When will we start coaching?

[Panthers to the Bone]

I would rather send the team a note (or email) of encouragement to let them know we still stand behind them!

Which, by the way, I recommend doing if you have a few free moements.

[DancerHall Cat]

Jake is a first time head coach and he is learning. Maybe he needs to lean on Rich Glas a little more??

The difference between Mac and Jake is that Mac had been a HEAD coach for 6 or 7 years before he got here. Jake is going to be a really good head coach, he just needs time...

What is the difference between Jake, Matt Painter and Chris Lowery, and Mark Few? These guys seemed to do ok when they stepped into the head coaching job for the 1st time.

You might be right be right, and I hope you are about coach Jake, but there is no guarantee at this point that this guy is going to keep this team where it has been in the past few years. The guy could lose 15 in a row and you would still claim it was because he is a 1st-year coach with a young team.

There is plenty of blame to go around regarding the streak we are on right now. I dont think Jake deserves all of it, but I dont think we should be making excuses for the guy either.

[BCPanther]

No, I agree Jake has made mistakes. Especially substitution patterns. Early in the season everybody had a role and could pretty much tell when they were going to play and what they needed to do while they were on the floor. That disappeared after the Illinois State loss.

The other thing that I think he needs to look at is letting his assistants bring the fire that his personality doesn't have. I remember an interview earlier in the year where he said that sometimes he has to get Coaches Green and Hogan to calm down during practice. I disagree with that, you put a staff full of different personalities together so that you have the people that can relate to different players than you can because of your personality.

[Panther Cat]

What is the difference between Jake, Matt Painter and Chris Lowery, and Mark Few? These guys seemed to do ok when they stepped into the head coaching job for the 1st time.
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The difference is the teams they've taken over for one. Painter and Lowery took over a team that had one the conference the previous years and returned a lot more experience than the Panthers. Few was in the same boat, had a great team and a weak conference to play through. Look at our schedule, we've played so many games in such a short span. I know we want fresh legs with subs, but it's hard to not go with your top dogs to get the job done. Out bench has produced when they've been in lately, othewise they'd be getting more minutes.

Also when was 17-11 a bad record for a head coach who lost 3 guys who played over 30 minutes a game and turned around a struggling program. Personally I like what Jake has done, it's tough to swallow when we haven't played well lately, but we've got open looks. Viet and Brown (two of our best shooters) have struggled knocking down the open looks we've gotten them. I don't know what more coaching can do besides putting your team in position to win.

[DancerHall Cat]

The difference is the teams they've taken over for one. Painter and Lowery took over a team that had one the conference the previous years and returned a lot more experience than the Panthers. Few was in the same boat, had a great team and a weak conference to play through. Look at our schedule, we've played so many games in such a short span. I know we want fresh legs with subs, but it's hard to not go with your top dogs to get the job done. Out bench has produced when they've been in lately, othewise they'd be getting more minutes.

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"Out bench has produced when they've been in lately, otherwise they'd be getting more minutes."

I hate to correct grammar, but this is sort of difficult to follow. I will assume you mean "our" bench and I'll assume you meant "hasn't" before making my point.

I am so sick of everyone implying that this team is so young. We have a 4-year starter at the point, and 2 3-year starters down low. I dont doubt that we lost a lot from last year, but the cupboard was hardly empty.

Certainly, I didn't think everyone on this board was preaching that this would be a down year when Mac left and before the season started. However, many people on the board now imply that we should have expected this type of year all along.

I disagree. I expected alot out of Brooks, Stout, Coleman and the rest of the crew, and right now, we arent getting it done. As I have said in other posts, there is plenty of blame to go around and Jake probably shouldn't carry the entire burden, but he shouldn't be excluded either. I resent the fact that people on this board imply that the season to this point has been a success and that we shouldnt have expected more.

Finally, in regards to your point about playing so many games in a short time. It's called the MVC schedule. Every team goes through it and Mac went through it when he was here as well.

[Panther Cat]

"Out bench has produced when they've been in lately, otherwise they'd be getting more minutes."

I hate to correct grammar, but this is sort of difficult to follow. I will assume you mean "our" bench and I'll assume you meant "hasn't" before making my point.


I disagree. I expected alot out of Brooks, Stout, Coleman and the rest of the crew, and right now, we arent getting it done. As I have said in other posts, there is plenty of blame to go around and Jake probably should carry the entire burden, but he shouldn't be excluded either. I resent the fact that people on this board imply that the season to this point has been a success and that we shouldnt have expected more.

Finally, in regards to your point about playing so many games in a short time. It's called the MVC schedule. Every team goes through it and Mac went through it when he was here as well.

First, thanks for correcting that, it's never good when a college student has to correct my grammar. And yes, I meant what you did imply.

I too expect a lot out of Brooks, Stout, and Coleman as well, and they have produced. We are not losing games because of those three. Stout had an off night against MSU, and Coleman last night. But they have been the only three constant things for us. Brown and Viet haven't been able to find their shots. Josten has played well lately, but his role is similiar to Crawfords and Little's, more defense and less offense.

Yes it is the MVC schedule, but not everyone's is set up the same way. A lot of teams play that stretch at the beggining of the conference season, when their legs are still fresh. Mac had the same problem last year, we stated out hot and then finished something like 4-6 down the stretch. We were just able to play a little better longer.

[Durf73]

The word is lose, not loose. or losing not loosing - my sophomores make the same mistake & it drives me crazy.

By the way I don't think our seniors are not playing like seniors & yes I'm tired of seeing the same play ! As to where the blame falls, folks it always falls on the head coaches shoulders, like it or not that is what we get paid to do & that is win ! Even at the high school level & if you don't like it don't take a head coaching job !

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[jman2004]

I am so sick of everyone implying that this team is so young. We have a 4-year starter at the point, and 2 3-year starters down low. I dont doubt that we lost a lot from last year, but the cupboard was hardly empty.

Yeah, this is getting a little old as well. Last time I checked, when Jake was hired a LOT of people said this would be a smooth transition and while we lost Benny and Crawford, we still retained over half the starting lineup (3/5 of it). I was expecting a lot more as well.

Brett Crawford pointed out what I think was one of this team's biggest downfalls this season (which definately falls directly on Jake's shoulders) and that is substitution patterns. Once we hit Valley play, a lot of what was going on went out the window. Jake kind of fizzled and forgot how and when to substitute his players in. Yes, 3/5 of our starters are highly experienced, but they can't play the entire game, two games a week, and compete at a high level.

And to correct someone's earlier posts, we are actually 16-11 overall, the win against Wartburg not counting, making us actually 15-11 right now. Much different than 17-11. Yes, I was expecting a lot more than 15-11 at this point in time, especially when we started 13-2.

[UNI MadCat]

This is a little off topic but has anyone noticed how young our team looks? I don't mean in terms of their play, but actually in the looks on their faces. Now the obvious response is that, "its because they are young" and I agree with that, but lately during this rough (LONG) stretch, they just seem to look THAT much younger. Maybe its just b/c when we are winning I have less other thoughts creaping into my mind but after last night I just kept saying to my roommate, "they're all a bunch of baby faces out there." After Koch made that move and bucket for the potential 3-point play he looked like he was shaking at the line he was so excited. And then he showed it by throwing up an awful free throw attempt. It was at that point that I started to realize just how high our expectations were and how unrealistic they were to place on a relatively young team (save BM, GS & EC) like this.

I'm excited about the future though.

[jman2004]

My wife said that same thing. He looked like my brother who's a sophomore in high school and recently had the opportunity to tie a game on a freethrow. It was in times like that, that he looks so young. Koch did too last night. But he played pretty well. I just wish we could all get on the same page dammit!

[panther2317]

"I am so sick of everyone implying that this team is so young. We have a 4-year starter at the point, and 2 3-year starters down low. I dont doubt that we lost a lot from last year, but the cupboard was hardly empty."
I'm sorry Dancer Hall Cat, but we're going to have to agree to disagree here. We are young and inexperienced. We only have 3 guys who played ANY significant roles last season. We're playing 10 guys at times...that means we have 7 guys that have little to ZERO college experience. We're young. Not to mention the fact that we lost 2 starters and the best 6th man in the conference last season. It doesn't matter who the coach is...there was going to be a learning curve. We overachieved in the first portion of the season and are now coming back to earth. We were picked 6th...and we are in 6th. We haven't underachieved...we are performing right at the expectations of the coaches and media. Now...before we all freak out at my comment...I'm not happy with that. When we were 4-1 and 6-2 I was thinking about getting out the Dancing shoes. Now we're going to have to watch from the stands and that hurts. I know it hurts the coaches and players more than it hurts me...so I hope that motivates the guys to have a productive off-season and fires up the new recruits to work hard to come in and be ready to play.

BUT...I'm not done this season...I'm ready for a late season run to the Dance. It starts Saturday @ 5:00 PM.

[DancerHall Cat]

I guess I dont understand what a learning curve is. If we thought our team was young to begin the year, wouldnt we expect the team to struggle early on and then improve throughout the year?

On the one hand, you say we only have 3 players back that played significant roles this year. Therefore, Josten and Travis Brown didnt play a significant role last year, despite the fact that they each averaged over 8 min a game. I dont know how anyone could watch that team last year and then flat out say that Travis Brown didnt play a significant role at times.

Then on the other hand, you talk about us playing 7 guys with little or no college experience. The fact is, Travis Brown actually scored more points per game last year than Jordan, Koch, Kwazdo, and Jones have this year.

[BCPanther]

Travis had one role and one role alone last year. Shooting the Basketball. He struggled to defend and to grasp his responsibilities on that end of the floor. Josten played out of pure necessity and to get a few minutes that would make him better for this year (along with a killer off season work out program)

To be honest, looking at the weakenesses of those two last year, you can really make comparisons to where Eglseder is right now...

[Panther Cat]

Look at when Travis and Jared got most of those minutes. It was eary against the teams we were beating bad, and then theire minutes picked up a little bit when Crawford got injuried. Travis biggest significant minutes came against Bucknell when he hit 3 3's. And he played 11 minutes, not that many. At the end of the year they were playing 3-5 minutes a game at most.

And those minutes are what are probably helping Jared and Travis along. besides they were playing just over 8 a game on average you said. Look at how many minutes Viet, Kwadzo, and Koch have been playing? I bet they are all over 112-13 minutes a game and that's without having to help out with an injury. Not to mention Jones and Egleseder are probably getting close to 6-7 minutes a game. That's a lot more of a bench then we've used last year, and that's because we have more of a bench. But, they are young, you can't expect them to be playing 15-20 minutes a game.

Also, if you want to look at points that's great, that's the first thing most people will do. But Travis' D was really bad last year. Travis had a role to shoot the ball when he came in last year, that's why he played, It's the other things these guys are or are not bringing to the table which effects their minutes. You think Kwadzo gets his minutes because he can score? No, it's because he is our only true PG beside Brooks.

[panther2317]

Dancer...8 minutes a game is significant? Viet was injured all of last season. Who else on our bench played at all last year? This team is VERY inexperienced. It's also young. We'll only lose 3 seniors this season...two play significant minutes. So...we'll have 12 players returning next season and one has two years of Big Ten experience. But we'll have to replace two guys who went to 3 straight NCAA Tournaments. Hopfully the players coming back will find out how much it sucks NOT playing in March after 3 straight seasons of doing so and make it their mission through summer workouts to get back there in 2007-2008.