Once again another tough defeat. I’ve said from the start our problem this year was not having a real point guard to control the game. Turnovers have killed us. Jaylin Sellers outstanding game again and season. Jason Edwards can be very good but also can be very bad. Yesterday he was just plain bad. Glad Coach Kim sat his ass on the bench. Good luck guys in the Conference tournament. I’m still in your corner Coach Kim
There has been much said about PC moving on from Kim English. I think that would be a big mistake. Consider the young recruits he has attracted, and the established players that came to the program. My theory is that those player, at least one or two of whom could play at the next level came to PC because the coach had played at the next level. With the offensive talent available the coaching staff chose to play a next level offensive game, and many nights were quite good at that plan. Coach English isn't the guy throwing dumb passes, or making any of the other bad plays.
I support the develop talent approach. It requires some patience and some intestinal fortitude to get past the early development stage. The young players Erhunmwunse, Mela, Jones, and Vaaks are the foundation of a good basketball team. English recruited them, PC should let him coach them for at least one more year.
P.S. Marquette bought into the approach with Smart, and Georgetown isn't firing Ed Cooley. PC should not replace Kim English.
John I Agee. Great recruiter and already have a top player signed to play. Top 50 if I recall. Edwards can score but he doesn’t play defense and he’s definitely not a point guard. All we need is a point guard to control the game down the stretch and we would have won all the close games we lost.
Why is he a great recruiter? Wouldn't the Friars be better than 12-20 and 14-17 if he had great players? He's gets good ones, but not great ones. There are no NBA players on this team, and from George Mason to here he's never recruited an NBA player. He can't get anyone from the WCAC (PVI, Gonzaga, Dematha, Good Council) outside of Oduro a few years ago and Daquan Davis from St. Johns (after he went to FSU) and that's one of the big areas he's supposed to be able to grab from.
He recruits KenPom 50-60 ish teams. #Facts. Good, but not great. Historically in line with what Friars usually draw.
Stockholm syndrome: a rare, complex psychological response where hostages or abuse victims develop positive feelings, empathy, or loyalty toward their captors or abusers.
I continue to disagree. First, I believe that Josh Oduro is an NBA player. English built an offense around Oduro because he was appropriately talented. I think that recognition addresses his coaching ability. Second, there may be an NBA player or two on the current roster, specifically Sellers and Jones.
That said, English brought in four players via the portal (not all good choices, perhaps), but he recruited a couple of more quality players. I note in passing that English's recruiting was better than Cooley, e.g. Tyler Kolek.
My view of performance is that it originates from and is predicated on mindset. The apparent collective mindset of the players on the 25/26 team was a distrust of their abilities. How else can one explain some of the losses. You may say those were on coaching; I contend that the first 38 minutes came from coaching the remainder came from panic.
I think the KemPom thesis is credible. That's why PC was ranked 4th in the preseason, but also why they beat St John's in the Garden and beatup on UConn for 38 minutes.
In closing I simply want PC to be competitive before I'm too old to care. For context I saw the Vinny Ernst's overtime performance in the NIT and Jimmy Walker's first basket when he was a freshman and many others in the great legacy that is PC basketball.
Well said John, I’ve said all year long that we were missing a real point guard that can control that game. We lost 4 overtime games because we gave them away due to not having that guy to slow down and make the right decision down the stretch. I hope the outside noise is just that. Coach Kim is learning also and we need him back.
It might just be me, but stonewalling and saying there's no news around the program when everybody knows that isn't true is (a really big) part of the problem here. It wouldn't have been that hard to say "yea, I saw it, but it's not productive to discuss here and I am 100% focused on the things I can control and I am 100% focused on the BE tournament." And refuse to answer anything else on the topic if someone presses. Like, lets pretend for a second I was an exec at a big company and had people asking me tough questions from time to time. If that hypothetical somewhat reflected reality, I suspect I would be able to address the question in a way that deflected going into depth on anything I really didn't want to talk about, because I would either instinctively know or would have been taught that blatantly saying things that everyone knew wasn't true would make people not believe me and not want to follow me. But perhaps that is just me.
From the misleading Hopkins updates through these responses--there seems to be a pattern of immaturity here that suggests he's just not ready for this stage yet. You and Billy hit on it with the podcast this other day; he's not a good communicator in many ways and he's not evolving.
I was at the game. The news of him being done at the end of the season was all everyone was talking about, G'town fans and the Friar loyas in attendance. I don't go to any other road games except for the annual G'town game here in DC, so I don't know what his pre-game routine is, but it was certainly noticed by everyone in my section that English wasn't on the court during warm ups at all. Cooley was, English wasn't, and lots of folks were wondering of Gomes was going to coach the team or something on this particular evening. Again, that might be the way he rolls on the road, but the fact that there is "news" these days made it newsworthy that he wasn't there until right before tip.
I saw something else toward the end of the game--and I might be reading into it--but I made an impression it and it's worth mentioning. At one point--I don't remember when, a couple of minutes or so to go--Sellers hits a bit 3. He then looks at English and gestures with his hands to "run it my way again next time" and the whole world saw him do it, Cooley, myself, everyone. And then the next time down the court, it went right to Sellers who was (I guess sometimes it's OK?) matchup hunting. And I was like "Did Sellers just tell the coach what to do? In front of everybody?"
I may be making a mountain out of a molehill, but it struck me amidst my general observation all season long that he might be too much of a "players coach" both on an off the court in a manner that undermines him. He's a man of principles for a while, but at other times he becomes a man of the people instead. It strikes me as a dysfunctional inconsistency. He espouses certain principles, pace and space, extreme drop coverage tendencies, etc. that we see players get yanked off the court for violating (at one point Saturday night Hargrove got yanked off after being on for like 30 seconds, for what seemed to me like the most minor of positioning infractions).
...But then I clearly see tons of "matchup hunting" to the detriment of the flow that incurs no penalty, I see Vaaks as a volume shooter each game with very low true shooting and effective FG%, (and btw it's tough to win that way) and I get...really confused. For a while on Saturday night it seemed like the offensive gameplan was to treat possessions like it was 4th and 1 and try to power to the hoop with your head down--and that went largely unpunished. What in fact are the governing principles here?
I am rambling, but the season has made me this way. Three more observations, unrelated to the rant above:
1.) Oswin is tough, and he fought through whatever hand or finger injury he incurred in a way that Ronnie Lott would have been proud. It was impressive to watch him fight through the pain.
2.) I miss the old senior days, when it meant something. It's not the same honoring mercinaries we hardly knew. But however bad it is across the landscape, it's particularly bad at G'Town. there were 600-800 people in the stands when they honored their seniors before the game. It was embarrassing to watch, and I wondered what the players were thinking--maybe they don't care but it was so empty to watch. G'town only draws like 3,000 a game--I don't care if the official stats say otherwise--that's what they get. It's sad to see, but the senior day thing made it even sadder, .
3.) Cooley has become weird. There were, as I mentioned, a few hundred people in the stands prior to the game. During warmups there were perhaps 200-300. I was in the second row behind the Hoya bench and Cooley kept waving and smiling at me, no joke. I kept looking around to see if there was someone else near me that the gestures were intended for, but it was just me and one of my sons. No one else within 50 feet. And to be clear, Cooley wasn't waving at me...he was just fake waving to the crowd like a politician would. It's was just for optics.
Between that, and the English comments about there being no news, he knows not of what ye mention, I just wanted to lay down and take a nap until April.
You know a coach is a dead man walking (not literally, of course) when he uses the Ed Cooley method of deflection when he said that the war in Iran, the ongoing struggles in Gaza, and other problems are more important than coaching college basketball.
BTW, Mr Farrahar, I heard your most recent podcast, and was wondering if there might be a chance that PC would try to keep the coaching continuity and promote Ryan Gomes as HC. I know this may sound crazy, but he was one of our greats back in the day who was as skilled defensively as he was offensively. Like some of the coaches you mentioned, he absolutely has ties to our program and to the conference as a whole. If anyone knows what it takes to win in a rough and tumble conference like the Big East, it's him. What say you?
81, I love Gomes as much as anyone and would love to see him on the next staff, but with only one year in college hoops that would be a big jump. I’d have to imagine they’ll look for more experience after Kim went through learning pains over the past three years.
Once again another tough defeat. I’ve said from the start our problem this year was not having a real point guard to control the game. Turnovers have killed us. Jaylin Sellers outstanding game again and season. Jason Edwards can be very good but also can be very bad. Yesterday he was just plain bad. Glad Coach Kim sat his ass on the bench. Good luck guys in the Conference tournament. I’m still in your corner Coach Kim
There has been much said about PC moving on from Kim English. I think that would be a big mistake. Consider the young recruits he has attracted, and the established players that came to the program. My theory is that those player, at least one or two of whom could play at the next level came to PC because the coach had played at the next level. With the offensive talent available the coaching staff chose to play a next level offensive game, and many nights were quite good at that plan. Coach English isn't the guy throwing dumb passes, or making any of the other bad plays.
I support the develop talent approach. It requires some patience and some intestinal fortitude to get past the early development stage. The young players Erhunmwunse, Mela, Jones, and Vaaks are the foundation of a good basketball team. English recruited them, PC should let him coach them for at least one more year.
P.S. Marquette bought into the approach with Smart, and Georgetown isn't firing Ed Cooley. PC should not replace Kim English.
John I Agee. Great recruiter and already have a top player signed to play. Top 50 if I recall. Edwards can score but he doesn’t play defense and he’s definitely not a point guard. All we need is a point guard to control the game down the stretch and we would have won all the close games we lost.
Why is he a great recruiter? Wouldn't the Friars be better than 12-20 and 14-17 if he had great players? He's gets good ones, but not great ones. There are no NBA players on this team, and from George Mason to here he's never recruited an NBA player. He can't get anyone from the WCAC (PVI, Gonzaga, Dematha, Good Council) outside of Oduro a few years ago and Daquan Davis from St. Johns (after he went to FSU) and that's one of the big areas he's supposed to be able to grab from.
He recruits KenPom 50-60 ish teams. #Facts. Good, but not great. Historically in line with what Friars usually draw.
Stockholm syndrome: a rare, complex psychological response where hostages or abuse victims develop positive feelings, empathy, or loyalty toward their captors or abusers.
The connection, if any, is obscure at best, but not cogent to the topic.
I continue to disagree. First, I believe that Josh Oduro is an NBA player. English built an offense around Oduro because he was appropriately talented. I think that recognition addresses his coaching ability. Second, there may be an NBA player or two on the current roster, specifically Sellers and Jones.
That said, English brought in four players via the portal (not all good choices, perhaps), but he recruited a couple of more quality players. I note in passing that English's recruiting was better than Cooley, e.g. Tyler Kolek.
My view of performance is that it originates from and is predicated on mindset. The apparent collective mindset of the players on the 25/26 team was a distrust of their abilities. How else can one explain some of the losses. You may say those were on coaching; I contend that the first 38 minutes came from coaching the remainder came from panic.
I think the KemPom thesis is credible. That's why PC was ranked 4th in the preseason, but also why they beat St John's in the Garden and beatup on UConn for 38 minutes.
In closing I simply want PC to be competitive before I'm too old to care. For context I saw the Vinny Ernst's overtime performance in the NIT and Jimmy Walker's first basket when he was a freshman and many others in the great legacy that is PC basketball.
Well said John, I’ve said all year long that we were missing a real point guard that can control that game. We lost 4 overtime games because we gave them away due to not having that guy to slow down and make the right decision down the stretch. I hope the outside noise is just that. Coach Kim is learning also and we need him back.
It might just be me, but stonewalling and saying there's no news around the program when everybody knows that isn't true is (a really big) part of the problem here. It wouldn't have been that hard to say "yea, I saw it, but it's not productive to discuss here and I am 100% focused on the things I can control and I am 100% focused on the BE tournament." And refuse to answer anything else on the topic if someone presses. Like, lets pretend for a second I was an exec at a big company and had people asking me tough questions from time to time. If that hypothetical somewhat reflected reality, I suspect I would be able to address the question in a way that deflected going into depth on anything I really didn't want to talk about, because I would either instinctively know or would have been taught that blatantly saying things that everyone knew wasn't true would make people not believe me and not want to follow me. But perhaps that is just me.
From the misleading Hopkins updates through these responses--there seems to be a pattern of immaturity here that suggests he's just not ready for this stage yet. You and Billy hit on it with the podcast this other day; he's not a good communicator in many ways and he's not evolving.
I was at the game. The news of him being done at the end of the season was all everyone was talking about, G'town fans and the Friar loyas in attendance. I don't go to any other road games except for the annual G'town game here in DC, so I don't know what his pre-game routine is, but it was certainly noticed by everyone in my section that English wasn't on the court during warm ups at all. Cooley was, English wasn't, and lots of folks were wondering of Gomes was going to coach the team or something on this particular evening. Again, that might be the way he rolls on the road, but the fact that there is "news" these days made it newsworthy that he wasn't there until right before tip.
I saw something else toward the end of the game--and I might be reading into it--but I made an impression it and it's worth mentioning. At one point--I don't remember when, a couple of minutes or so to go--Sellers hits a bit 3. He then looks at English and gestures with his hands to "run it my way again next time" and the whole world saw him do it, Cooley, myself, everyone. And then the next time down the court, it went right to Sellers who was (I guess sometimes it's OK?) matchup hunting. And I was like "Did Sellers just tell the coach what to do? In front of everybody?"
I may be making a mountain out of a molehill, but it struck me amidst my general observation all season long that he might be too much of a "players coach" both on an off the court in a manner that undermines him. He's a man of principles for a while, but at other times he becomes a man of the people instead. It strikes me as a dysfunctional inconsistency. He espouses certain principles, pace and space, extreme drop coverage tendencies, etc. that we see players get yanked off the court for violating (at one point Saturday night Hargrove got yanked off after being on for like 30 seconds, for what seemed to me like the most minor of positioning infractions).
...But then I clearly see tons of "matchup hunting" to the detriment of the flow that incurs no penalty, I see Vaaks as a volume shooter each game with very low true shooting and effective FG%, (and btw it's tough to win that way) and I get...really confused. For a while on Saturday night it seemed like the offensive gameplan was to treat possessions like it was 4th and 1 and try to power to the hoop with your head down--and that went largely unpunished. What in fact are the governing principles here?
I am rambling, but the season has made me this way. Three more observations, unrelated to the rant above:
1.) Oswin is tough, and he fought through whatever hand or finger injury he incurred in a way that Ronnie Lott would have been proud. It was impressive to watch him fight through the pain.
2.) I miss the old senior days, when it meant something. It's not the same honoring mercinaries we hardly knew. But however bad it is across the landscape, it's particularly bad at G'Town. there were 600-800 people in the stands when they honored their seniors before the game. It was embarrassing to watch, and I wondered what the players were thinking--maybe they don't care but it was so empty to watch. G'town only draws like 3,000 a game--I don't care if the official stats say otherwise--that's what they get. It's sad to see, but the senior day thing made it even sadder, .
3.) Cooley has become weird. There were, as I mentioned, a few hundred people in the stands prior to the game. During warmups there were perhaps 200-300. I was in the second row behind the Hoya bench and Cooley kept waving and smiling at me, no joke. I kept looking around to see if there was someone else near me that the gestures were intended for, but it was just me and one of my sons. No one else within 50 feet. And to be clear, Cooley wasn't waving at me...he was just fake waving to the crowd like a politician would. It's was just for optics.
Between that, and the English comments about there being no news, he knows not of what ye mention, I just wanted to lay down and take a nap until April.
You know a coach is a dead man walking (not literally, of course) when he uses the Ed Cooley method of deflection when he said that the war in Iran, the ongoing struggles in Gaza, and other problems are more important than coaching college basketball.
BTW, Mr Farrahar, I heard your most recent podcast, and was wondering if there might be a chance that PC would try to keep the coaching continuity and promote Ryan Gomes as HC. I know this may sound crazy, but he was one of our greats back in the day who was as skilled defensively as he was offensively. Like some of the coaches you mentioned, he absolutely has ties to our program and to the conference as a whole. If anyone knows what it takes to win in a rough and tumble conference like the Big East, it's him. What say you?
81, I love Gomes as much as anyone and would love to see him on the next staff, but with only one year in college hoops that would be a big jump. I’d have to imagine they’ll look for more experience after Kim went through learning pains over the past three years.
Big picture, sad it didn’t work out for Kim. Liked what he’s represented. Basketball junkie, excellent recruiter,