There is such a lack of understanding of the game of basketball in general on this thread that continues to amaze me. Let's take a look at the run that got us behind. It was 24-17 (where we were playing unselfish, high level team basketball and no one should have been complaining) GT went into a 1-3-1.
The way Mullin breaks that zone is untraditional. Most coaches use a generic 4 out set that buries guys in the corners and allows the defense to dictate where the ball goes up top by attacking the two top players with the wings of the 1-3-1. Mullin plays the top with 5 guys against it, taking the bottom man out of the zone initially and forcing the wings to guard players rather than coming up high to double. Carnesseca ran THE BEST 1-3-1 zone when Mullin was there. You don't think he understands how to break that zone? If kids miss shots, they miss shots. We missed 2 3's, a stupid layup by Simon and a layup by LJF that sat on the rim for a few seconds while GT scored 8 straight point to go up by one.
Sometimes Mullin will also play one guard up top and three across the foul line to force those top 4 players to in essence play man to man so they can't step up and trap which takes them out of the zone all together. We moved the ball great against them in that possession and LJF missed a 3. The next time down, Pnfs threw up a dumb ass floating baeeoine jumper. Meanwhile, GT scores 3 more times.
We never gave up defensively, worked our asses off doubling and trying to jump ball handlers, but GT finished and we didn't. Now we're down by 7 and it's because of 2 things; GT took good shots hit them, and St. John's took terrible shots and missed.
The fact that Mullin encourages and allows Ponds to do what he does makes him a good coach. The fact that he doesn't yank kids for making poor decisions sometimes and encourages them to keep working hard makes him a good coach. There is always a game plan and always an offensive set. There is a difference between freelancing on offense and being allowed by your coach to be creative. He lets the kids create, and that mentality will continue to improve this roster as word gets out. It is really a shame that so many of you can't just enjoy watching these kids play and watching this guy coach. The kids love him.