Poll Vote of Confidence: Paul Hewitt (1/11)

[HoopsAdmin]

The question is simple, but does tonight's effort change your opinion either way?

Vote will close in 2 days.

 

[gmutom]

Not sure I get the timing of this poll after a 14-point loss.

 

[HoopsAdmin]

No "timing" intended, and would have posted this win or lose. And I'm not advocating either yes or no. Just curious where our thoughts are at this time after a surprisingly competitive game. I also intend to do this a few more times during the season.

 

[gmutom]

Ok, thanks for the explanation. I thought several players played well and we showed a sense of urgency we haven't seen in a while, but I'm not sure if that's good coaching, the players finally stepping up or a combination of the two. I'll be curious to see how we come out Saturday.

 

[EXpatriot13]

It was nice to see a good effort from the guys tonight. But, in all honesty...can we sit here and say we're excited to see how we come out next game or maybe it'll carry over to the next game. Hell, most of us thought the St. Mary's game was J2's coming out party, clearly it was just a fluke. Playing well in one game doesn't mean anything for this team moving ahead to the next game. We could blow the doors off of St. Joes or we could lose by 5, 10, or 15 points...nobody has any idea and that's what's really scary and frustrating about this team.

 

[gmu05]

This poll is a month late

 

[gmujim92]

I'll know more about my answer after Saturday.

If Hewitt continues to play the guys who are determined and give effort, regardless of the score, he'll get my vote of confidence.

The only way we're gonna get anything done long-term is to put most of the soft-a** upperclassmen on the bench and play the young guys.

 

[gmubrian]

While the more senior players are not playing well, you have to wonder what is going on when we have an epidemic of guys not showing up and being so nonchalant about the games.

 

[phoenix-arizona]

For a half.

 

[gmujim92]

While the more senior players are not playing well, you have to wonder what is going on when we have an epidemic of guys not showing up and being so nonchalant about the games.

What's going on is a not-so-subtle changing of the guard.

With the exception of Allen, who left everything on the floor tonight and got fouled about 2,568,335 times tonight with no calls, our underclasmen play with more energy, passion and effort than our veterans.

Hewitt is just now recognizing that favoring the more experienced players isn't gonna get it done. Marquise, Jalen and PH need to be in the lineup and playing major minutes moving forward -- and once Marko is 100 percent healthy, he'll join that group, as well.

 

[gmuballer14]

I do not care how mad you are at Hewitt. Never should you ever be laughing during a game when you are losing. How can you not give 100% every damn play? Are you an NBA player? No. Are we nothing without you? No. Then play your a** off or don't even show up. Just embarrassing to see our "leader" and leading scorer do this on the nightly basis

 

[gmubrian]

Jim, I have said before that my only hope for Hewitt is that his "true" recruits seem to be performing well. So I agree with your point.

We have to wait the full five years to know if that pans out or not. The nagging fear is that the young guys catch what our seniors seem to have caught when they are seniors.

 

[gmujim92]

Jim, I have said before that my only hope for Hewitt is that his "true" recruits seem to be performing well. So I agree with your point.

We have to wait the full five years to know if that pans out or not. The nagging fear is that the young guys catch what our seniors seem to have caught when they are seniors.

Indeed, there is certainly the risk that these promising young men perform worse as seniors than they are currently.

That possibility is what makes the question of Hewitt's tenure such a difficult one to gauge.

If -- and it is a HUGE f**kING IF -- Hewitt can overcome his own natural "cool" demeanor and consistently coax tonight's effort from our players, we're gonna win a lot of games and we won't want to fire him.

Unfair or not, I suspect this was a special case because it was vcu on the road and our first A-10 game. That's why I said I'll know more after Saturday's game. If we see more of what we got against ODU, we'll know this was a fluke.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Jim, I have said before that my only hope for Hewitt is that his "true" recruits seem to be performing well. So I agree with your point.

We have to wait the full five years to know if that pans out or not. The nagging fear is that the young guys catch what our seniors seem to have caught when they are seniors.

This is what has always scared me. Not that he would spectacularly, but that he would fail meekly. A mid to lower tier A10 team with occasional glances of potential that results in extending the misery.

Fail big and the decision is easy and we can move on. Fail but show some hopes of potential if you just give me 2 or 3 more seasons, and it starts to define the program and become its brand, meaning the next coach starts from scratch.

 

[MasonFanatic]

I'm not sure how to vote right now. We need to see this kind of effort night in and night out, not just one time against vcu. If our staff could strategize this well against vcu, why can't they do this more often?

 

[JimP]

I agree that Saturday means a lot. The rest of the year for that matter. We need good play 80 - 90 percent of the time rather than 20 - 30.

 

[Patriotfan49]

Just havent seen anything that leads me to believe that he is taking us in teh right direction. We see bits an pieces of little positives here and there but they hardly ever carry over, and even then....they arent anything groundbreaking that probably shouldnt have been done weeks if not months ago.

That being said, I have zippy confidence in that hes the right man for the job now, or really ever....but fully understand its not all on him and that he will more than likely be here regardless.

 

[GMUgemini]

I think it's pretty obvious that Hewitt would rather play more like a vcu than an ODU. And right now vcu's problems are about the same as ours -- you force them into a half-court game and they're dead in the water just like us.

Unfortunately, we haven't had a press worth a damn so far in his tenure, nor have we had a rebounding center who can eat up enough space to clear out those defensive rebounds and start the break. Is that a personnel problem or a teaching problem? I think it's a combination of the two, really.

 

[GSII]

I

I'm not sure how to vote right now. We need to see this kind of effort night in and night out, not just one time against vcu. If our staff could strategize this well against vcu, why can't they do this more often?

Bc as you point out, the staff is inconsistent.

 

[GSII]

I think it's pretty obvious that Hewitt would rather play more like a vcu than an ODU. And right now vcu's problems are about the same as ours -- you force them into a half-court game and they're dead in the water just like us.

Unfortunately, we haven't had a press worth a damn so far in his tenure, nor have we had a rebounding center who can eat up enough space to clear out those defensive rebounds and start the break. Is that a personnel problem or a teaching problem? I think it's a combination of the two, really.

Whether it's a teaching or personnel problem, both fall on the coach. His job is to win games. If you have to play zone so be it. His problem is Hewitt plays zone vs penn and makes things a lot more difficult than they need to be. Then he plays man vs Iona and won't switch to zone to stop the layup line. None of this is good for team building. Last night was a fluke bc he wanted revenge for the32-4 debacle. Instead he got beat by more.