March to the Arch Podcast - Preseason Preview

[spoon]

I don’t doubt Evansville’s talent. I doubt their coaching.

And just what do you doubt about a coach that has played on a national championship team, been an assistant coach on successful P5 teams, and been an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics? I realize that you have only posted 5 times in 7 years, so I hope I don't have to wait 3 years to get a reply.

I wasn’t impressed with the play calling or game planning from Evansville last year. They definitely have more talent this year, however I’m basing my opinion on what I saw from the staff last year rather than what I haven’t seen from the players who haven’t played together yet.

Message boards are for opinions. That’s mine. Don’t get your panties in a wad. And please allow me to apologize for the amount of times I haven’t posted on this message board.

[ACECARD]

I don’t doubt Evansville’s talent. I doubt their coaching.

And just what do you doubt about a coach that has played on a national championship team, been an assistant coach on successful P5 teams, and been an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics? I realize that you have only posted 5 times in 7 years, so I hope I don't have to wait 3 years to get a reply.

I wasn’t impressed with the play calling or game planning from Evansville last year. They definitely have more talent this year, however I’m basing my opinion on what I saw from the staff last year rather than what I haven’t seen from the players who haven’t played together yet.

Message boards are for opinions. That’s mine. Don’t get your panties in a wad. And please allow me to apologize for the amount of times I haven’t posted on this message board.

You're forgiven for not having posted more. Perhaps if Walter had had a few more players who could hit a basket from 2 feet, or 20 feet, and gotten a few key rebounds, his play calling, and game planning would have looked a bit better.

[Aces44]

Anyone is allowed their opinion, but as a counterpoint, I have heard from MVC assistant coaches who thought the offense was well thought out and hard to guard.

Personally, I think it is much improved, but still needs fine tuned, which better players will help with.

[Tom Servo]

As an Aces fan the thing that bothered me the most about last year was how certain players just completely disappeared toward the end of the year. John Hall is the one that really comes to mind. He was averaging about 13 and 8 until early February, then he just went in the tank. He was still playing but he quit rebounding and just started hanging around the three point line. How much of that was Hall and how much of it was coaching is up to debate and really no one would know the answer to. But it was concerning it me. He also could have been hurt - but don't really know.

I will also agree with Aces44 - the offense needs fine tuning. At times it was good and other times it stalled because of very poor PG play, poor decision making, and lack of shooting. It always looked better when Givance was running the show, and Givance is the guy he recruited - so I expect that to improve this season as he matures (he will be a Soph this year). It will also look better with more options on the floor. This is all my opinion as well and is certainly open for debate.

[BEARZ77]

For me a big question will be how much of an impact losing his two veteran assistant coaches impacts Mac's second year. That's a lot of experience on the bench lost . It may not be a big deal, or it might really slow things up as far as the program making a significant leap quickly. Aces fans made a lot out of those two guys being on staff last year as far as their optimism, so we'll have to see . I generally think it's a 3 year deal for programs to turn around, which is why I'm not immediately jumping on the "Bears to win" bandwagon this year.
Acquiring talent is a necessary step, but developing a winning culture is probably more difficult.

[sivert]

Interesting discussion of "best courts."

[BiasedOpinion]Of course, I think UNI's court was ranked way too low.[/BiasedOpinion]

You sometimes seemed to be talking about "best arena" and other times "best court."