Xavier v. Toledo (11/27/2020 - XU Invitational)

[Xavier]

Not to mention- the kid is a sophomore. You want it ingrained in him that he doesn't need to work on Defense already?

[Xville]

It appears that the HC gives a sh*#, and since he is the one that decides who plays and who doesn’t, I’m guessing that KyKy understands that now.

I’d bet you could ask any HOF coach you care to talk with and they would also give a sh*#. Offense and defense don’t have to be either-or. It is quite possible to be good on both ends of the court. The great players, and the great teams, excel in all areas of the game. As Steele pointed out in his remarks, often time playing good defense is more a matter of “want to”, than anything else. KyKy’s problem in the Bradley game was that he didn’t seem to have the desire to play defense, so Steele sat him down. Good for him. People have complained for the last year that Steele wouldn’t discipline certain players on last years team. That he let them do what they wanted. Now he sits a player that isn’t playing hard enough to suit him, and people want to criticize him for that? Wow, just wow.

yeah i have no problem with him benching Kyky, I welcome it. I wonder then why the heck Naji and Q were able to play hero ball time after time without discipline then? I wonder if it was a case of them either being holdovers from the old regime, or if Steele was concerned that the locker room would be so toxic if Steele were to dare question them.

[bleedXblue]

It appears that the HC gives a sh*#, and since he is the one that decides who plays and who doesn’t, I’m guessing that KyKy understands that now.

I’d bet you could ask any HOF coach you care to talk with and they would also give a sh*#. Offense and defense don’t have to be either-or. It is quite possible to be good on both ends of the court. The great players, and the great teams, excel in all areas of the game. As Steele pointed out in his remarks, often time playing good defense is more a matter of “want to”, than anything else. KyKy’s problem in the Bradley game was that he didn’t seem to have the desire to play defense, so Steele sat him down. Good for him. People have complained for the last year that Steele wouldn’t discipline certain players on last years team. That he let them do what they wanted. Now he sits a player that isn’t playing hard enough to suit him, and people want to criticize him for that? Wow, just wow.

Well of course my comments were taken out of context......

Of course I want accountability and of course I want KyKy to play hard 100% of the time. I want that for every player on the roster. My point was that we really needed Tandy in the 2nd half of the Bradley game. He's our best shooter and can change the game with just 2-3 possessions. We don't have anyone else like him. Everyone on this board knows that should have been a loss and we dodged a serious bullet. I thought Steele could have handled it differently 1.5 games into the year. If we have this issue in January, that's a different situation.

[boozehound]

yeah i have no problem with him benching Kyky, I welcome it. I wonder then why the heck Naji and Q were able to play hero ball time after time without discipline then? I wonder if it was a case of them either being holdovers from the old regime, or if Steele was concerned that the locker room would be so toxic if Steele were to dare question them.

I'm sure it's a lot harder to bench upperclassmen who are major contributors in your second year as a coach. It might have less to do with them being holdovers, and more to do with him not wanting to alienate the locker room.

Q was a tough one - I thought he generally hustled and worked on defense. His shot selection wasn't atrocious. He just couldn't make a shot.

Naji was our go-to player, and he could make some crazy things happen, but his decision making was pretty suspect at times.

I think that the biggest problems under Steele have been two things: Piss poor perimeter shooting, and highly suspect PG play and ball handling. Hell, we were so bad at the point last year that we had Naji initiating the offense pretty regularly. If you want to compete at the level Xavier wants to compete at you have to have a PG every year. You also need some level of perimeter shooting in most instances, and you need it from at least 2-3 people on the floor to open things up.

[XUGRAD80]

Well of course my comments were taken out of context......

You asked a question, you got it answered. if you don't like the answers, perhaps you shouldn't ask the question, or perhaps you should have explained yourself more fully when asking it.


Also...if you feel Steele should have handled it differently, how do you think he should have handled it? Think about the long-term message he was sending to not just Tandy, but to others on the team. IMO, a coach has to send the message early in the season of what he expects. He can't wait until mid-January. If that might have meant a loss to Bradley, so be it. It's better to lose to Bradley in the 2nd game of the year, because you're sending a message, than it is to lose several games later in the year, because the players never got the message.

[XUGRAD80]

I'm sure it's a lot harder to bench upperclassmen who are major contributors in your second year as a coach. It might have less to do with them being holdovers, and more to do with him not wanting to alienate the locker room.

Q was a tough one - I thought he generally hustled and worked on defense. His shot selection wasn't atrocious. He just couldn't make a shot.

Naji was our go-to player, and he could make some crazy things happen, but his decision making was pretty suspect at times.

I think that the biggest problems under Steele have been two things: Piss poor perimeter shooting, and highly suspect PG play and ball handling. Hell, we were so bad at the point last year that we had Naji initiating the offense pretty regularly. If you want to compete at the level Xavier wants to compete at you have to have a PG every year. You also need some level of perimeter shooting in most instances, and you need it from at least 2-3 people on the floor to open things up.

I'll also point out that in article after article Steele compliments Naji as their best DEFENSIVE player last year. In addition, when he took Naji out, who was the backup? Without him, they really didn't have anyone that was a real consistent offensive threat from anywhere outside of 3 foot from the basket. it's early, but it would appear that this year's team has more options along that line.

[bleedXblue]

You asked a question, you got it answered. if you don't like the answers, perhaps you shouldn't ask the question, or perhaps you should have explained yourself more fully when asking it.


Also...if you feel Steele should have handled it differently, how do you think he should have handled it? Think about the long-term message he was sending to not just Tandy, but to others on the team. IMO, a coach has to send the message early in the season of what he expects. He can't wait until mid-January. If that might have meant a loss to Bradley, so be it. It's better to lose to Bradley in the 2nd game of the year, because you're sending a message, than it is to lose several games later in the year, because the players never got the message.

Aren't you a ray on sunshine. That comment/question was made in reply to a previous post. Yes, you can speculate away, just like I did. It's why were all here. I think Steel could have handled it differently. I've explained myself pretty clearly. We just disagree, which is fine by me.

[Blue Blooded-05]

P.S. I just read in the Enquirer that Steele said that after Freemantle got in foul trouble, they had to scrap the offense and go with a four guard lineup they had never run before.

So the head coach of a team with a thin front court hadn’t prepared for a game scenario where his best front court player got in foul trouble?

That makes me feel so much better.

[Xville]

So the head coach of a team with a thin front court hadn’t prepared for a game scenario where his best front court player got in foul trouble?

That makes me feel so much better.

Yeah that seemed odd to me as well. I think we can all agree the depth of the frontcourt for this year is really low, so why would this scenario not have been practiced? Nova has a ton of success with the four out, 1 in and x has in the recent past as well.

[xuwillie]

Do you think Steele would be better off finding a veteran assistant coach that could help on the offensive side? Think we can agree he can recruit pretty well and has a pretty good defensive plan....