Wheres the Leadership

[SaintLouBrave22]

I question whether you have ever been part of a successful team or group. Not a single one I have been a part of has just turned it on when we were in the spotlight and won. It has required lots of hard-work and dedication behind the scenes. Look at the great players throughout history, the Birds, the MJ's, etc. You never hear them say 'Practice is Practice' ask anyone who was spent the most time on the practice court at InSU when bird was there. The guy who needed it the most. Really quoting AI is about the worst thing you could do to add validity to your arguement. He is considered by many to be a team-killer, is a ball hog, and has won as many NBA championships as I have. Go find me a quote from anyone who has multiple rings (or even one really) that says 'Practice is Practice.'

Whats the point of practice if the person with the most natural skill gets put out on the court, rather than the one who is learning and working with the team? If that's what you want go watch the And1 Mix-tapes...

Yes and I am now certain you are part of the "let Collins play" group...

Its ridiculous to think at this point that our practices are going to make certain players better...

They are playing against each other remember?


Our practices won't even make Thompson better as he is getting to play against a Charmin soft Collins!


How will practices make Norris and McCain better offensively when they're being guarded by Maniscalco who just happens to be the worst perimeter defender on the team?

I wasn't stating that practice is pointless, as it helps teams work on certain drills and plays...

Hard work and dedication...yes, but it also applies to games you know...

You can't run through the motions in games and expect to succeed like you may do in practice....


As I have said before, there are practice players, and there are game-time players...by now, we should know which players belong to which group.

But anyone and I mean ANYONE who actually is dillusional enough to believe that because Collins practices well, it means he should be our starting center and that he will actually be great in games, you just have no idea or concept of what actual basketball is....

In case you didn't understand that...

In basketball there are 2 sides of the floor, and guys like Collins who only decide to play one end and not only that, not play w/ their teammates (as in his case, catch the ball, shoot the ball) don't deserve the time they get.

I haven't seen such a ball hog since the days when Mo designed plays where Rob Dye took 70% of the shots in the offense...

No wonder we don't pass into the post!


And to answer your question...yes, I was part of 2 state championships, 1 runner-up, and a 4th place finish in H.S. playing varsity all four years...

If anyone knows anything about practice, its me...


I'm just not buying the argument that Collins should be playing over anyone right now...not buying Taylor Brown not getting more minutes...

AND most of all, I'm not buying why Sam M. gets special treatment when he missed an entire week of practices....AGAIN!

If Taylor missed a week of practice, he'd be lucky to smell the floor til the conference season!


As I state again, practice may develop drills and plays to run in games, but guess what...you can't win or lose games in practice...you just can't!


BUT, playing Collins at all, or Maniscalco 30 min when he's sick, limiting minutes from guys who can help us now and in the future in Brown and Thompson, and guess what, you will lose actual games....


And I hate to tell you this because obviously it needs to be said, but coaches don't get jobs for their practice habits...

They get jobs because of their win and loss records.

[SaintLouBrave22]

I still ask where is the "leadership" (lack of) question when we win? It ain't there. Losing brings the "ugly" out in alot of things. Winning is the great deodarant.

Beat Butler and all of a sudden we have great effort and leadership....or maybe we are jsut better at home and better then Butler.

JL didn't like the intensity. He HAS to say that given the difference in the two halves. They just were not the same.

WHats importaint is are we learning anything. Based on Florida I'd say thats a no but I STILL think its fixable.

And don't you think we'd be seeing more of AT if he was ready. What possible reason could JL have for keeping him out IF he was good to go.

We had enough weapons to beat them or at the very least make it a game yesterday. We all saw that in the first half. Why would JL all of a sudden through AT to the wolves in the second half when the guy has played 3 minutes all season.

AT is NOT the answer.....

And thinking Collins is the answer is just as bad...

AT will help us now and in the future...


Collins will not....


Does the guy even recognize what the word "pass" means?!

[amckillip]

Yes and I am now certain you are part of the "let Collins play" group...

I'm actually not, but good inference. From my post that never mentioned Collins at all, it's clear that is my position.

And your TB vs. Sam argument doesn't even make sense. It's at least decently well-known Taylor Brown came in with the attitude he could dominate the players on BU's team, and expected to play a bigger role early. Now go look at the Per 40 stats, as well as the Prouty Rankings, and have a look see who is better. Add in the fact that in open scrimmages Sam M had the whole team plus guys like DRuff and Sommerville doing drills and not just goofing around during Open Gyms this summer, has a season of double digit D1 starts under his belt, and is really the only solid option at the 1. Taking Sam out and adding TB would leave us with only Dodie to run the offense which is a very scarey thought... All those combined, and I see very little left to your position, other than maybe a height advantage. Not to mention people keep acting like Sam is a senior. He has 3 years left, he's gonna be here as long as Sommerville was, as Sean Harris will be, he'll be here longer than Dodie, or Chris Roberts will be. I feel like people on this board expect All-MVC performances from people or it's time to start the freshman. It's kinda similar to how the backup QB is always the fan favorite on a losing team...

[SFP]

WOW! This is the time where you need a steady hand not someone jumping off the ship because we had a loss. I hope JL is preparing this team to win the MVC and not worrying about the non-con. We need to be peaking in, let say in 3 months. Come on guys stop your nagging and let's give the team a chance to grow. I'm not to worry yet and I probably at this point will be happy if we keep the present team as is, without AW or JW, and compete for the top 1/2 of the Valley and make some noise in St Louis.

This team looks great for the next few years and I stand behind JL to do what is right. I'm not part of the, what are you doing for me right now and immediate gratification crowd. We are a program that will never re-load but re-build and from here the foundation looks pretty good.

[dogsrus]

And thinking Collins is the answer is just as bad...

AT will help us now and in the future...


Collins will not....


Does the guy even recognize what the word "pass" means?!

I don't think any ONE player is the answer.....

My point was when we lose MANY things get called into question and following a win those SAME questions are no longer asked.

Practice and perseverence are the answers. Learning from game situations are the answers. Coaching and hard work are more answers.

Whinning, *****ing and moaning don't solve anything. Screaming for some backup that OBVIOUSLY is not playing for a reason is not the answer.

[SFP]

I don't think any ONE player is the answer.....

My point was when we lose MANY things get called into question and following a win those SAME questions are no longer asked.

Practice and perseverence are the answers. Learning from game situations are the answers. Coaching and hard work are more answers.

Whinning, *****ing and moaning don't solve anything. Screaming for some backup that OBVIOUSLY is not playing for a reason is not the answer.

We are on the same page!!!

[amckillip]

I don't think any ONE player is the answer.....

My point was when we lose MANY things get called into question and following a win those SAME questions are no longer asked.

Practice and perseverence are the answers. Learning from game situations are the answers. Coaching and hard work are more answers.

Whinning, *****ing and moaning don't solve anything. Screaming for some backup that OBVIOUSLY is not playing for a reason is not the answer.

WOW! This is the time where you need a steady hand not someone jumping off the ship because we had a loss. I hope JL is preparing this team to win the MVC and not worrying about the non-con. We need to be peaking in, let say in 3 months. Come on guys stop your nagging and let's give the team a chance to grow. I'm not to worry yet and I probably at this point will be happy if we keep the present team as is, without AW or JW, and compete for the top 1/2 of the Valley and make some noise in St Louis.

This team looks great for the next few years and I stand behind JL to do what is right. I'm not part of the, what are you doing for me right now and immediate gratification crowd. We are a program that will never re-load but re-build and from here the foundation looks pretty good.

Sensible, logical posts, both of you guys. Thanks. I'm not sure I'd be happy with just the top half of the MVC, but I understand your point, and I'm not just going to start blaming players and suggesting we go with an all-freshman line up if that happens....

[SaintLouBrave22]

I'm actually not, but good inference. From my post that never mentioned Collins at all, it's clear that is my position.

And your TB vs. Sam argument doesn't even make sense. It's at least decently well-known Taylor Brown came in with the attitude he could dominate the players on BU's team, and expected to play a bigger role early. Now go look at the Per 40 stats, as well as the Prouty Rankings, and have a look see who is better. Add in the fact that in open scrimmages Sam M had the whole team plus guys like DRuff and Sommerville doing drills and not just goofing around during Open Gyms this summer, has a season of double digit D1 starts under his belt, and is really the only solid option at the 1. Taking Sam out and adding TB would leave us with only Dodie to run the offense which is a very scarey thought... All those combined, and I see very little left to your position, other than maybe a height advantage. Not to mention people keep acting like Sam is a senior. He has 3 years left, he's gonna be here as long as Sommerville was, as Sean Harris will be, he'll be here longer than Dodie, or Chris Roberts will be. I feel like people on this board expect All-MVC performances from people or it's time to start the freshman. It's kinda similar to how the backup QB is always the fan favorite on a losing team...

First, I didn't say anything about eliminating Sam for Taylor...

I said Taylor should receive more minutes...

Taylor and Sam don't even play the same position!

I also advocated for Sam not receiving minutes because he missed an entire week of practice.....there are rules for these things, no matter what the issue is, if you miss practice you should miss playing time...

There should be no preferential treatment to "his boys"...


I don't expect Sam to play all-MVC every game out, BUT I do expect that if he's playing like crap for our coach to be paying attention, and gee, I don't know, maybe play someone else...

You can't afford to have a guy in who not only is sick, but continuously turned the ball over and made bad decision after bad decision...

Chalk it up to, hey it wasn't his game, maybe he should have a seat and watch the 2nd half...

Seems logical enough?!

And this Prouty and per-40 and RPI bulls***....the only ratings that matter are ACTUAL ratings....

Just because certain guys are labelled to have certain ratings if they played 30 doesn't mean thats what they'll do...

There's no way Collins will ever get 7 or 8 rebounds a game....he could play 40 minutes plus an overtime and it'll never happen...

And if anyone forgets about playing defense its Collins...so where is your argument there for why he plays....

You seem to have a problem w/ Taylor...so what do you say there?

And honestly, the backup QB joke can be warranted if its someone like Kyle Orton and someone like Grossman is starting....

So yeah...great point you make there

[SaintLouBrave22]

I don't think any ONE player is the answer.....

My point was when we lose MANY things get called into question and following a win those SAME questions are no longer asked.

Practice and perseverence are the answers. Learning from game situations are the answers. Coaching and hard work are more answers.

Whinning, *****ing and moaning don't solve anything. Screaming for some backup that OBVIOUSLY is not playing for a reason is not the answer.

I don't disagree...

But practice doesn't solve everything as we're just playing against each other....

And practice doesn't solve the fact that certain guys who "supposedly" seem to play well in practice start games and should not be playing much, let alone starting....it just seems like an *ss backward system to me.

[Braves4Life]

It's at least decently well-known Taylor Brown came in with the attitude he could dominate the players on BU's team, and expected to play a bigger role early.

That's news to me. Care to elaborate?

[SaintLouBrave22]

I don't think any ONE player is the answer.....

My point was when we lose MANY things get called into question and following a win those SAME questions are no longer asked.

Practice and perseverence are the answers. Learning from game situations are the answers. Coaching and hard work are more answers.

Whinning, *****ing and moaning don't solve anything. Screaming for some backup that OBVIOUSLY is not playing for a reason is not the answer.

Oh...and not to say any one person IS the answer, but I do believe we had this discussion after the last loss to UMKC...


Seems to me things were alleviated by sitting Collins on the end of the bench and telling him not to bother taking off his warmups...


Now maybe someone on here can explain to me how exactly he got so much better in less than two weeks time that he goes from playing 0 minutes to starting again and playing the bulk of a game...


At this point its becoming very difficult to argue against ignorance on the part of the coaching staff because it seems to me that Collins is only receiving the playing time due to Will's season ending...

As well, it seems the staff never would have even noticed Thompson sitting on the bench if not for Will's injury...

[BradleyBrave]

That's news to me. Care to elaborate?

I have heard the same thing. I don't think it's that uncommon for freshmen.

[Out of Bounce]

That's news to me. Care to elaborate?

Please do elaborate. I thought his block shot the other day on that fast break jump shot was one of the best coming from behind I have ever seen.

[Bradleyguy10]

That's news to me. Care to elaborate?

Well if you are asking about the first part...during the summer or maybe beginning of the school year it was in the PJS I believe where TB was quoted saying something to the affect that he was surprised how good the players were here and that he half expected to come in a be the best player and start immediately....something to that affect.

If you are talking about the lack of defensive effort...I think JL may have mentioned before that in practice he seems to not give too much of an effort on the defensive end.

There are some on here not buying into that because of the blocked shot...I liked it too. But, alas, I am not one that can view the practices so I may be way off with the "what I heard" stuff because that's all it is. Except for the first paragraph...that was written down and is indeed what TB said.

[ser_solace]

I interpreted differently Taylor Brown's quote about thinking he'd dominate after arriving. I can't remember where the quote came from (whether from the pjstar or a tv interview), but I thought it was in the context of "what do you think about playing D-I basketball with the veterans?"

But I thought Taylor Brown was pretty much expressing that there's a lot to learn and adjust to at this level. Nothing wrong with that.

Here's a related older article from the pjstar, where they got the freshmen impressions of playing at D-I. Seems like Taylor Brown has the right attitude to me. Note the "rude awakening" he received from his preconception about how'd he do.

http://www.pjstar.com/sports_bu/x1052810123/BU-freshmen-are-growing-up-in-a-hurry