Dukes, Coach choke in CAA Tourney
Received a text from a friend (the good Doctor Nelson) on this gloomy morning after the Dukes big chokejob in the tourney against the Caucasian Tribe. Simply said: “If Lefty was runnin’ things, this team could’ve spent all night at Club Velvet and still beat William & Mary by 20.”
While that does put quite a hipster-chic sepia tone on the up and down reign of the Dukes supposed glory days, the sentiment is correct. Coaching is to blame for this group disappointing and there is no way to sugarcoat it. After a restless night trying to put this behind me, I’ve managed to forget the missed front ends and defensive lapses by the players and , gasp, even the hideous officiating is fading in my memory, but the coaching issues are what remain front and center in my mind.
If the Dukes had won, I’d launch into a tirade about the 37-16 free throws attempted discrepancy or the fact a Technical Foul could surely have been called earlier in the game if you were annoyed with Brady as opposed to waiting until 3 minutes were left in a tight game and then throwing that dagger. But they lost, so it sounds crappy to blame the refs alone. That said, last night was the ultimate proof that I am on the right side of the argument in wishing for FBS in that I may have cute, provinicial love for the CAA, but it’s a darnright low-rent, bush league operation. It’s downright sad that while the play and talent in the conference have shot through the roof, but officiating, production value, and administration still look like an NAIA steaming pile of shit.
But this is my list of things I can’t forget:
1) Not pressing earlier. The Dukes have much better athletes than WM, WM was shooting free throws horribly last night, and JMU had no rythm on offense since Denzel spent so much time on the bench last night. Might’ve made sense to crank it up a little earlier after WM’s mid-2nd spurt.
2) Never getting the bench ready. The Dukes never varied their starting lineup till very late in the season and when more hands were needed, those players had not played significant enough minutes to be prepared. Chad Jackson on defense and Andrey Semenov on offense were nearly enough to save the Dukes last night, but as the season wound down, they were the only players Brady trusted enough to use off the bench. This isn’t the players fault, this is the coach’s not using them earlier. So what if it costs you against Presbyterian, we needed minutes from Trevon Flores last night in Bowles’ absence, but the season-long pissing contest had cost the squad that ability.
3) Down three, under :10 to go, Coach Brady didn’t even have a plan in place to funnel the ball to Kitts or another of WM’s weak free throw shooters. Actually appeared the Dukes just threw in the towel at this point but that’s even worse. Instead, I’ll assume they wanted to win, but just had not prepared and let WM’s point guard catch the ball uncontested.
4) Down 3, JMU ball, :25 to go, WM shooting free throws poorly. Classic case of let Devon Moore drive, at least get the 2, extend the game, see what happens and maybe get lucky w/ an old-fashioned 3-point play. But no, the Dukes run a confused screening action clearly going for the three. Just garbage and of course WM was ready and defended it so well that JMU ended up with Humpty, not Julius, taking a double-clutch three that essentially ended the game.
5) The waiting too long for a timeout. 2nd half, around 10 minutes to go, WM spurts. Brady, as he has all season waits two or three possessions too long for a timeout. Yes, he was trying to wait for the under 8:00 media timeout, but by the time he finally called it he a) couldn’t even wait for the media time even though it was now under 8, and b) the damage was already done. Probably the fifth or sixth time this season the coaching staff (and I do think assistants get some blame on timeout management) has completely botched it.
In conclusion, this whole blog project sometimes messes with our perception. You watch so much so intently that you begin to excuse coaches because you like them, but in this case you gotta call it what it is, piss poor.
“It’s downright sad that while the play and talent in the conference have shot through the roof, but officiating, production value, and administration still look like an NAIA steaming pile of shit”
Truer words have never been spoken. 10th ranked conference in the nation could not get its Quarterfinal and semifinals on national TV. I watched Big South (RPI 22) QF games the other night on ESPNU.
I’m still too disappointed to discuss things rationally, but I agree that Brady got out-coached last night. He’s either just unbelievable stubborn with his refusal to make wholesale defensive adjustments in game, or the team really is just incapable of playing D.
On the bright side, Moore and Semenov have 2 years left each and they seem to have more fire in them than most of the rest of the guys. I like Jackson’s D a lot as well.
One more thing. Nelson is right that if Lefty was coaching, they would have won last night. They’d would’ve saved their choking for later rounds though. His teams were rather disappointing come tournament time.
Seconding Rob, as a 1990 graduate, I can assure you that Lefty, even if he’d found a way to beat William and Mary Friday night, would not have been long for the conference tournament. He rarely was.