I want to start by saying that generally I support whoever the current RU coach is, in any sport. Many of you know this from prior discussions (in person and on the message boards), regarding other coaches, both football and basketball.
There is no doubt this year seems particularly awful, the worst since the Littlepage years ... maybe even worse in some ways, than the Littlepage years.
This post is neither an attack on Jordan and his staff, nor a support of Jordan and his staff, by the way, though there will be statements supporting both sides. I still feel I just have to trust the new Athletic Department administration until proven otherwise.
I should state, that even for the most optimistic fans (and as many know, I generally fall into that category), there is very little evidence supporting the program is headed in the right direction.
The MOST telling negative to me, as an optimist, is not the actual on-court performance (for which there can be some reasonable explanation other than coaching, even though many might disagree). Rather, the most telling negative implications, to me, were the complete strikeout of any signed commits in the Fall signing period. Sure, there ARE good players available in the Spring (contrary to what some posters might state). But for such a critical recruiting class, one that needed to produce actual contributing pieces as early as thew 2016-2017 season (as frosh), and a class for which Jordan was apparently waiting enough for that he saved a potential scholarship he could have handed out in the last class, that might have helped THIS season ... and zero signed players? That is extremely worrisome, in my opinion.
As to the on-court performance, I think it is nearly impossible to tell how well the coaching staff is actually doing as coaches. I know that many are firm in their views as to how poorly the coaches are coaching the players, but I am not convinced by their arguments. On the other hand, I am not convinced the coaching staff is doing WELL coaching the players either ... I literally do not know. That is probably a bad sign, I suppose.
I will say I have been disappointed in the defense most of the season. But the coaching staff DID make a change to improve the defense (and it did help), by benching Foreman for Grier ... moving Foreman to his much more natural position of PF. That helped the defense quite a bit, before Freeman got hurt.
And I actually believe that before the injuries, the offense showed some good things ... for example, other than Daniels, I think RU got a TON of good shots in their offensive flow and sets. Unfortunately, RU's players are simply not good shooters or finishers. Obviously, the coaching staff has to take some of the blame for not recruiting players good enough to make open shots or finish around the rim. But they should get credit for fashioning an offense that GETS open shots.
In re the current performance the last 2-3 weeks ... I think there is actually almost nothing the coaches can do, given the short roster. And only part of the problem is not enough recruited players. The injuries have been devastating to a team that already had almost no margin for error. Before the injuries mounted (remember, RU started with a key bench player hurt, in Doorson), RU should have beaten St. Johns (lost mainly due to a real abberration in Sanders' FT shooting ... Sanders was 1-6 FT.,s including at least 1 missed 1 and 1 ... he hits 4-7, with the front end of the 1 and 1, and RU wins that game, and maybe even easily) ... and RU had a great shot to beat Wake Forest (2 open shots in the last 12 seconds, down 1 each time). While Wake Forest is not a great team, they are at least a decent team (9-5), with wins over UCLA, Arkansas and LSU (with competitive losses to Xavier and Louisville). And RU probably should have beaten them.
But when Freeman went down, that was a KILLER blow. He was RU's best or 2nd best player, on an already thin roster - and by far and away RU's best interior scorer and rebounder.
And when Diallo went down ... oh my! Diallo was not a great player, and was disappointingly poor on defense. By now RU had exactly 2 players who could play Center and PF: Lewis and Foreman. That forced RU to move Laurent to the back-up PF slot, from the back-up WF slot. In the 1st 2 games he played that role, RU was hurt badly because Laurent literally did not know how to play post defense (either on ball or rotational help). But by the 3rd game he was MUCH improved, and was playing very well, including creating some mismatches on the offensive end as well. Still, he is really NOT a PF - just what RU had to work with, as RU had no other option. And still, RU had just 3 players to play PF and Center ... which made worse RU's defensive and rebounding issues. And for the Indiana and Maryland games Foreman was nowhere near 100%, with a bad ankle - but played anyway. I suspect that he might have played at all, had RU had available a healthy Freeman and Diallo (though I cannot prove that).
And then Laurent got hurt ... I have never seen a team with such injury problems, and all in the same slots. Now RU had ... nothing in the frontcourt ... just Foreman and Lewis. Ouch. Maryland was a no hope contest under the circumstances: A Final Four contending team against a below-average team before injuries, but now with only 7 scholarship players, and on the road. RU had to cover 6'7" to 6'10" players who could bot post up and shoot the 3-point shot, with Mike Williams (6'2") and Grier (6'4) ... hopeless. Frankly, though the Nebraska performance was disappointing - mainly how RU was so uncompetitive - if one looks at this objectively, without an agenda to either support or oppose the retention of Jordan as coach, the result should not be surprising. Nebraska's best player is a 6'7" GUARD. They have a number of 6'9" to 7'0" players in the frontcourt, and RU's back-up PF is Grier (6'4"). Nebraska's best player could just shoot right over any RU back-court player ... but RU was so undersized in the frontcourt, that there was no way to compensate in other ways to offset that Nebraska player's performance. There was a time in the game when RU had FIVE guards on the court: Grier as the tallest player, at 6'4". RU actually ran excellent offensive sets with that line-up, getting some very good shots ... though Goode missed an open 3, and RU missed 3 lay-ups, with that line-up. The problem was that RU literally could not defend or rebound they were so small.
Without FReeman, Diallo and Doorson, RU is going to be forced to give major minutes to Daniels, and too many minutes to Goode. And there is nothing any coaching can do to change that simple fact. Goode is simply too slow to defend any P5 player that RU has faced to date - he is a major liability on defense, despite great effort. And though he is supposed to be a shooter, he is not being successful shooting the ball. He is just shooting 7-26 from 3-point range (27%), which really hurts RU, since RU has to work SO hard to get him his open shots (since he cannot create his own), only to have him miss so often, and at such crucial parts of games. His 3-point shot form looks fine to me ... but he has a very slow release, in my opinion. And Daniels ... when RU had cut Maryland's lead, and then Nebraska's lead (okay, RU was not going to win either game, but RU did have points where they were rallying), Daniels just kills those rallies with simply awful turnovers and often even worse shots. Daniels is a rally-killer and a offensive set-killer. Plus he plays completely lackadaisical defense ... "ole" defense.
If everyone comes back, there is a core that can improve for 2016-2017: Sanders, Johnson and Williams at guard, Laurent at WF, Freeman, Foreman, Doorson and Diallo upfront. RU would need an additional real SHOOTER recruited at G/WF, or maybe 2, and could use one more frontcourt player for rebounding and defense. That may not be an NCAA team, but it could be a competitive team.
I do not know if Jordan can get those 3 players needed to come to RU, nor whether he can keep the current core together (keeping Sanders is REALLY important, as he IS going to be a great player).
Frankly, I would almost hope Freeman could, and be willing to, redshirt this year. The season is lost, and it would be nice for the program to have him for 2 additional seasons. But if he can come back by early February, but does not, RU might not win another game, which has other implications (none good).
There is no doubt this year seems particularly awful, the worst since the Littlepage years ... maybe even worse in some ways, than the Littlepage years.
This post is neither an attack on Jordan and his staff, nor a support of Jordan and his staff, by the way, though there will be statements supporting both sides. I still feel I just have to trust the new Athletic Department administration until proven otherwise.
I should state, that even for the most optimistic fans (and as many know, I generally fall into that category), there is very little evidence supporting the program is headed in the right direction.
The MOST telling negative to me, as an optimist, is not the actual on-court performance (for which there can be some reasonable explanation other than coaching, even though many might disagree). Rather, the most telling negative implications, to me, were the complete strikeout of any signed commits in the Fall signing period. Sure, there ARE good players available in the Spring (contrary to what some posters might state). But for such a critical recruiting class, one that needed to produce actual contributing pieces as early as thew 2016-2017 season (as frosh), and a class for which Jordan was apparently waiting enough for that he saved a potential scholarship he could have handed out in the last class, that might have helped THIS season ... and zero signed players? That is extremely worrisome, in my opinion.
As to the on-court performance, I think it is nearly impossible to tell how well the coaching staff is actually doing as coaches. I know that many are firm in their views as to how poorly the coaches are coaching the players, but I am not convinced by their arguments. On the other hand, I am not convinced the coaching staff is doing WELL coaching the players either ... I literally do not know. That is probably a bad sign, I suppose.
I will say I have been disappointed in the defense most of the season. But the coaching staff DID make a change to improve the defense (and it did help), by benching Foreman for Grier ... moving Foreman to his much more natural position of PF. That helped the defense quite a bit, before Freeman got hurt.
And I actually believe that before the injuries, the offense showed some good things ... for example, other than Daniels, I think RU got a TON of good shots in their offensive flow and sets. Unfortunately, RU's players are simply not good shooters or finishers. Obviously, the coaching staff has to take some of the blame for not recruiting players good enough to make open shots or finish around the rim. But they should get credit for fashioning an offense that GETS open shots.
In re the current performance the last 2-3 weeks ... I think there is actually almost nothing the coaches can do, given the short roster. And only part of the problem is not enough recruited players. The injuries have been devastating to a team that already had almost no margin for error. Before the injuries mounted (remember, RU started with a key bench player hurt, in Doorson), RU should have beaten St. Johns (lost mainly due to a real abberration in Sanders' FT shooting ... Sanders was 1-6 FT.,s including at least 1 missed 1 and 1 ... he hits 4-7, with the front end of the 1 and 1, and RU wins that game, and maybe even easily) ... and RU had a great shot to beat Wake Forest (2 open shots in the last 12 seconds, down 1 each time). While Wake Forest is not a great team, they are at least a decent team (9-5), with wins over UCLA, Arkansas and LSU (with competitive losses to Xavier and Louisville). And RU probably should have beaten them.
But when Freeman went down, that was a KILLER blow. He was RU's best or 2nd best player, on an already thin roster - and by far and away RU's best interior scorer and rebounder.
And when Diallo went down ... oh my! Diallo was not a great player, and was disappointingly poor on defense. By now RU had exactly 2 players who could play Center and PF: Lewis and Foreman. That forced RU to move Laurent to the back-up PF slot, from the back-up WF slot. In the 1st 2 games he played that role, RU was hurt badly because Laurent literally did not know how to play post defense (either on ball or rotational help). But by the 3rd game he was MUCH improved, and was playing very well, including creating some mismatches on the offensive end as well. Still, he is really NOT a PF - just what RU had to work with, as RU had no other option. And still, RU had just 3 players to play PF and Center ... which made worse RU's defensive and rebounding issues. And for the Indiana and Maryland games Foreman was nowhere near 100%, with a bad ankle - but played anyway. I suspect that he might have played at all, had RU had available a healthy Freeman and Diallo (though I cannot prove that).
And then Laurent got hurt ... I have never seen a team with such injury problems, and all in the same slots. Now RU had ... nothing in the frontcourt ... just Foreman and Lewis. Ouch. Maryland was a no hope contest under the circumstances: A Final Four contending team against a below-average team before injuries, but now with only 7 scholarship players, and on the road. RU had to cover 6'7" to 6'10" players who could bot post up and shoot the 3-point shot, with Mike Williams (6'2") and Grier (6'4) ... hopeless. Frankly, though the Nebraska performance was disappointing - mainly how RU was so uncompetitive - if one looks at this objectively, without an agenda to either support or oppose the retention of Jordan as coach, the result should not be surprising. Nebraska's best player is a 6'7" GUARD. They have a number of 6'9" to 7'0" players in the frontcourt, and RU's back-up PF is Grier (6'4"). Nebraska's best player could just shoot right over any RU back-court player ... but RU was so undersized in the frontcourt, that there was no way to compensate in other ways to offset that Nebraska player's performance. There was a time in the game when RU had FIVE guards on the court: Grier as the tallest player, at 6'4". RU actually ran excellent offensive sets with that line-up, getting some very good shots ... though Goode missed an open 3, and RU missed 3 lay-ups, with that line-up. The problem was that RU literally could not defend or rebound they were so small.
Without FReeman, Diallo and Doorson, RU is going to be forced to give major minutes to Daniels, and too many minutes to Goode. And there is nothing any coaching can do to change that simple fact. Goode is simply too slow to defend any P5 player that RU has faced to date - he is a major liability on defense, despite great effort. And though he is supposed to be a shooter, he is not being successful shooting the ball. He is just shooting 7-26 from 3-point range (27%), which really hurts RU, since RU has to work SO hard to get him his open shots (since he cannot create his own), only to have him miss so often, and at such crucial parts of games. His 3-point shot form looks fine to me ... but he has a very slow release, in my opinion. And Daniels ... when RU had cut Maryland's lead, and then Nebraska's lead (okay, RU was not going to win either game, but RU did have points where they were rallying), Daniels just kills those rallies with simply awful turnovers and often even worse shots. Daniels is a rally-killer and a offensive set-killer. Plus he plays completely lackadaisical defense ... "ole" defense.
If everyone comes back, there is a core that can improve for 2016-2017: Sanders, Johnson and Williams at guard, Laurent at WF, Freeman, Foreman, Doorson and Diallo upfront. RU would need an additional real SHOOTER recruited at G/WF, or maybe 2, and could use one more frontcourt player for rebounding and defense. That may not be an NCAA team, but it could be a competitive team.
I do not know if Jordan can get those 3 players needed to come to RU, nor whether he can keep the current core together (keeping Sanders is REALLY important, as he IS going to be a great player).
Frankly, I would almost hope Freeman could, and be willing to, redshirt this year. The season is lost, and it would be nice for the program to have him for 2 additional seasons. But if he can come back by early February, but does not, RU might not win another game, which has other implications (none good).
