MVC Coaches on the Hot Seat

[tribecalledquest]

I sure wouldn't be giving an extension but Drake needs to show more patience with a coach than most places. Ray may need to go but it looks like he has the start of something forming. One more year to find out might be in order but the leash on one win years should be very short.

What exactly is forming?

Sure it might look like a couple of young guys are decent, but the team still can't win games. They will finish behind a Bradley team that has all freshmen. So you could say even the young guys aren't as good as other young guys around the league. Bradley has improved as the season has gone on. Drake has not. There is nothing at Drake that seems to be building. Sure Ray didn't take over a powerhouse, but he also hasn't given them any sort of hope of no longer playing on Drake Day in STL.

I like Ray G but this season has been disappointing. Bradley is bad but has clearly gotten better as the season has gone along. Drake has arguably gotten worse--or at least stayed the same.

Timmer, OG, and the Polish center are decent building blocks but I don't see much after that.

I like Abrahamson more than Drake fans but that dude is one of the worst defenders I've ever seen. He tried to guard everyone Bradley had in the game the other night and that player immediately went at him and scored. Antoine Pittman--who isn't a scoring machine--had 16 second half points and 10 in a three minute stretch when Abrahamson was "guarding" him.

[glm38]

Lusk will be fine. Bears have started to show some upward momentum. How long is porter's leash? Can't think that MartY would be fine at most schools after disappointing but who are they going to get.

As far as Lansing isn't his wife the acting AD? I don't see either of them going anywhere.

I disagree regarding Lusk. The Bears may be a little better than expected but not much. Kudos to him for some good young talent. But we are woefully inconsistent. And we seem to start over every couple of years with our players. He is the worst bears coach in our history from a winning percentage standpoint and it isn't even close.

[squirrel]

If Marty is still here after the previous 8 years, he sure as hell isn't going anywhere after this year.

You're looking at it too singularly. Evansville is not an easy job and if he posts 3 straight 20+ win seasons and 4 in 5, yes, he'll be able to find something.

If you think the Mule is employable at a D1 outside of UE - I got some ocean front property in Peoria to sell you.

This year can still change my opinion, but I think the talent was at-large worthy. The disappointment was that he scheduled to save his job.

20 win seasons? Check out these SOS numbers and see if you notice a trend?
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/evansville/

I get it, and I'd be disappointed too if the shoe were on the other foot. Too often the Golden Boy Jimmy couched inexcusable games in the schedule to make up for non-competitive resume losses. I also realize Marty isn't an up-and-comer. But neither was Mark Schmidt at Bonaventure. Some program that just needs someone to restore respectability, would jump at the chance for someone with such a proven track record.

And if you want to mock coaches and scheduling soft, by all means go ahead. But it can help a program move up from the dregs of DI. It works. Southern Miss is just one example of a trainwreck program 10 years ago that won 25+ games 3 straight years. I think in one of Eustachy's first years there they played at least 4 non-DIs...I'm not saying it is a smart or good practice, especially when you have realistic designs on the NCAA, then you absolutely schedule like it. But it works. And it doesn't mean a coach is less qualified because of it. If Marty didn't schedule soft in previous years, you'd probably not be flirting with a 2nd place finish right now.

[Drakey]

I sure wouldn't be giving an extension but Drake needs to show more patience with a coach than most places. Ray may need to go but it looks like he has the start of something forming. One more year to find out might be in order but the leash on one win years should be very short.

What exactly is forming?I like Abrahamson more than Drake fans but that dude is one of the worst defenders I've ever seen. He tried to guard everyone Bradley had in the game the other night and that player immediately went at him and scored. Antoine Pittman--who isn't a scoring machine--had 16 second half points and 10 in a three minute stretch when Abrahamson was "guarding" him.

I sure wish somebody could explain this to our coach. He does not appear to notice that Abrahamson can't guard anybody. Coupled with his horrible offensive statistics, he should rarely see the floor, yet has started every game except one. Nobody here can figure out why.

[DUBulldog]

I like Ray G but this season has been disappointing. Bradley is bad but has clearly gotten better as the season has gone along. Drake has arguably gotten worse--or at least stayed the same.

Timmer, OG, and the Polish center are decent building blocks but I don't see much after that.

I like Abrahamson more than Drake fans but that dude is one of the worst defenders I've ever seen. He tried to guard everyone Bradley had in the game the other night and that player immediately went at him and scored. Antoine Pittman--who isn't a scoring machine--had 16 second half points and 10 in a three minute stretch when Abrahamson was "guarding" him.

Drakey beat me to it, but here goes.....

You saw what was, by far, Abrahamson's best offensive game of the conference season. Coming into the game, his Kenpom offensive rating in MVC games was 78, which represents a really bad offensive player. Add that to his clearly atrocious defense, and you can begin to see why Drake fans are not enamored of him.

On top of that, you add in the team's woeful record, the fact that Giacoletti spent all of last season telling Drake fans how great Abrahamson and Woodward were, and then throw in the fact that he's still starting and playing 30 minutes per game, and you can probably see where Drake fans' attitude comes from.

And, he pouts a lot on the court. One fan on Drakenation described his attitude as "detached arrogance", and I think that might be pretty accurate.

[tribecalledquest]

I like Ray G but this season has been disappointing. Bradley is bad but has clearly gotten better as the season has gone along. Drake has arguably gotten worse--or at least stayed the same.

Timmer, OG, and the Polish center are decent building blocks but I don't see much after that.

I like Abrahamson more than Drake fans but that dude is one of the worst defenders I've ever seen. He tried to guard everyone Bradley had in the game the other night and that player immediately went at him and scored. Antoine Pittman--who isn't a scoring machine--had 16 second half points and 10 in a three minute stretch when Abrahamson was "guarding" him.

Drakey beat me to it, but here goes.....

You saw what was, by far, Abrahamson's best offensive game of the conference season. Coming into the game, his Kenpom offensive rating in MVC games was 78, which represents a really bad offensive player. Add that to his clearly atrocious defense, and you can begin to see why Drake fans are not enamored of him.

On top of that, you add in the team's woeful record, the fact that Giacoletti spent all of last season telling Drake fans how great Abrahamson and Woodward were, and then throw in the fact that he's still starting and playing 30 minutes per game, and you can probably see where Drake fans' attitude comes from.

And, he pouts a lot on the court. One fan on Drakenation described his attitude as "detached arrogance", and I think that might be pretty accurate.

I thought of you (weird I know) during the first half of the game. Every time Abrahamson made a shot I said to me dad "Drake fans hate this guy. He hasn't made a shot all year." After his quick 13 he didn't do a whole lot after that except get offensive goaltending on a missed dunk and missed two huge FTs late in the game.

Woodward had a good game the first time against BU but Im not sure about him. Oregunde I like but they never get him the ball. I can't decide on Timmer. I want to like him but if he has to go right at all he is rendered ineffective.

[uniftw]

Bradley has a first year head coach and eleven billion freshman on the roster yet they have a 2 game lead on last place with 2 to play over Drake.

Meanwhile Drake has a coach in his third year, a year which he admitted was the year to judge him and his program, a roster with experience:
CJ Rivers played in 29 games last year
Madison is in his third year seeing playing time and played 28 games last year
Woodward played in 31 games for a B10 team before transfering
Enevold-Jensen is in his third year as a full time starter
Timmer was on the all-freshman team last year and averaged double digits in scoring
Arogundade played in 29 games last season
Abrahamson played 2 years at Northwestern before transfering
Kuenstling played in 30 games last season


That, honestly, is completely unacceptable if I'm a Drake fan. I'd give him next year because his team is still pretty young, in terms of grade, but they all had a full year of playing coming into this year. To be in years 2 or 3 and playing this poorly isn't a good look for the player, or coach.

If I'm a Bulldog fan I'm telling the athletic administration if he can't avoid Drake night next year..and honestly top half given that he'll have a roster completely full of 3rd and 4th year players... he shouldn't be the coach anymore.

The development just doesn't seem to be there. Enevold being at the end of his JR year and is still pretty much non-existent. He's 7' tall and only averages 5.1 ppg (only been in double digits twice), 5 rebounds and is only on the floor 17 mpg.

Bradley actually looks like it has upside, and they are playing eleventy billion freshman. Drake, looks like they have for over a decade with the exception of the one year



Schlatter

[DUBulldog]

Drake, looks like they have for over a decade with the exception of the one year

It's actually worse than that. Despite how bad Drake has been, this is the first time they have finished in last place since 1999-2000. This is incredibly low, even by Drake's standards.

It all comes down to lack of athleticism, lack of a point guard and complete inability to play defense (which ties in with the lack of athleticism). To Giacoletti's credit, he has accepted the blame, which is something I never heard Phelps or Kanaskie do.

[bleach]

Let me be clear, I don't think where Drake is at is acceptable in ANY way. I do think coaching at Drake is a handicap that warrants more patience than other places though. I do see SOME building blocks there but don't really expect Ray to turn it around quickly.

[Drakey]

I just can't see any justification for keeping a coach who has decreased the victory total in each of his three seasons and who will likely post the worst conference record of any Valley team this century. He obviously can't judge talent, plays a boring style of basketball and has turned the Knapp Center into a morgue.