Jay Hedgemen suspended

[VObserver]

Love the take on Roy...all you have to do is look at the last half of the Duke game to figure that he's not a great bench coach...

Dave asked a good questions, and all I'm hearing is crickets...Marlin did the right thing. Now, if we're talking about making free throws on the road, beech away.

I am not a cricket. But I will answer the question. Marlin's biggest problem is the absolute lack of ability to judge talent at the guard position, particularly at the 2 guard. I believe that his recruitment of EP was completely blind luck, but I will give him credit for recruiting him, and not call Marlin out for inability to recruit 1 guards. That being said, there are no competent guards at either 1 or 2 on the team this year.

I also question his game preparation, as we very often seem lost in the first 10 minutes of games; which would seem to indicate that we were unprepared for what the other team is doing.

Our offense has too much dribbling, not enough passing, not enough appropriate movement away from the ball, and is in general very static. I have asked several hoops coaches what kind of offense it is, and none of them have been able to identify it beyond "schoolyard".

As to in game coaching: see the last 3 minutes of the last couple of games.

What he CAN do is coach defense and get effort out of his players. Both of those are very good things, but if your guys are limited in their skill set [and except for Long and Washington, ours are], you have to be able to run an offense [see UALR] that gives them chances to get easy buckets.

[Cajunsmike]

So here is my question for those that are closer to the program than me. I will preface this by saying that I have coached AAU and Rec basketball for the better part of 20 years. My son currently starts on his JV High School team as a freshman in North Carolina and also has played 3 seasons of AAU ball. So while I am not an expert, I feel that I am extremely knowledgeable about playing and coaching basketball.

I am a fan of Marlin's, do I always like the results, no, but overall we are definitely a better than average basketball team and based on coming off of the Lee years, we could definitely have done worse as a hire.

So my question is this for those of you that are not Marlin fans:

Is it in game coaching or coaching in general that is Marlin's biggest issue. Being around coaching allot the last 20 years, there is a huge difference. Reason I ask, is you can take a guy like Roy Williams at UNC, he is one of the best recruiters in the country and a very good coach at getting teams ready to play (but personally I think he is a terrible in game coach, meaning he blows close games because he is outcoached during the game and does not think quick enough on his feet about rotations, defenses, etc.

My son is playing on a team that has the same issue right now. I have been at a majority of his practices and games. He is fantastic in working plays, defenses and motivating kids, but his in game decisions are questionable. That being said they are 18-5 this year, so he is doing something right. But of the 5 games he has lost he was severely outcoached in the second half of ball games. The opposing coaches made in game changes and we could not overcome those changes. He gets stuck playing zone when teams are killing us from 3 point land or we are going against a team with one superb player and fails to switch to the box and 1 or to man to man with our best defender on that player.

I just want someone's opinion if Marlin gets outcoached during the game or is it a lack of preperation?

In my opinion, the major shortcoming of this staff is on the recruiting end. Yes there are some stars but they take too many guys that are SLC level they believe they can coach up to play at the top of this league. They were able to do that with Bryant Mbamalu who improved tremendously. In his four years here he became a player I never thought he could be. Natural leader and great student as well. Guys like Wronkowski and Shepherd have also improved but not to the level needed to win a championship. Again, these two guys are fine young men who will be successful in life. Bryce Washington and Jonathon Stove are also of that mold. To win a championship though we need a more well rounded team. We have a few of these great guys and some athletic defensive guys. What we don't have are enough shooters who can hit shots at crunch time. Heyward Register is a tremendous practice shooter but the speed of the game seems to impact game performance. Our defensive guys are athletic but need more basketball skill. In summary, we need to bring in more talent to be a team that can win championships more consistently.

I do not believe the staff has issues with game preparation, motivation, or adjustments. An example of adjustments is the Little Rock game where the Trojans executed several plays in the first half to get layups as they were able to move Shawn Long away from the basket and there was no rim protector near the goal. In the second half of that game, the Trojans had very little of those due to adjustments the staff made at half. I won't argue they should have made that adjustment sooner. They lost that game because they shot 3 for 19 from the perimeter, mostly on open shots. They lost the UTA game because of missed free throws and that was a factor at Texas State. Those are all talent issues which goes back to recruiting.

[RaginDave]

In my opinion, the major shortcoming of this staff is on the recruiting end. Yes there are some stars but they take too many guys that are SLC level they believe they can coach up to play at the top of this league. They are able to do that with Bryant Mbamalu who improved tremendously. In his four years here he became a player I never thought he could be. Natural leader and great student as well. Guys like Wronkowski and Shepherd have also improved but not to the level needed to win a championship. Again, these two guys are fine young men who will be successful in life. Bryce Washington and Jonathon Stove are also of that mold. To win a championship though we need a more well rounded team. We have a few of these great guys and some athletic defensive guys. What we don't have are enough shooters who can hit shots at crunch time. Heyward Register is a tremendous practice shooter but the speed of the game seems to impact game performance. Our defensive guys are athletic but need more basketball skill. In summary, we need to bring in more talent to be a team that can win championships more consistently.

Fair Commentary. Thanks Mike.

[Boomer]

I think your comment about Marlin and players is off base.

His discipline methods in my opinion, have been spot on.

In retrospect, his biggest mistake was not running off Raymone Andrews sooner. If he had, J. J. Thomas may have ended his career at UL.

---Was not close but heard a certain coach was a real culprit in the story--If memory serves correctly he was forbidden to recruit---TRUE??

[CajunEXPRESS]

---Was not close but heard a certain coach was a real culprit in the story--If memory serves correctly he was forbidden to recruit---TRUE??

That coach hasn't been a problem anywhere else. Poor, poor Marlin. Gets too many problem players and backstabbing coaches.

Here's a non opinion. He's pretty mediocre in a weak league.

[VObserver]

In my opinion, the major shortcoming of this staff is on the recruiting end. Yes there are some stars but they take too many guys that are SLC level they believe they can coach up to play at the top of this league. They are able to do that with Bryant Mbamalu who improved tremendously. In his four years here he became a player I never thought he could be. Natural leader and great student as well. Guys like Wronkowski and Shepherd have also improved but not to the level needed to win a championship. Again, these two guys are fine young men who will be successful in life. Bryce Washington and Jonathon Stove are also of that mold. To win a championship though we need a more well rounded team. We have a few of these great guys and some athletic defensive guys. What we don't have are enough shooters who can hit shots at crunch time. Heyward Register is a tremendous practice shooter but the speed of the game seems to impact game performance. Our defensive guys are athletic but need more basketball skill. In summary, we need to bring in more talent to be a team that can win championships more consistently.

Mike, I like Jonathon Stove as a 3. He is offensively somewhat limited, but he recognizes his limitations and plays in ways to minimize those and maximize his strengths. Wronk is much the same; though different in style. I believe Washington is just better than both of those guys. Honestly, I have little problem with our 3's, except it would really be nice to have one like Duane Mitchell again.

We can win with guys like Wronk and Stove, as they do not HURT us. None of our 1's and 2's are as good at their position as Stove and Wronk are at the 3; and Washington and Long are considerably more talented than the rest of the team, in my opinion.

I would kill for guards that could run a simple pick and roll with Long or Washington.

[CajunAmos]

I guess I'm old school, but I would just like our outside shooters to follow their shots rather than stand in place looking at the ball (or get back on defense), or maybe when we're running a pick and roll to actually pass close enough to the screener to not give the defender space to pass between as well.

[VObserver]

I guess I'm old school, but I would just like our outside shooters to follow their shots rather than stand in place looking at the ball (or get back on defense), or maybe when we're running a pick and roll to actually pass close enough to the screener to not give the defender space to pass between as well.

How about actually looking at the picker after the pick, to see if he is wide open with an unimpeded path to the rack? And if he IS, then getting him the ball before backside help can respond?

[Cajunsmike]

Mike, I like Jonathon Stove as a 3. He is offensively somewhat limited, but he recognizes his limitations and plays in ways to minimize those and maximize his strengths. Wronk is much the same; though different in style. I believe Washington is just better than both of those guys. Honestly, I have little problem with our 3's, except it would really be nice to have one like Duane Mitchell again.

We can win with guys like Wronk and Stove, as they do not HURT us. None of our 1's and 2's are as good at their position as Stove and Wronk are at the 3; and Washington and Long are considerably more talented than the rest of the team, in my opinion.

I would kill for guards that could run a simple pick and roll with Long or Washington.

Good comments there VO. We agree on the need to recruit more talent at guard. I will say Bryce needs to be more consistent. He missed several attempts near the goal on Saturday at Texas State. Many of his rebounds were gathering his own misses but he just could not finish. In fairness to Bryce, he ha been playing through pain due to a knee injury. As the season nears it's end, the grind may be starting to have an impact.

[RaginDave]

I guess I'm old school, but I would just like our outside shooters to follow their shots rather than stand in place looking at the ball (or get back on defense), or maybe when we're running a pick and roll to actually pass close enough to the screener to not give the defender space to pass between as well.

Welcome to the world of the current HS/College basketball. I scream all day long at my son's games to follow your shot. We have too many players between the ages of 14-22 that shoot and stand rather than shoot and follow their shot. They watch way too much NBA, and I want to give them some advice, you aint Lebron, follow your shot.