Chemistry Issues?

[bucknut11]

I know it has been referenced in several different threads, but I thought I'd start a discussion solely devoted to this topic...


Seth Davis and SI have picked up on chemistry issues, hoopsfan has mentioned them, and watching them play, you can see it as well.

"If it has to be a freshman to step up and yell at somebody, then so be it, that?s how it?s going to have to be," Conley said. "If coach thinks they?re not giving the leadership, we?re kind of complacent and standing back and not knowing if we should step in at a certain time and yell at upperclassmen or get in somebody?s face for taking a bad shot, because you don?t know how they?re going to react.... Like coach said, we need to come together in situations like that instead of everybody spreading apart and trying to do their own thing. I think we?ll be all right if we do that. "

Dispatch


Is this going to become a problem as the Big Dance nears?

 

[crazybuckfan40]

I was hearing some not so good things midway thru the season, but as of now things seemed to ironed out a little bit better...

I think Matta has done a good job of bringing this team together...

 

[Mike80]

Nothing fixes a problem like finding a way to win as a team.

They have oscillated back and forth between winning as a team and outscoring other teams as a group of individuals.

 

[zincfinger]

I thought this thread was going to be about catalysts and valence bond theory.

 

[Steve19]

I thought this thread was going to be about catalysts and valence bond theory.

There were a bunch of other guys who got that "oh no you don't, marriage counsellor breath" twitch.

I think some guys on BP have picked up the seeming individual behavior of the upperclassmen. The other day someone noticed that they seem to want to get their points. It cannot have been easy to watch the Thad Five stroll through the door to such acclaim when you believe you have done pretty good yourself in recent years.

It would be foolish to ignore the individual dynamics going on here or to diminish the level of maturity the upperclassmen have to dig deep and find. Oden appears and Lewis disappears. He can't of liked that very much. Butler has really had to put his own aspirations on the back boiler in order to accommodate Conley. Upperclassmen, shmupperclassmen, these are still kids emotionally and they are being asked to act with a very high level of maturity, which it appears they are doing for the most part.

I don't see enough games to comment on whether there are problems or not but, if this team is going to get deep in the NCAA, it won't be because of individual talent.

Matta clearly was exasperated the other night and one gets the feeling that he is not in control of this team's behavior on the floor as much as he would like. So, maybe there is a problem about to explode. Maybe there is not. Or maybe Matta can keep the lid on for the dozen or so games that remain until the Florida rematch.

Maturity is not about years in school, it's an attitude of life that assesses context and likely outcomes before behavior. Perhaps this team's Achilles heel is that it must rely on freshmen to provide that maturity. Perhaps that will be its strength.

 

[Bestbuck36]

Nothing fixes a guys "me first" attitude like pine splinters!