We've talked about this before but JC definitely has more of the "conditional support" mentality where he yanks players who screw up as fast as he can, almost as a form of punishment and use it to motivate.  Other coaches go with the "Hey I believe in you approach" and use trust to motivate.  I'm not really sure which approach I like better.  I realize over time any coach will play the player who is performing but on more of a micro scale styles differ.

JC had an interesting quote in today's ABJ game story.  In discussing Nick K., he said, "When he makes a mistake, we make eye contact, he owns it and we move forward."

The same is not true of Bean - the kid is always looking at the floor because he's afraid of JC.  

I'm sure JC is frustrated because he knows how valuable Bean can be based on past experience at TCU.  But he's gotta take a new approach to this or there will be more of the same all year.

I'm probably overreacting, but I don't feel much confidence in either PG right now.  The team seems to run better with Stevie at the point but he plays borderline out of control most of the time and seems to be regressing as a shooter.  Just like last night, he'll drill a deep three but then barely draw iron on other jumpers and badly miss lightly contested layups.  I was screaming at Kellogg for giving up the ball to Stevie late last night in a foul situation because I have zero confidence in Taylor knocking down FT's.  Of course, he missed the front end.  Willis seems like a little more gifted of an athlete, but he's got a short leash with JC and seems to make a lot of poor decisions with the basketball.  Stevie has his fair share of TO's, too.  A lot of people loved his blocked shot on the break in the last home game...but seem to overlook that it was Taylor's horrible pass and TO that led to that blocked shot.  Looking at the box score this morning after watching the game last night, it felt like they both had more TO's than they were credited for, 3 seems like a smaller number than I expected. 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Bean will get his groove back in the second half of the season and be one of our top producers after Nick and Mo. Gotta feeling.

He deserved to get pulled and yelled at for fouling a guy shooting a 3 with 10 seconds left.

Thank you! Sitting a year from competition has an effect in the short term.

I beg to differ on that. I mentioned his poor assist numbers at TT and people came down hard on me- saying he's a starter in the Big 12- he must be good-with stuff like that isn't the MAC. I am ok with him and JC saw something in him -he'll help but he's not another DJ for sure. He doesn't have to be to help the team.

At this stage in his career, it is up to Bean to improve, game by game, practice by practice!  To suggest that JC needs to handle him differently is laughable.  Bean has been working hard all fall on his game.  His practice habits are much much better than when  he got here, and he has made improvements in his game. He has taken to the coaching he is getting from JC in practice, and from the rest of the staff.  He is trying to do the things that will transfer over to better play on game night.    The problem is that this improvement has not shown up, or paid off with obvious improvement on game night.    This is not as easy as it looks guys ! 
I am still confident that Bean will do some good things for us as the season goes on.  He has to tough it out, learn from his mistakes, and defend his tail off.  My old coach was fond of saying " concentrate on playing great defense, and the offense will take care of itself !"    Hate to admitt it, but he was right !
Hang in there, Bean is going to do some good things before he is done !

Knowing not to foul and not fouling are two totally different things.

Clarifying history.

Loss of the forum gives the need to keep accounting in order. AB was not eligible till after Thanksgiving and promptly went 1 for 17 or so vs Marshall in CHarleston.. ..... There had been an earlier post describing his game and virtues.  Through the month of December many were not sold on AB though he was the hero of the Delaware game with 27. It took a last second shot at Conseco vs IUPUI in game 10 for the man crushes to start. Lots of irritation came in MAC play as he blew the BUGS game and then got tossed from the bench the weekend of the Toledo/EMU game but through 14 games he had been in double figures 10 times and over 20 three of those. .

Walt was similarly described early season and had 9 games in double figures by game 14 and was averaging almost 30 mins.  Only took till the early season Louisville near win for the fanbase to fall in love with his toughness, desire, Defensive intensity and team oriented approach. Impressive start and high praise from the fans by the 5th game,. 

 

He had indeed made a mark by then.

Smitty was doing over 20 mins a game and contributing pretty well in front court that had good Ivo and Reg. in addition to Hall and Ric. on the wings. 

Comparing Bean to those guys.... not close to where they were.  Gotta get him up to speed though.. .we do need those minutes to produce. 

With Bean he is a good backup point guard. Taylor manages a good game and with this team that is working. Bean may have more offensive skills, but in close games Taylor is as steady as they come.  Were not asking Taylor to win games, just not lose it with bad shots. We are asking Kellogg, Ndour and Hall really to be the guys who hit the big shots with the game on the line. Wilkins starting to show he can knock down the money ball late in games now that he is getting increased time.  

Bean really hasn't shown us much to date, passing, shooting, and D.
I am not sure he is more than a 10 minute per game sub.





GO BOBCATS