Jim French Stepstool

My view on this, FWIW: There are many, many more reasons to keep Gard, than not. I know how easy it is to judge someone on their most recent performance, be it coach, player, investment banker, kid cutting your grass, whatever. I've watched a lot of games since he's been in charge. Many in person. I think there have been times he's been outcoached, but I believe the opposite has been true much more often. Was he outcoached Friday? That argument can be made, I guess. But he used his bigs as a pressure outlet---just about all teams do that---and Crowl turned the ball over four times. His other big has been, throughout his career, exceptional at handling & passing the ball as a 6-9 player. That player had probably the worst stretch of basketball of his career, and his replacements, vs this opponent, would've been worse. You could've gone small. They did during part of the game. But then you're giving up size to Bickerstaff, the only guy on JMU that made over half of his shots, not to mention probably matching him with Storr. Bad idea. In short, it's easy to shout from the rooftops about a coaches' idiocy when you don't have to come up with an alternative. There have been recruits that would've helped that we didn't go after hard enough, if at all (Momcilovic, Halliburton). But there are also kids like Blackwell, who virtually no one else wanted, and Johnny Davis, who was vastly overlooked by most. Here's what I think will happen, knowing McIntosh: Gard is going to be given this current recruiting cycle (certainly an important one) & the next season. After that, whatever level of success in those two areas constitutes Mac keeping him, I have no idea. I just hope, if he does make a change, he does his homework or at least leans heavily on folks who know basketball a little better than he does. Because as Lucroy said, it's really easy to do "splashy" in this sport and fail mightily. Also, a bit of advice for anyone interested: Don't waste your time engaging in conversation with the more obsessive "Fire Gard" crowd. The next objective thought they get will be their first, and I believe many of them are motivated by things that have zero to do with basketball.

And even then.................I mean, Little Ricky Pitino was a young superstar coach, right?

Three shots from Crowl from inside the arc (made two of them). That certainly isn't enough. I think the last time Wahl finished with any consistency throughout a game was, ironically, vs Edey in Madison. But even if he isn't contributing there, it's just so confounding how someone so fundamentally sound on the defensive end throughout his years here could finish up so poorly on that end. I mean, if you aren't 100% that should make you even more cognizant of just walling up & not doing anything stupid. Too many times he did the opposite.

Sort of a perfect storm for JMU. They were comfortable playing that way, and had the fresh legs to do it (eleven days off btwn games). I assume (hope) UW prepared for it but that type of constant overplay isn't easy to replicate in practice. At the end of the day, too much experience on the floor to handle it that poorly. Now that the season is over It wouldn't shock me if info comes out that Wahl was severely limited for quite a large portion of the year. Even when he doesn't score he's always been solid at catching & passing the ball & defending--even back to his freshman year. For awhile now he's been so-so in those areas, sometimes downright poor. Lousy way to go out.

I was crowing about Wiemers' tools & upside all last year; I agree with you. Sometimes wonder what kind of year he'd have had If Urias & Mitchell hadn't gone down early & he stayed with a 'normal' progression at Nashville. Agree about Ashby too. Now it's just a question of getting enough command back where he can work from ahead.

I was a proponent all along of Wiemer & Ashby starting the year at Nashville, save for a red-hot spring which obviously didn't happen. I'd be curious to know how hard--if at all--they checked out the FA starters floating around.

????. I'd laugh at Kentuckys' loss if UW went 9-22.

And the 12-5 bug bites St Mary's. An excellent, well-coached program that hasn't advanced past the second round in fourteen years. It happens.

Hard to believe I'm typing this, but considering the opponent & the way they attacked us I think hoping against hope Tyler Wahl was going to have a good game was a better option than either Gilmore or Ilver. And going small means Blackwell, who unfortunately wasn't good tonite either. In no way am I defending the way Wahl played though.

I think they still would've tried to be aggressive but just would've gotten into more foul trouble & tried to deal with it. The tradeoff certainly was worth it for them. They did get whistled SOME, but it didn't deter them. Hanging on to the damn ball long enough to hit Crowl in the post wouldn't have hurt. Sundays' matchup will be interesting. Duke didn't seem to get an unusual amount of home cooking vs Vermont. We'll see.

How many times in February did we see the horrible stretch of turnovers in the first 5-10 minutes? Thought we were past that. If we turn it over a normal amount in the first half commensurate w/what we usually do in a half of basketball, that's like 7 fewer times. Given the points off TO's, factor in the extra possessions, and worst-case scenario we're probably down 5 or 6 points going into the break. Having to instead climb the 13-point hill was a killer. Agree about the missed layup by Klesmit. I didn't even look at the resulting 3pt shot as it went up. You knew it was going in. I feel bad for Wahl. I'm sure he wasn't close to 100%, but if you're good enough to suit up you have to be better than he was, on both ends. Tough way to end a career.

1) The 12 seed that "crushed" them that year was Oregon. I remember many Badger fans recognized the bad matchup & anticipated a loss. The Ducks finished their season winning ten in a row, then lost in the sweet sixteen by 4 points to the eventual national champ. 3) They led ISU, then lost their point guard for the remainder of the game & had nothing close to a reasonable replacement. I agree the post season has been disappointing. Just a little context. And it was unfortunate that arguably the best team in that stretch had no tournament to participate in.

When they set him up in a position to actually score the ball it's on the baseline or post area. He's between the circles early on to alleviate early pressure by screening, or just to keep the lane unclogged. Even w/o the ability to shoot, he facilitates pretty well normally, and can put the ball on the deck. Unfortunately he ended his career with probably his worst stretch as a collegian. Unless they go small no, they had no one better. And 'incompetent' is a fair description of the way the pressure defense made them look in the 1st half.

I credit JMU with some really active hands & feet on defense, and a lot of it is w/o fouling IMO. I said to someone the other day UW wins this if they continue what they've shown the last 5-6 games, and will struggle & might get knocked off if they somehow revert to February. I didn't expect that, but here we are. TOs, settling for threes almost as if we feel the need to get a shot off before losing it, then finally getting it right but missing 2 footers. Crowl has to get something done in the block. The turnover spigot has to be shut off in the 2nd half, which usually happens. Hepburn has to somehow reboot. Drives to the hoop are fine, but set up a curl move or a pass to the lane or baseline......something. Storr is just putting his head down & hoping people get out of his way. They aren't. Defense has been good enough to win, IMO. You have to hope for Wahls' sake he's playing more hurt than they're letting on, because he's really going out on an ugly note if he doesn't get more done.

Auburn lost today to Yale. Maybe Bruce Pearl should be canned; he hasn't taken them to a FF since 2019.

I'm not sure exactly where they stand AFA available schollies are concerned. But the current climate allows for quite a bit of leeway. Carter Gilmore was originally a walkon & is now on scholarship. He could have it taken away if need be, and I'm 99% sure he'd stay on and pay for his next year. And from what I understand Chris Hodges pretty much knew he'd lose his ride if the kid (Reynolds) who was planning on coming here & then flipped to UWGB had actually enrolled. Isaac Lindsay may be in the same boat, I don't recall if he's on a ride this year or not. A lot of this stuff is unsavory. But when you're dealing with the portal as currently constructed, and with a lot of kids looking for the best NIL deal year-to-year, it's not surprising. I think the new model is "If you want someone, go after them & the roster/scholarship thing will work itself out."

Gus wasn't with the team in Minneapolis. And yeah, they've contacted maybe 4 or 5 portal entrants & most if not all are guys who would play the 4. If there was some pedestrian reason as to why he wasn't in NY (injury, roster limitations, academic reasons) They'd fall back on that & not have to answer any more questions. Since they were vague, I guess that's that. If so, best of luck to the kid.

First day thoughts: It's scary how Illinois can just hit you between the eyes with those 3 or 4 minute explosions. Similar to last Sunday. Really adds another dimension for them if Dainja keeps playing this well. Oregon looked better than I expected. Also Kansas, despite Samford scaring the bejeezus out of them. How did NC State ever turn in the so-so regular season they did? Now you have two squads flying totally under the radar on winning streaks, feeling no one can beat them (NCST & Oakland), and they meet on Saturday. That sounds like must-see TV.

That, and just some really poor overall play, especially in the last 3-4 minutes. They were lucky they got hot from 3 all of a sudden otherwise they lose by 8 or 9. Jack Gohlke, wow. Can't blame UW for not offering him out of Pewaukee HS. No one in D-1 did. He spent most of his career at Hillsdale College. Something in the (lake) water in Pewaukee I guess. First the Watt boys, now they've produced 3 or 4 D-1 hoops guys too.

I agree, except I'd simply go with the last 8 on the 1-68 list for the Tuesday-Wednesday games, regardless of conference tourney wins (I like the idea of playing in Canton, could tie it in with the NFL HOF😉. Games are in Dayton). My preference would be if they simply stayed at 64, but that ship sailed.

If Auburn makes it to the FF they'll have earned it big time. That regional is loaded. UConn. Illinois can play with anyone if they decide to guard for 40 minutes. Iowa State looked terrific vs the Cougs. And I like Auburn a lot, too.

It's been awhile since I filled out a bracket, I just like sitting back & enjoying the games, but just for funsies: FF: Connecticut-on paper, the best team. And they seem to respond to Hurley really well. Arizona-I think they're one of those teams that gets a little bored w/the regular season. Early on they looked unbeatable. Houston-Despite what happened vs ISU, a very consistent season, and they can guard at a high level. Tough regional to call. Tennessee-Saw them in person vs Wisconsin. Can get out on the open court, and I think they have the defensive chops to bother the Purdue guards in a regional final. My fav double-digit seeds to make noise are Samford & McNeese. Unfortunately they're in the same 4 team pod. 10+ seed winning three games is hard to see. Maybe New Mexico.

I wonder if that's due to them seldom having a 6-9 or better guy that could really get things done offensively in the paint. Not sure about Tonys' teams, but Dick had......Paul Grant? Then Andy Kowske a bit later, but he was around 6-7. And I think all the screening Dick did was necessary b/c he didn't have options as far as people that could get to the rim or create. Wasn't for lack of trying, I remember after he first took over he recruited Mateen Cleaves very hard. And he signed Latrell Fleming, who could score in a variety of ways. Fleming was diagnosed with a heart condition his freshman year & never made it on the court. Tony adapted better. Or, maybe he was just able to get some better athletes.

If I could swap them for McNeese I'm not so sure I'd want to. Tough call for me.

During the February struggles that was a big problem--the slow starts. It's been largely rectified in the B10 tourney save for Northwestern, and that was more about Bouie being out of his mind early than anything else. But yeah, if that happens there's a good chance it's a dogfight trying to put them away.