For the last several weeks there has been much premature talk & speculation, probably unavoidable, regarding our making the NCAA tourney & seeding in it. As a result this team has played tight. Not only has this put pressure on the team to make it happen, but to be the 1st team to make it happen in decades. They've often come out without their defensive intensity & sloppy, tentative & out of sync on offence. Lack of execution on simple stuff that they normally do quite well--losing the ball around the hoop with stone hands, sloppily turning the ball over with poor passes, poor rebounding, poor overall execution, ie, too much individual play, short arming their shots & inadvisable shots early in the clock, etc. After they've dug themselves a big hole with that kind of play, they come out with nothing to lose, & play loose & aggressively in the 2nd half but are unable to pull it out.
This is still a relatively young team that has had to deal with real pressure, self inflicted or not. The psychological aspect of any sport is the most difficult to coach & with which to deal. That's my take.
This is still a relatively young team that has had to deal with real pressure, self inflicted or not. The psychological aspect of any sport is the most difficult to coach & with which to deal. That's my take.
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