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Early Observations, Maybe Too Early

Get real!!

Nobody, and certainly not me, said that Beckner wasn't a good skills coach. He has a good eye for detail, and that is what is needed for a skills coach.

The only thing that I said was that coach Smiley is just as good and maybe better.

The loss of Beckner has nothing whatsoever to do with our early season debacle. Some of you are reading things that are not being written.

We all know that Beckner had a good relationship with Dame. We also know that he had a very poor relationship some other players over the years. All of that does not prove anything. :twocents:
 
BTW, Beckner didn't leave for more money, it was about the same. He didn't leave for a higher ranking position, it was about the same. He didn't leave for more recognition, it's the D league for gads sake. He left for 'a change of scenery'.

Enough said!
 
Good players want to be coached. Great players want to be told the truth!
The issue with Beckner is that he wanted every player to be great...... Sometimes the players were just happy with being good.
Yes, he was hard on the players, but his ability to develop players is why he's in the "D" league. It's was a very positive move for his future as a coach!
You're fooling yourself if you think this wasn't a great move for his coaching resume!
 
It was a lateral move for professional reasons. He had no chance for advancement at WSU. Randy and Eric are not going anywhere soon. He may or may not have opportunities where he is at. At the very least, it will show some diversity on his resume'. Changes in latitude, changes in attitude. That's straight from the horses mouth. Take it for what it is. :coffee:
 
Beckner left because it was a job in the NBA, and he doesn't have to recruit. He is a hell of a good coach. But, a lot of what he learned he gained from Coach Rahe. This isssue has very little to do with coaching. It might have something to do with the players being coachable and doing what they need to do to develop. I like what midmajor said. Some players are happy with just being good. Heavens, that might be their ceilings, while others take the next step. Some players want to take the step, but don't allow themselves the time to develop. Growth isn't necessarily like a weed. Great growth in the majority of circumstances is like a tree. It takes time. But it is far more solid than the quick growth of a weed. You can't guide weeds, but you can with trees.

Weber is 5 games into a season. Lets enjoy what we get from this very young team. Eastern Washington fans had to suffer through three really hard seasons and now they are reaping the rewards of growth. Look at Chris Woods. A Weber State great. He gave himself four years and took advantage of his time. He only got better each year. That is all a player can ask of himself. The chance to improve. We are far to worried about being the best now and that just doesn't happen. Weber is good, but this team will be great. Along the way, there will be bumps and bruises. It is all part of the journey. We've got to take the highs with the lows.
 
I think much of the frustration is coming from the fact that a few of the players look to have regressed from last year. Maybe it's the cliché "sophomore slump".
 
It's amusing, maybe a little disturbing, that many of you are ready to throw in the towel on the season after just a few losses. I agree that the start of this season has been less than stellar. However, there is a long ways to go yet. I believe that our guys will get this thing figured out. We'll be OK. :thumb: :thumb:
 
oldrunner said:
It's amusing, maybe a little disturbing, that many of you are ready to throw in the towel on the season after just a few losses. I agree that the start of this season has been less than stellar. However, there is a long ways to go yet. I believe that our guys will get this thing figured out. We'll be OK. :thumb: :thumb:
Click to expand...
I threw the towel in on the ooc season years ago. I'm afraid as long as Rahe is coaching this team, we shouldn't get our hopes up versus ooc and in-state. I had hopes for conference play, given how bad the conference has been the past several years, but the conference is actually better this year, and we are worse.
 
Olds when was the last time you remember a Weber team getting almost no production from the bench? I can't remember a bench this bad in the Rahe era. I am remembering the 08-09 team being a little thin in the bench. Our starters are looking tired and it is December.
 
It's Rahe's fault we don't have a Senior class.

Exactly what was the point of Hajek eating up a scholarship the last 5 years. What a waste of time for all involved. Huge recruiting misses puts us in bad shape this year and maybe next.
 
Let’s not throw in the towel but let’s be realistic. It is really quite funny to see the ups and downs of us as fans starting last April with the unrealistic expectations regarding the incoming freshman class. Reality is that freshmen rarely make a huge impact. And bottom line is that our entire team is young, a lot of freshman and sophomores. Until this group gets some solid playing time and has time to develop we can hope for the best but we will probably end up with less. Perhaps it is time to adjust our expectations?

As far as this year goes, it is anybody’s guess whether this team is going to win the BSC regular season, which means the tournament will likely be on the road somewhere. That probably eliminates the chances of WSU going to the NCAA. Which is OK, but given our play so far we can probably expect at best a bid from the CIT, which could be a great experience for this young team. From my point of view these are the things that we need to work on and they are not going to come easy:

• Someone said they overheard Coach Rahe pleading with the guards to rebound during a timeout at UTA. You just don’t go out and teach players how to rebound in a week. Some players never learn. It takes the right attitude, hard work, and yes skill development. My guess is that we will struggle with this all year long. Meanwhile, the coaches need to earn their pay to make whatever tweaks can help the situation.

• Our assist to turnover ratio is abysmal (UTA game 15 TO’s to 8 assists). For the season we have 108 TO’s to 69 assists in 7 games. BYU, our next opponent has 126 TO’s to 180 assists in 9 games!!! There are so many issues here that again, we will likely struggle the rest of this year. Again, teaching someone how to create plays and get the entire team involved will take time. Hopefully, it continues to improve?

• Bench scoring and rebounding … our bench is Hayek, JC, and Hunter. Together they are averaging about 7 points and 5 rebounds a game while playing about 13 average minutes per game. Just for fun let’s take each players best game out of the average and you end up with 4 points and 3 rebounds a game for this group. That is pretty much a non-factor for any game we play.

Our record is 3-4 and but for a couple of buzzer beaters and half court shots could be 1-6. I for one say that we change the starting line-up as many have indicated. I also think we should be playing the freshmen more, including Richardson and Van Pelt. The freshmen will be around for 3 more years. Let’s see what they can bring, plus that is better for recruiting.
 
WeberSki said:
It's Rahe's fault we don't have a Senior class.

Exactly what was the point of Hajek eating up a scholarship the last 5 years. What a waste of time for all involved. Huge recruiting misses puts us in bad shape this year and maybe next.
Click to expand...

Hayek has worked very hard every year he has been here but has had some tough luck with injuries. Having a scholarship is like having a job to all of these kids. I would think that it would be very negative to our recruiting if the coaches were to get rid of kids for things that happen out of their control, or if they are never given a fair chance to develop and show what they can do. That being said, I wonder if he is being used in the best way for the team this year.
 
oldrunner said:
It's amusing, maybe a little disturbing, that many of you are ready to throw in the towel on the season after just a few losses. I agree that the start of this season has been less than stellar. However, there is a long ways to go yet. I believe that our guys will get this thing figured out. We'll be OK. :thumb: :thumb:
Click to expand...


I tried last summer to get you guys to not drink too much of Old's kool-aid but he was quite convincing. Even after all the over-hype you guys aren't that far off. Maybe next year when Olds starts crowing about 3 star,2 star, greatest defense he's ever seen, best shooters and ball handlers in the BSC, you all will tell him to wait and see before you start lips moving. No hard feelings but you have to admit I was closer than Olds when I said you guys lost a lot last year and replacing them was going to take time, not just plugging in a freshman or a juco and everything is just fine. Sac is having a lot of turnover problems and we brought back arguably the best backcourt in the conference. We are all still dealing and rooting for a bunch of 19, 20, and 21 year old kids. As a parent I know kids will either make you feel like a million dollars or very disappointed and sometimes both at once. Hang in there......it has to get better eventually
 
sacstateman said:
oldrunner said:
It's amusing, maybe a little disturbing, that many of you are ready to throw in the towel on the season after just a few losses. I agree that the start of this season has been less than stellar. However, there is a long ways to go yet. I believe that our guys will get this thing figured out. We'll be OK. :thumb: :thumb:
Click to expand...


I tried last summer to get you guys to not drink too much of Old's kool-aid but he was quite convincing. Even after all the over-hype you guys aren't that far off. Maybe next year when Olds starts crowing about 3 star,2 star, greatest defense he's ever seen, best shooters and ball handlers in the BSC, you all will tell him to wait and see before you start lips moving. No hard feelings but you have to admit I was closer than Olds when I said you guys lost a lot last year and replacing them was going to take time, not just plugging in a freshman or a juco and everything is just fine. Sac is having a lot of turnover problems and we brought back arguably the best backcourt in the conference. We are all still dealing and rooting for a bunch of 19, 20, and 21 year old kids. As a parent I know kids will either make you feel like a million dollars or very disappointed and sometimes both at once. Hang in there......it has to get better eventually
Click to expand...

Good comments Sac...... Was a lot of sugar in that kool aid! Weber will be ok...... Not what we expected, but ok! We will get better as the season progresses. The question is are we developing our players for the future!
 
Midmajor?? said:
sacstateman said:
oldrunner said:
It's amusing, maybe a little disturbing, that many of you are ready to throw in the towel on the season after just a few losses. I agree that the start of this season has been less than stellar. However, there is a long ways to go yet. I believe that our guys will get this thing figured out. We'll be OK. :thumb: :thumb:
Click to expand...


I tried last summer to get you guys to not drink too much of Old's kool-aid but he was quite convincing. Even after all the over-hype you guys aren't that far off. Maybe next year when Olds starts crowing about 3 star,2 star, greatest defense he's ever seen, best shooters and ball handlers in the BSC, you all will tell him to wait and see before you start lips moving. No hard feelings but you have to admit I was closer than Olds when I said you guys lost a lot last year and replacing them was going to take time, not just plugging in a freshman or a juco and everything is just fine. Sac is having a lot of turnover problems and we brought back arguably the best backcourt in the conference. We are all still dealing and rooting for a bunch of 19, 20, and 21 year old kids. As a parent I know kids will either make you feel like a million dollars or very disappointed and sometimes both at once. Hang in there......it has to get better eventually
Click to expand...

Good comments Sac...... Was a lot of sugar in that kool aid! Weber will be ok...... Not what we expected, but ok! We will get better as the season progresses. The question is are we developing our players for the future!
Click to expand...


I just looked it up and Weber has 69 assists and 108 turnovers....Sac has 89 assists and 107 turnovers...not much difference except WE ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE THE MOST EXPERIENCED BACKCOURT IN THE CONFERENCE....have a nice day
 
Yes. I was far, far too optimistic about our prospects. Maybe a lot of others were as well. I still think we will be a good team by the end of the season, but it's going to be a struggle getting there.

As much as it pains me to say it, right now, Eastern Washington is the best of the BSC. They are the most experienced and have started off hot. Much like UNC last year. Will they be there at the end? Who really knows. I think the race will be wide open. It may come down to who improves the most.

Conf. games start in less than a month. It's coming quick. I predict that the host of the BSC tournament will have 4 or more losses. :oops:
 
oldrunner said:
Yes. I was far, far too optimistic about our prospects. Maybe a lot of others were as well. I still think we will be a good team by the end of the season, but it's going to be a struggle getting there.

As much as it pains me to say it, right now, Eastern Washington is the best of the BSC. They are the most experienced and have started off hot. Much like UNC last year. Will they be there at the end? Who really knows. I think the race will be wide open. It may come down to who improves the most.

Conf. games start in less than a month. It's coming quick. I predict that the host of the BSC tournament will have 4 or more losses. :oops:
Click to expand...

The observation that I have that's somewhat confusing to me is that if Weber has 13 scholarships a year, why are we only able to play 7-8 players a night and playing our starters approx 30 minutes plus every game? I keep hearing about the great recruiting classes that we're bringing in, but it seems that our bench is almost nonexistent. Even if we redshirt 3 players a year it still seems like we should be able to have contributors off the bench. We have players who unless we're playing Presentation college or Sister's of our Mercy that don't get off the bench. It has nothing to do with going on or coming back from missions because BYU has the same issue.

I also don't understand why Joel is having so many issues with turnovers and beating the double team. Maybe all the excitement on his 3 point shooting should've been better targeted working on his post game. It was Olds who gave us the story about hitting 50/60% either left or right handed from the 3 in practice. That Rahe was so impressed he asked Bovee to run over to watch. That time should've been spent working on passing out of the double team. He's 2-7 from the 3 pt line this season. The amazing part of the story is that if Joel is getting doubled or triple teamed...... Where are the other two Weber players that don't have anyone covering them?

If you have any questions about non powerhouse conference schools competing..... Check out Northern Iowa and Wichita State. It's about building a program! :twocents:
 
Weber has had unprecedented recruiting the past few years. Only problem is that these kids are mostly underclassmen, and don't really have a lot of experience. At Weber's level we don't necessarily get recruits who can immediately play, very often. Lillard was a complete anomaly. Senglin is in the same boat. A total aberration, who was ready to play immediately. Is he a PG? Slowly he is becoming one, but he isn't fully one yet, but he will get there. Last Saturday was a break out game for Jeremy. Only issue is that he doesn't have a lot of help around him. Weber really, desperately, needs Golden to start hitting his shots and Gittens to become far more consistent. Weber needs 10pts from him ever night. Lastly, the Cats DESPERATELY need more of an inside presence. Bolomboy is not enough. I really feel the best possible route would be to start a true center. I might be crazy here, but is Hajek can't do it. Might as well see what Van Pelt can do. Same with Richardson. If one of the other guards isn't playing well, might as well give the kid more than 2mins. He has confidence and can really shot. His defense isn't bad. He just needs time. Hill, to me, is lost. I'm sorry 3Wildcats...he just isn't comfortable moving back and forth between the 4 and 3. He is getting there, but at times, to me, he looks lost and confused. I think coming in off the bench at the 6th man is a great spot for Hill. He can observe the game a bit and get a feel for the style of play before coming in. He could be quite the Spark for the Cats. I really feel that Rahe should post him up as a 3. Have Joel and the other big pull out their men and let Hill go to work against a smaller 3. Hill is bigger than a lot of the 3's in the conference and a lot of the 3's he has faced. They are faster, but he is stronger. Might as well use his size against them. Post him up as a 3.
 
Sounds like someone needs to attend a coaches luncheon and ask some of these questions. Then, come back here and let us know what the answers are. :twocents:
 
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