Give Fran a bit of credit
- Thread starter longtimer
- Start date
kicker22
Well-Known Member
We're young because our recruiting didn't pan out. We're not young because we had a number of one and done blue chips sign. So while he throws it out there, its ultimately his fault regardless of whether he's using it as an excuse or not.
Young teams take their lumps, but what happened to the mentality of emphasizing defense and working twice as hard on that end of the floor knowing that it can keep you in a game when the offense is inconsistent. If our offense finds itself even remotely struggling on the offensive end, which happens way to often, we've already dug a hole we can't defend, find ourselves making stupid turnovers, and refuse to call timeouts or make any adjustments that could slow the opponent down.
Young teams take their lumps, but what happened to the mentality of emphasizing defense and working twice as hard on that end of the floor knowing that it can keep you in a game when the offense is inconsistent. If our offense finds itself even remotely struggling on the offensive end, which happens way to often, we've already dug a hole we can't defend, find ourselves making stupid turnovers, and refuse to call timeouts or make any adjustments that could slow the opponent down.
kicker22
Well-Known Member
I'll go a step further and add that our "great length and size" means nothing when we're constantly out of position or simply can't keep up.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
He's not throwing it out there. He said being young is not an excuse. He said that last season too
kicker22
Well-Known Member
Agreed, but at the same time saying something to the extent of "with their level of experience they should be playing better" while he may not be using the youth argument directly as an excuse to me it seems that he's putting the share of the blame on the players. To me it seems like a way of taking the burden off of the staff and putting it solely on the players.
I may be looking at it all wrong out of frustration based on how things are playing out, but it seems like there's equally as many flaws in the overall mentality, game preparation, and execution that makes me think experience isn't necessarily the problem for our struggles. If you don't preach the fundamentals of good team defense then experience is meaningless.
I'm just bitter!!!
SteveGarvey1
Well-Known Member
When your team is young you'd better have four and five star guys out there or your season is likely to be lousy.
In one sentence you said putting a share of the blame on the players. In the next you said that's a way to put it soley on the players.
Young is a good excuse for why we suck this year. A coach has to pretend it's not, but as a fan it's ok to say we are young.
That said, it's only an excuse for why this team sucks and will get better. It's not an excuse for the job Fran has done because it's his fault we are young. We have average freshmen who are better than upperclassmen. If your freshmen are better than upperclassmen, they need to be a hell of a lot better than average.
That said, it's only an excuse for why this team sucks and will get better. It's not an excuse for the job Fran has done because it's his fault we are young. We have average freshmen who are better than upperclassmen. If your freshmen are better than upperclassmen, they need to be a hell of a lot better than average.
kicker22
Well-Known Member
Fair enough. So lets keep it consistent and replace "solely" entirely in the second part of that. What I don't hear is Fran and staff taking any responsibility, but rather diverting it to the players.
kicker22
Well-Known Member
Very well put. There are instances where being young is a great thing, but if its because the upperclassmen never came around or fizzled out it's disastrous.
