Basketball is a team sport of 5 players on the court at any one time. Defense is played both on the ball and off the ball, all 5 doing their part, whether it is a zone defense or a man-to-man defense. Good teams play both historically. I know today that fans get excited about 3-pointers, dunks, and man-to-man defense, but that is only part of the game and not a strategy. This team will be good enough to beat weaker, peer, or stronger team when they have all five defenders working together and helping each other out. Offense is the same way with each of the five players working in unison, especially in the movement offense our team uses. The guy with the ball may be able to beat his guy outright for a shot. The others get in position to screen and roll, rebound, or be open for a pass. This is all basic fundamentals of team basketball, and must be taught well before playing at division 1 level and must be reinforced daily in order to win at that level.
I suspect that many recruits today have not experienced that much team play coming up in a way to consistently win games. Our players appear to have most of the individual skills but the coach is trying to instill the team concept to beat teams. Every player on the roster has a complex individual and team job both offensively and defensively, with our with out the ball or guarding their assignment, either zone or man defense.
Coach Stoudamire has been on winning teams and knows how to do that, including two state championships, two PAC 10 conference championships, and a final four (collegiate record 100-25). He has played in the NBA for years more than most. He understands what it takes to come from the inner city tar courts to be a team player to win at all levels. It takes time to convert his current individual players into a consistently winning team, and they show now they are learning to be that. They blame themselves for not winning.
In my opinion, the players will come along with good effort, since they are underdogs in the remainder of this years' games, with all but two teams rated statistically overall at least three times better. All except the two who they lost to in the past 7 days, so they will seek revenge on the home courts of Boston College and Notre Dame. Winning attitude and team basketball taught and is learned, and it usually takes more that a year for players who have not experienced that. We will be just fine in the long run. That is why he has a 5-year contract. As Bobby Cremins told me last night, Damon will be fine and our team will win.