Debate: Is It Coaching or The Players?
by dishingoutdimes on Jan 11, 2010 12:28 PM CST
in Basketball
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PrintOur basketball team has struggled this year. That much is obvious. They just got shellacked by Baylor, a team that hadn't beat OU since 1977. They have fallen in just about every computerized rating system over the past couple of weeks. Their "defensive" stats on the KenPom site is a blur of different shades of red - indicating that they don't really have a defense. In fact, based on his ratings, OU is only projected to win 2 conference games, and they stand a 1.17% chance of posting a winless conference record - not a great chance, but not a non-zero one either.
So is it a matter of poor coaching, or a matter of players who just seem to not want to put in the effort to be a competitive D-1 basketball team? I'll let you guys hash that out in the comments section.
One more interesting factoid: Willie Warren has the 19th highest Usage% of any player in the country. Usage percentage is just a measure of what fraction of the possessions a player will use when they are on the court to try to score and what-not. There are thousands of D-1 basketball players. Thousands! And Willie Warren uses the ball more than all but 18 players.
But here's the punchline - this season, Warren is not the most efficient offensive player on our team. Not by a long shot. He's only scoring 1.057 points per possession (PPP) that he uses, which puts him in Ryan Wright's company (1.047). Tiny Gallon, Cade Davis, Tommy Mason-Griffin, Tony Crocker, and Steven Pledger all have MUCH higher values, and Gallon, Crocker, and Pledger rank among the top 200 nationally in offensive efficiency.
Food for thought.
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Coaching is my vote
I know people like Capel, and so do I btw, but the problem here is that he constructed this roster. These are his players that he can’t do anything with. They may be crummy players but he brought them in so, ultimately, this dumpster fire is his fault.
"When you play happy, good things will happen"-Elvis Andrus
I don't really like....
….all these kenpom stats. I can use my two eyeballs to clearly see that this team sucks. I had high hopes for this group, but they look NIT bound.
True
But you have to make a more compelling argument than “I’ve watched them. They suck” lol
by dishingoutdimes on Jan 11, 2010 11:45 PM CST up reply actions
I voted coaching but there wasn't a choice for both players and coaches.
but I am not slamming Capel or his staff.
The team lost two physical and vocal leaders from last year with Griffin brothers. At this point the team has no physical or vocal leaders. Without a team leader the best this group can do is to become a team of role players. It looks like a team of role players who can’t figure out how to put the different roles together. It seems that everyone is waiting for someone to step it up and it hasn’t happened. Each player is waiting around for someone else to take over. Practice like a team and play like a team. Practice like role players, play like role players.
Capel can yell, motivate, teach and pull his hair but these players are going to have to figure this out individually. There is no chemistry.
Why did I vote the coaching? Capel brought them in, works these players in practice, and coaches the games, he should have found a way to get this team to gel. That is asking alot considering the players themselves don’t think they can get it together.
Looooong season ahead.
I always blame the coaches
Coaches bring in the talent. They coach the talent. If the talent can’t or won’t do what they have to, then that’s the coaches fault. 3 McDonald’s All-Americans make me think there is talent, they just aren’t being coached/taught well.
"You have been banned from the Purple Row, for Inappropriate conduct, profanity, (&) telling site authors their articles are crap."
Coaches can only do so much
As a coach myself I know that I can prepare and get my guys ready to play and have the perfect strategy but if the players don’t buy into it or execute or just get stops and knock down shots, it is on them.
Something I have heard since the first day I got into this profession…
Coaches get blamed for the losses while players get credit for the wins.
Shouldn’t always be the case but that is the public perception.
Boomer Sooner!
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