Edit after writing this post: It's WAY LONGER than I wanted. Read if you want, or just flame me for the wall of text.
I can reply to Archmage's re-statement of things that I and other Siena fans may have said, and agree with the four points mentioned above. These are all accurate. The free-throw shooting, I don't REALLY recall saying that, but there is something in the back of my mind that remembers possibly observing that as well.
The first three points above? Wholeheartedly agree with bringing them up in my analysis of Fran for Hawks fans. I always point to the Ohio St. win and the Louisville second round loss in that year's tourney as examples of each point. He shortened the bench to the five starters and Clarence Jackson as the sixth man, with Josh Duell logging minutes as the bench three point threat, and minimal minutes from a couple of other players.
And yes, he would always pocket time outs and let the players run the play calling down the stretch, and I explained further by saying this: The scouts that the coaches give these guys for each team are EXTENSIVE. Like, a binder full of info for each team. The players learns the plays, run the motion, and down the stretch of games the players are given the confidence to run the plays and execute independently.
What I saw two years ago, and what I'm seeing now, are absolute anomalies in regards to what I've seen from Fran coached teams before. Now, when the players are running the play calling on the floor at the end of close games, all we see is Mike dribble out the clock, drive the lane, and throw it up, out of bounds, get swatted, etc. I don't understand it. Never used to be that way. The Siena PG Ronald Moore was more athletic and WAY quicker than Mike, but I never saw Ronald try to penetrate as deep as Mike does at end of clock situations, and he would always seem to find someone on the wing or under the hoop to pass to, whether they made the shot or not.
You've got multiple three point shooters to kick out to on the dribble drive with Jok and Uthoff. You might have an interior pass opportunity on the drive to Woody or Uthoff. And, sometimes, Mike might even have the opening to score the ball. I don't think I've ever seen anything from Mike in the last three years where any of those pass opportunities came to fruition.
Last year, Whitey seemed to take over when the team needed to, and it worked, especially with the added threeball threat he became. Now? There's only Jok and Jarrod, but they still need help, and certainly haven't been given the ball in crunchtime to produce.
My bottom line is - like two years ago, something is amiss with the team. I don't know what it is, and I can't explain it. Transition isn't happening like I thought it would, Woody just doesn't seem to be given the opportunity to score inside (possibly because of the inability to finish at the rim) and I am grasping at straws looking for answers like everyone else.
As a fan I certainly wouldn't be calling for Fran's job. In regards to recruiting, he has one thing, in my opinion that he ALWAYS recruits: character. He does this because he needs kids that are strong mentally, and will be able to handle his coaching style. Read that as, "they need to handle his 'temper' when he 'challenges' them." I think there are men on the team that handle that better than others, and quite possibly the next group of players to take the reigns are the guys that will be able to incorporate everything better than the collective current group of guys.
Again, just my (more than) two cents here, and I'm as confused and frustrated as everyone else with this year's finish and two years ago, but I'm as confident as ever that the program is in the right hands and things will be fine.
Wow, I didn't want to write that much because TLDR, but my $2.22.
Go Hawks!
-Jay
