Skip Prosser Once Received The ACC Coach Of The Year Award
I've written thousands of words on this site describing Skip Prosser's total lack of coaching ability. Last night, a freshman summarized my entire argument in five sentences: I was very confused as to what [Miami] was running. They were switching up on me, from a 1-3-1 to a [2-3] zone to a man.
Are you serious? You sure you still want this guy, Cincinnati? Skip might actually graduate some players, put a halt to the recruiting of known felons and can recite the alphabet flawlessly, but he'll also turn the second-most talented team in a conference into a cellar-dweller.
Coach was calling man plays but they were in a zone, and calling zone plays when they were in a man. I was really confused. We were just trying to make plays, and when you try to make plays you take tough shots.
- Wake Forest PG Harvey Hale after last night's loss at Miami
When a freshman calls out his coach (however inadvertently it may have been), that's never a good sign. Read the quote again. It essentially says, "I was confused out there, but I'm a freshman... I'm supposed to be confused. My coach, on the other hand, couldn't even tell when Miami was playing a zone and that confused me even more. Even Bobby Cremins, who was calling the game for Fox Sports Net and has been declared certifiably insane, realized when Miami was playing a zone. Eventually, we decided to stop listening to Coach and had to just go out and make plays, but that didn't work. That's why we lost to FREAKIN' MIAMI."
I had planned on just putting up Hale's quote and letting that percolate for the evening, but now I'm all riled up.
With 33 seconds left in the first half last night, Wake grabbed a defensive rebound and moved the ball upcourt to take the last shot. Skip Prosser called a timeout with 20 seconds remaining, the shot clock off and his Deacs up by three.
At this point, I imagine I felt like those people at the bullfight in Mexico City right before that bull hopped into the stands. I knew something disastrous was coming, I didn't want it to happen, but deep-down... I kind of did. This doesn't mean I was rooting against my Deacs, mind you, but when you've watched enough games coached by Skip Prosser you develop a Nostradamus-like sense of impending doom. This was one of those instances.
Most coaches would set-up an elaborate play that finishes with a shot attempt with about four seconds left on the clock (accounting for a miss and possible tip-in). There would be ball movement, high screens, low screens, players cutting back-and-forth on the baseline, etc. during this play.
Here's what Wake did: They inbounded the ball to Hale, who dribbled for five seconds and kicked the ball to Justin Gray at the top of the perimeter. Gray, dribbling at the three-point line, shouted and instructed Eric Williams (who had yet to quit on his team like he did in the game's final five minutes) to set a screen. Williams obliged but Gray's call alerted Miami to the coming pick and they simply stepped around it, double-covering Gray in the process. Now blanketed by two defenders, Gray tried to dribble through them, lost his handle and quickly recovered just in time to throw up a prayer that hit all backboard as time expired. THAT was the play Skip Prosser called during a timeout.
Alright, now I've gone and gotten myself all worked up. Thanks, Harvey Hale.
And thanks to the anonymous tipster who alerted me to Hale's quote in the Winston-Salem Journal.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
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1 comments:
I was hopeful, yet doubtful that Skip would draw up a play at the end of the half unlike he had done throughout the season. I was not surprised when we went 4 high and threw up some junk at the buzzer.
Also, I would like to know what Skip does during the game. He seems to make no adjustments and calls few plays. And can someone tell him a 1-3-1 zone is terrible!! Unofficialy, Wake has run it 15 possessions during the season and the opponent has hit a wide open 3 13 of those times.
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