am I doing this right?
Love seeing the fight from our team over the back third of the season continue into game 1. Let's take it to Pitt today. For me evaluating coaching comes down to four main things (beyond the obvious W/L Record):
1)
Recruiting Talent - This has been a strong gap for CJP here, BUT I would like to see what it looks like when he is funded with NIL AND gets a better staff allocation for scouting
2)
Coaching in Game - This is a genuine toss up for me, he has looked real smart:
- riverboat gambling on the short rotation (in this run we have stayed health)
- leaving guys in foul trouble on the floor (we have only had guys foul out 3 or 4 times this year despite a SERIOUS disparity in FA versus FF
- with the amoeba zone defense (though he isn't credited with the invention he still calls when to use it)
- Finally found an Offense that sometimes flows (but stuck with the princeton WAY too long and it's been this way before where we finally move off it and into dribble drive and boom we are better) - also can't blame him for the guys missing open looks to start the season if you don't credit him for the guys burying them now
3)
Developing Talent - This is a plus for me based on Moses, Jose, and now JFrank and even Kyle over the last 8. It does seem like he gets more out of midrange prospects than we should reasonably expect but it remains to be seen what he can do with a day 1 ready guy (though Blue next year might be a good line of sight into this)
4)
Setting and Selling a Vision - say what you will about his mishandling the O scheme, he consistently keeps the guys engaged and bought in (even when we were getting worked on the court and beaten up off the court by fans, the media and everybody in between). That we went on this run, during agreeably the easier part of our schedule, bodes well. Win today (and steal a W tomorrow, and I think he has done enough to stick with another year). Even if we lose today I am not sure we have strong enough options (given our funding) to move on from him.
What a difference wanting to keep someone versus not being able to justify leaving is though. Let's hope for another day of Jacket 3Ball and Swarming D so we can have the former and not the latter.