First of all: DOOK and all their fans can screw themselves. I hate all of you so much. How'd football season go? Go back to the country club. You all suck.
Now that we have that out of the way I'm curious to hear all of your reactions to our performance in the ACC tournament. I think we need to go beyond Bird's Hewitt Approval Poll below.
Frankly, I can't say that I approve of the job Paul Hewitt is doing of coaching our players. You all know why I think that: we turn the ball over, we can't run consistent offensive sets throughout an entire a game, we lose our man on defense all the time because we are switching all the time, and of course we can't run an inbounds play at all (see below).
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However, I will give CPH credit for motivating this team during the tournament. The ESPN broadcasters (Shulman and Dicky V.) made the point that when speaking with Paul Hewitt before the game he stressed that this tournament was the biggest goal for the team this season. And I commend him for setting that goal. Paul Johnson and the football team set their #1 goal as winning the ACC last year. From a fan's perspective, this is exactly what you want.
With that being said, I am still appalled at the mistakes this team makes throughout a game. The fact that we won 3 games in a row to get to the championship game amazes me. 25 turnovers against Maryland? 5 in the first 3 minutes of yesterdays game? Countless scoring droughts and missed opportunities? Absolutely ridiculous and inexcusable for a team with this caliber of talent, which leads me to my next point.
This team got to the championship game on its talent alone. Yes, we did run some good sets at the start of the Maryland and NC State games to get the ball inside, but we couldn't sustain anything over the course of the entire game. And during the game yesterday, DOOK was ready for us to pound the ball inside. They fronted the post and exploited the biggest weakness of our perimeter players: making quick, and accurate entry passes into the post. Once they took that away, we just had individuals (Favors, Bell, Miller, and Shumpert mainly) making plays to keep it close.
Honestly, this team is just frustrating to watch. We have all the talent in the world yet we are forced to still grind out victories over inferior teams because of a lack of quality coaching and game planning. Coach Ratface even said that we are "the most athletic and talented team in the ACC." Now when one of the greatest basketball coaches ever says that, wouldn't you think the team he is speaking about should whoop their opponents, or at least be considered a favorite?
We need a change at the head coaching position. Tech basketball may make a great run in the next couple weeks in the NCAA tournament, no doubt. But next year we will be right back where we were last year and in 2005 with the losses of Favors, Lawal, Bell and as much as it pains me to say it, Zach Peacock. There will be talent next year, but it will need excellent coaching and solid game planning if we are going to be successful. With this coaching staff, we're never going to have that and it's just a fact.
I hate to focus on the negative with a big weekend coming up, but the facts need to be stated. Dan Radakovich if you are reading this please know, the natives are restless on The Flats. Please don't let this team's magnificent ACC tournament run fool you: we still have a very serious problem at the head coaching position.
Your thoughts?