Since I've moved into "next year" mode, I do think there were some positives from this game. Hanlan showed that he can score on any team. Duke is much more talented and he was able to get space and drive throughout the game. When we think of selling points to a new coach, taking over a team led by Olivier Hanlan is a clear plus. Conte was also full and into the game for long stretches (more so than those of us watching on TV). BC's Basketball account tweeted out that this was only the second sellout of the season. In my opinion, I think this just shows how starved BC fans are for any game with some juice. This was Duke on a Saturday night. If we had a competitive team, attendance would be much better for all games.
When we talk about what's wrong this year and why we lost Saturday, ultimately we don't have the same level of talent or coaching as Duke. We should be better than we are, but we weren't going to be upper echelon this year. However, we can catch a good team off guard this year. The clock is ticking. I don't think it will save Donahue, but it would help the players and fans going into next year.
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Even Hanlan has regressed quite a bit this year. I didn't realize how brutal his shooting stats were. The only bright spot on this team is Lonnie Jackson. He's the only one who got better this year and has a pretty good 3 shot. Hopefully he gets even better next year.
What did these guys do over the summer? At the end of last season - I thought for sure they were on an uptick. And the tall kids coming in from ND and Sweden would be icing on the cake. And we thought we had a budding superstar from Quebec. Even Odio came into his own as a good defender and shot blocker. The whole thing is extremely puzzling. Its like they all have undiagnosed mono or something.
My thoughts exactly, Napoleon. It is completely mystifying to me that a team can regress so significantly.
The aforementioned players want to play basketball and not "shuffleboard". It is time to bring in a coach along the lines of Mark Jackson of Golden State who played at St. John's. If you look at St. Louis U (22-2) with close losses to Wisconsin and Wichita State, you will see that they don't have near the players that BC has. They have kids that no one wanted and a coach, Jim Crews who played at Indiana with Bobby K, whom no one wanted as well. They spend most of their practices working on defense. Now, they have their free throws spot on. They will be tough to beat. BC needs to see what is written in the "tea leaves". In this case, as good a guy as is Donohue, he just can't coach on this level. Actually, the same scenario occurred with Coach Spaz. The ball is now in Brad Bates' court.
I'm not so sure the regression is such a surprise. It's been obvious for a long time that these kids are just not physically up to the task of playing in the ACC, the toughest league in the nation.
Way too much was put into a few wins at the end of last year, against mostly bad teams. I think the next coach will have quite an uphill battle just getting to mediocrity in this league.
As for the whistler, the only team he should be coaching in the future is the Washington Generals!
i think the truth is somewhere between Hoib's comment and Napolean's. the team was playing better at the end of last year than it has played at any point this season, which makes no sense given that (A) all of the players stayed and should theoretically improve and (B) we added depth to the frontcourt (magarity) and on the perimeter (owens, dragicevich).
could the improvement of last year been overrated a bit? perhaps. but there's more talent than 6-17 lets onto.
finally, i just can't take any more of the whistling. what does donahue expect, the players to all look over to the sideline and see whatever it is he has to tell them as they are trying to defend the other team? i have never seen such comical overcoaching in my life at this level. just let them play, why does he feel the need to whistle and try to set up literally every possession of the game? the offense continues to be absolutely maddening as well. break the defender down and drive to the hoop -- why shoot an open layup when you can kick it back out to cycle around the perimeter again? thats essentially the philosophy.
JBQ, that St Louis coach is an interesting suggestion. he turns 60 next week though. i think we need someone a big younger, and with ties to the Northeast. between the NE Prep Schools, new england, and NYC, there is enough talent that we should be have a few kids on the roster from the region.
EL MIZ
I don't think age should be a factor. A proven track record at a high level of competition is what matters most. If you bring in a young gun who succeeds he'll be looking for greener pastures pretty soon. IMO
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