Where's the swag?

A win is a win. That’s what we heard last year and I’m guessing that will be the excuse again this year. The question that arises highest in the minds of Flyer fans today reads, when will this team learn to put opponents away?

Or will they ever?

Maybe it’s the leaders on this team, maybe it’s Brian Gregory but whatever the reason, it needs fixed faster than Bob Barker’s dog. You can’t always count on Karl Hobbs not knowing how many players to put on the court. You can’t always count on looking at the scoreboard with 12 minutes to go and "not knowing we were down by that much" and mounting a miracle comeback, especially against a team as bad as Towson. Playing this way will burn this team. While many will counter with, "It hasn’t happened yet" or "These guys just know how to win," one day London won’t hit the free throws like he did against Miami, one day Paul Williams won’t hit a 3 and four straight free throws vs. Ga. Tech, and one day a team like Mason will make us pay big time for Mickey avoiding a make at the free throw line like he avoids the patty melts at KU.

The team that has stepped on the floor so far this year is not the best team in the Atlantic 10 (neither is Xavier for the record). It’s not even a 12-4 team in the A-10. The team we’ve seen thus far will be lucky to get 10 wins in this conference.

So what needs to change?

For starters, executing a game plan beyond the first 3 minutes would be nice. Every game begins with a focus to get Kurt a touch in the post. Often times, we’ll see the guards give him looks on three straight possessions to start a game. This leads me to believe that getting touches in the post is a pregame point of emphasis. However, after those first three possessions, this team seems to forget that game plan. It’s right back to rotating the ball around the perimeter, often times with a center dribbling around the three point line and handing off to a guard (opponents are learning how to defend this and draw charges by the way), and relying on an attempt late in the shot clock.

What’s wrong with continuing the original game plan? Don’t get me wrong folks, I don’t think we should focus the offense around Kurt but I do believe he would be much more willing to play an inside/outside game if the guards would give him more touches. When you know you’ll only touch the ball once every six possessions in the post, you become a black hole like Benson. Give the post more touches and they'll feed it back for open shots - give and take. I shouldn't rip Josh too hard. He's played well on the offensive end lately, and I bet we see more than four minutes out of him moving forward. Let's keep the original game plan. Feed the post, play inside/outside with your three bigs and create open shots that way rather than the weaving ball rotation around the perimeter.

Secondly, run plays for your playmakers. Did anyone realize we have a potential NBA draft pick on this team? I swear, we could have four absolute stiffs and a superstar on the court and Gregory would run the exact same motion offense. Oh wait, it was called the Brian Roberts era.

My point, do something creative to get your star looks outside of the regular context of the only offense you’re ever willing to run. BG’s stubbornness absolutely kills me sometimes! Whether it’s refusing to even try a trapping press, even when we are down in late game situations or subbing a hot shooter right out of the game, he is set in his ways. He holds the philosophy that "my system wins" and the players need to execute that system. While some of this rings true, this doesn’t always allow you to play to your strengths, (CW, CJ). Outside of one alley oop play per game, we run nothing specifically designed for these two. There just isn’t a lot of room for playmakers to make plays, it’s darn frustrating as a fan and I bet it’s even more frustrating as a playmaker.

I can hear the comments coming now. Why the rant, Tim? We are 6-2, we are winning games. If you are saying these things, refer back to the top of this post where I mention we are going to get burnt.

Lastly, light a fire under these kids. All I hear about is how players won’t play for BG if they don’t play defense but I see the same players getting the same minutes in the same substitution patterns every game. I don’t know what it will take: bench someone, call someone out in the press, make them walk around campus without headphones on, ban them from Tim’s, just do something. I want to see the Flyers play with that killer instinct I’ve seen from them before like last year’s games vs. Marquette, X and WVU. Find a way to bring that every game, Coach. That’s what we pay you the big bucks for. Have you seen this team come out and play like they know they are going to win? Like they know they are the best team on the court? Like they are angry they aren’t in the top 25 anymore and want to split some heads? Time to turn the swag on ... just like Flyght does in his pimp suit.

We need changes and we need them quick. I think this team has the leadership to wake up; they just need to do it. The A-10 isn’t great this year but teams 1-5 are all very tough. It isn’t UD and X with a boatload of mediocrity as in years past. The Flyers have their work cut out for them and they’ve already hit that sleep timer one too many times this year. I’m afraid if they try to sleep for just ten more minutes, we’ll be talking about the loss that makes us one of "the last four out."