Post by motorcitysam on Dec 10, 2020 10:09:19 GMT -5
After a few days since the game...
My apologies to all if I contributed to a negative vibe on the team with my posts during the game. This was the first game I was able to watch, and after the excitement of the MSU and ND close losses I was eager to see what these Titans looked like. I was thusly disappointed to see a product vs Kent State that resembled what we've been accustomed to the past couple seasons. If fatigue and under-rating Kent St are the main reasons for that, than I can accept that. Its early in the season, and its not uncommon for teams to have a dud here or there as everyone is finding their footing.
In the bigger picture...I can't quibble with the analysis of where AD is at in his development. He seems on track to a lengthy European career as his ceiling has seemingly become obvious. He lit up the nets and expectations with an explosive breakout as a frosh, I may say he's somewhat leveled off and hasn't taken mighty steps forward. It doesn't seem he'll leave UD early, nor make the NBA. Not a knock, just an observation of his talent level. As others noted, he seems like a very good young man and he's proud to be a Titan, its indeed good he's one of us.
Coach Davis hasn't been able to surround AD with a talent level that is high enough nor complementary enough to maximize AD's skills. Thus, we see AD still forcing tons of his shots and his shooting percentage is tanking as a result. He's doing too much and forcing stuff, but then again I'm not sure what the alternatives are given what the team has been. That's on Coach for failing with the pieces on the roster and/or with the scheme. Someone suggested we won't rely on grad transfers so much in the future, but so many guys currently playing will be gone next year and we are going to just throw in Pink/Liedel/Legreir and expect them as sophomores to be playing at high levels without getting any meaningful minutes as freshmen? That doesn't seem like a formula to have the 21-22 Titans take a step forward. And if they aren't good enough to play D1 ball as frosh or soph (we have no reason to believe this yet), then he's failing to bring in talented enough players to the program (again, its an unproven theory. time shall tell).
Long story short...Go Titans. Let's up the Kent game was an aberration and that Brandon/Waterman will be the injection that the team needs to continue its upward trajectory based on what it showed vs ND/MSU.
We played 3 games in 5 days (Dec. 4, 6, and 8). We played pretty well in the first two games. We did not play well in the 3rd game. We are not playing with the rotation that we imagined back in September. Brandon got hurt. Thompson regressed. Waterman didn't get a timely eligibility waiver. And, Antoine has again started the season with poor shooting. In the first two games, we showed good team chemistry and relentless effort for most of those games. Neither of those intangibles showed up Tuesday night. That happens. It happened to Vitale's great teams. It happened to the great Perry W teams of 20-25 years ago. It happened to the very good Ray teams of 8-10 years ago. Sometimes talent alone can overcome fatigue - but that's unlikely against other good teams that are rested.
It never happened to the great Smokey Gaines teams!! (Mostly kidding with this comment. You guys know I love Coach Gaines and hate to see him get overlooked.)