Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
And fire Cuonzo?
I have to be honest, and I'm willing to bet just about veryone in this thread has watched it more closely than I have, but I am not the biggest Cuonzo fan. I was lukewarm to cold on the hire, till I saw the recruits (Porters, Tillmon). But my amateur eye sees a poorly coached team that has trouble often completing an inbounds pass. His resume reds as underachieving.
I love what he does to build young men. I think he's a good man. I won't hate if he is actually here. I just think we could upgrade. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Sully:
I have to be honest, and I'm willing to bet just about veryone in this thread has watched it more closely than I have, but I am not the biggest Cuonzo fan. I was lukewarm to cold on the hire, till I saw the recruits (Porters, Tillmon). But my amateur eye sees a poorly coached team that has trouble often completing an inbounds pass. His resume reds as underachieving.
I love what he does to build young men. I think he's a good man. I won't hate if he is actually here. I just think we could upgrade.
He needs a good offensive second. There's no doubt about that. That aside, I think he's the kind of coach a program like Missouri needs if it wants to eventually build itself back up to a top-15 school. I don't think there are many coaches that could have overcome losing lottery picks with depleted rosters in consecutive seasons.
The excuses people used for Kim Anderson, which were invalid, actually apply to Cuonzo. I think that by year four this team will show some real signs of competing. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
He needs a good offensive second. There's no doubt about that. That aside, I think he's the kind of coach a program like Missouri needs if it wants to eventually build itself back up to a top-15 school. I don't think there are many coaches that could have overcome losing lottery picks with depleted rosters in consecutive seasons.
The excuses people used for Kim Anderson, which were invalid, actually apply to Cuonzo. I think that by year four this team will show some real signs of competing.
I'll take your word for it, as I'm sure you have more knowledge on the subject. I'm just disheartened right now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
He needs a good offensive second. There's no doubt about that. That aside, I think he's the kind of coach a program like Missouri needs if it wants to eventually build itself back up to a top-15 school. I don't think there are many coaches that could have overcome losing lottery picks with depleted rosters in consecutive seasons.
The excuses people used for Kim Anderson, which were invalid, actually apply to Cuonzo. I think that by year four this team will show some real signs of competing.
I was at the Temple game; have some impressions that I just never got around to posting about individual players but they mostly just got lost in the fight the team displayed.
They had several opportunities to fold up and go home but they didn't. That game looked lost 3-4 times and yet a stop/score late and they'd have stolen it.
Cuonzo's teams battle their asses off, man. And yeah, the guards are super young and the inbounds shit...lord God how do we still keep messing that up? But these teams are tenacious and that's a reflection on him.
I absolutely think Cuonzo has flaws as a coach and there will be cries for his head far more often than there should be precisely because of them. But he's also exactly what the program needs, IMO. He's a great fit here and I do think he can get them back to being an annual tournament team. The resources are there; he just needs to re-build the depth and recruiting pipelines. It'll come together in time. [Reply]
BTW, an absolute heist of a victory yesterday. That game will drive UCF nuts for months. As one would expect for a team without a solid offensive system and no established go-to scorer, Mizzou could not get a good look in the closing stretch, but a few miracle plays (the in-bounds bouncing off a defender and straight to Geist underneath the basket, and the buzzer beater off a constipated, nothing play) overcame the offensive incompetence (inability to beat the five second clock when down 1 with 15 seconds left).
This team is likely an SEC cellar dweller, but they battle their asses off. Tilmon has shown growth on the defensive side, but his offense needs similar progression. All the young guards are just that--young. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
BTW, an absolute heist of a victory yesterday. That game will drive UCF nuts for months. As one would expect for a team without a solid offensive system and no established go-to scorer, Mizzou could not get a good look in the closing stretch, but a few miracle plays (the in-bounds bouncing off a defender and straight to Geist underneath the basket, and the buzzer beater off a constipated, nothing play) overcame the offensive incompetence (inability to beat the five second clock when down 1 with 15 seconds left).
This team is likely an SEC cellar dweller, but they battle their asses off. Tilmon has shown growth on the defensive side, but his offense needs similar progression. All the young guards are just that--young.
The team clearly misses Jontay, but it misses Robertson even more. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla:
The team clearly misses Jontay, but it misses Robertson even more.
Hell, they haven't even found a replacement for Barnett. Puryear's trying to do it but he's just doesn't have the range.
Mark Smith is doing his best Cash impression and doing an okay job of it at times; just not as reliable as Robertson was. That's going to be a damn nice upper classman as he matures, IMO. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
BTW, an absolute heist of a victory yesterday. That game will drive UCF nuts for months. As one would expect for a team without a solid offensive system and no established go-to scorer, Mizzou could not get a good look in the closing stretch, but a few miracle plays (the in-bounds bouncing off a defender and straight to Geist underneath the basket, and the buzzer beater off a constipated, nothing play) overcame the offensive incompetence (inability to beat the five second clock when down 1 with 15 seconds left).
This team is likely an SEC cellar dweller, but they battle their asses off. Tilmon has shown growth on the defensive side, but his offense needs similar progression. All the young guards are just that--young.
This Knights team isn't making the tournament and this game will go a long way in that. [Reply]
Did I hear you guys right that Zo's teams are having a hard time with inbound plays? Holy shit that was our bread and butter plays when he was with the Bears. We won multiple games on inbound plays he drew up.
Patience he is building that pipeline from St. Louis which is going to be the key to being a very solid to very good program. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
Nice win last night. Cuonzo knows how to make rugged teams.
I like this team.
It's not a tournament squad but they bust their asses and keep at it. They're gonna have some uuuuuugly nights when Smith's shot isn't falling and Tilmon gets in foul trouble because Watson just isn't ready yet and the rest of the team is largely complementary players.
But guys like Pinson and Pickett are going to be nice 4-year players. Pickett's better than I expected him to be and Pinson is gonna be a force, IMO. That kid sees the floor in a big way.
Next year they'll be able to run some hellacious 4-guard lineups out there with Pinson, Smith, Smith and Watson (though Watson can play some 3 probably). They'll also have some serious guard depth with Pickett and some of the incoming recruits.
They still need more size but that will come; Jackson should help there and I don't think Tilmon's a candidate to leave early yet. Mitchell Smith will be able to absorb some minutes at the 4 as well. I guess Santos but I'm just kind of ignoring him at this point. Would like to see that last scholly go to a decent big but I'd imagine it goes to the greyshirt walk-on kid who's name immediately escapes me. I think Reed Nikko is still around to play 5 minutes a game and hopefully not foul anyone.