Uh oh. I set something off. Long post coming.
You can look at the other side of things, too, and say a team playing a more grind it out style will be harder for a team used to playing an open style to handle.
This is exactly what Isiah Thomas did when running the Knicks.
Just because it isn't the trend doesn't mean it can't be effective.
True, but it's not a "trend" in my eyes. Again, this is in large part because of rules and enforcement. It's bringing real change.
In this day and age of college football spread attacks and wide open offenses, who has won a few titles recently, and likely another this year? Alabama, and their boring, physical, more traditional offensive attack.
I have no idea if this is true. But do the rules penalize Alabama for doing this? The rules are going to penalize basketball teams for getting physical.
Teams in college basketball hardly ever use a full court press any more...but Shaka Smart uses it at VCU and guess what, teams have a hard time handling it.
Doesn't the current national champion do it?
Were's that put Akron's KD in your accessments?
An excellent coach who has a very versatile team and has gotten a bit unlucky in the NCAAs.
JSF, I don't really buy into your assertion that Coach Christian wants to play a grind it out style. I think he was referring more to defense in his statement. He thinks he has more depth of players who will play the type of defense and rebound like he wants them to.
Also, if you look at the type of player's he's recruiting, they are long and lean athletes with the exception of Tony Campbell. Admittedly, Tony is built like a banger. But IMO, teams need a few guys like that. But overall, this staff is recruiting versatile athletes.
Valid points, Jeff. Good perspective.
JSF, I've got an idea. And I'm serious. Why don't you find out when the first coach's radio show is scheduled. They allow phone calls with questions. Why don't you call Coach Christian and ask him to clarify these issues, and maybe then we will have more insight as to whether his plans are that much different than you'd like to see. Plus, Bobcatattackers could tune in and listen. I'm serious.
I like this idea. Remind me about it.
Christian took over a TCU team that was scoring 62, 63 points a game and left it scoring 72 points a game. He took over a team last year, and it ended up leading in assists (and, no that is not all on him...at all). Let's see how this team plays over the next 18 months before declaring him the out-of-touch coach of the decade.
Good points.
Enough with the Groce man-crush folks.
I was afraid someone was going to say this. I said it as a means of comparison, not of longing.
I don't care for his body language, ie he rarely looks the camera or the interviewer in the eye. He always seems to be looking down at the floor. He gives me the impression he doesn't like being interviewed.
This is stupid, but you're always looking for reasons to complain.
My view on Jim Christian is complicated. I was not in favor of his hiring, and I'm still not in his camp. It's not one big thing, but a lot of little things: No point guard coming in next year, his history of a grind-it-out style I think is behind the times, the general lack of standout players he's had, etc. At the same time, I defended him against people who said he did a bad job last year. And I think he doesn't deserve the "can't win in March" label some have put on him. But I also think there are reasons why he hasn't had success. Mostly, bad luck. His Kent teams were really quite good and it's not right to judge them on one game (especially that UNLV game). But there's also variance: Christian's teams tend to be low variance. In other words, they're pretty similar from game to game. As a means of comparison, Groce's teams were high variance. That's why they could beat Michigan but lose to Eastern Michigan. Christian's teams will almost never lose to Eastern Michigan but are that much less likely to spring a big upset. A great example of this (for those who follow tennis) is Marat Safin and Andy Roddick. Roddick was an exemplary low variance player. He almost never lost to people ranked lower than him in the rankings, so you could pencil him in for the quarterfinals or semifinals of majors, where he'd lose to a true contender. Compare that to Safin, who could lose to a blind, one-armed man any day but could also unleash his full talent and knock out Roger Federer in his prime.
I'll leave it to you to decide which you prefer. There's a lot to be said for a team who you always know will be there for the regular season title but leaves you unsure in a knockout format. And there will be a lot of people who say, "March is all that matters!" and don't care much how if you win in Kalamazoo in February. I will be unhappy if we see the team slow things down. And before you ask, "Would you rather win or look good?" I'll answer, "Both." They're not mutually exclusive. I have all the respect in the world for Bo Ryan, but I have zero desire to see him in Athens.
Jim Christian is a very good coach. He wins, which is job #1 for him. But I have a worry he'll give us diminishing returns. I fully admit this could be completely unfair to him. And I can be wrong about all of this. I've been wrong- quite publicly- before. And I hope I'm wrong again.