This team has been improving for weeks...

[OUhoops11]

only now are the results (in terms of wins/losses) starting to show. Incredibly proud of the coaching staff and the players for keeping the right attitude and work ethic throughout. And still, there's much more work to do. However, these kids play the right way. It may not be pretty at times. There are still going to be bumps on the road, bad mistakes/turnovers, and defensive lapses. Those are all signs of young teams who don't yet know what it takes to compete and win at this level. However, they're starting to understand and it's really something to behold. To come back down 3 possessions the last two games and win just shows the will and determination this team has to get better.




Unfortunately, most fans judge improvement by wins & losses instead of play on the court. I'm not going to call anyone out by name as that does no good, but shame on those of you who criticized and ridiculed the players and coaches beyond what was called for. Your expectations for a young, undersized, and not ultra-talented team were as ridiculous as calling for coaches to be fired.

 

[Cleavon Little]

I like how resilient they are when things go wrong. Mistakes, missed shots, turnovers and breakdowns in defense don't really stick with them. Last year you could tell when they were beaten in their head because passing almost completely stopped and whoever happened to be bringing the ball down would jack up a shot. These guys keep plugging along, working the ball around, taking good shots and staying within 5-10 pts, which makes it possible to close out late. It's really a clinic in fundamental basketball - keep your head, minimize mistakes and maximize opportunities, and more talented teams will fall.

 

[Shooterms]

I posted this on another thread, but I think it fits in better here.

The single most common trait possessed by serial pessimists in sports, is that they fail to take into account that teams change as the season progresses. Some teams get worse, but usually they get better. When you have a very young team who has not played much together, that improvement curve can be very steep. The steeper that curve gets, the greater the propensity for serial pessimists to look really stupid.

(If you took that personally, well...I don't know what to tell you.)

 

[Mr.B!!!]

A good coach has had the opportunity to coach up an average team. We've seen this before when he first got here. That said, we have a pretty heavy load the next few weeks, lets see if our kids and coach can keep up the improvement. I think we can.

 

[Krugerfan52]

While it's true that teams can improve, I think it's remarkable how quickly this team has improved. Especially Cameron Clark. I didnt expect him to be this good this quick. If he had scored 11 pts today, which should be about his average, it would have been a solid day for a freshman. But scoring 25 was big time.

 

[Shooterms]

While it's true that teams can improve, I think it's remarkable how quickly this team has improved. Especially Cameron Clark. I didnt expect him to be this good this quick. If he had scored 11 pts today, which should be about his average, it would have been a solid day for a freshman. But scoring 25 was big time.

He not only has had to adjust as a freshman, he has also had to adjust to a team that was adjusting within itself. It has taken a while for this team to simply gain traction and get headed in the right direction, but as that happens, they become dramatically better than they were early in the season. This makes for a steep improvement curve. We don't know, yet, how high that curve will get, but it is fun to watch and find out.