There are a lot of good thoughts in here. Let me pull together some quick points that are pulled from a lot of different posts that I won’t quote.
– Team Chemistry: It’s obvious we’ve got problems this year. It’s the third year in a row. Really, the only year we didn’t was when we had two selfless senior leaders and a brand new head coach (which creates more likeliness to buy in). While a leader doesn’t create chemistry, he tolerates a lack of it and lets it fester. We had chemistry issues under Lowe as well, and let’s be honest, he was a poor leader. I think only once in 20 years have I heard of chemistry issues of a K coached Duke team. Think Tony Bennett’s squads have chemistry problems?
– How to actually improve this year’s squad: We struggle so mightily in the half court on offense, that we really need to get out on the break. This was predictable, and I’d said before the season started that this is where we’d miss Warren the most (well, this and end of game situations). Who was going to go score with the shot clock winding down? Our strength this year is depth. Press and go ten deep. I suspect it will also fix the chemistry problems. I’m a huge fan of zones, particularly at the college level. If you’ve got to play a half court set, put us in a 2-1-2 or 2-3 and put Anya in the middle. That’s going to be one long zone. If someone starts lighting it up, play a box and one and put Cat on the one. This game isn’t that hard. That’s at most 3 things to practice.
– Because I believe I know where this is headed = I want to fire Gott: Let me make this clear. I don’t want to fire Gott. This is the best we’ve had it since V. I wasn’t a fan of the hire initially, but wanted it to work out and hoped with Lutz we’d have a better shot. I’ve always argued that you’ve got to dance every year before you can make the next step. It’s also pretty clear to me where this is ultimately going to end up though. We’re not improving. I have no clue where recruiting is going to end up this year, but it’s not looking good. We’re on the bubble at best barring something unforeseen in ACC play. Our momentum as a program is gone, as is Gott’s best recruiting class. We’re treading water.
– Cat vs Leslie at the point: It really doesn’t matter. We have two combo guards and no point guards. We either have to get out on the break and just let these guys score, or one of them has to “transport the basketball” and get us into our set. Forcing Cat to try and be a point really takes away from what he does best. He wasn’t a McDonald’s AA because he could pass. He was a McDonald’s AA because he broke all of Iverson’s scoring records.
– Expectations of a football coach vs a basketball coach at NC State: Let’s be honest, NC State football vs. NC State basketball are two entirely different animals. We’re a .500 football team in a basketball conference, with mid rate facilities among Power 5 schools, are in a state with way too many D1 programs relative to the talent level and typically have a very small budget. In basketball, we’re a basketball school, in a basketball league, that has won two national titles, has top notch facilities, has a top 15 valued brand and a big budget. The expectations of performance of our coaches must be analyzed against the larger backdrop. Yes, I understand that football is king for revenue, but the football coach at NC State is going to get a lot more leeway than the basketball coach. It comes with the gig.
– Gott’s track record: He’s trending at State to about what he did at Alabama. He’s got more built in advantages here, but he’s got a much tougher neighborhood as well. We’re in year 4. I think we see the type of program he can build here. The question to me is whether that is good enough.
– The Arch effect: Put me in the camp that Arch as a new coach at NC State would have been a complete disaster. He needed to go and season, and I’m frankly surprised that he got a gig as good as Dayton to do it at. If he keeps winning though, he’s really our best best for what this fan base really wants — a coach that might be able to break through and one that will stay here if he does. If he puts Dayton back in the Sweet 16 this year or next, then it’s going to force some tough decisions. Duke keeps sending K’s disciples out to try to find one to assume the throne. Ironically, Arch may prove to be better than any of them, and at a much less favorable gig (i.e. Dayton vs. Seton Hall, Mizzou, Stanford or Marquette).
– DD threads from earlier in the year: My position on DD this year was that he was not in any threat to be fired because of the bigger picture. The coordinators were in big trouble though if they didn’t change things up. I ranted on the Wildcat, the lack of an actual running game initiated from a balanced set, and the lack of pressure on defense. Those three things changed right as we hit the light part of the schedule. We finished strong and most fans are happy. Did we finish strong because of weak opponents or was it more because we fixed what tactically ailed us? The UCF game was promising because that was our best win of the year.
– Whether DD will actually work out at NC State: I think he’s got the best shot since Sheridan. By working out, I don’t mean that I see us competing for conference titles year in and year out. I mean making us bowl eligible year in and year out, steadily building towards 9-3 type of years where we might break through one year if everything breaks our way and running a clean program.
– The bigger picture on DD: Many fans are tickled pink over the UNC and bowl wins, but I am afraid the verdict is still out. We fired TOB, Amato and MOC for going 22-26, 25-31 and 26-30 in conference. That’s a combined .456 in conference and all three were deemed unacceptable and shown the door. DD is currently 3-13. To even match TOB’s .458, DD is going to have to go 19-13 over the next 32 conference games. That doesn’t sound so tough, until you break it out by the years. That means we can have one 4-4 year and then have to have 3 5-3 years. MOC, TOB and Amato combined only had 4 seasons of 5-3 or better, and none of them had to play FSU, Clemson and Louisville every single season. It’s an uphill road for DD just to get to where we’ve trended at over the last 20 years. Granted, given the 0-8 free pass in year one, if DD actually was sitting at .458 by the end of year 6, we’d probably build a statue for him.
