I do agree, partially, with your assessment of our late season swoons. It is mostly about mental/emotional fatigue. Our coaches acknowlege that fact and I think the players recognize it as well. However, the problem goes a little deeper than just that side of things for last year's addition of our roster. When our 3 point shooting was on and Alex stayed out of foul trouble, we were blowing teams out. When outside shots were not falling and we were forced to go inside, games were tight. In games like that, you need to pound it inside and have confidence in that aspect of the game. Truthfully, we only had Jones to fill that role and the problem was further exasperated when Tew was in foul trouble. our backup post players were liabilities on both ends of the floor. That is why they were cut. All four of our scholarship players who entered the portal were told that their grants would not be extended.
Our recruiting has addressed the needs we had for better offensive punch in the post positions and more consistent outside shooting. We also needed to address the rebounding lost to graduation. We can only hope that those needs have been taken care of with the guys we have signed.
Using the depth on the bench and dealing with the mental/emotional issues are regular topics with our coaches. I know that they talk with all of their coaching network about how to best approach the issue. We certainly are not the only team to experience this. I feel that they would use any majic wand solution if their was one.
Motivational dynamics was one of my studies in college and it really is a multi faceted issue. There are certain things that a leader can do to enhance another persons motivation and mental sharpness, but much of that is still on the shoulders of the team members.
