First, in response to last night's game, let me say...yes, you guessed it...POOP!!! Now, in response to the numerous threads below in which both our coach and our players are vilified, let me say...POOP!!! There you have it. My instant analysis. That probably sums it up sufficiently, but if you'd like a little more depth, read on... This was a season of high expectations--clearly too high--and subsequent disappointments. Fortunately, this is basketball, and as long as we make it to the dance (not a sure thing at this point), we still have a chance to make something out of what may seem now like a wasted season. The question on everyone's mind is this: Why have we tanked so badly? My response is this: We haven't. We surely didn't get what we expected, but that's because what we expected was wrong not because what we got should have been unexpected. Here's the current situation. We have one of the nation's youngest teams and one of the nation's toughest schedules. This is a recipe for disaster right off the bat. Despite this, we have had some high quality wins, but we've also had some surprising losses. We have played all season without a point guard. Most would agree that this is a rather critical position to any team. Roberson, despite being an exceptional instinct player, simply can't run the offense effectively. He tries hard, but he just doesn't get it. This is not a matter of a lack of teaching, either. Billy hoped that Appleby would be ready to contribute by now, but he clearly has not been ready. This leaves Drejer to take up the slack. Although he can play point well, this is not his natural position, and I think that moving him from point to forward and back so much has hurt his play at both positions. I'd still rather have the ball in Drejer's hands at critical junctures in the game. Our inside game is also seriously lacking. Lee's season has been a roller coaster of inconsistency. When he looks good, the team generally looks good, too. When he looks bad, well, you know how the team looks then. Colas has been out, and when he was in, he was very inconsistent. Moss plays with a lot of heart, but not a lot of talent, at least compared with his opponents. Richard was slow to get going, but he is starting to look strong. Yesterday's game was the first where I've seen him really look strong. This was encouraging. The rest of the team has been hot and cold, as well. Walsh, although he looked terrific for most of yesterday's game, has been the poster boy for inconsistency. I think, of all the players on this team, the hype leading up to this season, coupled with the hype of a great freshman year and having a Playboy Playmate for a girlfriend (how ANY college sophomore could deal with that and anything else is beyond me) has gotten to him in a big way. Humphrey has been a bright spot, although at times, he has looked a bit like a deer in the headlights. Everyone else has contributed so, so little. One of the biggest problems is that there is no team leader, nobody to get on his teammates in a positive and challenging way. Walsh criticizes, and nobody else says much of anything. Now for coaching. In the past two years, we have lost two very important members of our coaching staff. John Pelphrey was a devastating loss to this team for many reasons. He was a huge part of shaping players like Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, and Matt Bonner into big contributors. We replaced him with Tom Ostrom, who offers much less, and we were left without anyone to coach up our big men. I said when Pelphrey left that we would really feel the loss, but even I didn't expect the effect to be so pronounced. We also lost Tim Maloney. Tim was an inspirational presence for our players, and he did a lot to get players to dig deep and play with heart. Most teams have a coach like this--one who is really good at lighting the fire in players' bellies. Tim was this coach. I wish Billy had seen fit to promote Tim to an assistant coaching position instead of Tom, but with a new baby, Tim was less prepared to be on the road all year recruiting. So, here are my simplistic explanations for the main criticisms of this season... 1. Poor inside play...no coach for the big men 2. Poor point guard play...no real point guard 3. Lack of heart...no player leader and no inspiration on the coaching staff. I think that most of the problems that this team has encountered can be attributed to one of these problems. Is it, ultimately, up to Billy D to recognize and fix these things? Of course. It serves no useful purpose, however, to blame the coach who has brought us unprecedented success for these problems right now. These are not things that can be "fixed" during the course of the season. As I sat in the stands yesterday during the halftime tribute to the 1994 team, I thought to myself that never in a million years would I want Lon Kruger back over Billy Donovan. Lon took us to unprecendented success, but Billy has taken us to a new level. I have all the faith in the world that he will be able to keep us there, despite this season's stumbles. Billy made Florida a basketball school. As someone said in an earlier thread, Billy Donovan IS Florida basketball. Go Gators!!!