Well, we suffered a loss and now the Weber discussion has started in full force. On the DRIVE, last Sunday night, Fitzgerald and Keegan informed us that Weber's string of close losses has nothing to do with the basketball gods, no, it has everything to do with his coaching style. We've been told, by posters on other forums, that Weber can win with other coaches players because those players have learned a healthy fear and discipline from those coaches. Weber just doesn't command the respect and discipline needed to close out these games. Three things immediately pop into my mind when I hear these comments.
1. How did Weber manage to get 1 and 2 star players to play excellent basketball down at Southern Illinois? How did SIU get all the way to the Sweet 16, with inferior talent, if his players simply ignore their wimpy head coach?
2. The number one way, to detect a selfish, undisciplined, unmotivated player, is to see how he works on defense. Say what you will about K-State's players under Weber, but at the end of the discussion, you have to admit, with rare exceptions, his players hustle their butts off on defense. One thing remains consistent throughout the Weber tenure. His K-State teams rank amongst the best in defense throughout the country. This could not happen if players simply are unmotivated by their coach.
3. I refuse to lay the blame on Weber while our players continue to brick free throws down the stretch. Every basketball fan, with half a brain, knows the most important thing, in a very close game, is making free throws. When we hit our free throws down the stretch, you will find that we more, often than not, pull out the victory. In the three overtime West Virginia game, last year, we had multiple opportunities to close out the game in regulation only to miss the front end of a one and one. We missed, as I recall, 4 or 5 free throws down the last 2 minutes, any of which would have sealed the deal. We do not have superior star power enough to put away good teams. The games are going to be close.
Why do we, so often, miss free throws at crunch time? We miss free throws, at crunch time, for the very same reason we miss a bunch of 3's at the start of a game against a good opponent. Confidence. Swagger. No coach can put this into a player. If it's not there, that player will never excel. I'm talking about Denis Clemente and Jake Pullen type swagger. Frank Martin didn't do a darned thing about putting that there. I remember the game back when Denis was a senior against a very good KU team at Bramlage on a Saturday afternoon. As soon as the ball was tipped, Jake and Denis came down and drilled 3 pointers from everywhere. We found ourselves up by 17 in a flash. The only thing that turned the game was Self working the refs and going to a triangle and 2. Rodney had that swagger while his close friend, Wally Judge, did not. Angel Rodriquez had that swagger and he had it before Frank Martin ever coached him. No coach puts this trait into a player and he is fortunate when he lands a player who has it.
When you miss free throws, in crunch time, you either are not a good shooter or the pressure is too much. We have some good shooters finally. Now, do they have the swagger? Claws is a good shooter. I'll bet you at practice, Dean hits 90% of his free throws but he can't hit 50% in a game. If this finds its way back to Dean, listen to what I say. BELIEVE IN YOUR TALENT. WANT THE BALL. DON'T WAIT TO BE SET UP. Make it happen like Denis, Jake, Mike and Rodney! Frank Martin didn't know what an offense was. These guys simply went out and made it happen. Your missed free throws tell me everything I need to know. And the same goes for all our other underclassmen. You can shoot, but do you have the swagger needed to succeed?
I'm sorry about this rant, but it's like this with me. Until we get a veteran team that has played together for 3 and 4 years, we're not going to go out and blow good teams away. We don't have 4 and 5 star players knocking our doors down and I don't want to celebrate victories brought about by cheating. So, we're going to go out and find a cheater or we're going to have a coach who does it the right way and teaches the game well enough to give his players an opportunity to win. Any poster, who has read my posts over the years, knows that I criticize officiating. As I have stated numerous time, however, I won't blame an official for a loss when our players have opportunities to win the game with easy shots, but fail to convert. An official can't make the shot and neither can the coach.
