I won't bite your head off, but I strongly disagree with you and everyone else that says that K hasn't done a good job this year. I think he's done a remarkable job. I know the theories that you will find over at THR and RR is that K has the most talent in the country and he doesn't need to do anything. Or that we can't struggle because if we lose 1 top draft pick we still have 3 others. I think those theories are complete garbage. Handling a group of freshman is much tougher than it seems. There is a reason why Kentucky and Duke have both only won a single championship during the 1-and-done era.
Think about each year, but this year specifically. Come summer he is getting a new collection of teenagers. They all have their own agendas, they all have been told their entire lives how great they are, they all have been the most important player on every team they have ever been associated with. They are almost always incredibly gifted on offense, but incredibly raw on defense. Simply put, they have never learned proper defense or been taught proper defense because frankly, they never needed it. You know they are only going to be there for 8-10 months, they know they are only going to be there for 8-10 months. You have to take this collection of teenagers and teach them to first become a team and then grow as a team. You are constantly battling egos and parents and media expectations and fan expectations. All believing that you have the easiest job in america because of the talent on your roster. You start the season with exhibition games and non-conference games and you are blowing teams out by 50. Everyone is smiling and laughing and joking. Then life happens. Injuries happen. Slumps happen. Players are forced into positions and roles that they are not ready for. Not because you weren't prepared, but because you don't have enough time to game plan for such uncertainties. You get everyone to buy into the new game plan. Then another important player goes down. Now you need a third game plan.
We are talented, but we have flaws. The more this player goes down or that player goes down the more we have to shift and re-shift our entire team to maximize what is available. In doing so we are creating a whole new set of flaws based on that collection of players. When Tre goes down our entire defense goes down. When Cam goes down our shooting goes down. When Marques goes down our block rate goes down. When Jack White goes through one of the most horrific shooting slumps I have ever seen, our bench production goes down. When Zion goes down our offensive efficiency, turnover rate and block rate all go down in a big way. Think about how much adversity this team has been through this year. Think about how much tinkering we have had to do to account for all of the above.
Now look up at the standings. We are 26-4, with a very strong chance at landing a 1 seed. We have played the toughest schedule in the country while earning that record and possible seeding.
You want to nitpick individual decisions made along the way such as Joey Baker? Go ahead. But if you do a complete evaluation of this team and evaluate the job of our head coach, you simply can't conclude it has been sub-par. At least I can't.
