Freemantle

[paulxu]

Next you'll tell me there's gambling going on at Nigel's house.

Nigel fell off the wagon?

[MHettel]

This is exactly how I feel. I am not giving up on Zach.

He has proven he can be a huge asset when put in a position where he is asked to use his greatest skills while keeping his greatest weaknesses from being exposed. He still can be a great leader. Unfortunately, he has had a head coach for 4 years who didn’t know how to best use his talents and therefor couldn’t get Zach to buy into his flawed approach.

I gotta believe that Miller is just going to be a much better coach, but one who will help Free get back on track by using him in ways that will help him shine and the team succeed.

Winning cures EVERYTHING. That crap system that Steel ran didnt work at the beginning, didnt work during the middle couple years, and didnt work at the end. Steele's commitment to something that didnt work eventually was his end.

I think a better system will improve Free's (and everyone's) numbers and will lead to more winning. It will be interesting to see how that translates to an improved team attitude.

[IM4X]

Winning cures EVERYTHING. That crap system that Steel ran didnt work at the beginning, didnt work during the middle couple years, and didnt work at the end. Steele's commitment to something that didnt work eventually was his end.

I think a better system will improve Free's (and everyone's) numbers and will lead to more winning. It will be interesting to see how that translates to an improved team attitude.

Agree. I am more concerned about some of the players coming off the bench who have yet to prove they are starting material in the BE. Can Miller help Miles, Hunter, Edwards and Tandy take their game to the next level?

Help Miles finally get stronger and become a scoring threat. Teach Hunter how to shoot a proper layup so it goes in almost all of the time and teach him to take fewer, smarter shots from three. Help Edwards with his footwork so he can get around defenders in the paint and throw down dunk instead of relying on lower percentage finesse shots (like hook shots and 10 footers) that result in fewer rebounds and putbacks.

[UCGRAD4X]

I'm just glad we have something basketball related to talk about.

[murray87]

Sean's motto: "Mess with the bull and you'll get the horns"

[XUGRAD80]

Over the years there have been several Xavier players that have been suspended at sometime during their career. Some have even been asked to leave. You know what? This happens at every school in the land. The fact that it’s a high profile player who was expected to be a senior leader is what makes this a bigger story than many others. We can speculate on why it has occurred, if it was something the kid did, or didn’t do. We can speculate on why the coach made the decision to suspend at this point. We can speculate on the character of those involved. It’s all open to speculation. But what I’m really interested in at this point is not WHY it happened, but instead I’m interested in WHAT happens now? Do they work their problems out and become a valuable partnership? Does this end up with the player leaving? Does this become a cancer that drags on all year? Does this give others the opportunity to move up and become more valuable members of the team? Do they take advantage of that opportunity? Does the team become a closer group, with everyone pulling in the same direction?

One thing I’ve found in my several decades of coaching is that a team is much more than any one player, no matter how talented they are. Everyone needs to be working together to get the best. And it’s the head coach that sets the tone and has to be the one in charge. He’s the one that leads. He’s the one that picks the direction and decides how best to get to the goal. No matter how talented one player may be, it can’t be the player making those decisions.

It did appear at times last year, from what I could see on the TV screen, that the coach and the player weren’t always on the same page and were not working together. There were just certain facial expressions, body positions, etc. that made it appear that there was some kind of rift between them, and even between some of the players at times. Hopefully this suspension is a step forward toward not allowing that to fester and become a cancer to this years team.

It does appear that the ball is in Zack’s court at this time and it’s up to him to do the things that the coaches want from him and get himself reinstated. Whatever those things are.

[drudy23]

It did appear at times last year, from what I could see on the TV screen, that the coach and the player weren’t always on the same page and were not working together.

Whatever gave you that impression (deep sarcasm)?

[bleedXblue]

Agree. I am more concerned about some of the players coming off the bench who have yet to prove they are starting material in the BE. Can Miller help Miles, Hunter, Edwards and Tandy take their game to the next level?

Help Miles finally get stronger and become a scoring threat. Teach Hunter how to shoot a proper layup so it goes in almost all of the time and teach him to take fewer, smarter shots from three. Help Edwards with his footwork so he can get around defenders in the paint and throw down dunk instead of relying on lower percentage finesse shots (like hook shots and 10 footers) that result in fewer rebounds and putbacks.

Welp, I sure hope you aren't counting on Miller to somehow add 25 lbs of muscle to Miles. LOL

The coach can help with scheme, lineups, decision making, culture, recruiting etc etc

Im not counting on Miller to make layups for the guys. That's grade school level expectation.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

One thing I’ve found in my several decades of coaching is that a team is much more than any one player, no matter how talented they are. Everyone needs to be working together to get the best. And it’s the head coach that sets the tone and has to be the one in charge. He’s the one that leads. He’s the one that picks the direction and decides how best to get to the goal. No matter how talented one player may be, it can’t be the player making those decisions.

It did appear at times last year, from what I could see on the TV screen, that the coach and the player weren’t always on the same page and were not working together. There were just certain facial expressions, body positions, etc. that made it appear that there was some kind of rift between them, and even between some of the players at times. Hopefully this suspension is a step forward toward not allowing that to fester and become a cancer to this years team.

It does appear that the ball is in Zack’s court at this time and it’s up to him to do the things that the coaches want from him and get himself reinstated. Whatever those things are.

Agree with this. One player can, in fact, be a cancer and I'm disappointed that Freemantle's behavior (whatever it was) put the coach and team in this position. I can't say I'm shocked but still, I assumed he had grown up a bit over the last year. Maybe not.

Now, I'm even very interested to see how much Edwards, Hunter and Miles have improved. They all have potential to contribute but, to a degree, all were disappointing last year. Of the three, I was most disappointed in Miles. He put on some needed muscle, but his defense was poor and often landed him in foul trouble quickly. I don't recall him logging many minutes once we moved into league play. Miles also showed little offensive capability and all, I think, we really require of him at the offensive end (besides hitting the boards) is to make layups and free throws. Hunter showed athleticism and talent but played to his weaknesses instead of his strengths and Edwards, who has some potential, was just young and a bit flat footed. I would recommend Edwards abandon the Gumby look and go with braids. If he looks bad, perhaps he'll play better. Finally, right now, we just don't know what we have in Tucker. If Free ends up off the team (not predicting that just acknowledging the possibility) these guys must step up because the Big East is very talented again this year. Can they; will they?

[boozehound]

I don't know that I think that Edwards really got enough time / leash to be disappointing. Young players have to play through some mistakes. I thought he contributed pretty well in limited minutes.