Herein lies the problem—this is not the gameplan. We can only assume the coaching staff is trying everything it can to prevent the players from doing this. Otz has talked about ball movement before. But injuries and illnesses preventing guys not only from playing in games but also from practicing is still affecting the team. They don't quite trust each other on passes, and aren't on the same wavelength as far as ball-handlers-not-named-Lipsey and anyone off the ball. Don't take my word for it, everyone should watch the CF video of Otz’s postgame responses. He made no excuses, but said their success early in the season was almost entirely the result of guys "earning it" on the practice court. But in recent months they have not had a full cast in practice, the implication being they haven't been able to "earn it," i.e., extensively prepare to perform at their best in games. We can say "They should be fresh, then!" or "Practices aren't that useful,“ but it's hard to repeatedly plug guys into games who haven't necessarily practiced at full speed—or at all—with the other guys you want to play big minutes.
So, lack of trust/discombobulation -> hesitant and stagnant offense. I’m not saying Otz is Mark Pope, but I can’t get on board with the people saying Schmidt needs to go or that Otz has no idea how to coach offense. These aren't Xs and Os problems IMO. The coaches aren’t telling the players to pass it once, stand around, and have Jefferson take a timid floater or Jones take a long 2.
What last night boils down to is whether you think there's not enough time left for guys to get in sync, or whether they proved to themselves even in a loss that they can lean on their defense when they're struggling on the other end. Those who believe the former may be right. I'm going to hold out hope for the latter because, honestly, last night plus the weather in the Midwest right now has me bummed, but optimism is a choice.
