Can anyone explain why.........
- Thread starter omega83
- Start date
Benching the hot hand has been a pattern in Willard's tenure here as coach. But perhaps with Desi it has to do with him not being able to control his emotions. I don't know. I would love for a poster who knows more about the situation to comment. I thought perhaps he was trying to save Desi for the endgame to preserve him from getting into foul trouble in the whistle-fest/referees-gone-wild game we witnessed today. He did indeed bring him in at crunch time.
The game was so physical today I am glad nobody on our team got injured.
The game was so physical today I am glad nobody on our team got injured.
Wondering "WTF is Willard doing" is a hallmark of his tenure. Granted, he has done a good job overall this year. BUT this team has so much talent, it is undeniable. It is time to bring it all together and make a statement this week on our home floor and finish this season strong. This team has too much ability to be going 10+ minutes without a FG. To be eeking out a lucky win against one of the worst power conference teams in the country or be hoping to eek out one of the last few NCAA bids.
Found myself sitting next to Desi's friends and family section today. Great group of people (and they're quite dedicated. I believe I saw/heard them in DC too). Got to chatting during halftime and they were quite complimentary of Coach Willard. FWIW one lady even said Coach Willard was in the right to discipline Desi earlier in the season.
FYI Desi played more minutes than any Pirate, 32 except Khadeen at 33. I thought the same thing late in the game, saying where is he, and as I said that, he was getting off his seat. Desi started the 2nd half until the 11:25 mark. He sat until 8:23. He then played until the 3:26 mark. He came back in with 58 seconds to go.
It 'seemed' as if he was gone longer, but the 2:28 seconds he was out until the last minute, allowed him to be fresh and win the game with his O rebound and the slap of the ball on the last play. Great game by Desi, MVP.
It 'seemed' as if he was gone longer, but the 2:28 seconds he was out until the last minute, allowed him to be fresh and win the game with his O rebound and the slap of the ball on the last play. Great game by Desi, MVP.
Good point blue. I was surprised at how often kc and Dr were on the court while watching the replay. They seemed out forever while watching live.
Make that slap on the ball twice. Before and after the timeout.
Also the Carrington shot, which isn't getting a lot of play on the board, as you noted wouldn't have happened without Desi getting the missed shot and kicking it out.
Could not agree more. But he still has his HS habits to break. It worked at that level. Not as much now with bigs protecting the basket in the halfcourt.
The shot was a thing of beauty. If He and and IW could have that threat zone this team would be even more lethal.
I think the bigger question for Willard was his substitution pattern at the 5.
Why not play Anderson or Carter at the end of the first half when Delgado had foul trouble and Anthony had 3 going on 4 fouls? Remember Nova game last year when Ajou gave us like 2 key minutes at the end of the first half to avoid further foul trouble and it turned out to be just enough..
And even more so, why was it so important for Delgado to come in at 8:40, right before the 8 minute tv timeout, for basically 1 defensive possession? I get he tried to go zone to protect him, but why risk your only decent big man fouling out at that point in the game? To me, that was the first point in the game where I though oh crap we could actually lose this game now.
Why not play Anderson or Carter at the end of the first half when Delgado had foul trouble and Anthony had 3 going on 4 fouls? Remember Nova game last year when Ajou gave us like 2 key minutes at the end of the first half to avoid further foul trouble and it turned out to be just enough..
And even more so, why was it so important for Delgado to come in at 8:40, right before the 8 minute tv timeout, for basically 1 defensive possession? I get he tried to go zone to protect him, but why risk your only decent big man fouling out at that point in the game? To me, that was the first point in the game where I though oh crap we could actually lose this game now.
Desi was pumped for the game. Home town crowd, wanting to play well, which he did. He was complaining to the refs after most of this drives expecting and 1's. I thought he was hit on a few of them too. He landed on his ass after driving in at least 5 times that I remember. I believe he made 3 of them. He wasn't complaining during game time, just during a TO or stoppage of play he was talking to the closest ref with this, you didn't see me get hammered expression.
This is actually good to hear. Desi is a beast and I've been hoping that relationship is good there. He slapped away the ball on the first inbounds pass sending out of bounds with 2.3 then again on the very next play. Two huge defensive plays to end the game that went a little under the radar with all the excitement.
You won't get much on this sore subject. Anderson was hyped on this board when we picked him up. Talking about his looks from Kentucky, Kansas, etc. To date this was one of our most puzzling pick ups in my opinion.
Bigs take the most time to develop, but we get an injured transfer big who is attending law school. Obviously the emergence of Nzei and Ish are taking the front page press on success on the frontcourt development (as well they should), but picking up Anderson seems like a head-scratcher to me. Doesn't he have another year of eligibility? Is he just going to sit out the whole first year and hopefully/maybe get two minutes a game next year?
Reminds me of our pickup from BU before. Just strange recruiting.
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