Game 17: AT George Washington University, Saturday, January 17th, 4:30 PM, NBCSN

[gmujim92]

From where I stand a better coach would certainly have these guys playing better ball, but I'm with Tom on this one......there is a talent issue on this team. We have no guards! MM is a huge liability with his fugly jumper and Pat has lost his stroke and can't really get his own shot. You can't have an upper echelon A10 back court that starts with a PG who's shot is so poor other teams don't even guard him past 15 ft and the others (VG/PH) can't knock down jumpers with any level of consistency. We may have a few A10 level front court players but IMO we don't have any back court players that are on that level. Of course this still all falls on Hewitt's lap.....and to make it clear I want that dude fired ASAP.

I think if you took each of our players and stuck them in a system that was a better fit for their particular skill-sets, they'd all look completely different.

Hewitt's problem isn't being unable to identify athleticism, but basketball skill is another story. Add to that, he seemingly has no plan while recruiting and no clue what to do with players once they sign.

Recruiting too many one-dimensional players makes it impossible to address all the different roles required on a winning team, and leads to guys being forced to do things they're really not capable of doing well.

Has Hewitt ever even thought of recruiting a "role player" or a "glue guy"? I can't really remember one.

Thus, a bunch of redundant and misfit parts that can't function effectively as a unit. It's really not that complicated.

 

[A.-Siegfried]

There's just no "a-hole" on this team. No player that will not put up with nonsense and get players to fall in line. They are too nice on the court.

 

[wijg]

That's fair, KA. I just think Hewitt's crappy coaching has clouded the view here of how much be has bungled the roster. We have a coaching and talent issue, but I think we all agree that we obviously need to get rid of the former before the latter can be addressed.

I did not think it was possible, but you have now convinced me that Hewitt has done an even worse job than I had previously believed. And trust me, that is impressive.

 

[gmutom]

I did not think it was possible, but you have now convinced me that Hewitt has done an even worse job than I had previously believed. And trust me, that is impressive.

His recruiting is what pisses me off the most. My well-documented endorsement of Hewitt's hiring was because I thought his ability to bring in good players would overcome his coaching deficiencies. But what we are seeing now is the worst of both worlds.

You know what you get when you mix average backcourt players with a terrible scheme in a guard-oriented league? Disaster with a capital H.

 

[Gordon Pfeiffer]

The GT fans despise Braine even more than we hate TOC, and that's saying something.

If they didn't have a few very deep-pocketed alums, they might never have gotten out from under that Albatross of a contract.

GT fan here. I posted a week or two ago to answer a question someone had about Hewitt.

His contract at GT was for $1.3M a year with an automatic 5 year rollover. After our national championship game appearance in 2004, our then AD Dave Braine believed, and he wasn't alone, that we had found the next great coach. We couldn't pay him his market value at the time (approaching $2M), so he came up with this contract to make up for it, basically guaranteeing Hewitt the money on the back end. The contract had a buyout on the other side, where for any job other than the Knicks (his dream job at the time) we would be paid $3M. Frankly, no one thought we would ever fire him and pay the $7.1M over 5 years. I didn't think it would have been a bad contract if it had just had some performance incentives in it (no post-season, no rollover that year, etc.). If Hewitt was half as good as we thought that wouldn't have been an issue, but we were completely fooled. It was the assistants who were doing the heavy lifting.

After we fired him, we paid him the $1.3M for two years, then GT and Hewitt agreed to pay the final 3 years at half the price ($650K) for 6 years, so we will be paying him longer than you. I think Hewitt probably asked for this to spread out his income for tax purposes, but I don't know.

Never has someone gotten so much out of one great season. You have to give credit to his agent. At least Braine had a reason to think he was a great coach, because he really did do a great job the first 5 years. I don't know what your AD was thinking. We were horrible the last 6 years he was here, even the two years we made the tournament. We had at least 3 burger boys on each of those teams and barely snuck in. Things aren't good here now (we may fire our coach after this year), but the next guy will have a lot more to work with than the current guy did.

As I said in my other post, I really am sorry to see you going through this. I know how you feel. But you will recover quickly with a good coach. Good luck.

 

[Walter]

Unfortunately, as GT found out, it isn't easy to hire a coach who will be successful. Even a can't-miss coach is a risk. GT will likely get a can't-miss coach next time since they won't have the full burden of Hewitt's buyout remaining. We will have to settle for a guy with an upside and cross our fingers that he is the next Shaka and not the next Nestor. But realistically, he is likely to be the next Harrington which isn't bad but not great.

 

[gmujim92]

Gordon, I think the fact that GT is still struggling to dig out of the rubble from Hewittpocalypse suggests that we won't be turning things around quickly even if we do hire a good coach.

Gregory is a good coach, but I can't imagine how difficult it must be to follow a complete bozo like Hewitt. You basically have to reprogram players to play solid fundamental basketball.

 

[GSII]

The toughest part about judging our backcourt next year is not knowing what we have in Lockett and Mayimba and also not knowing if Gilbert will stay committed if Hewitt is fired.

I have to admit to having a soft spot for Jackson. He has struggled at times this year, but I love his size, confidence and game. With the right coach, he really could be a diamond in the rough. The real question is what do we have in Patrick. Is he the sharpshooter who can put us on his back consistently, or is he the out-of-control player who shoots us out of games. I think the jury is still out on that one.

Tom,
Patrick is a great shooter. You cant convince me Lamar Butler shoots as well as he did at Mason in this NBA crap offense we run now. Putting PH in the right spot to take a SET SHOT is way different than him having to create his own. OCM's offense, while regiment at times, allowed players to do what they do best, most of the time.

 

[Gordon Pfeiffer]

Gordon, I think the fact that GT is still struggling to dig out of the rubble from Hewittpocalypse suggests that we won't be turning things around quickly even if we do hire a good coach.

Gregory is a good coach, but I can't imagine how difficult it must be to follow a complete bozo like Hewitt. You basically have to reprogram players to play solid fundamental basketball.

Some here at GT would agree with you that Hewitt has a major role in our current problems, because they view Gregory as a bargain basement coach that was our only option because of the Hewitt contract. I can see their point. But our problem now isn't fundamentals, it is talent. I think our recruiting has fallen under Gregory, but we can inbound the basketball, break a press, intelligently manage timeouts, etc., which as you know can be adventures with Hewitt. In an environment where the talent is equal, which is where I see GMU, I think Gregory would do well and Hewitt suffers. But in the ACC, Gregory cannot "outcoach" the teams with superior talent.

If GMU makes a good hire, I think your problems with fundamentals will be overcome quickly. And since Hewitt doesn't have a rollover contract there like he did here, that won't be a factor in your program going forward.

 

[psyclone]

GT fan here. I posted a week or two ago to answer a question someone had about Hewitt.

His contract at GT was for $1.3M a year with an automatic 5 year rollover. After our national championship game appearance in 2004, our then AD Dave Braine believed, and he wasn't alone, that we had found the next great coach. We couldn't pay him his market value at the time (approaching $2M), so he came up with this contract to make up for it, basically guaranteeing Hewitt the money on the back end. The contract had a buyout on the other side, where for any job other than the Knicks (his dream job at the time) we would be paid $3M. Frankly, no one thought we would ever fire him and pay the $7.1M over 5 years. I didn't think it would have been a bad contract if it had just had some performance incentives in it (no post-season, no rollover that year, etc.). If Hewitt was half as good as we thought that wouldn't have been an issue, but we were completely fooled. It was the assistants who were doing the heavy lifting.

After we fired him, we paid him the $1.3M for two years, then GT and Hewitt agreed to pay the final 3 years at half the price ($650K) for 6 years, so we will be paying him longer than you. I think Hewitt probably asked for this to spread out his income for tax purposes, but I don't know.

Never has someone gotten so much out of one great season. You have to give credit to his agent. At least Braine had a reason to think he was a great coach, because he really did do a great job the first 5 years. I don't know what your AD was thinking. We were horrible the last 6 years he was here, even the two years we made the tournament. We had at least 3 burger boys on each of those teams and barely snuck in. Things aren't good here now (we may fire our coach after this year), but the next guy will have a lot more to work with than the current guy did.

As I said in my other post, I really am sorry to see you going through this. I know how you feel. But you will recover quickly with a good coach. Good luck.

Thanks for the sympathy. Your post also makes the point of how difficult it is to be an AD. Braine likely thought that Hewitt was likely to be wooed by others---relatively young African American coach, gentlemanly manner, excellent record at Siena capped off by advancing beyond the Final Four. So he did what he could to lock him up at GT.

Many on these boards castigate O'Connor for not locking up Larranaga who was much older and, many of us assumed, too old to be sought after by bigger programs, especially after he already turned down his alma mater.

 

[mkaufman1]

Thanks for the sympathy. Your post also makes the point of how difficult it is to be an AD. Braine likely thought that Hewitt was likely to be wooed by others---relatively young African American coach, gentlemanly manner, excellent record at Siena capped off by advancing beyond the Final Four. So he did what he could to lock him up at GT.

Many on these boards castigate O'Connor for not locking up Larranaga who was much older and, many of us assumed, too old to be sought after by bigger programs, especially after he already turned down his alma mater.

Before Jollay starts ranting about his raises every year, isn't it true that Larranaga had a contract through 2015-2016 (at least 4-5 years past 2010-2011 I believe), and Larranaga was quoted as saying "he could retire in Fairfax". Or did you have another point about locking the OCM up that I may have missed?

 

[GSII]

Before Jollay starts ranting about his raises every year, isn't it true that Larranaga had a contract through 2015-2016 (at least 4-5 years past 2010-2011 I believe), and Larranaga was quoted as saying "he could retire in Fairfax". Or did you have another point about locking the OCM up that I may have missed?

It all changed when Shaka got his raise. vcu started havoc at that very point. Speeding up all the AD's in the CAA.

 

[mkaufman1]

It all changed when Shaka got his raise. vcu started havoc at that very point. Speeding up all the AD's in the CAA.

Oh yeah I know, I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss a point or cause Jollay to go on a rant about raises for OCM

 

[gmutom]

Patrick is a great shooter. Putting PH in the right spot to take a SET SHOT is way different than him having to create his own.

GS, we all agree Hewitt's sucks and runs a crappy offense, but we run more plays and screens for Patrick than any other player on the team. He gets a lot of open looks and would be the first person to tell you he needs to knock those down more consistently.

Maybe it's because he's more of a marked man or that he feels more pressure to perform with Sherrod and Allen gone, but he's too good of a player to shoot 36% from the floor and 27% from behind the arc. He shot 41% from the arc last year in the same shitty system, so his regression — although not uncommon under Hewitt — can't be blamed solely on coaching and scheme.

The bigger point for me is why Hewitt doesn't run our offense through our bigs. If we relied more on dumping it down to Thompson and Jenkins, it would indeed open up more looks for our guards. Lamar had the luxury of playing with Jai and Will, and Coach L was smart enough to run an inside-out offense. Hewitt, well, he's just not that smart.

 

[GSII]

Watching us try to beat GW's 1-3-1, was like watching a bunch of drunks play pin the tail on the donkey. Sloppy is an understatement. The players did not know how to beat it. Guys like VG, Edwards, Royal, Jackson, have shown they have the mechanics right. Prepare them, along with PH, to launch from a SET SHOT type launch instead of off the dribble. I bet you they start making them.

 

[Raider_SPE]

Watching us try to beat GW's 1-3-1, was like watching a bunch of drunks play pin the tail on the donkey. Sloppy is an understatement. The players did not know how to beat it. Guys like VG, Edwards, Royal, Jackson, have shown they have the mechanics right. Prepare them, along with PH, to launch from a SET SHOT type launch instead of off the dribble. I bet you they start making them.

GS, to be fair there are many teams that have trouble with their 1-3-1. I thought we actually looked ok the first possession or two, and I said to myself "well look at that, maybe they did prepare for the 1-3-1" and then, it went all to hell.