when we dissect wins and losses. First off, let me say, this is not an attempt to exonerate Kim Anderson and doesn't specifically have anything to do with Kim Anderson any more than it does Bill Self or Tom Crean of John Groce or John Wooden. But this quote from Frank Mason (kansas point guard) in Sam Mellinger's column, jumped out to me:
Mason got more specific. At least four times in talking with reporters, he said the Jayhawks consistently blew defensive assignments. They had been drilled to trap certain players, especially on ball screens, and that just didn't happen.
I asked if there was something Wichita did to cause that. Maybe they moved the ball quicker than KU expected. Mason shook his head.
"That was just on us, on our own," he says. "Guys didn't remember what to do."
So often, we go on and on about how a coach didn't do his job, etc. But more often than not, IMO, it comes down not only to simple talent, but also to how well the players do what they've been told to do. It's the old, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can make him drink." You can practice something day after day after day and if the game starts and the players don't know how to do it, forget how to do it, are too lazy to do it, whatever, you're going to get beat. And it's too easy to me to simply say "They got out coached" or "The coach doesn't know what the hell he's doing." The simple fact is, guys coaching basketball at this level get the game. They're not flawless. The game plan isn't always right. But I believe a lot of the times we blame coaching for failures in the game, what we're actually seeing is guys simply not doing what the coaches instructed them to do. And I get that the coach is still the one that has to pay for that. You can't fire players so you fire coaches. And it is up to a coach to know what his team can and can't do, to put the players in the best positions possible, to effectively communicate his message. But in the end, the players who do a better job of executing a game plan (or who simply do a better job making plays) are going to win the vast majority of games.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/sam-mellinger/article16057400.html#storylink=cpy
So
Mason got more specific. At least four times in talking with reporters, he said the Jayhawks consistently blew defensive assignments. They had been drilled to trap certain players, especially on ball screens, and that just didn't happen.
I asked if there was something Wichita did to cause that. Maybe they moved the ball quicker than KU expected. Mason shook his head.
"That was just on us, on our own," he says. "Guys didn't remember what to do."
So often, we go on and on about how a coach didn't do his job, etc. But more often than not, IMO, it comes down not only to simple talent, but also to how well the players do what they've been told to do. It's the old, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can make him drink." You can practice something day after day after day and if the game starts and the players don't know how to do it, forget how to do it, are too lazy to do it, whatever, you're going to get beat. And it's too easy to me to simply say "They got out coached" or "The coach doesn't know what the hell he's doing." The simple fact is, guys coaching basketball at this level get the game. They're not flawless. The game plan isn't always right. But I believe a lot of the times we blame coaching for failures in the game, what we're actually seeing is guys simply not doing what the coaches instructed them to do. And I get that the coach is still the one that has to pay for that. You can't fire players so you fire coaches. And it is up to a coach to know what his team can and can't do, to put the players in the best positions possible, to effectively communicate his message. But in the end, the players who do a better job of executing a game plan (or who simply do a better job making plays) are going to win the vast majority of games.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/sam-mellinger/article16057400.html#storylink=cpy
So
