In Game: vs. Loyola Chicago

[85Wildcatsky]

And I’m really uncomfortable with the bashing of our players (even if it’s a bashing of them collectively rather than individually) paired with nothing but praise for and confidence in Matt. The buck stops with him. And to the extent you think the problem is personnel, that’s also on him—recruiting is one of the most important jobs for a college coach. And the folks who insisted (and continue to insist) that we didn’t need to actually conduct a search for the College’s highest-paid employee pointed to his recruiting prowess (and part of their evidence?: the roster we had going into last year’s disappointing season).

Let’s be careful wishing away players. Again. Des Watson is one of the best players on a top team in the A10 that just dominated Davidson at Belk Arena. I don’t think he’s an NBA player, but he’s solid and we could have used him. He’s a better player now than he ever was for Davidson. And yet people insist Matt’s the better coach (notwithstanding anything on display last night).

And why did the best games from Brizzi and Durkin come early in the season? There are lots of plausible explanations. One of them is poor coaching decisions.

Losing is no fun. But there’s not much joy on the bench and even among some players on the court.

Be careful what you wish for regarding transferring. We might get some openings. Maybe several. But Davidson’s an even less attractive place now than it was when these Jimmys and Joes were recruited.

I am also concerned with the fact we have now lost 20 games in the past two years by 5 points or less. I think one of the best litmus tests for a coach is to be able to close out tight games. These are games that show we have the talent to compete with most teams on our schedule but when it comes down to making chess moves by the coaches, we lose. If these games were breaking at least 50/50 we may not be NCAA bound but the Cats would have a good chance of having 20 win seasons. In many of those losses, we haven't even been able to get a good shot off to close out the game and in others we blew nice leads.

[BaseRich306]

Seriously, in what universe are we getting better next year? We lose Grant and Skog and add who that's going to be a difference maker?

[quickcat]

Historically, the shooting 35% from 3 would be considered an off year for Davidson. If nothing about this year's team changes except that, their kenpom rating is #2 in the A-10 instead of #10. Making 3s in games is a learnable skill, unlike height or arm length. If our guys spend an hour a day working on just that skill using the same drills NBA players do to improve, it seems like that is an achievable goal.

Desire and aptitude to learn and improve was a key trait that Bob McKillop saw in Steph Curry, and what enabled Steph to become a 2-time NBA MVP. That's the key talent we need to be finding, and coaching in our current players.

[MrMac]

Skog has been gone. So we really just need to find another version of Grant while others improve. I did not anticipate Conner making the strides he has over the past season and a half. Reed and Sean could certainly make great strides in their 3rd years (In fact. I expect they will as their bodies and games mature).

Rikus, Achile, Ricky and others: maybe not next year, but they clearly have the work ethic and hustle to succeed. Angelo was a Villanova recruit. Jarvis was a Stanford recruit. They must have the talent. Bobby gave us a glimpse of how good he can be before the season caught up with him. Call me silly drunk on kool-aid ("You're silly drunk") but I believe in the team and the coaches, and their future success (he says as he stridently plants a DC flag in the soggy ground).

[85Wildcatsky]

Skog has been gone. So we really just need to find another version of Grant while others improve. I did not anticipate Conner making the strides he has over the past season and a half. Reed and Sean could certainly make great strides in their 3rd years (In fact. I expect they will as their bodies and games mature).

Rikus, Achile, Ricky and others: maybe not next year, but they clearly have the work ethic and hustle to succeed. Angelo was a Villanova recruit. Jarvis was a Stanford recruit. They must have the talent. Bobby gave us a glimpse of how good he can be before the season caught up with him. Call me silly drunk on kool-aid ("You're silly drunk") but I believe in the team and the coaches, and their future success (he says as he stridently plants a DC flag in the soggy ground).

Brizzi could be the change agent next year. He was a good shooter in 3 years of high school and he had the quickness that interested Nova. He is a point and played too much shooting guard this year. Coach needs to cut him loose though. IMO he needs a faster tempo. He needs to be able to plug into the offense like Gibbs did. Gibbs ran out of control many times but eventually we saw more great plays than bad. Gibbs was a one man fast break and Brizzi can do that too if they take the governor off of the gas pedal.

Contrast this shooting when he was point vs this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPb-Kg4rDPA

[otherwildcat]

Skog has been gone. So we really just need to find another version of Grant while others improve. I did not anticipate Conner making the strides he has over the past season and a half. Reed and Sean could certainly make great strides in their 3rd years (In fact. I expect they will as their bodies and games mature).

Rikus, Achile, Ricky and others: maybe not next year, but they clearly have the work ethic and hustle to succeed. Angelo was a Villanova recruit. Jarvis was a Stanford recruit. They must have the talent. Bobby gave us a glimpse of how good he can be before the season caught up with him. Call me silly drunk on kool-aid ("You're silly drunk") but I believe in the team and the coaches, and their future success (he says as he stridently plants a DC flag in the soggy ground).

Brizzi could be the change agent next year. He was a good shooter in 3 years of high school and he had the quickness that interested Nova. He is a point and played too much shooting guard this year. Coach needs to cut him loose though. IMO he needs a faster tempo. He needs to be able to plug into the offense like Gibbs did. Gibbs ran out of control many times but eventually we saw more great plays than bad. Gibbs was a one man fast break and Brizzi can do that too if they take the governor off of the gas pedal.

Contrast this shooting when he was point vs this year.

Agree on Brizzi. He is a natural PG. Huffman and Brizzi, never complimented each other very well.
Next year I see Brizzi pushing the ball and hitting Kochera or Durkin on the wing for quick threes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPb-Kg4rDPA

[JerseyLawyer]

We see Grant and forget this is a young team. The improvement in Connor over the past few weeks has been astounding. Hopefully we see the same level of improvement in others.

That said, here comes the pessimist:

This team found the most creative and astonishing ways to lose close games. Can they learn and grow from that? Or are they just not good enough?

One frustration is that the offense still works. They got great looks from 3 all year - and didn't make them. PS. Watching Des miss them for two years and then transform this year is maddening.

Will Reed get NIL'd?

Davidson always has a very small margin for error every year. Can we avoid that?

[Jay Catsby]

Reed and Bobby both will get calls from coaches or boosters with $$ to toss around. And maybe Brizzi too, but I think A10 is about right for his abilities. Hopefully all three see value in a larger role (30+ mpg) for this squad next season, and trying to improve upon what they’ve already built. Not to mention how they’ve improved as athletes, students, and people at Davidson. Can’t really get that anywhere else, even if anywhere else gets you a few thousand dollars in your pocket.

[stevelee]

I am certainly not qualified to judge quality of coaching (unless it is blatantly terrible). But I do question that when sequences of plays go well, but the ball just fails to go in the basket, that is primarily an indictment of the coaching. And that doesn’t have to happen too often along with some missed free throws to make all the difference when you lose by five points or less.

Maybe one could argue that the plays as drawn don’t take into sufficient account the players we actually have.

Brizzi almost always looks better to me on the court that do the results.

[Steve Rodgers]

We see Grant and forget this is a young team. The improvement in Connor over the past few weeks has been astounding. Hopefully we see the same level of improvement in others.

That said, here comes the pessimist:

This team found the most creative and astonishing ways to lose close games. Can they learn and grow from that? Or are they just not good enough?

One frustration is that the offense still works. They got great looks from 3 all year - and didn't make them. PS. Watching Des miss them for two years and then transform this year is maddening.

Will Reed get NIL'd?

Davidson always has a very small margin for error every year. Can we avoid that?

I fear the school has no coherent strategy to prevent NIL transfers. We should ID players who could be raided and pay them NIL money at the same rate the potential poacher would. It would not be that expensive as none of our players are big time NIL money players-so we keep our guys, then develop them as before. This would require us to be proactive to get ahead of it. I see nothing that leads me to believe we’re doing this, though I am in a poor observation position.

[ScootCat]

Don’t get your hopes up. Proof is in the pudding.

[raptorcat]

The contrast between Brizzi's senior HS season and his performance for us this year is both fascinating and maddening. If putting him back at his natural position (point guard) will spell the difference and return him to his old form, he really could be something special.

But it appears none of our recruits for next year will make an impact right away. And Moss and Spadone will have to make giant strides to help out at the guard positions. That said, we will need to dip deep into the portal to find a big man to help Logan and Bailey. We got lucky with Skogman; he made an impact right away (remember that he won the Colt 45 Award his first year in a Davidson uniform). Maybe we'll get lucky again.

But to say that we'll be contending for the conference title next season is 'way too premature. There are too many pieces in the puzzle that must fall perfectly into place. And I definitely worry about other teams using the lure of NIL dollars to poach some of our top returnees. I fervently hope that they have fully bought into the TCC concept; I believe they possess the maturity to see the long-term value of a Davidson degree. Fingers crossed!

[85Wildcatsky]

FWIW- I may be a dreamer but I would like us to skip the portal and not even think about NIL.

I think Davidson's lure is a great education and it should also be a program that is loyal to its players. I can't see how bringing in portal transfers every year gains the loyalty of our players. Why stay loyal to Davidson when you work hard to improve by your junior year and then you have to compete with ringers being brought in from outside of the program? Improve our recruiting effors and bring in our own players. There may be more studs now available to us since the big programs are now swapping 4 and 5 star transfers.

Hopefully the lack of the extra Covid year helps reel in some of this nonsense.

That being said, Dartmouth just voted to unionize. Just what college sports needs right now.

[ScootCat]

We are in uncharted territory.

[MrMac]

Just a matter of time before the sports are divorced from the institutions entirely?