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Date Posted: Saturday, December 29, 10:52:47am
Author: Peacock
Subject: The sacred cow needs to be touched
In reply to: loyal 's message, "Excruciating Loss" on Friday, December 28, 11:04:16pm

This was a game that Dunne lost. Forget about the odds and ends of individual players, he has no idea how to play with a lead. Loyal said it best. Shots were rushed in the end and they had no idea that milking the clock was in order. Also there were no more traps after he finally had enough sense to get another ball handler on the floor. It took him some time to figure that one out, three possessions. It was obvious that this was game plan as not one, but three different players took rushed shots. Remember they gave away 10 points in two minutes and only a three, after a chinese drill set, by Leon gave us a two point lead. That demonstrated another chink in Dunne's approach. If a play doesn't materialize, the next play is to imitate deer in headlights and hope some takes a desperation shot. Exactly how the last shot went.

I think it is easy to criticize individual players for certain plays ( As Leon would be held mostly responsible), but Dunne showed no knowledge how to protect a lead in the UMBC game and ten games later he has shown nothing new. Oldtimer mentions the non development of a play, which I believe he was talking about was with the last shot in the final 24 seconds. One-dimensional seems to be the approach. If it doesn't materialize there are no back ups.

That all aside I am not calling for Dunne's head, but somewhere along the line those who like to talk about the players and the teaching, need to start wondering what the staff has to do with it. Mental lapses that allow unchallenged shots. Very frequent and many when assistants should be yelling out issues.


Forget about the refs as we got the benefit of many calls particularly on Sowell's blocks which were in fact muggings. Fairfield is a horrible team and we showed we are just as horrible if not more so.


This all leads to a quandary?
Is the talent there?
Can Dunne actually manage a bench team?

I still think the answer to the first one is yes and Dunne can recruit. The 2nd one is up for grabs. When in the BIG East he had multi recourses and support and while acknowledged as the game planner for Orr, he had decent help. Here he is naked and on his own. Up to now he has not shown that he is up to the task.

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Replies:

[> [> Is John not returning your phone calls? -- Sludge, Saturday, December 29, 05:38:07pm [1]

Seriously, this is a game that was lost by both the coach and players. I was not at the game but was on radio and received what I consider some professional accounting from two that did attend.

We have a serious learning disorder on this team. Perhaps John needs to modify his teaching but, even allowing for the many freshmen, it seems most are incapable of putting into practice what is taught. Do you possibly think that you can see things on the radio that are not obvious to the coaching staff? Take the rushed shots in the closing 2-1/2 with the lead. John could be seen and heard franticaally urging his players to bring the ball out, hold the shot. According to accounts he did everything but actually jump on the court to try to get their attention.

Something else I believe was missed. The Fairfield traps and our loss of the ball occured mostly with our two guards (Leon & Lampley), on the floor. For whatever reason, even with John coming out of his shorts, either Orta or Gooding failed to come to the middle of the stripe to receive the ball when the guards were being teamed.

If you wish to argue about Dunne, a more appropriate criticism would be his failure to put enough pressure on the opponents only guard and ballhandler, Han. It is widely known that Fairfield has little in the way of a handler. To allow him to run free at times, with little pressure, made no sense. In addition, I'm not sure why we doesn't change the defensive look more often. Too often we are in the man, particularly here where many of Fairfields points were a result of penetration. A zone would seem to have been in order.

We have weaknesses, too many unfortunately to dominate a team even as inept as the Stags. The blend, as I called out at the start, is not there and is coming slower than we all would have wished. Bacon provides little support for Sowell, Hogga is unfortunately a tweener who at this stage gets particularly exposed defensively when playing a wing. Leon is learning and will become our floor general in the year's ahead. Jenkins is the real thing and his all MAAC years are just ahead. Lampley....... well my guess is you can color him gone by year end. Not that he doesn't have the talent as I have so often been forced to qualify. Problem is that Darrell plays and will always default to the street game, one that is his makeup, regardless of the teachings and punishments. Not that we haven't seen an attempt on his part to learn the team game. Witness the first half where he did attempt to play within himself and look for others. Then look at the other half, when he becomes himself again. Trying the spectacular shot, errant pass, the foolish foul. All too often resulting in an air ball or in the hands of the opponent, or looking for an altercation with officials and players alike. Suffice to say that there are 11 classmates who will not shed any tears if he goes elsewhere.

For next year we need the banger as we have all advertised. Likely we will have to settle for another of the Shumate and Conley types that we have just signed. Hoping that one or two might approach Sowell-size performances early, is likely too much to hope for. Our other major need is the ballhandler, penetrator, passer, and I will add, based on recent games, DEFENDER. He may be difficult to find but we don't need a shooter, but a good sized combo guard that can do some of the things the others, for the most part, can not do or need help in doing.

Sorry, but I wanted to make sure this was more than just about Dunne.

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[> [> [> You also need to ask yourself some serious questions? -- Peacock, Saturday, December 29, 08:02:25pm [1]

Ever hear of time outs. If the kids are not listening to you, you stop play. The TOs were there. Your comments on Lampley are not applicable in this game and show that your info is very biased. He was not on the floor when the Leon turnovers occurred. He was brought in after the Leon walk and we didn't have a problem coming up then. I agree the other players didn’t' come to help Leon out and yes that is their fault. Being at the game Dunne was not as obvious as you mentioned. Jenkins was probably the most rushed along with Leon so I wonder why you let him off and skewer Lampley. And Jenkins was right at the bench when he took one shot. We all know that he is the most non street of them all. So I assume you really believe he ignored Dunne in this situation. He went right by him. In the end your description here on Lampley was not applicable to him tonight while Jenkins should bear more if I use your original assumption. In the end, I fault the coach more here than the players as they more than likely do what they are told.

And as an intelligent man taking advice for possible non objective partisans, you need to ask yourself this rather poignant question. Why would you expect Dunne, being a rather serious task master, not to sit the offending non listeners. He had no problem with a 2 game suspension for Lampley for missing a study hall. Watching the Manhattan Rutgers game, Wenzel the former BE coach, said the object is to score when pressed. Think about it, this from the BE philosophy with all that talent. I believe Dunne wanted to action to be aggressive. Why because he did nothing to stop it. These kids are not as independent as you seem to imply here. At some point in time, you need to consider what they really are being told and not what some want it to be.

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[> [> [> [> You need to show more understanding -- Sludge, Monday, December 31, 08:25:17am [1]

I will give you some benefit since I was not at the last game and you apparently were. Still, I have witnessed enough and I consider my "eyes" for the last game reliable.
In any case, no need to make this all about Dunne or Lampley. Hopefully, you have the ability and balance to not blindly reach out and trumpet the cause for Darrell as a former poster has.

Yes, all are culpable for the last loss. No one is arguing otherwise. I agree, you attack a press and don't play hesitant. However, a distant 3-pointer is not my answer for being aggressive. Finally, where does your inside information come from that Lampley's two game suspension is a result of missing one study hall? I will again offer the customary perfuntory that we should not engage in personals, but would suggest you reexamine your phone book before making further calls :-)

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[> [> [> [> [> Well , you seem to forget -- Peacock, Monday, December 31, 11:28:36am [1]

that DL had a controlled game as well as a good game at Manhattan and was not out of control in this game either. If you wanted to use the word out of control you might have considered Leon's attempted penetrations into the middle which can be described as horrible at best. Not once but twice where the ball was lost and allowed Fairfield to pull away. Not the smartest moves I have seen.


The point I am making on DL is that most are jumping on the bandwagon about his supposed lack of discipline and that is irresponsible. Your comment about leaving school at the end is a perfect example of that. If the kid self destructs, so be it, but a simple observation during warm-ups showed me that his interaction with other team mates is not the pariah some have said. The info on suspension was hearsay from around the stands.

In addition, I disagree with oldtimer on creating. DL is a better creator than Leon as well as the better ball handler. However Leon appears to be the better listener and thereby gets the nod. My own personal feeling was that DL is better suited for the two anyway as he can get open more readily than Leon. One fact so far has been neither has shown a good head for smart basketball. And whether you accept it or not, I was touting Leon when all others were spouting Lampley.


Another factor in your post that was irresponsible is insinuating that the team is basically dumb, suggesting a change in teaching method. Like it or not, that indicts Dunne also for if he doesn't understand the capacity of his team to absorb, he is not long for the job, as there are going to be more capable head cases if the wishes of everyone for a decent team is realized.

A second point that I was making was not to classify Dunne with my feelings for Leckie, but to point out that he must also be held responsible for what does look like unprepared situations in the game. End game shots that result in deer in the headlights attempts by the whole team reflects back on him and not necessarily the players. Losing the game is not the issue, but 11 games and all but 2-3 games against the pits of D1 and we get three wins. This is Dunne's second year and we don't even expect a 500 season, but is it unreasonable to expect some wins against the poor competition we have faced so far this year.

I only hope they put some decent wins on the board because that have already given up the easier part of the schedule.

[Edit]

[> [> [> [> Post-script -- oldtimer#1, Monday, December 31, 12:12:09pm [1]

Think we are all basically saying the same thing i.e. plenty of blame to go around. A coach should take some of the credit for wins but also blame for losses. Both Sludge and Peacock made that quite clear.






Some clarification on the timeouts. In the last six plus minutes 6 timeouts were called. Two media timeouts, two by SPC and two by FFD. We had a nine point lead AND the ball with 3:50 remaining. Dunne, at that point called a TO. This was followed at 3:35 with a media TO - plenty of time to give instruction which is obviously what Dunne did.









Now one can debate what that instruction was, but we do not know since we were not in the huddle. If one is to criticize Dunne on this matter it has to be either on the instructions given ( I do not) or whom he choose to put on the floor (see my prior comments) not his failure to call TO's.










The fact is that not all of our shots were rushed from that point on. Lampley, I believe, missed one with twenty seconds taken off the clock. The most obvious rushed shot was that of Jenkins who fired one up with only 10 ticks off the clock following a FFD TO (2:00-1:50). Didn't notice Dunne but Morton, who has been mentoring Jenkins jumped almost to Wesley and was clearly upset. Don't even want to come down on Wesley here, shit happens. He is an outstanding team player who made a mistake. Plenty of that to go around.










Posted this only to get our facts straight. I like Dunne as a coach. Reports that I have is that he is a teacher in practice. Thus I would tend to side with Sludge's viewpoint that most of the problems are with the time available to infuse a lot of information, freshman adjustments, and some players who are slow adapters. I would also point out that while this was a good recruiting class, it has become obvious that there is only one immediate impact player, the rest are projects. The hype exceeded the reality. As posted before, a complete turnaround does not happen with one recruiting class. That said, this team should be doing better than it's performance to date! Everyone shares in that blame.





P.S. Peacock, with respect. Your characterization of Leon and Lampley in the FFl game is a biased as you claim others to be. I agree and stated that Leon IMO did not play as well as in previous games. However, you analysis and criticism of Leon failed to mention that he did have two beautiful penetration drives, one of which brought the crowd to his feet. Lampley, you fail to state threw several penetration passes away and was lucky enough to fight for a loose ball on his key penetration miss and get the ball to Leon for what, at the time, looked like the game winner. If you are going to analyze, be fair and don't omit things not favorable to your analysis.





Finally, you are entitled to your opinion about Lampley vs Leon penetration. However, by your own admission you have only been to three games. How then can you form an opinion? In the last three or four games prior to FFD Leon's drives to the basket have bordered on outstanding, some of which were key. In the Manhattan game need I remind you that his drive and finish tied the scoure with 22 sec. remaining and prior to that he fed Jenkins for a three. How is that for creating. When has Lampley done that? Lampley's attempt at penetration in the last several minutes of the FFD game was almost as poor as Leon's. Need I remind you that he was 0-3 in crunch time. Given his season shooting percentage where does he deserve to take three shots or even IMO be on the floor? I took pains not to criticize Lampley in this game but if you are going to criticize Leon be fair. He did hit what looked, at the time, like the game winning basket. Not a good game by any means but Lampley was no bargain either. Happy New Yesar to all!

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[> [> [> [> [> You need to be accurate. -- Peacock, Monday, December 31, 02:22:07pm [1]

The comment "was lucky enough to fight for a loose ball on his key penetration miss" was indeed a penetration but a missed three that he went into recover after his miss. So I don't either one of us should try to play instant recall.

The comments on Leon were more to show his performance when it counted in OT. It was crunch time. I don't want compare either one, it is just this commentary that just loves to take the kids to task and not the staff. In fact Jenkins is constantly given a pass other than maybe two great games and I wonder which of us is really biased.

My questions were,

Is the talent there? or

Is the coaching up to snuff?

From this you have now downgraded our talent. I am just not ready to do this.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> Needs to read -- Peacock, Monday, December 31, 02:23:21pm [1]

was indeed not a penetration

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[> [> [> [> [> [> Re: You need to be accurate. -- oldtimer#1, Monday, December 31, 02:33:23pm [1]

Please don't put words in my mouth. With regard to talent I stated that we have to date one impact player, the rest are projects. Do you disagree? I also stated that some of our players were overhyped by one particular poster do you disagree?




Saying that we have several projects does not translate into saying that we did not recruit talent. Almost all our recruits are legitimate DI players with several having outstanding potential. Again, do you disagree?

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> Re: You need to be accurate. -- Peacock, Monday, December 31, 02:51:02pm [1]

No comment on the Lampley misquote. Bottom line I haven't seen an impact player as yet. Yes I have seen some that are specific fan favorites. While I think jajk does lend to overhype to the point of stupidty, he did it only on two players, Lampley and Jenkins. It would appear you have agreed on one of the players.

By the way great first half by Leon at Providence. In the end I expect five new players to be of value and fully expect Bacon to be one of them also.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Re: You need to be accurate. -- oldtimer#1, Monday, December 31, 03:27:38pm [1]

We agree!

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