Coach Frank Martin

[Camby4Life]

My favorite thing* is when folks think they know — without being around a program — what a coach is thinking, or know his/her instruction methods really are, or how much assistant coaches do or don’t do.

* by favorite thing I mean my favorite thing to laugh at.

Certainly I have some concerns with the diminishing returns on the court as of late, but I have no idea about any of the above stuff. None of us do really. Wondering about it is certainly natural and fine, but some folks act like they know. It’s quite funny.

My main concerns are with the defense getting worse not better and with the sometimes maddening turnovers and inability to finish inside.

Do the lineups bother me? Sure, sometimes, but I also don’t think we are as talented as some folks think we are. There was a talent upgrade from last year, sure, but that is also like saying you outgrew a midget. All of these players have warts.

I don’t think the players — Gapare and DD — that most folks seem to think should get more minutes, would make a huge difference in the final results.

Gapare is clearly gifted but he’s also clearly not strong enough out there. I say this while also saying I would like to see him get more minutes for developmental purposes.

And DD has turned himself into a wonderful offensive player, much better than I ever expected, but his defense is pretty awful. Similarly, I do think he should play a bit more as well, but I’m more concerned about the issues I outlined above than I am by the lineups, especially the team defense, which I expected to be consistent and good all year and it hasn’t been.

People are good at yelling on Twitter about the lineups but if I posted there, I would be yelling about the defense or the turnovers.

Lastly, missing two of our best players hurts us quite a bit. I think Luis is turning himself into our best two way player already, while TJ is just so damn inconsistent (Luis is too to an extent but he’s a freshman and he’s creating not just finishing.)

Noah meanwhile, provides some steadiness and scoring on offense. Diggins and Keon have both shown flashes here and there but neither one of them can really shoot. Any lineup that has one or two of them and then Martin and Leveque is going to be challenged offensively (yes a lineup critique!)

Great post and I’m hoping it’s a representation of the silent majority on here. The last two points would be near the top of my list. Diggins and Keon are showing they are at least capable of getting minutes but they can’t be relied upon to be consistent for all 40. The shooting from 3 is horrible to put it nicely, they are both taking way too many and I’m surprised Frank hasn’t given them both the red light.

We need Noah back and agree with your Luis take. We obviously need to be at full strength down the stretch to have a chance to make a run.

[NilesGold]

Do the lineups bother me? Sure, sometimes, but I also don’t think we are as talented as some folks think we are. There was a talent upgrade from last year, sure, but that is also like saying you outgrew a midget. All of these players have warts.

Last Season: Conference Record 7-11, Kenpom rank 185
This Season: Conference Record 2-4, Kenpom rank 162

Very real possibility that this year's team finishes no better than last year's team in terms of conference record and Kenpom rank, which should be alarming considering most would probably agree that we have a more talented roster (degree to which is debatable).

People are good at yelling on Twitter about the lineups but if I posted there, I would be yelling about the defense or the turnovers.

There's some degree of causality between lineups/rotations and a team's level of defense & turnovers.

[Plano Minuteman]

^

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but last year's team was much more experienced as far as number of college basketball games played so I wouldn't necessarily be alarmed if this year's team doesn't outperform them, record-wise.

I would hope we'd slaughter last year's team in defensive metrics though.

And it looks like we are, overall.

We're 86th this year with a rating of 0.952 (I assume that's points given up per possession).

Last year we were 336th with a rating of 1.090.

[Jackson96]

Do the lineups bother me? Sure, sometimes, but I also don’t think we are as talented as some folks think we are. There was a talent upgrade from last year, sure, but that is also like saying you outgrew a midget. All of these players have warts.

Last Season: Conference Record 7-11, Kenpom rank 185
This Season: Conference Record 2-4, Kenpom rank 162

Very real possibility that this year's team finishes no better than last year's team in terms of conference record and Kenpom rank, which should be alarming considering most would probably agree that we have a more talented roster (degree to which is debatable).

People are good at yelling on Twitter about the lineups but if I posted there, I would be yelling about the defense or the turnovers.

There's some degree of causality between lineups/rotations and a team's level of defense & turnovers.

Yeah if they finished with a similar record that would be concerning, Niles. And as I've said in several posts, several times (including the one you responded to), I do have concerns.

To your point about the relationship between lineups and defense/turnovers - not sure how big of a relationship there is. Maybe it's bigger than I think, maybe it isn't. They've had some extended stretches where they've played good defense. They've had some smaller stretches where they took care of the ball. I think not having Wildens (the last game notwithstanding) has hurt their defense (and I actually think not having RJ on the perimeter to defend also has hurt the last couple of games) and then I think not having Noah (and RJ to a smaller, different extent) has hurt the offense in general. But still the trending is concerning regardless of who is/isn't available.

Maybe they do win another game or two if Martin uses different lineups, I don't know. I certainly agree with most that B Martin shouldn't be playing as much as he is. I also think TJ (if Luis is healthy) shouldn't be playing as much as he is (or perhaps playing with RJ to help with spacing) given his issues with consistency. Our non-Noah point guards are a mess. I do think having a lineup with both Gapare and Luis out there would probably be a good place to start. They might make some bad plays but I'd like to see them develop together around Cross/DD/Leveque/Noah and then a couple of other dudes.

I think we probably agree on a lot of things Niles, I'm just not sure yelling "Frank Martin fucking sucks!" halfway through his first season (which is odd coming from someone who was so patient with Kellogg) is one of those things.

[Merlin Samuels]

I can’t believe how many people sound the alarms here.

At what point are we allowed to sound the alarm bells?

Sound them whenever you damn well want. I’m going to comment on it if I think it’s ridiculous though.

[Not Trigger]

So what have I learned in the last couple of pages, FM sucks because... when he sits during games he crosses his legs, he dresses differently then the assistant coaches, this may or may not be true but it's possible he doesn't want to coach anymore, he cares too much about his family, Gapare doesn't have the strength and stamina to play more minutes but should be playing more minutes.

What isn't mentioned is that the one indispensable player on the team has only played 11 of the first 18 games. With a healthy Fernandes we have beaten the two best teams we've faced Colorado and St. Louis (without our starting center).

With a healthy Noah UMass makes a run in the A10 tourney.

[SignMan]

^ I promise I will commence the 3 letter t article as soon as a Poster can tell the me how to post here in Patois.

[NilesGold]

I can’t believe how many people sound the alarms here.

At what point are we allowed to sound the alarm bells?

Sound them whenever you damn well want. I’m going to comment on it if I think it’s ridiculous though.

Call me curious, at what point do you personally think it's not ridiculous?

[NilesGold]

So what have I learned in the last couple of pages, FM sucks because... when he sits during games he crosses his legs, he dresses differently then the assistant coaches, this may or may not be true but it's possible he doesn't want to coach anymore, he cares too much about his family, Gapare doesn't have the strength and stamina to play more minutes but should be playing more minutes.

What isn't mentioned is that the one indispensable player on the team has only played 11 of the first 18 games. With a healthy Fernandes we have beaten the two best teams we've faced Colorado and St. Louis (without our starting center).

With a healthy Noah UMass makes a run in the A10 tourney.

That first paragraph is pretty funny, but not at all accurate or representative of many legitimate concerns people have expressed here regarding Frank.

UMass is 1-3 in A10 play WITH Noah, so he's not exactly the antidote to what ails this team.

[eldonabe]

Frank is about discipline - ironically, this team seems to lack quite a bit of that.

They are inconsistent on defense and way too much hero ball. The last few games the hero ball has become more evident. Lots of very bad half ending possessions where there is a lot a dribbling, no passing and forced final shots..... What I do not understand is that Frank stands there in a time out appearing to draw up some kind of play, and all it looks like is give one guy the ball and let him dribble around to fire something up he tries to create by himself. Is THAT what Frank is drawing up? For the number of times he blows his stack, he rarely does after those situations play out. So is he drawing up those shitty plays?

I hate the cliche`s but this is not gelling together. They played better team ball in December than they are now - MUCH better.

I don't know what to make of his Kid still starting and getting as much run as he does - he is not the best player they have at that position, but those others are not consistent so maybe that is why? I am not sure it even matters at this point.

I am not moving on to next season by any means, but I am looking forward to see how this program progresses in year 2 and 3.

[Camby4Life]

So what have I learned in the last couple of pages, FM sucks because... when he sits during games he crosses his legs, he dresses differently then the assistant coaches, this may or may not be true but it's possible he doesn't want to coach anymore, he cares too much about his family, Gapare doesn't have the strength and stamina to play more minutes but should be playing more minutes.

What isn't mentioned is that the one indispensable player on the team has only played 11 of the first 18 games. With a healthy Fernandes we have beaten the two best teams we've faced Colorado and St. Louis (without our starting center).

With a healthy Noah UMass makes a run in the A10 tourney.

That first paragraph is pretty funny, but not at all accurate or representative of many legitimate concerns people have expressed here regarding Frank.

UMass is 1-3 in A10 play WITH Noah, so he's not exactly the antidote to what ails this team.

Umass was also 6-1 to start the season WITH a healthy Noah. Injuries are not the sole reason of the current record but when the main injury is to your point guard leader there will likely be a drop off. Cross also missed some time early on, WL has been out most of conference play, Luis has been one of our consistent guys off the bench and has become a key closer.

I was expecting a better conference record than 2-4, but looking at that schedule on paper, Lasalle is really the only “bad” loss. The SLU win still counts as a win against one of the “top 3”, I’m not ready to discount that one. I’m just going to wait until they get the full lineup back and see how it plays out, if they ever get everyone back at the same time.

[Merlin Samuels]

At what point are we allowed to sound the alarm bells?

Sound them whenever you damn well want. I’m going to comment on it if I think it’s ridiculous though.

Call me curious, at what point do you personally think it's not ridiculous?

I’m giving any coach at least a full season and probably two these days instead of three. Regardless of the new transfer rules, it’s still his first season and the team is sitting at a .600 record with some great wins and a tournament championship. Currently the best player and leader is out.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

I'm so sorry, everyone.

[inthescoop]

Niles was way nicer with McCall, I think he gave him a couple of seasons before he wanted him gone. And I think that McCall was far far far worse than what Martin is doing right now. After years of McCall, I'm grateful with what we have right now.

[Roadtrip]

"Frank is about discipline" yet he remains undisiplined. Maybe time to lead by example.