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Post by coastalcard on Feb 5, 2024 7:53:46 GMT -6
It will be interesting to see if Lewis gets the players he recruited to return. The players we lost last spring were all Whit's accept Cleary. Cleary has had a great yr at LeMoyne averaging 16 ppg & 5 rebounds. If you can leave for a perceived better job with no risk or penalty, you do it. It's not like Lewis is going to build a program dynasty or a BSU degree is highly sought out in the job market. True basketball talent that used to escape detection have become the new "One and Dones" that now belong to the mid majors. |
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Post by 00hmh on Feb 5, 2024 8:27:02 GMT -6
It will be interesting to see if Lewis gets the players he recruited to return. The players we lost last spring were all Whit's accept Cleary. Cleary has had a great yr at LeMoyne averaging 16 ppg & 5 rebounds. Clearly sure didn't show much for us. Seemed lost. No D. |
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Post by 00hmh on Feb 5, 2024 8:50:06 GMT -6
I personally believe you get more with the type of culture Brady has built with the Women’s team! If an in your face culture provides a winner I’m okay with it but in my world of business this type of culture doesn’t work so well with todays workers or maybe in this case players. Lewis is committed to BB where players play defense first. That means very intense physical effort and focus plus paying heed to the scouting report . Lewis seems very much to care about players but expects high effort and focus, not exactly strong points with most college BB players In business focus and preparation count, but that physical motivation isn't at a premium. You have a point about management style but then in business you aren't dealing with both 19 year old ego and that physical side of things creating some difference. Nor are most successful businesses required to turn over EEs every year. You need continuity and can value experience, not just stars. The two things often conflict, physical intensity and happy time environment. Also I'm not sure college players and mature business professionals are the same. What is optimal? Whitford often failed by lacking intensity. Even in business there are very high achieving leaders who are intense and demanding. If Lewis finds tough kids with desire, perfectionism might be more a plus. As you say he needs to keep players long enough for them to see the benefit. In business, and BB, perfect can be the enemy of good. AAU player coddling may be the future, coaching may become 100% recruiting. Even in HS you see teams accumulating transfer talent to win, churning rosters, not creating teams by teaching. |
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Post by universityjim on Feb 5, 2024 10:23:03 GMT -6
I think Lewis is smart enough to do the same, and I've seen some evidence he is.
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Post by sdacardinal on Feb 5, 2024 11:06:16 GMT -6
Preparation, effort, focus and extreme intensity on defense are the hall mark of the Ladies team. Just watch the press conferences with Brady.
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Post by zonebuster on Feb 5, 2024 13:51:58 GMT -6
This thread has been interesting to read and catch up on. It seems we have more than a few that are pretty down on Coach Lewis. While I'm still optimistic he was a very good hire, I readily admit his recruiting from last year failed to produce the needed depth to contend. I believe he will be hitting the portal hard this spring for experienced players. Whether or not he has the NIL dollars to offer is yet to be seen. I like his coaching during the game & accountability. It seems not so long ago the board consensus was Whitford never held anyone accountable. A player could throw a bad pass and be the last player to cross mid court coming back on defense. He is tough, but a coach has to be true to his personality. Lewis was a fiery competitor as player and knew he would be the same as a coach.
As far as Sparks, to simply state his numbers were similar his soph year to his frosh year is not a fair comparison. First of all, his supporting cast was much improved his soph year. Coleman, Jacobs, Pearson & Sellers were all much better than the year before. In his freshman year Sparks caught many opponents by surprise. Defensive game plans were not likely designed with him in mind. Not the same his sophomore year. He was every opponent's focus. He made several improvements year over year. He developed a right hand & was not afraid to use it around the basket. He became much better at passing including getting the ball to the open teammate before the double team could get to him. To suggest his FT shooting was Lewis' fault is crazy. I'll add had Sparks shot a similar 70% his soph year, his scoring average would have been closer to 20 ppg. Is his continued slide in percentage this year (limited attempts) Woodson's fault? FT shooting is completely on the player. It's all about repetition and muscle memory. It's what the off season is all about. Sparks has the demons between his ears and can't seem to get rid of them. The tension in his arms is hard to watch.
Sparks looks so lost in his limited minutes at I.U. When he is in I seem to only watch him. On offense he instinctively wants to post up and call for the ball. After a second or so he realizes his job is to head out to the 3 point line and set screens. Not much of a fun existence. When the shot goes up he rarely seems to try to fight through or get around the opposing player's blockout.
Wish him nothing but success if he decides to leave I.U. after this year in search of a bigger role.
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Post by realitycheck on Feb 5, 2024 14:00:48 GMT -6
I think Brady has built a program and reputation for success he can sell to recruits. His style has also evolved. He's not easy but he motivates differently and endears himself to his players really well.
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Post by williamtsherman on Feb 5, 2024 15:07:00 GMT -6
This thread has been interesting to read and catch up on. It seems we have more than a few that are pretty down on Coach Lewis. While I'm still optimistic he was a very good hire, I readily admit his recruiting from last year failed to produce the needed depth to contend. I believe he will be hitting the portal hard this spring for experienced players. Whether or not he has the NIL dollars to offer is yet to be seen. I like his coaching during the game & accountability. It seems not so long ago the board consensus was Whitford never held anyone accountable. A player could throw a bad pass and be the last player to cross mid court coming back on defense. He is tough, but a coach has to be true to his personality. Lewis was a fiery competitor as player and knew he would be the same as a coach. As far as Sparks, to simply state his numbers were similar his soph year to his frosh year is not a fair comparison. First of all, his supporting cast was much improved his soph year. Coleman, Jacobs, Pearson & Sellers were all much better than the year before. In his freshman year Sparks caught many opponents by surprise. Defensive game plans were not likely designed with him in mind. Not the same his sophomore year. He was every opponent's focus. He made several improvements year over year. He developed a right hand & was not afraid to use it around the basket. He became much better at passing including getting the ball to the open teammate before the double team could get to him. To suggest his FT shooting was Lewis' fault is crazy. I'll add had Sparks shot a similar 70% his soph year, his scoring average would have been closer to 20 ppg. Is his continued slide in percentage this year (limited attempts) Woodson's fault? FT shooting is completely on the player. It's all about repetition and muscle memory. It's what the off season is all about. Sparks has the demons between his ears and can't seem to get rid of them. The tension in his arms is hard to watch. Sparks looks so lost in his limited minutes at I.U. When he is in I seem to only watch him. On offense he instinctively wants to post up and call for the ball. After a second or so he realizes his job is to head out to the 3 point line and set screens. Not much of a fun existence. When the shot goes up he rarely seems to try to fight through or get around the opposing player's blockout. Wish him nothing but success if he decides to leave I.U. after this year in search of a bigger role. To be fair, Sparks's assist and FG% did go up as a soph. However, the usual pattern is that a player has his biggest college statistical improvements between freshman and soph years, even though they also typically get more attention from opposing defenses. All-in-all, I don't see that Sparks had more than average fresh to soph improvement and possibly a bit less, so the credit given to Lewis above for "getting Sparks ready for IU", or whatever, is misplaced in my opinion. I have no idea what his problems are with free throw shooting but free throw shooting is a basketball skill, and an important one, and is therefore within a basketball coach's purview. Neither Lewis nor Woodson have been able to help Sparks any, so that is not to their credit. Whether or not they deserve any actual blame for failing to help the situation...I can't say. |
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Post by Lurkin McGurkin on Feb 5, 2024 15:21:05 GMT -6
I think Brady has built a program and reputation for success he can sell to recruits. His style has also evolved. He's not easy but he motivates differently and endears himself to his players really well. I've heard that he's a lot like a father to them. Strict, but would drop everything to help if any of them have a problem. He really hammers home the concept of accountability. Not easy with Gen Z. |
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Post by realitycheck on Feb 5, 2024 16:42:47 GMT -6
This thread has been interesting to read and catch up on. It seems we have more than a few that are pretty down on Coach Lewis. While I'm still optimistic he was a very good hire, I readily admit his recruiting from last year failed to produce the needed depth to contend. I believe he will be hitting the portal hard this spring for experienced players. Whether or not he has the NIL dollars to offer is yet to be seen. I like his coaching during the game & accountability. It seems not so long ago the board consensus was Whitford never held anyone accountable. A player could throw a bad pass and be the last player to cross mid court coming back on defense. He is tough, but a coach has to be true to his personality. Lewis was a fiery competitor as player and knew he would be the same as a coach. As far as Sparks, to simply state his numbers were similar his soph year to his frosh year is not a fair comparison. First of all, his supporting cast was much improved his soph year. Coleman, Jacobs, Pearson & Sellers were all much better than the year before. In his freshman year Sparks caught many opponents by surprise. Defensive game plans were not likely designed with him in mind. Not the same his sophomore year. He was every opponent's focus. He made several improvements year over year. He developed a right hand & was not afraid to use it around the basket. He became much better at passing including getting the ball to the open teammate before the double team could get to him. To suggest his FT shooting was Lewis' fault is crazy. I'll add had Sparks shot a similar 70% his soph year, his scoring average would have been closer to 20 ppg. Is his continued slide in percentage this year (limited attempts) Woodson's fault? FT shooting is completely on the player. It's all about repetition and muscle memory. It's what the off season is all about. Sparks has the demons between his ears and can't seem to get rid of them. The tension in his arms is hard to watch. Sparks looks so lost in his limited minutes at I.U. When he is in I seem to only watch him. On offense he instinctively wants to post up and call for the ball. After a second or so he realizes his job is to head out to the 3 point line and set screens. Not much of a fun existence. When the shot goes up he rarely seems to try to fight through or get around the opposing player's blockout. Wish him nothing but success if he decides to leave I.U. after this year in search of a bigger role. To be fair, Sparks's assist and FG% did go up as a soph. However, the usual pattern is that a player has his biggest college statistical improvements between freshman and soph years, even though they also typically get more attention from opposing defenses. All-in-all, I don't see that Sparks had more than average fresh to soph improvement and possibly a bit less, so the credit given to Lewis above for "getting Sparks ready for IU", or whatever, is misplaced in my opinion. I have no idea what his problems are with free throw shooting but free throw shooting is a basketball skill, and an important one, and is therefore within a basketball coach's purview. Neither Lewis nor Woodson have been able to help Sparks any, so that is not to their credit. Whether or not they deserve any actual blame for failing to help the situation...I can't say. Since Sparks has played so sparingly, it's tough to evaluate his game other than he seems slower, more bulky, less athletic and lumbering. He was not a high twitch or freakish athlete when he was here but seemed much more mobile to me. He began to lose confidence at the FT line last season and he looked like a golfer with the yips. I speculated that he bulked up during the off season to prep for Big Ten and that process has had the opposite effect of his intention to be better suited to play against P5 competition. I still wish him well but I cannot foresee him being anything other than a mop-up body or getting the occasional start when Ware cannot play. |
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Post by mattg on Feb 5, 2024 17:11:14 GMT -6
Kaiyem Cleary scored 43 points a couple of game ago. Does Sparks even have 43 points for the season?
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Post by bsu1 on Feb 5, 2024 18:05:37 GMT -6
Kaiyem Cleary scored 43 points a couple of game ago. Does Sparks even have 43 points for the season? Who does he play for now? |
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Post by universityjim on Feb 5, 2024 19:32:29 GMT -6
LeMoyne
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Post by universityjim on Feb 5, 2024 19:32:45 GMT -6
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Post by CallingBS on Feb 5, 2024 21:20:25 GMT -6
I think Brady has built a program and reputation for success he can sell to recruits. His style has also evolved. He's not easy but he motivates differently and endears himself to his players really well. I've heard that he's a lot like a father to them. Strict, but would drop everything to help if any of them have a problem. He really hammers home the concept of accountability. Not easy with Gen Z. Sounds exactly like Maloney |
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