RE: Thoughts on Marquette

[MURPHY, T. JASON]

James- 
 I agree with you that there were some mistakes made the last game and the Depaul game but I think in desperate situations the more subbing going on, the more likely that mistakes are going to be made in the lineup and with substitutions.  I wouldn't say Huggs got outcoached. Our guys simply did not compete (except for the last 4 minutes or so) and there was little that could be done about it by Huggs. But I think there are some things I would like to see:
1) Maxiell needs to come off the bench for a game or two. He is totally out of sorts. You can see that as he has started to miss a lot of shots, he is pressing bigtime to the point where it is affecting all other aspects of his game.  His confidence is waning and playing through it (35 minutes a game) is not helping him. I'd like to see Hicks get a start to take some pressure off Max. Also, Hicks was the ONLY player I saw who kept the ball alive on offense and grabbed some rebounds on offense. 
We all knew the weakness was our inside game, so when the only decent big man also struggles, things get really really ugly. With nobody being effective inside the offense stagnates and ends up looking like a 3 man weave drill on the 3 pt line between the 3 outside guys. When the shot clock gets down to 8 seconds the last guy with the ball tries to either chuck a 3 or creat a shot. To have any chance in any of the upcoming games, they have to get their only decent big man's mind right. 
2) The only place I'd like to see Kirkland right now is on the bench. He is only a freshman and he has tons of talent. But he kills us. Just watch the last 5 minutes of the Depaul game and the minutes they put him in Saturday to spell Stokes so Lenny wouldn't get a 3rd foul. He turns it over, lets his guy shoot a wideopen three and tuns it over again.
3) I like Huggs' idea of moving Lenny to the 4 and playing Tony, Field and Taron on the perimeter. That could really spread defenses out.
4) Lastly, things may look really bad right now, but the Cats are NOT as bad as they showed on Saturday. They will play much better (hopefully sooner rather than later). If they can just find a way to win one of the next 2 they'll be fine. They need to avoid losing four in a row. 

-----Original Message-----
From: address@hidden [mailto:address@hidden
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 2:03 AM
To: address@hidden
Subject: Re: [UC Basketball] Thoughts on Marquette


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.


*****************************************************************
This email has been scanned by MailMax.
http://www.maximizeit.net
*****************************************************************



*****************************************************************
This electronic message transmission contains information from the law firm of Dinsmore & Shohl which may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended to be for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you have received this electronic transmission in error, please notify us by telephone (1-800-934-3477) or by electronic mail (address@hidden) immediately.
*****************************************************************