The Bodda Getta

I have played and watched a lot of basketball and actually agree with a lot of what you say. Here is the issue...you can't play the way Tony wants to play without a solid PG and a solid C. We don't have either of those. Josh Wallace is a good player and he gives 110%, but he is not a scoring threat. Rob Chubb is big and regardless of what people say, he has improved over his career. However, he still makes a lot of mistakes and is also not really a scoring threat. Those are arguably the two most important positions on the basketball court and we are and have been weak in that area for a decade.

If you add in the fact that Frankie is the only proven legitimate scorer on the team, its not too hard to defend us. When Chris is on his game, he can be very tough to defend, but last night was a great example of what can happen when he is not on. He had a pretty good game, but when we needed it, he couldn't get it done. Payne is having his best year and has really stepped up on both ends of the court. Noel Johnson can shoot, but he is a liability on defense because he is so lazy. Jordan Price is possibly the best pure shooter we have, but for any those guys to get open (add Shaq Johnson here too), you have to have a good point guard that the defense respects. How many times have you seen Wallace dribble all the way through the defense, down the baseline and back out to the top with no one getting open? It happens 3 or 4 times a game. If a great point guard does that, the defense would have to collapse on him, freeing someone else up.

Here is what the untrained eye doesn't understand about Tony Barbee and this program....last year, we lost 5 or 6 games we could have won. Close games, down the wire but just couldn't finish. This year, we have already lost at least 3 that we SHOULD have won. Everyone has a right to their opinion and to measure a coach in his first few years only with wins and losses. However, I would say that Tony Barbee is getting more out of what he has to work with, has recruited better talent and has this team playing tougher than any team I can remember since back when we were cheating under Cliff Ellis. Couple that with the fact that he can't recruit these AAU guys and it is amazing he can even get recruits.

He inherited a 5 year project. I am as or more disappointed than anyone that we have lost 4 straight and we appear to have lost what little confidence they had, but I promise you, if we remain patient, he will reward us.