Did you forget about McCollum who was supposed to give us senior leadership, floor generalship and quarterback the offense taking pressure off Nait with whom he was to work in tandem & allow Lance Terry to maintain 20-25 minutes off the bench instead of 38-39. He literally ran into a brick wall big v Cincy. The concussion protocol kept him sidelined from practices, & he is not yet 100%.
Reeves isn’t always consistent, but he also brings senior leadership. When on he has a deadly 3 point shot and he can beat defenders, drive to the rim & finish. He is terribly missed as both a starter, rotation fit & senior floor leader.
O’Brien played a supporting role in multiple rotations for a team that sent two players to the NBA. A 5th year player he was expecting to add even more senior leadership to a still very young team. Because of injuries to others he had to step in and play roles as starter & occasional big that he never did before. And then injuries have hit him too, despite which he has tried to play through them, hurt. And now he is sidelined.
Great things were never expected of Mutombo, but ya can’t teach height & at 7’1” he was expected to at least cover Ndongo & give freshman DO adjustment time and game blows. The death of his dad kept him away from the team, training & practice right up to season start. He is still not back to full game ready physical condition.
Sutton wasn’t expected to be a major contributor this season, but he was certainly going to be available coming off the bench against certain rotation defenders for a few minutes here and there to spot others some relief. If he hadn’t been injured himself, he would could have provided xtra backup minutes to a depleted staff. His MIA isn’t as big as others, but is still part of this year’s plague.
Then there is DO, that rare 7 footer who was expected to make major contributions as a freshman. Not only is he now gone, he might have been toxic in the locker room, negating some team comraderie.
Jaeden Mustaf has been forced to on the job training as a freshman & is proof that any rebuild starts with high school recruiting. But that’s a big problem around here because it takes patience.
Being short-handed has a domino effect. No bench for foul trouble relief leads to weaker defense, already negatively effected by winded starters.
So yeah, the coaching staff is our problem.