Keeping it all in perspective...
Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 2:42 pm
Keeping it all in perspective...
While many of us were either in HCC yesterday or somewhere else with our faces glued to an ESPN3 screen watching Jimmy Fox's Apps come completely unglued at the hands of a very mediocre, but very well-coached WCU team, other things were happening detrimental to our athletic program.
One of the most visible was that "upstart" Coastal Carolina Volleyball team (first season out of the Big South) that essentially cooled its way through the much tougher SunBelt Conference to its first SBC Championship in its first year of eligibility--and went on to the NCAA Tourney to eliminate James Madison of the Colonial League and lose a firecracker-hot 3-1 match against a Top-Ten ranked UNC-CH team which (as I heard of it that UNC got the benefit of several, shall we say, most unusual calls in game situations that could have been called either way. Unfortunately, my sources say that every judgement call went the way of the baby-blue clad team.
Nonetheless, the real story here is that CCU moved to the Sun Belt and in its first season as a member, coasted through the schedule; at one point winning 28 straight matches--a school record. All the while, our Apps were losing 20 straight, winning two, then losing ten more. With all the deep emotions and drama coming from the dressing room and with the announced recruits, next season may not get the program back on track for the upper strata of the league.
Then there are the cases of men's soccer and men's basketball. Both are train wrecks at the moment. Both have promising new coaches and with rare exception, have not defeated the teams that should yield e-z wins. In basketball, Jimmy Fox has now joined the cohort that includes Fancher and Capel, i.e. those coaches who couldn't deliver a fair-weather, Saturday afternoon win over mediocre competition with 2,500 + fans in the house. Sadly, as this scenario goes, some of those folks won't be back.
Fox will recover; and he'll learn from yesterday. He just got schooled by a sly ol' head who's been around for 40 years and who learned long ago that when you're faced with a running team whose scoring and rebounding stats are double those of your team, that you "take the air out of the ball," stalling for time by holding the ball; running the shot clock down on every possession; and carefully controlling the game's tempo. Our team was frustrated out of their gourds after the first ten minutes. The game was lost for us before half-time. Many of our guys just wanted it to be over. Frankly, methinks Shabazz, Logan and Kinney should ride the pine for the first-half of the Montreat game and let Babic, Goode and Ike Johnson show what they can do.
Football is rumbling on its merry way, but several of our signature fall/winter sports are struggling. Doug Gillin has his hands full getting them infused with new life and hope.
While many of us were either in HCC yesterday or somewhere else with our faces glued to an ESPN3 screen watching Jimmy Fox's Apps come completely unglued at the hands of a very mediocre, but very well-coached WCU team, other things were happening detrimental to our athletic program.
One of the most visible was that "upstart" Coastal Carolina Volleyball team (first season out of the Big South) that essentially cooled its way through the much tougher SunBelt Conference to its first SBC Championship in its first year of eligibility--and went on to the NCAA Tourney to eliminate James Madison of the Colonial League and lose a firecracker-hot 3-1 match against a Top-Ten ranked UNC-CH team which (as I heard of it that UNC got the benefit of several, shall we say, most unusual calls in game situations that could have been called either way. Unfortunately, my sources say that every judgement call went the way of the baby-blue clad team.
Nonetheless, the real story here is that CCU moved to the Sun Belt and in its first season as a member, coasted through the schedule; at one point winning 28 straight matches--a school record. All the while, our Apps were losing 20 straight, winning two, then losing ten more. With all the deep emotions and drama coming from the dressing room and with the announced recruits, next season may not get the program back on track for the upper strata of the league.
Then there are the cases of men's soccer and men's basketball. Both are train wrecks at the moment. Both have promising new coaches and with rare exception, have not defeated the teams that should yield e-z wins. In basketball, Jimmy Fox has now joined the cohort that includes Fancher and Capel, i.e. those coaches who couldn't deliver a fair-weather, Saturday afternoon win over mediocre competition with 2,500 + fans in the house. Sadly, as this scenario goes, some of those folks won't be back.
Fox will recover; and he'll learn from yesterday. He just got schooled by a sly ol' head who's been around for 40 years and who learned long ago that when you're faced with a running team whose scoring and rebounding stats are double those of your team, that you "take the air out of the ball," stalling for time by holding the ball; running the shot clock down on every possession; and carefully controlling the game's tempo. Our team was frustrated out of their gourds after the first ten minutes. The game was lost for us before half-time. Many of our guys just wanted it to be over. Frankly, methinks Shabazz, Logan and Kinney should ride the pine for the first-half of the Montreat game and let Babic, Goode and Ike Johnson show what they can do.
Football is rumbling on its merry way, but several of our signature fall/winter sports are struggling. Doug Gillin has his hands full getting them infused with new life and hope.
