I have a lot to say about this one, but got to run out in a little. Just watched the game.
1- Marillac, I disagree with you to some extent. I think Norm didn't have a terrible coaching game. I do agree that there's some training and lenience that needs improving... Evans' 2 1 on 2 moments were simply f'ing awful.
2- For those of you calling for Stith, watch again. His dribble needs improvement and his D improved during the game, but I wouldn't trust him. Then again, Boothe was Wright's prison wife for a little there, and we had no answer for him. They needed to cover him better. But Stith was hurting the team in the first half, in my opinion. Made a nice pass out to Hardy from the post.
3- Related: what the eff is with the team's defensive awareness? There were moments when guys did things that just made me frustrated (and this is why the Hoyas shot 51%) . Hardy starting? He's gets caught in defensive no-man's lands repeatedly. On breaks, he's on slippery skates. And as the back line of the defense, he doesn't commit to either stopping the dribbler (and trying to get a charge) or gambling. Isn't the last man supposed to make the dribbler go through you to the hoop? Boothe is better at that, even if he's wearing smuggled pumps and kool-aid lipstick. (Yeah, I went there. Thank DMX for teaching me that about prison.) Moreover, Brownlee... needs to box out. Evans needs to be more principled.
4- Related to Hardy: has anyone noticed that Horne's help defense... and ability to stay with his man... are overrated? He also gets caught in no man's lands. Also, how is it he NEVER draws a foul? That's not his fault, not necessarily, but it's weird. He tried to throw it on Monroe and got no call. And last year, he didn't get to the foul line that much either.
5- Brownlee and Hardy sure took a lot of shots. The team needed more Kennedy, creating.
6- On the plus sides: I love and hate Justin Burrell's game. It was mostly excellent and well worth the 12 points Tha Kid predicted. But I fear that like in other years, he'll have a nice early game and then disappear, by fault of both the team and himself. But man, he was a force, drawing fouls, moving with and without the ball, finishing strong.
6a- I thought Coker - ticky tack fouls aside - wasn't bad. Needs to hold on to the rebounds.
6b- Speaking of coaching, I always thought the people who were crying about the rotation were being kind of silly.
6c- Nice work winning the turnover battle.
7- Aaarggh. Speaking of coaching again, I hate following a team and cussing at the TV about numerous iffy plays. They need to be better on defense, in defensive awareness. This game was just about winnable. And they didn't. I suppose you can say they've come a long way, but I really think that defensive effort isn't gonna cut mustard. And the free throw shooting (and getting to the damn line) is straight up woeful. They need a crisper effort to beat Providence - some work driving to the rim.
Not the most disheartening opener... and really, a lot of what I thought I would see.