I am prepared to make it official – Sidney Lowe has entered the Death Spiral. What did he learn from yesterday’s meltdown?
“I thought Javi played well,†Lowe said after Gonzalez scored nine points with six assists in a 91-87 overtime loss at Virginia Tech.
Lowe liked the way Gonzalez pushed the ball up the floor and looked for his teammates, and it showed in the way Lowe dealt out playing time. Gonzalez played 36 minutes, a season high for an N.C. State point guard.
This has all the hallmarks of desperation, just flinging crap against the wall to see what sticks. Play the guys who have been benched (for good reason). Bench the guys who have been logging heavy minutes. Yank some players for their mistakes, applaud and encourage others for even worse miscues. Never mind that Javi was especially loose with the ball in the last few minutes of regulation (who would anticipate that a guy used to 1-2 minutes max would get gassed playing 36?). Tysiac’s full article is here.
You can also see that Degand has taken the slot (usually reserved for Ben McCauley) atop Lowe’s personal shit list. He calls him out by name as “not deserving to play” – apparently for academic issues.
Coaching at the college level is alot like parenting. You have to set reasonable rules and expectations, and enforce them in a fair and evenhanded manner. Players have to understand what they need to do to earn minutes. We’ve heard from numerous people that our players have no idea what to expect, in terms of getting benched or earning playing time. Sidney Lowe doesn’t know what he’s doing, and he’s flailing around and pointing fingers to shield himself from blame. But I’m sure he’ll do a great job replacing 90% of our offensive and rebounding next year, with one recruit expected to be an “immediate impact” player. Right? We just need to believe! Because Sid really WANTS to win, and he’s one of us! Yay!
Speaking of people that don’t know how to do their jobs, it will probably not surprise you to learn that “Coach” Fowler was a no-show at the baseball program’s “First Pitch” dinner on Friday night. I’m sure he had more pressing university-related business to attend to, rather than showing respect for one of the few non-embarrassing programs under his supervision. Right, “Coach”?
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