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A positive hypothetical spin for the future
Posted on: April 16, 2021 at 08:57:39 CT
FIJItiger MU
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Here is the 3 reasons for hope I think if you are looking for it.
1. If Cuonzo Martin is to succeed at any reasonably high level, it will be largely predicated on defense. I don't think he had the roster this season to play the type of defense he wants. Granted that is somewhat by his own design in roster building and due to lack of player retention, but its entirely plausible that we played this season with a roster that isn't ideal for the type of defense he wants to play and he unsuccessfully tried to adjust to that roster. For better or worse, he gets a do over and will field a team next year that could plausibly be revolutionarily different in terms of their defensive approach.
2. The thing he has done best in his time at MU is take marginally recruited players from lower level programs as transfers and turn them into All SEC type players. There is no doubt from Kassius to Geist to Dru he has that track record. We shall see if the trend continues but its certainly not unrealistic to expect that some of our transfers end up being better than expected.
3. I think this is the crucial one....the two positions that are basically irrelevant throw away positions for Cuonzo Martin are pg and center. He doesn't know how to use them, doesn't put much of a premium on them, and they are largely under utilized in our system. Last years teams two most talented players by a wide margin were its pg and its center. So while on paper there was a lot of talent there and most coaches could have done a lot with that, Cuonzo isn't the right coach to capitalize on it. Losing Tilmon should be a monumental deal, but it isn't because he wasn't really that impactful anyway. Whomever we plug in as pg is likely to struggle and we have seen he can basically plug anyone in there. What he does need to succeed is quality depth and athletic defenders, lots of outside shooters, and wing scorers. That isn't what we had last year, maybe it will be what we have in upcoming seasons. Under Cuonzo the 1 and the 5 can just be guys, but for this team they were our best players and we were inadequate almost everywhere else.
Edited by FIJItiger at 09:00:08 on 04/16/21
1. If Cuonzo Martin is to succeed at any reasonably high level, it will be largely predicated on defense. I don't think he had the roster this season to play the type of defense he wants. Granted that is somewhat by his own design in roster building and due to lack of player retention, but its entirely plausible that we played this season with a roster that isn't ideal for the type of defense he wants to play and he unsuccessfully tried to adjust to that roster. For better or worse, he gets a do over and will field a team next year that could plausibly be revolutionarily different in terms of their defensive approach.
2. The thing he has done best in his time at MU is take marginally recruited players from lower level programs as transfers and turn them into All SEC type players. There is no doubt from Kassius to Geist to Dru he has that track record. We shall see if the trend continues but its certainly not unrealistic to expect that some of our transfers end up being better than expected.
3. I think this is the crucial one....the two positions that are basically irrelevant throw away positions for Cuonzo Martin are pg and center. He doesn't know how to use them, doesn't put much of a premium on them, and they are largely under utilized in our system. Last years teams two most talented players by a wide margin were its pg and its center. So while on paper there was a lot of talent there and most coaches could have done a lot with that, Cuonzo isn't the right coach to capitalize on it. Losing Tilmon should be a monumental deal, but it isn't because he wasn't really that impactful anyway. Whomever we plug in as pg is likely to struggle and we have seen he can basically plug anyone in there. What he does need to succeed is quality depth and athletic defenders, lots of outside shooters, and wing scorers. That isn't what we had last year, maybe it will be what we have in upcoming seasons. Under Cuonzo the 1 and the 5 can just be guys, but for this team they were our best players and we were inadequate almost everywhere else.
Edited by FIJItiger at 09:00:08 on 04/16/21
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A positive hypothetical spin for the future - FIJItiger MU - 4/16 08:57:39