Well most posters on here know where I have stood regarding Jim Les. He has been a decent coach, and obviously he has knowledge of the game or we wouldn't be talking about four consectutive postseason appearances, regardless of what level of postseason we are talking about. And I'm certainly not calling for his firing since this team will be back together next year for the most park. But I know what I saw tonight, and this loss is on him! Okay, maybe not 100% of it. The players themselves should share the blame too, minus the booing of course which probably wasn't directed at them anyway. But Les is the field boss, and he is in charge of reeling his players in when things get tight.
There is no excuse for blowing three straight home games after building double digit leads in all three of them! Once, I can live with. Twice......maybe. But three times is absolutely unacceptable!
My problem is not with his motivational skills. You can only scream at a team so much to make them play a full 40 minute game. It's not with the team's effort. It was there tonight, even if it did not look like it the last five minutes. My problem is with Les's substitution patterns. WHY does he INSIST on taking out players when they are playing well, or not playing the combinations that work the best together? Someone answer that question! That is absolutely a fundemental coaching philosophy that ALL good coaches follow when the team is playing well. You NEVER take out players and ruin the continuity and flow of a game when things are going right, other than for brief periods of rest, and most certainly not during the most critical points of the game.
Lowery has taken some heat the last year or two, but he kept Dillion and some of his other top players in the game for 35 minutes plus. Why is Les not doing this? And where were the plays drawn up for AW the last five minutes? This has nothing to do with good coaching. This is common sense! Even a bad grammar school coach should know this!
Again, I'm not saying kick Les out to the curve. But someone associated with the team, Les or otherwise needs to answer this question. Then maybe we can understand why he is making these types of calls.
The reason I'm so frustrated is this is not a team that was expected to rebuild this year. This is a talented team that yes, has not played a lot together, but individually has experience and talent. Yes the national pundits picked them sixth in the Valley, and maybe they are seeing something I'm not. But I do think we have the talent to if not finish above .500, to at the very least be able to close out games at home like we are supposed to! That is my biggest gripe with this team. Not so much the record, but how we are getting to this record, which lately has been garbage!
I understand that some may think that I am making knee-jerk comments, but this is three straight home losses in this manner, which is something that should never happen outside of very young teams that are just learning how to win at the Division I level. I think this team is past that stage, and that is what is really bothering me.
Now I hope Bradley can prove me wrong, and maybe this game is what motivates them to pull off a huge upset at Wichita St. on Sunday, and get to that 2-1 record the hard way which I had predicted anyway. If they win, great. Lesson learned hopefully for the next home game. But right now I'm not counting on it. Hopefully this team from the players and coaches on up can take something away from this debacle tonight and turn it into something special on Sunday night and beyond. But these meltdowns at home have to stop immediately or this could be a very long couple of years for this team.
Braves, prove me wrong!