Great start to the game tonight against Syracuse, forced a lot of turnovers, ripped down a lot of boards...but it just wasn't good enough for several reasons.
1. Free Throws. God help me, this team is going to give me a heart attack before the season is over. You cannot, absolutely CANNOT shoot so abysmally from the free throw line and win games in the Big East. You just can't. We all knew Herb Pope would have problems, but this is just an atrocity. He's shooting 38% from the line this season thus far, including 2/14 in the last two games against WVU and Syracuse. For a guy who spends so much time under the boards and a guy who draws a lot of contact, he NEEDS to be better at the line. It's imperative that he shoots a decent percentage and yet he hasn't even come close. I don't want to put all of the blame on his shoulders because it's not just him. As a team 16/33 against WVU and 14/24 against Syracuse including key stretches in both games. It's ridiculous. In a game like the one against WVU, 17 points worth of missing free throws is HUGE. Bobby Gonzalez was quoted as saying, "It's all mental. We shot 400 free throws on Christmas eve, 400 more on Christmas morning. I need to bring a psychologist in or something, because it's all mental." Yeah, well I'm glad you can make jokes about it when you're losing two games you could have and should have closed out. Bottom line...if you don't hit free throws, you cannot win.
2. Substitutions, specifically Eugene Harvey/John Garcia. They are two separate entities but I'm putting them together under the heading of substitutions because they were key tonight. I don't care what Bobby Gonzalez says, or anyone else for that matter...I hate Eugene Harvey. He has been getting worse and worse every year, and when you have Jordan Theodore (who has been absolutely phenomenal) and Keon Lawrence (who is rusty and just getting his game back in order, but still a great player), you do NOT need to give Harvey that many minutes. He is tremendously hot and cold. One day he can come in and hit key baskets, make great passes, force turnovers, etc. Then the next game, he looks like he's never picked up a basketball before. He averages almost as many turnovers a game as he does assists. I understand he's a Senior and he's been here through thick and thin. Believe me, I understand that he's one of Bobby's favorite guys. The fact of the matter is, you just cannot give this guy the minutes he used to get when the team is this deep. There is NO excuse for him being out there at the end of this game running the point when Jordan Theodore was playing exceptionally better the entire night and is arguably a better ballhandler. No excuse.
As for John Garcia, here's another one of Bobby's favorites who I just don't think there is any room for anymore. Tonight, he was a liability...plain and simple. He's got bad knees, and everyone knows that, he didn't have a great game under the boards, and he fumbled a lot of balls that came his way. I think there is still a place for him on this team, but not at the end of a game like this. There is no justification for him being out there at the end of this game, especially when he's being outmatched by Onuaku all game long. Jeff Robinson, while he may be smaller, is more athletic and tougher under the boards. There is no way, as a coach, I can have a guy like Robinson sitting the bench with only 3 fouls and have Garcia, on two bum knees out there trying to out rebound Syracuse's big guys. Terrible decision.
3. Bobby Gonzalez is a terrible coach. I don't know how else to put it, he is just not good. Maybe he's a great motivator? No, actually he's definitely a great motivator. When he speaks, the team listens. When he gyrates uncontrollably on the court and when he fights for his player after a bad foul call, the team gets behind him. He's a great motivator to have on your bench, HOWEVER...he is just not a good coach when it comes to the fundamentals of playing the game. Plain and simple, he mismanaged the end of this game...with his substitutions and with play calling. The offense he had set up at the end of this game was simple: move the ball around and hope Syracuse's 2-3 defense makes a mistake so that Hazell can shoot. And then he calls a timeout before Syracuse inbounds the ball, and what happens? Syracuse breaks the press for a Peyton Manning like pass to Kris Joseph for a full court and one. That was killer. You absolutely cannot come out of a timeout and let up a huge play like that. It's just mind boggling. That's all on Bobby Gonzalez and no one else. Their setup was so horrific coming out of that timeout.
This team is so talented, and only getting better...but when there is poor coaching and poor free throw shooting, even the best teams can't win. There's a reason why Jim Boeheim has 800 wins: he wins games like these. He knows how to manage his team and get them to the point where they can win. Seton Hall has a nice stretch of games coming up where they can really impress and they cannot let this momentum go. They've been playing too well to stop now. Coming up they have at Virginia Tech (in Mexico), at UConn, and then Cincinnati at home. They need to keep this up so they can win at least two of those games.
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