trip to the Sweet 16, John Giannini is not impressive at all -- all the volcanic sideline eruptions of Gary Williams with none of the tactical expertise.

I would've been sick if we had lost to their disorganized, 1-on-1 streetballing slop. We looked like a team straight out of "Hoosiers" by comparison.

 

[Patriotfan49]

Thats what I feel the decision will come down to.

With Hewitt we may never reach UNCW levels...(or we could, you never know) but I think annually underacheiving will be the norm, sprinkled in with some random good wins or mini streaks. Is the AD and fans ok with that, or do they want better? Guess well find out.

 

[Pablo]

With a Final Four banner hanging from t

Thats what I feel the decision will come down to.

With Hewitt we may never reach UNCW levels...(or we could, you never know) but I think annually underacheiving will be the norm, sprinkled in with some random good wins or mini streaks. Is the AD and fans ok with that, or do they want better? Guess well find out.

With a Final Four banner hanging from the rafters, I believe that we know the answer to your question.

 

[gmujim92]

With a Final Four banner hanging from t


With a Final Four banner hanging from the rafters, I believe that we know the answer to your question.

One would think so, Pablo ... but to be fair, our former president and current AD have both treated 2006 far more like a monumental fluke than the foundation upon which they could build a top-25 basketball program.

We can't just assume the powers-that-be are truly committed to being a big-time winner.

 

[MASONscott]

I don't think Hewitt did anything last night to save his job if it was in jeopardy, but I do think he deserves some credit for coaching one of his better games (especially with Moore out and Copes hurting). Little by little our offense is starting to look like it actually makes sense, especially when our big men get the ball out top from one of our guards and then hit the cutting guard for an uncontested layup.

Defensively, our zone was effective for the most part, even though we gave up seven 3s. The good thing is we cut off a lot of dribble penetration, which led to them taking 20 shots from behind the arc.

Perhaps most importantly, he resisted the urge to go small when they played their 4-guard lineups. There were times in the past when I think that counter-move would have worked, but we were able to exert our will on them last night in the paint and the boards with Jenkins, Copes, J2 and Marko all logging at least 17 minutes.

On coaching - the back door was a big adjustment. On most offensive sets there was at least one backdoor cut and pass attempt. Seemed to be pretty effective against their tight man D, and was text book on how to handle a team that overplays on man D. Plus it led to a pass first offense that we haven't seen too often. IMO, it explains why we had a good night when both Sherrod and BA were off.

 

[gmujim92]

On coaching - the back door was a big adjustment.

To be fair to Hewitt, he's a married guy, so it's not like he could've assumed the back door would be available.

 

[Patriotfan49]

With a Final Four banner hanging from t


With a Final Four banner hanging from the rafters, I believe that we know the answer to your question.

Im with what Jim said. I dont that banner has any indication on the future or how they would handle that situation.

 

[gmubrian]

...but I think it's pretty clear at this point that he needs help to address his limitations as an in-game coach.

Jim-I have to disagree with this point (sort of). His in game coaching seems to have improved greatly as we have progressed this year. He has not tripped over himself nearly as much, timeouts are not nearly as bizarre as they were in the beginning of the year, rotations have made more sense, he has used zone, sometimes, when appropriate. Now, what happens at half time, that is a different story. Whatever happened in the locker room last night needs to happen at every half time. We were like night and day relative to almost every other second half this year.

My biggest concern about Hewitt is what in the world is going on in practices? The guys are not doing the fundamentals right and until recently looked almost completely lost on offense, and could not run a basic zone correctly, didn't box out, don't stay in front of their man.... That is stuff that should have been drilled into them and should be muscle memory by now.

 

[gmutom]

This argument about halftime adjustments has gotten silly. How many games have we been losing or even trailing by more than a few points when go into the locker room at halftime. Sure, there are minor tweaks to make when you are in a close game, but you don't make wholesale changes at halftime when you are in a competitive game.

It is, however, a good opportunity to prepare the team for what changes they might see coming up. And that is where I believe Hewitt has shortcomings in terms if anticipating and adapting to any changes the opposing coach makes at halftime. Many times he has been caught flat-footed early in the second half when our opponent does something unexpected (like pressing or switching to a gimmick defense).

I thought last night he went against that trend. We were only down 2 at the half, so he kept doing what was working for us offensively and defensively. When they tried to go small with four guards, he made the correct adjustment to go big and make them pay. I would like to see him coach more like he did last night in the future.

 

[gmujim92]

This argument about halftime adjustments has gotten silly. How many games have we been losing or even trailing by more than a few points when go into the locker room at halftime. Sure, there are minor tweaks to make when you are in a close game, but you don't make wholesale changes at halftime when you are in a competitive game.

It is, however, a good opportunity to prepare the team for what changes they might see coming up. And that is where I believe Hewitt has shortcomings in terms if anticipating and adapting to any changes the opposing coach makes at halftime. Many times he has been caught flat-footed early in the second half when our opponent does something unexpected (like pressing or switching to a gimmick defense).

I thought last night he went against that trend. We were only down 2nd at the half, so he kept doing what was working for us offensively and defensively. When they tried to go small with four guards, he made the correct adjustment to go big and make them pay. I would like to see him coach more like he did last night in the future.

I agree, instead of always being in "react" mode, I'd like to see Hewitt analyze the opponent's weakness and attack the hell out of it.

Destroying LaSalle on the boards forced Giannini to abandon his 4-guard sets and go back to playing both Wright and Zack, which limited their ability to harass our guards into turnovers.

When we're not turning the ball over, we have a legit chance to beat any A-10 team.

 

[gmubrian]

Tom, I did not see anyone arguing about half time adjustments so I am not sure who you are arguing with or just looking for a reason to defend your man whose performance you are "indifferent" about.

If you are referring to my comment about what happened at half time, it had nothing to do with adjustments. I thought we came out on fire in the second half which has not happened in what seems like a very long time. I am assuming he gave them a good speech or something and was suggesting whatever was different, to capture that and do something similar in the future. Since you are arguing nothing changed, then maybe he just lucked into something...

 

[GMUgemini]

Tom, I did not see anyone arguing about half time adjustments so I am not sure who you are arguing with or just looking for a reason to defend your man whose performance you are "indifferent" about.

If you are referring to my comment about what happened at half time, it had nothing to do with adjustments. I thought we came out on fire in the second half which has not happened in what seems like a very long time. I am assuming he gave them a good speech or something and was suggesting whatever was different, to capture that and do something similar in the future. Since you are arguing nothing changed, then maybe he just lucked into something...

Didn't we also come out on fire against Richmond and in our second game against UMass (well Copes came out on fire anyway)? I don't think it's any surprise that when our forwards are rebounding, playing tough under the basket and not taking crap from the opposition we are tough to beat.

 

[gmubrian]

Didn't we also come out on fire against Richmond and in our second game against UMass (well Copes came out on fire anyway)?

That may have happened and I may have missed it. To be honest, I kind of zone out at our home games since the second half of our tournament play, mostly, to protect my psyche. I am kind of just going through the motions of attending games now. I want to cheer for great guys who are now seniors like Wright and Allen, but I have a dread about what is almost sure to happen by the end of the game. I'll complete my perfect attendance this year on Saturday, but it will be a little bit of a relief that the season is done with.

 

[gmutom]

Tom, I did not see anyone arguing about half time adjustments so I am not sure who you are arguing with...

Brian, I'm not arguing about anything. You said "whatever happened in the locker room last night needs to happen at every half time" as if there was some kind of epiphany by the coaching staff. There wasn't. We did the same thing we do at halftime in every close game, which is make very few adjustments.

Our issues, as you and others have astutely pointed out, usually begin the 2nd half. The difference in the game was the adjustment we made when LaSalle went small. It hasn't happened very often this season, but it was nice to see my "man" — as you refer to him — win a chess match for a change.

 

[gmubrian]

Brian, I'm not arguing about anything. You said "whatever happened in the locker room last night needs to happen at every half time" as if there was some kind of epiphany by the coaching staff.

Like you quoted, I said whatever happened in the locker room. Not what changes the coaches made in the second half. The OCM was famous for his inspiring, if not corny, halftime speeches. My post was as complementary of our coaching staff's in game coaching as I think was deserving (in contrast to practice coaching). I was giving them the benefit of the doubt that they are doing something differently in the locker room than they have been doing (ala sigmanorms post earlier in the week making fun of what must happen during half time).

Since you seem to know what is going on in our coaching staff's heads, I'll take your word for it that they did not have an epiphany and did not do anything differently. It must have just been pure luck. Wow, who isn't giving the coaching staff credit for the things they are doing these days...

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Let's make a pledge to discuss Paul Hewitt's pros and cons as a coach in every game thread from here on out like we've done from day one, 2011.

Win or lose, of course.

 

[gmubrian]

Let's make a pledge to discuss Paul Hewitt's pros and cons as a coach in every game thread from here on out like we've done from day one, 2011.

Win or lose, of course.

Agreed.

It hard, though, when you try to complement them on something and people jump all over you...

 

[gmutom]

Let's make a pledge to discuss Paul Hewitt's pros and cons as a coach in every game thread from here on out like we've done from day one, 2011.

Win or lose, of course.

Amen, Jollay! And let's give the players some much-deserved props for gritting out a win last night. Just as I think coaches get too much blame in losses, they also tend to get too much credit when they win.

Hewitt is getting praise today for going big when they went small, but if the players hadn't executed that plan he would be getting crucified for not going small. I guess it's why they get the big bucks.

 

[GMUgemini]

Amen, Jollay! And let's give the players some much-deserved props for gritting out a win last night. Just as I think coaches get too much blame in losses, they also tend to get too much credit when they win.

Hewitt is getting praise today for going big when they went small, but if the players hadn't executed that plan he would be getting crucified for not going small. I guess it's why they get the big bucks.

Perhaps some credit should be given to the refs for allowing the teams to "play" under the basket. Had the refs been more whistle happy I fear Marko would have fouled out and the strategy of going big would have backfired.

Also a big shoutout for Copes who really stayed on his feet and refused to be pushed around in the post. His defense was the difference maker last night in the second half.

 

[AAUMAN]

I feel bad for VG....he plays so little that when he finally gets some PT I bet hes nervous as hell and doesn't play with confidence.

VG should have transferred once coach L departed because PH never viewed his game in the way coach L did(not PH recruit). It's sad watching VG play bball for PH because here is a kid that I saw play in Boo-Williams/Nike-EYBL tourney a few years ago and he was lights out against the best players in the country(Brad Beal,Austin Rivers ,Anthony Davis...ect) and when Boo/EYBL tourney was over VG had put himself on the map when RIVALS ranked him 147 out of the top 150 players in the country and that was coming from an relatively unknown at the time. I saw VG that weekend play against Boo-Williams club and it was another big time(Nike) club out of Detroit that had 4 nationally ranked players and VG played like he was on another level and to see him play for PH is just sad. VG has no identity with this team....VG should transfer without even thinking twice and find a coach that allow him to play. VG had one HELL of a HANDLE with the ball and to see him now is just SAD. VG give yourself a chance to express what bball means to you and transfer.........ASAP.