A Saturday rambling

The pickings are slim today what with no actual news -- exclusively a flurry of senior night stories. So we decided to grab this article and work from it. Credit goes to OldBronco who posted it on the basketball message board of the Boise State Scout site BroncoCountry.com:

Hewitt talks about tweets, the AJC and his team
Doug Roberson
Atlanta Journal Constitution
February 25, 2010

Georgia Tech men’s basketball coach Paul Hewitt approved a series of tweets from GTCoachHewitt on Wednesday to fans and those who have questioned his team:

* Clearly we are playing our best basketball of the season. Don’t believe what you read from the “experts.” Believe what you see.

* As we are coming to the latter part of the season, now is not the time to be judgemental. You all need to come out and support this team.

* Are you a critic or a supporter of this team? Supporters will continue to watch this team fight.

* To you critics: when athletes say some of the things you say, then you condemn them as quitters. Are you quitting?

* I believe in this team!

Go here to read the remainder of the article.

Here's our stream-of-consciousness on the various subjects contained in this piece:

Coaching is a public profession. But the men and woman in the ranks know this upon entering the field and the accolades/razzberries are, for better and for worse, part and parcel of the job...

...What is different from most other positions though is that damn near everyone in the capacity of fan-dom membership feels he or she could perform the job better than the individual actually doing it...

...Do keep in mind that most, if not all, coaches forsake message boards, for good reasons. It's not like they will pick up a nugget or two of knowledge from any of the postings and, foremost, all they need to do is keep the AD on their side...

...The denigration of certain coaches and more than a few players as a relative if not the actual Prince of Darkness is absolutely out of bounds. It serves no purpose other than making the typist or speaker inexplicably feel better...

...The phrase "it's all about the Jimmys and the Joes" says that talent is foremost, meaning recruiting is the key to success in college basketball. That's not an absolute without a few well-placed ifs, ands and buts -- however, a certain level of talent is required in order to win and/or win consistently. By the way, we heard what to us was a new variation of the phrase last week when a scout at a game commented that "there was one Jimmy and a bunch of Joes."...

...But besides talent there is also player development, offensive and defensive design, execution, remaining injury-free, the player acceptance of specified roles and probably a few more we can't think of right now. It's a given that some coaches are better than others vis-a-vis a few of these elements but our bottom line is that everyone in the collegiate coaching profession knows enough of what to do. Sure, some coaches are better than others in some of these categories but we believe all still goes back to recruiting -- the getting of the right talent for the various tasks in the systems that will be played.

We refer to Stew Morrill's 'situation' as Shawn Harrison wrote about in his February 23 Herald Journal article:

"...And what fits is numerous plays that need to be executed. Many times Morrill’s assistants have returned from a scouting trip to inform the head man, “this kid is good, but he can’t play for you.” It takes what Morrill called Tuesday, “a high basketball IQ” to be able to flourish in the current Aggie system..."

Certainly feel free to correct us but there aren't many other WAC team rosters that could be exchanged for the current Aggie one with the Utah State success then being maintained. And that's not based solely on talent.

The learning curve is simply greater for Aggie hoops.

Granted, having older and more mature players at his disposal aids Morrill's system but it's also landing the mix of talent/potential that typically early on buys into the success of the team concept over that of individual glory.

But for the other WAC teams, the answer isn't as simpleton-ish as 'let's run the system Morrill uses.' Other styles, all across the country, can and do work just as well. But more importantly, could the other WAC entities recruit what is needed to employ a Morrill-ish system? There's the rub. In this day of uber-instant gratification and the desire to sprint up the floor offensively, having a huge playbook with roles/tasks/routes etc. specified is not exactly a magnet-like draw for most. Morrill has a very unique situation, with some built-in advantages. But never underestimate or forsake the effort he, his staff and his players and the USU fans have offered throughout the years and what they have built...

...Finally, there are so many matters that take place within a program (as with any other type of organization) that will never reach the attention of 99.9% of fans. That is why absolute certitude statements are built on, at best, flimsy stilts. There are the stories and then the stories behind the stories and this will always be. Whether it be explaining a particular vote in government, certain actions by public and private figures or even some of our own decisions, what remains buried from public view is most often the linchpin.