Not to take ANYTHING away from our Kids, nor to diminish their all around excellent effort against NOVA…
Consider this…
1. There’s no comparison to the Coaching required to get this group to the S16 compared to that Team a couple of seasons back…
Remember those who labeled this team as dysfunctional back in December and early January were half right… The part where they were wrong was on the question of whether or not they would ever be a “good team”.
2. Coachs ain’t nothing but grown up players and they learn as they go. More importantly, they have to go thru some sh%t to become better coaches… just like players… You can’t win in the Dome if you haven’t lost in the Dome…
Now here’s what I’m seeing from down here at the beach…
Absolute Total Confidence during the game…
from GOTT, Lutz, et al…
Lightning quick, on the money, bench calls with no hesitation in high pressure games against other Coaches ( equal or better )…
Last night…
Both teams start the game more or less “ready to play”… Nobody came out too high or too flat…
Wright calls a early TO just ahead of the Under 12 media TO… thus showing his dissatisfaction even though he was only down 1 basket…
After the two TOs…
Around the ten minute mark of the first half… Wright was still not satisfied with his team and made his first big move…
He went small…
Freeman and Abu had already established themselves as “game forces”… and Lacey had hit three baskets… no yips tonight…
See this … GOTT, head back and smiling on the other bench, did not hesitate to immediately go small… thus negating Wright’s Big Move…
The result was that the PACK extended their lead.. leaving Wright hanging out down on the other bench with “nothing”…
From that point forward… Nova was in the hole … and was thinking more about us than they were thinking about themselves..
Except for those 30ft bombs by Hillard the last 3-4 minutes… this could have been a double digit win by the PACK…
Next move by GOTT… With some potential foul trouble looming… every substitution for short minutes was timed perfectly with the ‘right’ guy coming off the bench.. Nine deep and nobody fouled out… all our best free throws on the floor the last four… which is exactly what you GOTT to get right in the Tournament with unknown zebras from foreign countries..
Total Trust between Coaches and Players…
Damn … you GOTT to love that….
I never saw a GOTT team at Bama play…
but there’s no doubt in my mind that this Team has pushed his Coaching to the next level… where it should remain for a long time…
I just hope some big name basketball school AD doesn’t offer his a zillion dollars to jump the ship…
