Get rid of offense or coach

[PurpleCatFan]

Something has to change.

[PurpleCatFan]

I thought this team would improve throughout the year. I was very wrong. This is an embarrassment on ESPN. Thankfully everyone is watching the NFL.

[BrockLesnar]

Well, it's easy to pile on when (3-10, 2-6). Everything was so much more pronounced on ESPN. The coaches and players are doing the best they can. The starting lineups and lineups vs. various game situations have changed. We have shored up rebounding. I get it. You can't undo what has happened. We have a team that turns it over too much. Born and Gauger are just fine. We lack depth at the point guard spot. We have a young team that is slow to make defensive rotations in the paint. We don't hit the 3 ball. We don't try to run our offense through the low post at times. We don't get to the foul line enough. We miss foul shots when we finally get there. We have three leaders (Phyfe, Berhow, and Pickford) along with 9 others that are role players and have shown some development. This is despite the record not indicating it. We are in a tough part of the schedule Bradley, Loyola, SIU, and Drake. Yes, there are many changes to various motion actions that can happen on offense. The 1-2-2 zone press with trapping could be used. I wouldn't man to man press due to lack of depth. I like the man to man half court defense. True, a zone could be mixed in at times to force the opponent to run their zone offense instead of the basic stuff. I would run with a four guard and one post offense to space the floor and get more open shots. Of course, that's less size to rebound, but basketball is a game of tradeoffs. Yes, everything could be better, but I'm going to be the glass is half full guy and be thankful for what we have. We have far less margin for error, though. We have to win 7 of 10 just to make 9-9 in the league. We need to have this mindset that we are going to be seeded at least 6th in Arch Madness.

[A Fan In Lean Years]

Fire Jacobson. Discuss...

[Panther'73]

UNI has basketball players, other teams have athletes who play basketball...

[BrockLesnar]

We couldn't afford a Mark Few, Coach K, John Calipari etc. before COVID. We sure can't, now. The next coach will be the same ability level or worse. Coach is doing a great job with what he has. I at times disagree with his decisions, but he is a calm guy in the huddle. I always liked coaches like that. I hope coach Jake stays a very long time.

[A Fan In Lean Years]

We couldn't afford a Mark Few, Coach K, John Calipari etc. before COVID. We sure can't, now. The next coach will be the same ability level or worse. .

Pay scales don't determine the ability of a coach, and particularly, won't change anything if a coach has either a lot or little to work with. A lot of "great" coaches in history performed poorly during down years. Even more "great" coaches went onto bigger and better things, only to have the program in the basement after their arrival.

The dirty little secret is that a coach can only win with what he/she has to work with.

[BrockLesnar]

Pay scales don't determine the ability of a coach, and particularly, won't change anything if a coach has either a lot or little to work with. A lot of "great" coaches in history performed poorly during down years. Even more "great" coaches went onto bigger and better things, only to have the program in the basement after their arrival.

The dirty little secret is that a coach can only win with what he/she has to work with.

So, that would mean you know we don't have the personnel this season and can go away to bother some other discussion board. Notice the period instead of questionmark.

[UNI Ka-Bullseye]

I still struggle to believe that this team has little to work with. Yes, we lost the Larry Bird POY, which really hurts. But that happened a long time ago and either the adjustments have been slow to come or are the wrong ones. We still have one returning MVC first teamer, another in Berhow who we all thought got snubbed for 2nd or 3rd team, a transfer we thought would be the defensive stopper, a couple decent redshirted freshmen, and a couple more really promising true freshman. With what’s left I had felt like we could still be a top half of the Valley team. I think the rest of this year will say a lot about the heart and the grit of these players and the coaching staff.

[orangetennis]

I still believe that we have a lot of talent on this roster but the reality is that we have very little returning experience and most guys are in an entirely new role this year than they envisioned for themselves as recently as December.
Phyfe is the one guy who is playing the role he prepared for, but Berhow is now THE guy (on the perimeter) that teams game plan to stop and he's better suited to be the #2. Pickford...eh, unfortunately he's just not very good anymore.
Born and Heise are true freshmen being asked to do way more than we expected. There's a learning curve. Mar is a brand new transfer (who had originally planned to red shirt this season) with zero experience in our system and with our guys. Carter and Betz had minimal experience from last season, and Henry and Gauger are in their first season of game action.
What minimal preparation these guys had leading up to the start of the season was built around AJ. When we lost him (and Kimmons) everyone's role changed. Then we added in a new guy, Mar. Our defensive system and offensive scheme are not the easiest to learn. We have a lot of good pieces but guys just aren't comfortable yet. We don't have a cohesive group yet. It takes time during a normal season with normal preseason preparation with no one's role changing throughout the year for an unfamiliar group to become "a team". This season was always gonna take some time to gel but when we lost our top two guards we had to start all over from square one in the middle of the season and with a very young roster. It should not be shocking that we aren't seeing consistent strong play right now but I think we'll see strides in late Jan/Feb when guys finally start to feel comfortable in their roles.

[A Fan In Lean Years]

So, that would mean you know we don't have the personnel this season .

That's what I'd say. Unfortunately, too many sports fans, this site included, don't think that way. To the majority, it's ALL about the coach, particularly when a team is losing. The phenomenon of perception in sports has, and never will, cease to amaze me.

Assuming that football is going to happen this year, you may have a bit of an "a-ha" moment.

[GonzoCat]

This is the most talent we have ever had on the team, and it's the worst team we've ever had. We didn't win any games when we had the player of the year healthy and all we did was pass the ball around with no semblance of an offense and throw up a desperation 3 near the end of the shot clock. Then we went to not shooting any 3's and actually looked like we knew how to play the game for a brief period there, but couldn't win because in the modern game you cannot win without the 3 being part of your game. The tough defense we were known for and won with is gone, we are terrible on defense. We turn the ball over on roughly 50% of our offensive possessions, really hard to win like that. The coach can't be fired so there's no point discussing that, hard to tell if he has any desire to coach anymore though. This season was over before it started, and no we are not going to win 3 or 4 games in STL to save the season. I wouldn't even want that to happen with this team. I guess the best news is football starts in about a month?

[UNIAlum95]

This is the most talent we have ever had on the team, and it's the worst team we've ever had. We didn't win any games when we had the player of the year healthy and all we did was pass the ball around with no semblance of an offense and throw up a desperation 3 near the end of the shot clock. Then we went to not shooting any 3's and actually looked like we knew how to play the game for a brief period there, but couldn't win because in the modern game you cannot win without the 3 being part of your game. The tough defense we were known for and won with is gone, we are terrible on defense. We turn the ball over on roughly 50% of our offensive possessions, really hard to win like that. The coach can't be fired so there's no point discussing that, hard to tell if he has any desire to coach anymore though. This season was over before it started, and no we are not going to win 3 or 4 games in STL to save the season. I wouldn't even want that to happen with this team. I guess the best news is football starts in about a month?

Unfortunately all of this is spot on. I've been wondering if Jake has it in his ability to step back and really reflect on his coaching. We keep doing the same thing over and over and nothing changes. Leadership has to be accountable to make changes when the results are not improving. This isn't a result of AJ being out. This is a result of a coach who is unable or unwilling to adapt when needed.

[UNIGrainer]

I honestly can’t tell if the “fire coach Jake” crowd is trolling or serious.

There is a lot I can say, but I’ll leave it at this. No program in the Valley (as it is currently constructed) has had as much success in winning league titles, Arch Madnesses and NCAA success as UNI. This will be just Jakes second year coaching a playin team in 15 years. There is no reason UNI should be the beat program in the league over 15 years. We dont have the biggest fanbase or the most resources or the best facilities (although all of those things have improved under Jake). We don’t have the coolest location or most amazing campus or the richest tradition. Our competitive advantage is Jake. If you’re really gonna fire a guy for one bad season with your best player out with injury after three games, his backup also out, and playing under weird pandemic circumstances....especially at a school like UNI....lets just say I’m glad you aren’t the AD, and good luck finding someone who will do better and be as consistent over time.

[UNIGrainer]

This is the most talent we have ever had on the team, and it's the worst team we've ever had.

Um what?

We have Phyfe and Berhow who are both solid players. Beyond that we’re playing a bunch of freshmen and sophomores and Tywhon Pickford. We are starting two true freshmen.

I don’t mean to insult the current players because I know they’re working their butts off and I think there is a lot of talent there. But you really think this group is more talented than the Kwadzo-Ali-Moran-Koch-Big E-ORear? Or Tuttle-Bohannon-Washpun-Jesperson-Mitchell-Morgan-Buss-Singleton-Carlson-Koch-Lohaus? Or Jacobsen-Stout-Coleman-Crawford-McKowen-Little?