State of the Union, Part Deux
I could have easily titled this post, “The Perils of Playing With McNamara — Revisited” because, really, that’s the issue. Obviously. Gerry has been The Man and now he's gone. But if you only talked about his departure, you'd be missing the second part of the story.
I watched us lose to Wichita State (#26 this week), Oklahoma State (#12) and Pittsburgh (#10) and in all three losses we’ve been competitive down the stretch. We haven't lost ugly all year. In each of the three losses I've seen, Gerry's leadership might have been enough to put us over the top. Alas. Without him, I don’t think we held the lead in the final two minutes in any of those three games. Brutal. For a team with three senior starters, we play incredibly young.
That’s to Gerry’s credit, but it is also Gerry’s fault. His teammates never developed.
I like Demitris’s game more now than I did three weeks ago. He has a wicked shot that cannot be stopped when it is falling. But it is increasingly obvious that he has no sense — zero! — of when to shoot. It’s ridiculous. He’ll put anything up and from anywhere. Down the stretch against Pittsburgh, an offensive rebound bounced out to Nichols at the free throw line. Instead of passing to a relatively open Pace or Devendorf, who can both shoot, or resetting, Nichols whirled around, lost control, heaved himself just outside of the three point line, and offered up a shot that was positively Steve Keller-ian in its absurdity. Unbelievable. (He missed). I groaned.
The fact of the matter is that Demitris is out of his element. I think he’ll get better and smarter in the two months of Big East play, but he’s like a child who has wandered into the middle of a movie.
Of course it isn’t all about Nichols. Terrance and Watkins have had similar growth problems. And, as anybody reading this blog knows, I think they are the key to our season.
I think we’ll make the tournament regardless. Boeheim himself gets us that much. I think a Nichols led team could win a game or two in March, but couldn’t knock off any top-flight power. We’ll need the big boys for that.
Here’s hoping.
I watched us lose to Wichita State (#26 this week), Oklahoma State (#12) and Pittsburgh (#10) and in all three losses we’ve been competitive down the stretch. We haven't lost ugly all year. In each of the three losses I've seen, Gerry's leadership might have been enough to put us over the top. Alas. Without him, I don’t think we held the lead in the final two minutes in any of those three games. Brutal. For a team with three senior starters, we play incredibly young.
That’s to Gerry’s credit, but it is also Gerry’s fault. His teammates never developed.
I like Demitris’s game more now than I did three weeks ago. He has a wicked shot that cannot be stopped when it is falling. But it is increasingly obvious that he has no sense — zero! — of when to shoot. It’s ridiculous. He’ll put anything up and from anywhere. Down the stretch against Pittsburgh, an offensive rebound bounced out to Nichols at the free throw line. Instead of passing to a relatively open Pace or Devendorf, who can both shoot, or resetting, Nichols whirled around, lost control, heaved himself just outside of the three point line, and offered up a shot that was positively Steve Keller-ian in its absurdity. Unbelievable. (He missed). I groaned.
The fact of the matter is that Demitris is out of his element. I think he’ll get better and smarter in the two months of Big East play, but he’s like a child who has wandered into the middle of a movie.
Of course it isn’t all about Nichols. Terrance and Watkins have had similar growth problems. And, as anybody reading this blog knows, I think they are the key to our season.
I think we’ll make the tournament regardless. Boeheim himself gets us that much. I think a Nichols led team could win a game or two in March, but couldn’t knock off any top-flight power. We’ll need the big boys for that.
Here’s hoping.
posted by Chris at 1:16 PM
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