Dave_Glaser

I can't imagine who they could possibly beat in the league.

Almost unwatchable basketball . . .

http://www.heraldtribune.com/sports/20171201/barber-cuts-both-ways-in-key-role

Time to dip into some of that NFL money! How about it, JPP? :-)

Guess I'm just hoping for any ray of light that says we can get this thing turned around while I'm still on this side of the dirt. The faces change, but everything looks the same - every year.

Whatever. I'm glad you were OK with what you saw. I saw one team that ran good sets and got good looks pretty consistently and one that didn't. After Banks made about 3-4 consecutive jumpers, he didn't touch the ball again for a half dozen possessions. Is that execution or coaching?

I understand that we all expect this is gonna take time and we're giving Coach the benefit of the doubt. I'm with you. But I don't think that means we can't watch the game and see and point out flaws, right? We're not running 5 freshmen out there. Those are guys who've played and coached a lot of division I basketball. We're not exactly building. Nothing with his bunch. Most won't be here next year.

Well, since we had three grad transfers on the floor, I guess I expected they'd seen a pick and roll before or a slip screen and roll to the basket and might defend it.

We do seem to find coaches with rather limited "vocabularies" who have a certain system that they rarely stray from. I can't imagine that we're all that unique there. Maybe that's why the few guys who are inventive, imaginative are at such a premium. Coaches are creatures of habit, I guess, who don't stray too far from their comfort zone. Al least it seems that way at USF.

Bad coaching is bad coaching, whether it's tonight or two years from now. We'll see how it plays out. He's paid to coach who he has now. The last two offensive possessions - following timeouts - we're the same curl with Samuel he ran all night when everyone in the building knew it was coming and then Jiggetts dribbling the length of the court and trying to get up a contested shot in he lane? Not very creative.

Not what I saw. They cut, made extra passes and got some really good looks. We didn't run much of anything.

I'm really struggling to find a way to characterize USF men's basketball. We've never been particularly good, but if you look at the teams through the 1990s and early 2000s, we never won much in conference play, but we very rarely lost to the Elons and Morgan States of the world. We could a least count on 9-10-11 wins in the non-conference. This is a fairly recent phenomenon and a really disturbing one. It's one that makes you just want to call it quits.

I only saw the second half, but there's absolutely no doubt about that.

It seemingly doesn't matter who's coaching or who's wearing the green uniforms, nobody with USF on their jersey ever seems to be able to make a play when it really counts - for years now. It's really difficult to comprehend.

I hope that wasn't an indication of what to expect from Gregory's coaching. The last two offensive possessions were a joke.

It goes without saying that QB is THE key. If you look at the roster returning, it looks better than OK. O-line returns 3 starters and at least 3 other guys who've had experience in Polk, Galati and Larkin. Both TEs are back. Receiving corps looks fine with Salomon, McCants, Bronson, Antoine, Barr, etc. Cronkrite was a nice add for experience at RB while Sands, Mack, etc. shakes out for depth. D-line looks promising with the nice freshmen tackles, two Duke transfers, Reaves, Bronson, Livingstone with experience. Swatelle and Johnston at LB need more help. Corners are solid with Hoggins, Wilkins, Hampton. Thomas gives some experience at safety. Time for Watts to live up to his billing. That's a pretty good group already before anyone else steps up - and you know they will. If the QB is manageable, you can definitely win with that bunch.

Why does Q refuse to pull it down and take off? Why?

Not having seen much of UCF this year, now I see why Frost is the hot name and will be moving on. That offense makes you defend the whole field.

This UCF offense is incredibly dynamic

Knight's obsession with attendance is ridiculous. Just report on the game/team.

No strength to rebound and no quickness on offense = another very long season

They look exactly how I expected - lousy.

Signing today - Massimo Mbetse (Saint Stephen's Episcopal School/Bradenton)

Every first down. Every damned one!

The offense is basic and unimaginative, the middle of the field is never tested and several proven offensive weapons in the passing game are ignored - primarily Johnson, Wilcox and Dillon.