Ben classy in defeat, him and players sat and answered all questions. Didn't cry about refs. Fran would have thrown a chair at the media after a loss like that.
There were a series of bad decisions by the players on the floor, that lead to that loss. And this is where people lose me. The mark of a good coach is obvious in a lot of ways but no coach can control every decision a player makes in a 34 second span, when you have no timeouts and your floor leader is on the bench fouled out.To be fair...I just saw Ben's disciplined team that never turns the ball over do something in the last 34 seconds of regulation that I have never seen before.
There were a series of bad decisions by the players on the floor, that lead to that loss. And this is where people lose me. The mark of a good coach is obvious in a lot of ways but no coach can control every decision a player makes in a 34 second span, when you have no timeouts and your floor leader is on the bench fouled out.
Anyone here that can walk us through how Ben should have coached better, second by second, for the last 34 seconds.....I'd love to see it.
And that is in no way similar to what happens with Fran. Fran's team will unravel over a 3 to 6 minute time span, to end the game. He will take timeouts home with him. Etc. And I'm not here to say that Fran isn't a good coach. Fran does some things very, very well. They just happen to be on the practice floor, between the games. He lets his players play, come game time. The problem is, when things go wrong during the game, he doesn't adjust well. He doesn't refocus his players. He doesn't know what buttons to push. And there are a lot of coaches just like him! .
I would say that is incorrect. Ben may have wanted to scream at players but with 34 seconds and no timeouts, it's pointless. Even Fran would have realized that. And Fran screams and gets angry during games for actual reasons. The biggest reason being that he can't fix the problems that have now cropped up, during the game. I'm sure that's frustrating.I think the difference between Ben and Fran is how Ben handled the situation. Fran would have been rattled, probably screaming at a player. Ben took it in stride. Oh another example of Ben being a better coach than Fran, he can beat Iowa State.
There were a series of bad decisions by the players on the floor, that lead to that loss. And this is where people lose me. The mark of a good coach is obvious in a lot of ways but no coach can control every decision a player makes in a 34 second span, when you have no timeouts and your floor leader is on the bench fouled out.
Anyone here that can walk us through how Ben should have coached better, second by second, for the last 34 seconds.....I'd love to see it.
And that is in no way similar to what happens with Fran. Fran's team will unravel over a 3 to 6 minute time span, to end the game. He will take timeouts home with him. Etc. And I'm not here to say that Fran isn't a good coach. Fran does some things very, very well. They just happen to be on the practice floor, between the games. He lets his players play, come game time. The problem is, when things go wrong during the game, he doesn't adjust well. He doesn't refocus his players. He doesn't know what buttons to push. And there are a lot of coaches just like him! .
Give us an example of where Fran was not "classy in defeat".Ben classy in defeat, him and players sat and answered all questions. Didn't cry about refs. Fran would have thrown a chair at the media after a loss like that.
Given that UNI had a stretch when they lost 6 of 7 games in a lousy conference, I'd guess that they had their fair share of unraveling this year.Fran's team will unravel over a 3 to 6 minute time span, to end the game.
Yes, Ben handled the situation perfectly.I think the difference between Ben and Fran is how Ben handled the situation. Fran would have been rattled, probably screaming at a player. Ben took it in stride.
Given that UNI had a stretch when they lost 6 of 7 games in a lousy conference, I'd guess that they had their fair share of unraveling this year.
That's probably true but I didn't watch those games, so I can't say. My point was to differentiate between last night's scenario and what happened to Iowa over a 10 game stretch. They can't reasonably be compared.
If you want to compare the last 10 games of both teams, or last 20, that's fine. And fair. I'm sure both coaches have their flaws.
1 - Their floor leader fouled out in OT and was part of the meltdown.
2 - I told my wife exactly what I thought they should do while I was watching the game live. As soon as the ball is caught in bounds immediately throw the ball as high as possible so it bounces down at the other end of the court. It doesn't even matter if it goes out of bounds. Time has run off the clock while the ball is in the air. They have to bring it the length of the court. And they have to score against the defense...while using a few more seconds. Do this 3 times and UNI can't lose.
I have to believe that Ben wouldn't have left his best defender on the bench the last 17 minutes of the first half while the other teams guards were driving to the hoop with ease or facilitating other guys so well. I don't think Ben would have just kept his timeouts in the pocket while the game was getting out of hand in the first half, or let his best player sit in front of the scorer's table for 4-5 minutes of game-time without calling the TO while the other team increased the lead to the point of no return.
I like Fran and he's done a lot of good things but he has to manage the game better than that.
This game is just making me mad that Philly Fran is coaching at THE University of Iowa.
Ben classy in defeat, him and players sat and answered all questions. Didn't cry about refs. Fran would have thrown a chair at the media after a loss like that.