MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[FISHTANKFAN]

 Unfortunately, the Coach has to take the responsibilty for the a loss by his team, reguardless of how his players execute and play.  Even if one particular player blows a game ,the coach is ultimately responsible.  That's just the way it is.  He makes the decisions of who starts, who plays, and how much they play.  That why he IS the Coach.  

[mybleedinghands]

Unfortunately, the Coach has to take the responsibilty for the a loss by his team, reguardless of how his players execute and play.  Even if one particular player blows a game ,the coach is ultimately responsible.  That's just the way it is.  He makes the decisions of who starts, who plays, and how much they play.  That why he IS the Coach.  

it's up to the players to show up to the game and execute the plays right. if the players don't execute the plays right when they know how to execute them the correct way, it is not the coach's fault.

[valleybballfan]

I am a coach myself as I coach ninth grade boys' basketball. I have coached on the junior varsity level, and have assisted on the varsity level. Typically the coach will take blame for a loss. However, I do think there are points when it does fall on the player. John Wooden has a quote that says, "make sure the players know they are not working for you, they are working with you." When I coach I expect a mutual respect between the players and my coaching staff. I also expect the players to take responsibility for how they play. We can prepare the players to the best of their ability, we can motivate them to the best of our ability, but the way they perform on that hardwood falls back partly on them.

Lou Holtz is quoted as saying, "Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." The one thing that I have found as a coach is that it is hard to control a players attitude. They can get frustrated at the officials, frustrated that their shots are not falling, frustrated at the opponents speed, and then their frustration effects their game. Every sport you will ever play is partly a head game.

What separates the "really good players" from the "good players" is their attitude and their composure in close games. The same is said for what separates "really good teams" from "good teams". This trait is not exactly coachable.

[mybleedinghands]

I have received word that Justin Wansley will NOT be playing for Macon tonight.

[jeloesel]

No matter what anyone says, it's all Scottie's fault.   

[tigerfanalso]

ValleyBBallfan

Well stated and I respect same ..... however... If the sets are not producing looks/points, regardless of the reason; not being run right/not the right set for the team you are playing against on a particular nite, adjustments are needed to give a teams best offensive players an opportunity to contribute. You can't let a defense take your best players out of the game unless they are willing double/triple team on that person. I'm not rubbing anything in the coaches face because I'm sure he is a fine coach/fine person.... I'm not a coach.... just my opinion... from a coaches prospective am I right/wrong/partially right/full of bull ?

[baselinejam]

I'm not as down on HSC as everyone else seems to be. It looks like HSC had good stats from their usual suspects. E&H just shot more(24 of 47 from 2 pt land  - yet 13 of 50 from beyond the arc- an avg. night for them). Maybe HSC ran out of gas. E&H has 13 players averaging better than 10 minutes a game HSC has 8. The system worked one night at home. Good for E&H.

Now for my W&L plug. The Gennies are at home and they'll suit up 10 players averaging over 10 minutes a game and we had 5 in double figures against R-M.We shoot better. If we keep them off the offensive boards and protect the ball, then I predict a win for the Generals.

[valleybballfan]

tigerfanalso

I hear what you are saying, and I do agree. There is so much that falls on a coach. If the opposition is throwing your team off by running a particular press or a certain trap defense, then it is the coaches and only the coaches responsibility to recognize this and to make the necesarry adjustments. If certain players are not playing well together, it is the responsibility of the coach to find the best five players to put out there. However, the point I was making is that there are cases in which it falls on the players. The main thing to me is attitude. It is hard to control a players attitude. Yes, you can put him on the bench, but if he is your best player and he is just frustrated at himself because his shots are not falling, then what can you do? You can only say so much. It depends on the mental toughness of the player, and that is what sets the
"really good" from the "good." So, most of a game does fall on the coach, but there are aspects that fall back on the players.

[tigerfanalso]

Valleybballfan

Thanks for your input and good luck to you and your team for the balance of the year ... have fun and kept those kids out of trouble

[yj424]

I have received word that Justin Wansley will NOT be playing for Macon tonight.

Well, I guess you're happy now!

[steelyglen]

kid .... Thanks for the info on the Tigers' victories.

Here's a different kind of breakdown of the Tigers' 12-4 record:

Against teams with 70% Win PCT:  1-2 (1-1 against VWC; L to RMC)

Against teams with 50-69% Win PCT:  2-1 (Beat Ithaca, SUNY- Old Westbury; L to Roanoke)

Against teams with 30-49% Win PCT:  5-1 (Beat Ithaca, Emory & Henry, NC Wesleyan, EMU, Bridgewater; L to Roanoke)

Against teams with <30% Win PCT: 4-0 (Beat Springfield, Ferrum, Lynchburg, W&L)

or to still put it another way...HSC is 2-0 against non-conference teams with winning records (one just barely) and 4 of their 6 non-conference games have been against teams with losing records(2 of them bad losing records)...hmmm

[tigerfanalso]

I bet most victories are against teams with losing records... do the research just with the ODAC schools and see what you find out

[FISHTANKFAN]

A question then.  Who gets the credit when a team wins?   I  say if a Coach gets the credit for being named coach of the year or winning  even a single game then he also should be able to shoulder the responsibility of a loss or several losses.   The players get no credit  for making a coach successful, so why blame them when they lose a game? No One WANTS to lose but it happens and players usually are harder on themselves than Coach is on them.   A coaches job is not an easy one, its damn hard, but if they can get respect and  the right attitude from their players , they are usually very successful.

[baselinejam]

A question then.  Who gets the credit when a team wins?   I  say if a Coach gets the credit for being named coach of the year or winning  even a single game then he also should be able to shoulder the responsibility of a loss or several losses.   The players get no credit  for making a coach successful, so why blame them when they lose a game? No One WANTS to lose but it happens and players usually are harder on themselves than Coach is on them.   A coaches job is not an easy one, its damn hard, but if they can get respect and  the right attitude from their players , they are usually very successful.

I'll stick with the Deano school -players get the credit for the wins & coaches take the losses

[justafan02]

On the note of the Tigers recent slump and looking at their W's and L's:

Not making an excuse for a Marlin loss earlier this year because HSC did handle them at VWC but the talk then was the absence of Ton Ton Balenga that game.  On top of that, no one really notices that Thomas Sumpter did not play that game either.  If you take those two out of the VWC line-up at the same time, there is def. room for more error.

Anyway you put it though they were 11-0 and were playing good basketball.  They have hit a wall, but it is also their second time around the league and the ODAC is good enough to make adjustments.