Lavin- D+: When they first hired him I was his biggest fan, but the honeymoon period is over. He's been able to bring some nice talent here over the years, but that hasn't translated to wins yet. Yet to land a recruit in 2013. An awful in game coach in my opinion. His delving out of playing time made little sense to me. Rarely did he make in game adjustments that worked. Rarely did he run any sort of a set offense. Running the weave all game isn't going to work at this level. MUST MUST MUST hire an Xs and Os guy for next season. Losing Dunlap clearly hurt this team a lot. Must have impact recruiting classes in 2014 and 2015. Anything less than an NCAA tourny appearance next year, and I would consider firing him if there was a solid replacement available.
How many of you ever been a coach or played organized ball at any level? Why is it not possible that the players are not executing? To think Lavin, a high major D-1 coach, does not know X's and O's is foolish. Can we give Lavin more than two years? Just a suggestion. Offenses look so much better when you have players who make plays. No matter what offense you design, the players on the court have to make a play. We lack playmakers and shotmakers. Unless you know of an offense that removes the defense from the court, this rebuilding process is going to take more than two recruiting classes. Lets try and enjoy the ride.
A lot of people don't understand "rebuilding" around here. They wanted immediate success and didn't get it. I too expected better at this point, but I'm not going to say its all Lavin's fault. The cancer was a major setback, harkless going pro was unexpected, and those things are oit of his control. he has made some poor recruiting decisions in term of recruiting all athletes, no guys who can hit a jumper or 3 pointer. The whole "Lavin can't coach" thing is so overblown it's ridiculous. He makes some questionable decisions sure but to claim that he is a horrible in game coach after one season of missing the tourney with nothing but underclass men is absurd, especially after he coached a team of losers to the tourney in year one.
Great post. Moe being too good set us back for sure. I look at this year's draft and I really think I would consider taking him #1 overall if he was still around. He would have been the best player in the tournament I believe and at a position SF/PF (think John Wallace) that can carry a team.
I really think that if Sampson qualified last year Moe would have been hidden enough and even somewhat overshadowed by Sampson's ridiculous athleticisim that he may have stayed another year. We'll never know at this point, but if Sampson qualified and we had both him and Moe back as second-year guys....wow. Elite 8 type of a team.
I have full confidence in the staff. We haven't seen Lavin's plan fully unfold, and I really think we are fortunate enough to bring back an experienced Sanchez for a season we could go much further in. Good times ahead...best thing about freshmen is they become sophs. Best thing about sophs is they become juniors.