by uniftw » March 7th, 2016, 3:42 pm
FWIW, would people have gotten on Jake had they blown a 17 point lead in the second half? You bet.
Difference between Jake and Marty?
Turns our one of them has won many, many, big games. One has proven time and time and time again that he knows how to win close games. One has proven he has the ability to chance his system, his scheme, or whatever else needs to change to get results. One coach has taken teams that want to win games 49-48 to the NCAA tournament. One coach was willing to make adjustments to get his program from low 50s scoring to upper 60s and 70s in scoring because of personnel to put the team in position to win (hell, one year he tried to get to the 80s and it didn't work and he took a TON of heat). One of the coaches has never coached in the PIG. One coach has NEVER finished worse than 9-9 in conference. One coach is 4-0 in MVC title games. One coach is in the top 5-10 in MVC history for wins as a coach overall and conference only games. One coach has nearly as many wins in less than 10 full seasons as the other has is 15 years as a HC.
OTOH, one has proven that he will run the exact same offensive set every single time down the court every single game of the season for years on end, almost completely ignoring what else is on the court for him to use. One coach has finished better than 9-9 just twice in their time in the MVC. One coach has been in the PIG. One coach, including this year, has managed to stick around for the weekend just twice. Yup, one coach was coaching more weekend games this year than the previous 7 years combined.
Would Jake have deserved blame had UE completed the comeback? Yes. Hell, he still deserves some for not making some adjustments while the run was happening if we are being completely honest.
The difference is that Jake has built up more than enough coaching credibility not have be consistently questioned over lack of adjustments.
Listen, I think DJ is one of the best scorers I've seen in my time watching the conference. I think he's probably a great person based on everything I've heard. Same goes for Mock, or really any UE player. I think DJ and Mock deserve an NIT bid. I think deserved to get at least 1 NCAA bid during their time at UE. I would love to see those two, and Wing, get into the NIT and just destroy some bitches. THEY deserve it. Marty doesn't. Marty is probably a great guy. Kisses babies, shakes hands, goes to church, knows everyone by name. That could all be true. None of that changes years and years of showing a complete inability to get his team over the hump in any way/shape/form. Those players I mentioned? They deserve a better Xs and Os coach than Marty.
Who's next in the Colt Ryan/DJ Ballentine run off of 900 screen and shoot offense? There isn't anyone on the roster that can do it, though I won't be shocked to see Mini Simmons get that nod.