Life, business and sports are all moving targets. You have to adapt, you have to change, and no matter our considerable success this year, these are the changes I'd like to see next year.
OFFENSE: I once had a girlfriend who knew nothing about sports, which made her uncomfortable around my sports buddies. But I said, "No problem. In any conversation, just listen. Then, at an appropriate moment, say "DEFENSE!" It worked every time. Everybody immediately agreed! She knew her stuff! She was one of us! She loved me for it. We always laughed about it.
And it's true, good defense always levels the playing field. As horrible as that ten minute drought was against Michigan, we came out of it only three possessions down, still in the game, because our defense was terrific. And YET! Games are won and lost on the scoreboard; to win consistently, you have to have the ability to put up points, in bursts at times. Somehow, some way, we have to develop, steal, recruit, find or build in a biology lab one or two guys who can shoot the damned ball. Yes, I know, even the best teams can go cold, and even a Steph Curry can have one or two bad shooting nights. But when it happens with us as often as it did this year, especially against the Power Five teams like Penn State, Stanford and Michigan, you have to say, it's not just a team gone cold--it's a team that at the very least has to have better shooters. UMBC won that game last night against Virginia because they were in a shooting zone, and kept pouring it on relentlessly late when you expected they might suddenly collapse. They just kept putting that damned ball in the basket, especially the three-ball, the shot that has changed the game. We did not, and could not. If we had, we could have taken down Michigan. The game was ours for the taking.
POST PLAY: Finally, in the fourth year of the DeCuire regime, we got some legit bigs--Akoh and Nicholas. What a relief! At the same time, all our bigs had flaws, and those really showed up against Michigan. Where Oguine and Rorie, arguably the best guard tandem ever had at Montana, were more than up to the challenge against Michigan, our post play was embarrassing, almost comically inept. Krslovic got blocked once and seemed timid after that. Akoh rebounded okay, but disappeared offensively, as if the ball had been greased. If we'd had better post play, it would have opened up a lot more driving lanes for our guards as well.
On this score, help may be on the way. Nicholas will improve, and hopefully Akoh as well. Kelby Kramer brings legit height and a redshirt year to the table, so he should contribute. If Mack Anderson can contribute anything as a true freshman, it would be helpful as well. You could conceivably have four legit bigs in a conference not known for bigs--and ones who could compete against Power Five post players. Fingers crossed.
ROTATION: I'm not a big fan of the seven-man, or even eight-man rotation, for two reasons. First, injuries. Luckily, we went an entire year with no major injuries--a rarity, frankly. By playing ten, you develop deeper talent as you go, as the big schools know. Remember when North Carolina went the first seven minutes without a bucket against Miami in the ACC tournament, Roy Williams benched all five starters, and brought in his next five, and they turned the game around. Depth is always good, and for as second reason as well: You don't want to burn out your starters. DeCuire was masterful at the way he shuffled players in and out, yet Rorie still played tons of minutes every game. And when you're expending as much energy on defense as our kids too, it's also going to wear you down on the offensive end. So I believe a deeper rotation would lead to better shooting.
FAN SUPPORT: I see it coming back, I do. More fans at road games, even a sellout at Dahlberg. The beauty of this year's team is, most of them will be back--with promising players in Kelby Kamer and Mack Anderson joining the party. Thus I think the enthusiasm we created this year will carry over to next year, and beyond. DeCuire has got this program rolling.