In college, you recruit plays that are proven shooters. Many of these platers have gone to summer basketball camps where they get additional training & much tougher competion before & during college. Is WW just not recruiting good shooters? 4 & 5 Star "Hustlers"? No excuse why we are close to last place (11th) in the SEC in free throws. That is practice.
@BornOnTheBayou I deleted the rest of your post but wanted to comment, hustlers will almost always get on the floor. It is something I told my kid who wasn't the tallest, wasn't the fastest, he could shoot but you get the point. I told him if you hustle, if you get on the ground for the loose ball, if you run hard and do everything like it means something you will play, and he did. He didn't always start but he was usually in by the first stoppage of play and hard to get off the court.
before this year his LSU teams were burning up the scoreboard. he said in interviews he is learning how to blend a team of skill guys and athleticism guys, and this year his team is too many athletes and too few skill guys. probably would have operated better with miller. defense is great with gaines and wilkinson out there. but those guys are not consistent offensevely at this point in their career. maybe in two years. marvel allen and miller will be handling the ball next year, skilfully.
I totally agree with you. I think WW has brought in a tremendous amount of talent, but the players don't improve under his coaching, or lack of. He doesn't understand the Xs and Os of the game and his mindset is if I recruit and signed (pay) the best players, I should win most of the games. The reality is coaching matters at the college level probably more than at any other level, including the NBA. Watch Mulkey coach and notice how she's so into every part of the game and is constantly teaching her players, even during the game. She will take a player out and immediately pull her aside and give her pointers on how she can improve. You can tell she practices the same way because her players are a reflection of that on the court. Her teams are so disciplined and do all the little things right and that's important. She teaches them the importance of blocking out, setting proper screens, moving without the ball, playing good defense without fouling and it shows. If you watch WW, he doesn't make any adjustments before or during the game. WW gets top recruits to come because they have seen how he allows the players to do what they want for the most part. Earlier this season, he even admitted that he needed to get more control of the players' shot selection and not allow them so much freedom to shot anytime they wanted. What coach allows his players to pick their shots? It's a team sport and WW hasn't realized that yet!
Before you throw Will under the bus remember Cal has had a few bad years here recently where kids just didn't make the transition to D1 as well as hoped. Same thing has happened to Coach K etc etc etc. Will has raised to quality of recruits dramatically so far and that will continue. And then you can see that season where the ball bounces your way more often and NC happens.
I have admitted that WW knows how to recruit (pay) players to come to LSU, but that's not the problem. The problem is those players don't improve and become better players because WW doesn't understand that part of the game. You could easily point out Efton Reid from this year's team, but Cam Thomas is a another prime example of what I'm talking about. He scored a lot, but that's because he shot whenever and wherever he wanted. The team went 19-10 during the regular season, which I don't consider successful when you consider Kentucky was horrible. The reality is Thomas was undisciplined and there were times when he was double and triple teamed, but still took the shot. That's not coaching or developing a player. Can you name me one high school freshman that WW has brought in that has improved over his time at LSU? Please don't say Darius Days because he's an average SEC player at best that hits a three every blue moon. He shouldn't even shooting threes, but down low using his big body to score or draw fouls. There are none and that why WW uses the transfer portal to cover his deficiencies in developing players. Who are LSU's best players this year? It's easily Pinson and Eason - both transfers! Who's the one player that everyone talks about that LSU missed the most this year due to injury? It's Miller, who is also a transfer!
We are 2-2 with 2 games left. We won the Q3 and Q4 games, lost the Q2 and a Q1. Two Q1s left against ARK and Bama. Feels like it’ll be 2-4. 3-3 wouldn’t be fantastic, but if we get a Q1 win, that’s a bonus. If we go 2-4 and shit the bed in the SECT, I wonder if we slide all the way out of the tournament.
