Coaching a Low Major: Lose now, win later

[BillyC80]

In a league where you have to win your conference to make the big dance, these OOC games for American are essentially meaningless record-wise.

Their head coach appears to be coaching them to play their game, with intensity, and not worry about the score so much.

It’s a smart approach, to take the pressure off your team, and let your players execute with confidence, and leave the end game to the coach if it happens to be close.

Everything they do now, win or lose, is to get the players ready to earn an auto bid later.

 

[RUBlackout]

I actually liked their coach … was coaching players on fundamentals as they were coming in/out of the game and really worked the refs well.

 

[BillyC80]

I actually liked their coach … was coaching players on fundamentals as they were coming in/out of the game and really worked the refs well.

Same here.

The approach he took, to let his guys run and fire off threes, in a game where you might expect him to slow it down and be more deliberate, told me that he was playing to get his team ready for their own conference.

It’s significant because by contrast we needed this win more than they did, in order to have a shot at postseason play. So we looked a little tighter, missing many short attempts, while they played loose and executed their game better as a result.

in the end we won this game by outscoring them at the foul line, which is also indicative of their strategy.

 

[RAC’emUp]

He was playing to win! The traps, the play calls, the fouling at the end, he was playing to win! And doing a very good job at that.

 

[BillyC80]

He was playing to win! The traps, the play calls, the fouling at the end, he was playing to win! And doing a very good job at that.

Sure, especially out the gate and in the end game when they got within striking distance.

But I honestly believe he’ll take the loss, knowing it has no bearing on whether they make the dance.

He’s more concerned with having his team execute, win or lose, in a way that will set them up to earn the auto bid later.

in other words, while he wants to win, he doesn’t need OOC wins the way we do.

 

[rucoe89]

I actually liked their coach … was coaching players on fundamentals as they were coming in/out of the game and really worked the refs well.

might be good to keep on a short list for when are looking for a coach in 2 to 3 years.

 

[Loyal_2RU]

I actually liked their coach … was coaching players on fundamentals as they were coming in/out of the game and really worked the refs well.

He's a High School teammate of former Rutgers Football Star Reggie Funderburk if you are interested.

 

[knight82]

It's a smart strategy. If the ultimate goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament, being at your best in your conference tournament is all that matters for these teams. Their real season starts the first or second week of March.

 

[BillyC80]

It's a smart strategy. If the ultimate goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament, being at your best in your conference tournament is all that matters for these teams. Their real season starts the first or second week of March.

Exactly, and I would only add that before their conference tournament they play for seeding, so after OOC ends they’d like to be firing on all cylinders for their entire conference slate.

In their favor they also have all 5 starters from last year’s team that went dancing. On the broadcast yesterday they mentioned only 13 D1 schools (out of 360?) can make that claim, so it should be a pretty big advantage in their league.

 

[LeapinLou]

He was playing to win! The traps, the play calls, the fouling at the end, he was playing to win! And doing a very good job at that.

The 5th foul on that kid Mayock was as dumb as it gets. Did his coach tell him to play like that with four fouls? I would hope not.

 

[BillyC80]

The 5th foul on that kid Mayock was as dumb as it gets. Did his coach tell him to play like that with four fouls? I would hope not.

Yeah, that was as boneheaded as it gets. They also inexplicably missed a few point-blank chippies in the second half that could have tightened things up a bit, lucky for us (unless they were rattled by all the shots we blocked earlier).

 

[FIJI'83]

Curious why American's coach pulled their guard #12 for such a long period after he was killing us from the outside and had 8 points at half. When he was rocking the ball they went up big. When he was pulled, they came back to earth. Thereafter, #12 was not much of a factor and #2 became their go to guy. Point being, who, when, and for how long a coach makes substitutions during a game is the most critical game decision-making a HC coach makes.

 

[seansherm]

Curious why American's coach pulled their guard #12 for such a long period after he was killing us from the outside and had 8 points at half. When he was rocking the ball they went up big. When he was pulled, they came back to earth. Thereafter, #12 was not much of a factor and #2 became their go to guy. Point being, who, when, and for how long a coach makes substitutions during a game is the most critical game decision-making a HC coach makes.

He had 4 fouls, didnt he?

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

I actually liked their coach … was coaching players on fundamentals as they were coming in/out of the game and really worked the refs well.

People still teach fundamentals?