OUSKINS
3/11/2010, 09:32 AM
www.edkleese.blogspot.com
As a die-hard fan of all my teams, I’m always a bit sad when a season comes to an end. But as the clock wound down in our game against the Pokes last night, I felt no sadness—just pure and utter relief. I was so happy that the misery was finally over. As a true fan, I wasn’t able to simply turn my back on this team and stop watching—even though they rarely earned my support. It was a good feeling waking up this morning knowing that I didn’t have to watch this team for one more minute this year.
I’ve given out grades/reviews in each of Capel’s first three years. His grades thus far have been A-, A, and A-. That’s a pretty stellar report card for such a young coach that took over an empty cupboard. I’m still baffled as to how we could tank so completely this season.
All I know is that I’m sorry it happened, I’m sorry I saw almost every minute of it, and I’m very thankful it’s over.
Final Season Grades:
(Grades are based on performance vs. expectation, with a dash of “intangible” mixed in. Seniors get two grades—season and career.)
Capel/Coaching Staff: D-. I will spare the staff an “F” simply because I do think that Capel realized the problem early in the season—he simply couldn’t figure out how to fix it. I appreciate his honesty and I am still a believer in Capel. Having said that, even his biggest fan/apologist (me) can’t put a positive spin on this year.
Tony Crocker: B. He had a really solid season that got lost amidst our misery. He was consistently the only one on the team that could be relied upon to bring energy and leadership on a nightly basis. As always, he went into offensive funks, but his effort never waned.
Career: B+. I will always remember Crocker for two things: Honoring his commitment when the other kids in his class bolted; and coming through in some dramatic spots throughout his career. Just awesome that the best game of his career came in the Sweet 16 against a favored Syracuse squad. Crocker got the most out of what he had. Capel could use more like him.
Ryan Wright: C. Average at best. I’ll give him this grade based more on his achievements off the floor than on it. By all accounts Wright is an excellent student and great guy who tried very hard to be a positive influence on our knucklehead freshmen. Problem for Wright was that he simply wasn’t very skilled.
Career: C-. Maybe we expected too much out of him simply because he came from UCLA. Made zero impact his junior year (when we could have used a solid back-up big man) and even though he improved his senior year, it wasn’t nearly enough. Good representative for the school, but disappointing results on the court.
Cade Davis: B-. He was cruising for an A early in the year, but his production dwindled dramatically down the stretch. Unfortunately, I think his effort seemed to do the same. It seemed he got “infected” late in the year with the general malaise that struck the whole team. Technically, he shot the ball way too often. He proved to be a pretty good weapon when he used his size and athleticsm to take the ball to the rim, crash the boards, and hassle his opponent. But too often he settled for life beyond the arc. We’ll need his senior leadership next year and I hope he decides to spend more time in the paint.
Willie Warren: D/Incomplete. Hard to fully judge Willie because I do believe that he was seriously injured from about mid-season on. Right before he got hurt, I thought he may have been turning a corner at least in his approach to the game, but it was too late by then. No doubt Willie’s attitude got the entire season off on the wrong foot and it set a horrible example for our freshmen. Willie did nothing to help galvanize the team early and his body language and his game were just “off” from the word go.
Ray Willis: C-. Barely got enough minutes to qualify for a grade, but life is all about opportunities—Willis had a few fleeting opportunities this season and he failed to capitalize. He’s fun to watch in those ugly blowout games early in the season because he’ll launch from anywhere at anytime, but when he was inserted into more meaningful action, he failed to impress.
Steven Pledger: F. Strictly on the floor, he probably earned a C-, but his shoplifiting fiasco derailed the only momentum we ever had this year. Kid can shoot, and might be a good specialist down the road, but he showed little else.
Andrew Fitzgerald: D-. Fitz’s gets an awful grade for much the same reason that Pledger got his---the shoplifiting incident was the lowest point of a season full of lowest points. Think it’s a total coincidence that we were 13-9 (4-4) before they headed to the mall that night, and then didn’t win another game all year? Fitz did show some marked improvement on the floor over the past 10 games or so.
Tommy Mason-Griffin: C. This may seem a bit harsh considering TMG finished the year with some impressive numbers, but I think he was a big part of the problem in the cohesion department this year. He is a gifted scorer/shooter who has a great knack for getting himself good looks despite his size. And at times, he showed flashes of being a good passer who can set up his teammates. But his ball handling skills and decision making often bordered on horrendous. His defense was mostly atrocious. He had a run there in the middle of the season where he honestly looked like he could challenge for all-conference honors, but he regressed late in the year and his lack of hustle was apparent down the stretch. I hope I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t be shocked if TMG isn’t on the roster next year. He does have tremendous upside.
Tiny Gallon: C-. Some may think this isn’t low enough—but I think Tiny may be getting a bit too much of the blame for this season. Having said that, he certainly wasn’t part of the solution either. His “flashes” were occasionally brilliant, but they were almost always fleeting. We were lucky to see the “good” Tiny for a half, much less in back to back games. There is truly a great canvas with which to work when it comes to Tiny, but unless he totally commits himself to basketball, he will never reach that potential. His offensive game is impressive, but inconsistent. His defense was beyond disgusting.
Awards:
MVP: Tommy Mason-Griffin. Hard to give an MVP award out after a season like this, but if I had to do it, TMG would get it—our best moments of the year came when he was going off.
Defensive MVP: Cade Davis. Very good individual defender—especially in the first ¾ of the season.
Worst Individual Moment: The shoplfiting incident after the Texas win was an absolute killer for a team that was already a bit fragile.
Best Individual Moment: Racked my brain for this one and came up with Crocker’s 28 point first half early in the year. It meant nothing, but it was fun to watch.
Worst Loss: Take your pick. I’ll go with the loss to Tech at home by one point. It was our first loss of the year at home and I think that defeat officially zapped us of any energy we had for the remainder of the year. Again, we were short-handed that night due to the shoplifters.
Best Win: Texas, I guess. I enjoyed the win in Utah because at the time I thought we were turning a corner—but that proved to be a mirage. When we beat Texas, it appeared our season was worth saving.
Overall Season Grade: F. The only redeeming thing about this year was that it was SO bad that no one can be delusional about what needs to happen going forward. It was truly a miserable year. Things looked “wrong” when we were in Alaska way back in November, and it never got any better. Capel knew very early something was wrong, and he tried to “warn” everyone of things to come. One of the most memorable moments of the year was his radio interview with Bob Barry Sr. after the Northern Colorado game. Barry said, “I thought the guys played hard down the stretch.” Capel responded, “I’m glad you think that” and went on to blast the effort of the team, saying we’d probably get run over by UTEP in the next game. He was right, and despite a very brief mid-season “peak,” the season devolved from there.
Looking Ahead: Again, I’m a Capel guy. I’ll take his first three “A” seasons as evidence he can coach as opposed to this lousy season. For now, it’s a mulligan in my book. But it must turn around NEXT year. No excuses. I don’t think there is a win total that needs to be reached or anything concrete like that— Capel simply needs to right the ship in terms of how the team comes together. There needs to be discipline both on and off the floor and the team needs to be better next March than they will be next November.
In strict basketball terms, we must get stronger inside. The returning big men need to improve drastically on defense and commit themselves to being a presence in the paint. I’m usually not a big fan of JUCO kids, but this is a year where I wouldn’t mind seeing Capel go that route and bring in a couple of bangers down low. They need not be overly skilled—just a couple of brutes that can give us minutes and push Tiny and Fitz in practice.
For now, we’ll assume TMG returns. He needs to spend the entire off-season working on ball skills—on both ends of the floor. The guy can score, and I love that about him, but he’s far from the floor general we’ll need from our PG.
Cameron Clark should bring us something we desperately need—athleticism and size on the wing. I’m excited to see how he impacts the team. I’m also hopeful that Capel can finalize the deal on a few other top recruits that are still in play.
The big question heading into next year is Willie. Part of me wants him back for obvious reasons. Part of me wants him gone so we can go with a clean slate—if Willie truly is a bad influence on the young guys, then I’d just as soon see him leave. This is a tough call—and I have a feeling that this will be Capel’s most difficult decision. Maybe Willie will make it for him?
All in all, I have not lost faith in Capel or program. But this season will go down a major black mark on everyone’s resume. Capel had a ton of momentum going for the program headed into this year and most, if not all of that momentum was halted this year. He has some pieces in place already with a few more on the way. Capel now needs to determine which pieces can build us back up and which pieces caused the explosion in the first place.
As a die-hard fan of all my teams, I’m always a bit sad when a season comes to an end. But as the clock wound down in our game against the Pokes last night, I felt no sadness—just pure and utter relief. I was so happy that the misery was finally over. As a true fan, I wasn’t able to simply turn my back on this team and stop watching—even though they rarely earned my support. It was a good feeling waking up this morning knowing that I didn’t have to watch this team for one more minute this year.
I’ve given out grades/reviews in each of Capel’s first three years. His grades thus far have been A-, A, and A-. That’s a pretty stellar report card for such a young coach that took over an empty cupboard. I’m still baffled as to how we could tank so completely this season.
All I know is that I’m sorry it happened, I’m sorry I saw almost every minute of it, and I’m very thankful it’s over.
Final Season Grades:
(Grades are based on performance vs. expectation, with a dash of “intangible” mixed in. Seniors get two grades—season and career.)
Capel/Coaching Staff: D-. I will spare the staff an “F” simply because I do think that Capel realized the problem early in the season—he simply couldn’t figure out how to fix it. I appreciate his honesty and I am still a believer in Capel. Having said that, even his biggest fan/apologist (me) can’t put a positive spin on this year.
Tony Crocker: B. He had a really solid season that got lost amidst our misery. He was consistently the only one on the team that could be relied upon to bring energy and leadership on a nightly basis. As always, he went into offensive funks, but his effort never waned.
Career: B+. I will always remember Crocker for two things: Honoring his commitment when the other kids in his class bolted; and coming through in some dramatic spots throughout his career. Just awesome that the best game of his career came in the Sweet 16 against a favored Syracuse squad. Crocker got the most out of what he had. Capel could use more like him.
Ryan Wright: C. Average at best. I’ll give him this grade based more on his achievements off the floor than on it. By all accounts Wright is an excellent student and great guy who tried very hard to be a positive influence on our knucklehead freshmen. Problem for Wright was that he simply wasn’t very skilled.
Career: C-. Maybe we expected too much out of him simply because he came from UCLA. Made zero impact his junior year (when we could have used a solid back-up big man) and even though he improved his senior year, it wasn’t nearly enough. Good representative for the school, but disappointing results on the court.
Cade Davis: B-. He was cruising for an A early in the year, but his production dwindled dramatically down the stretch. Unfortunately, I think his effort seemed to do the same. It seemed he got “infected” late in the year with the general malaise that struck the whole team. Technically, he shot the ball way too often. He proved to be a pretty good weapon when he used his size and athleticsm to take the ball to the rim, crash the boards, and hassle his opponent. But too often he settled for life beyond the arc. We’ll need his senior leadership next year and I hope he decides to spend more time in the paint.
Willie Warren: D/Incomplete. Hard to fully judge Willie because I do believe that he was seriously injured from about mid-season on. Right before he got hurt, I thought he may have been turning a corner at least in his approach to the game, but it was too late by then. No doubt Willie’s attitude got the entire season off on the wrong foot and it set a horrible example for our freshmen. Willie did nothing to help galvanize the team early and his body language and his game were just “off” from the word go.
Ray Willis: C-. Barely got enough minutes to qualify for a grade, but life is all about opportunities—Willis had a few fleeting opportunities this season and he failed to capitalize. He’s fun to watch in those ugly blowout games early in the season because he’ll launch from anywhere at anytime, but when he was inserted into more meaningful action, he failed to impress.
Steven Pledger: F. Strictly on the floor, he probably earned a C-, but his shoplifiting fiasco derailed the only momentum we ever had this year. Kid can shoot, and might be a good specialist down the road, but he showed little else.
Andrew Fitzgerald: D-. Fitz’s gets an awful grade for much the same reason that Pledger got his---the shoplifiting incident was the lowest point of a season full of lowest points. Think it’s a total coincidence that we were 13-9 (4-4) before they headed to the mall that night, and then didn’t win another game all year? Fitz did show some marked improvement on the floor over the past 10 games or so.
Tommy Mason-Griffin: C. This may seem a bit harsh considering TMG finished the year with some impressive numbers, but I think he was a big part of the problem in the cohesion department this year. He is a gifted scorer/shooter who has a great knack for getting himself good looks despite his size. And at times, he showed flashes of being a good passer who can set up his teammates. But his ball handling skills and decision making often bordered on horrendous. His defense was mostly atrocious. He had a run there in the middle of the season where he honestly looked like he could challenge for all-conference honors, but he regressed late in the year and his lack of hustle was apparent down the stretch. I hope I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t be shocked if TMG isn’t on the roster next year. He does have tremendous upside.
Tiny Gallon: C-. Some may think this isn’t low enough—but I think Tiny may be getting a bit too much of the blame for this season. Having said that, he certainly wasn’t part of the solution either. His “flashes” were occasionally brilliant, but they were almost always fleeting. We were lucky to see the “good” Tiny for a half, much less in back to back games. There is truly a great canvas with which to work when it comes to Tiny, but unless he totally commits himself to basketball, he will never reach that potential. His offensive game is impressive, but inconsistent. His defense was beyond disgusting.
Awards:
MVP: Tommy Mason-Griffin. Hard to give an MVP award out after a season like this, but if I had to do it, TMG would get it—our best moments of the year came when he was going off.
Defensive MVP: Cade Davis. Very good individual defender—especially in the first ¾ of the season.
Worst Individual Moment: The shoplfiting incident after the Texas win was an absolute killer for a team that was already a bit fragile.
Best Individual Moment: Racked my brain for this one and came up with Crocker’s 28 point first half early in the year. It meant nothing, but it was fun to watch.
Worst Loss: Take your pick. I’ll go with the loss to Tech at home by one point. It was our first loss of the year at home and I think that defeat officially zapped us of any energy we had for the remainder of the year. Again, we were short-handed that night due to the shoplifters.
Best Win: Texas, I guess. I enjoyed the win in Utah because at the time I thought we were turning a corner—but that proved to be a mirage. When we beat Texas, it appeared our season was worth saving.
Overall Season Grade: F. The only redeeming thing about this year was that it was SO bad that no one can be delusional about what needs to happen going forward. It was truly a miserable year. Things looked “wrong” when we were in Alaska way back in November, and it never got any better. Capel knew very early something was wrong, and he tried to “warn” everyone of things to come. One of the most memorable moments of the year was his radio interview with Bob Barry Sr. after the Northern Colorado game. Barry said, “I thought the guys played hard down the stretch.” Capel responded, “I’m glad you think that” and went on to blast the effort of the team, saying we’d probably get run over by UTEP in the next game. He was right, and despite a very brief mid-season “peak,” the season devolved from there.
Looking Ahead: Again, I’m a Capel guy. I’ll take his first three “A” seasons as evidence he can coach as opposed to this lousy season. For now, it’s a mulligan in my book. But it must turn around NEXT year. No excuses. I don’t think there is a win total that needs to be reached or anything concrete like that— Capel simply needs to right the ship in terms of how the team comes together. There needs to be discipline both on and off the floor and the team needs to be better next March than they will be next November.
In strict basketball terms, we must get stronger inside. The returning big men need to improve drastically on defense and commit themselves to being a presence in the paint. I’m usually not a big fan of JUCO kids, but this is a year where I wouldn’t mind seeing Capel go that route and bring in a couple of bangers down low. They need not be overly skilled—just a couple of brutes that can give us minutes and push Tiny and Fitz in practice.
For now, we’ll assume TMG returns. He needs to spend the entire off-season working on ball skills—on both ends of the floor. The guy can score, and I love that about him, but he’s far from the floor general we’ll need from our PG.
Cameron Clark should bring us something we desperately need—athleticism and size on the wing. I’m excited to see how he impacts the team. I’m also hopeful that Capel can finalize the deal on a few other top recruits that are still in play.
The big question heading into next year is Willie. Part of me wants him back for obvious reasons. Part of me wants him gone so we can go with a clean slate—if Willie truly is a bad influence on the young guys, then I’d just as soon see him leave. This is a tough call—and I have a feeling that this will be Capel’s most difficult decision. Maybe Willie will make it for him?
All in all, I have not lost faith in Capel or program. But this season will go down a major black mark on everyone’s resume. Capel had a ton of momentum going for the program headed into this year and most, if not all of that momentum was halted this year. He has some pieces in place already with a few more on the way. Capel now needs to determine which pieces can build us back up and which pieces caused the explosion in the first place.