They need dogs. The whole program, from the coaching staff down through the bottom of the roster. There are some guys I don’t doubt in that sense — RJ, Trimble… maybe some of the newer guys like Powell, Lubin, Brown are coming along in that mold. On the staff, I know HD is a warrior, but it’s so hard to tell what the disconnect is between his mentality and that translating into the team culture. Maybe the assistants need a big shakeup.
But the staff needs to identify recruits who get after it, mix it up, take pride in shutting down their man or boxing out and grabbing a board. Where has David Noel gone? Derrick Phelps. Marcus Ginyard. Danny Green. George Lynch. Theo Pinson. There are programs that seemingly have guys like that every season — Izzo, Baylor, Houston, plenty of mid-majors with guys who have chips on their shoulders… these recruits are out there, and they don’t all have 5 shiny stars next to their names in HS. Yes, to some degree you certainly need talent at a high level. But the roster makeup overall has got to be just plain tougher.
Bring in a roster full of dogs like that and I’ll live with whatever the record might be, from missing the tourney to winning a title. Because I know they’re going to leave it all out there. But what I absolutely can’t stand is soft. Guys who don’t compete for 40 minutes. And these current guys have shown stretches where we know they have that in them, and that only makes it all the more glaring and completely unacceptable when they don’t turn that on.
Everyone knows there are big challenges with post play which are also greatly affecting perimeter play. So if they get beat by sound, bigger, better teams, so be it. But if they beat themselves *over and over* due to a very apparent lack of effort, energy, mental toughness… that’s where I call bullshit. It’s that stuff, and NOT endless wins and championships, that I feel entitled to as a fan.