The problem is lack of mental and physical toughness, which translates to weak effort and, to some degree, relying on others (refs, other teams, team mates) to help you out rather than taking care of your own business.
-- Woodbury is the softest 7'1" center in major D-1 basketball. I'd love to see him invest 1/2 the effort into playing like a 7'1" man who owns the lane, attacks the rim and finishes with authority as he does worrying about shushing me for calling him a ***** around the basket -- which he is. The next time he fist-pumps and chest-thumps for tieing up a
6'4" guard who drove right at him because they don't fear him, I hope he stumbles on his own shoelace.
-- White is lazy and gives up. He's devolved into one of the worst baseline zone defenders I've ever seen (hedges too much anticipating the pass and is constantly out of position / sideways to recover). He's lost in the offense and watches. In his defense, McCLiter has him playing out of position, at the 3, but he compounds the problem by tending to retreat into an afterthought to his mates rather than imposing himself into the offensive flow. His m.i.a. routine is 100% mental, self-pity and weak effort.
-- McCabe is just frustrated, which leads to him being frustrating. As many others have said, it's not his fault his coach puts him in positions where it's inevitiable he will fail because he's physically and athletically overmatched and his talents are inferior. Thing is, he's also played so poorly (like most on this team, well below their individual potential) he's not only frustrated but getting angry.
(On that note, last night was his best performance since December -- pretty solid, actually. As I said, I'm just sorry he also didn't punch MSU's head b!tch in the face and take a dump in Dickie V's and Nessler's shaving kits.)
-- Finally, McCaffery ... he continues to suffer from the misconception that quantity = quality. Like his counterpart on the gridiron, he tends to constantly stuff square pegs in round holes (White = 3? McCabe = +5 minutes and a 5?), zig when he should zag (Zone or man? Starters build a lead, take 'em out in a wholesale line-change. Need some D, insert Clemmons, Jok, Oglesby, etc.) and insists that hard-working experience trumps youthful talent. On top of that, his disorganized personnel mismanagement has diluted the talent on this team to the point that everyone is questioning what they should do, where do they fit, are they good enough ...
You "Mad", yet coach?
... us, too!!