Re: Thoughts on Marquette

[jamestchristy]

I am a big supporter of Bob Huggins and recognize what the Bearcat program would be without him, but I agree that Huggs is due for some criticism for the lack of execution of this year's team.  I thought Huggs was badly outcoached by Tom Crean in Saturday's game.  Marquette played smart.  They had a game plan and executed it to perfection--even after Dwayne Wade got two early fouls.  With his team making numerous mistakes, Huggs used nearly every timeout to bait the refs over some alleged missed call--even when UC was down 20..  Yes, the refs missed some calls, but in no way did the refs cost UC the game. Why not use the timeouts to make changes to your offensive or defensive strategy rather than wasting 30 or 120 seconds on a futile attempt to change a referee's call?  UC's pitiful rebounding and atrocious inside play, both offensively and defensively, were the reasons UC lost this game.  I also think Huggs is making a big mistake in removing Moore and Hicks and Kirkland every time they make one mistake.  Is Pitino doing that at Louisville with Dartez, Garcia and Dean?  Which coach is getting more out of their first-year players?  I think it is clear that Pitino is using a "positive" approach to build up self-confidence in his young players while Huggs uses a "negative" approach---"these guys don't know what they are doing, they don't listen, they don't deserve to play", ad nauseum.  If an experienced business executive said that about his own employees, it wouldn't be long before the executive was out of a job-not the employees.