Found a strange quote

[TheDogFather]

?We just simply haven?t or won?t accept who we are,? Ray said. ?Until we do that, we won?t have success.?

What does this mean?

Is he blaming the losses on the players?

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20140214/SPORTS030102/302140015/Losses-leave-Mississippi-State-coach-Rick-Ray-loss-words

[MetEdDawg]

I think he is sort of, and I'm totally ok with that for one simple reasons:

1) Our players make way too many dumb mistakes and plays that you can't unteach in practice. At some point players have to not necessarily make the right play, but they have to NOT make the wrong/dumb play. You can do all the drill work you want to do in practice, but throwing a pass into Ware when he is double teamed, or trying to hit an off balance 3 pointer when your name is Roquez Johnson, or trying to drive the baseline when someone is practically standing on it and end up traveling or dribbling the ball off your foot is just something these players have to stop doing. 16 turnovers in the 1st half yesterday is not all coaching. Turning the ball over almost one time a minute is a mental problem and a player problem. We make insanely dumb passes, we force the issue in situations that we don't need, and we take 3 pointers in situations that do not call for it.

We constantly play out of what we are and Ray is 100% right when he says that. We have gotten to the point where guys are just trying to make plays to get things going and it's taking us out of what we are, which is a team with speed and some ball handlers that can drive the basket, has some 3 point shooters that are much better when working inside out and getting open shots, and we have a big man that is good enough to consistently get to the FT line when given the opportunity on the offensive end. But we jack up 3's, or force Ware the ball, or try to run too fast and end up turning the ball over way too much. 19 turnovers means at least 19 shots we will never see again. Think about if we could have cut that in half and gotten 9 or 10 more shots yesterday.

[CadaverDawg]

I think he is sort of, and I'm totally ok with that for one simple reasons:

1) Our players make way too many dumb mistakes and plays that you can't unteach in practice. At some point players have to not necessarily make the right play, but they have to NOT make the wrong/dumb play. You can do all the drill work you want to do in practice, but throwing a pass into Ware when he is double teamed, or trying to hit an off balance 3 pointer when your name is Roquez Johnson, or trying to drive the baseline when someone is practically standing on it and end up traveling or dribbling the ball off your foot is just something these players have to stop doing. 16 turnovers in the 1st half yesterday is not all coaching. Turning the ball over almost one time a minute is a mental problem and a player problem. We make insanely dumb passes, we force the issue in situations that we don't need, and we take 3 pointers in situations that do not call for it.

We constantly play out of what we are and Ray is 100% right when he says that. We have gotten to the point where guys are just trying to make plays to get things going and it's taking us out of what we are, which is a team with speed and some ball handlers that can drive the basket, has some 3 point shooters that are much better when working inside out and getting open shots, and we have a big man that is good enough to consistently get to the FT line when given the opportunity on the offensive end. But we jack up 3's, or force Ware the ball, or try to run too fast and end up turning the ball over way too much. 19 turnovers means at least 19 shots we will never see again. Think about if we could have cut that in half and gotten 9 or 10 more shots yesterday.

Great post

[Coach34]

yes it is...outstanding take MetEd

[mic]

I think he is sort of, and I'm totally ok with that for one simple reasons:

1) Our players make way too many dumb mistakes and plays that you can't unteach in practice. At some point players have to not necessarily make the right play, but they have to NOT make the wrong/dumb play. You can do all the drill work you want to do in practice, but throwing a pass into Ware when he is double teamed, or trying to hit an off balance 3 pointer when your name is Roquez Johnson, or trying to drive the baseline when someone is practically standing on it and end up traveling or dribbling the ball off your foot is just something these players have to stop doing. 16 turnovers in the 1st half yesterday is not all coaching. Turning the ball over almost one time a minute is a mental problem and a player problem. We make insanely dumb passes, we force the issue in situations that we don't need, and we take 3 pointers in situations that do not call for it.

We constantly play out of what we are and Ray is 100% right when he says that. We have gotten to the point where guys are just trying to make plays to get things going and it's taking us out of what we are, which is a team with speed and some ball handlers that can drive the basket, has some 3 point shooters that are much better when working inside out and getting open shots, and we have a big man that is good enough to consistently get to the FT line when given the opportunity on the offensive end. But we jack up 3's, or force Ware the ball, or try to run too fast and end up turning the ball over way too much. 19 turnovers means at least 19 shots we will never see again. Think about if we could have cut that in half and gotten 9 or 10 more shots yesterday.

I agree...
Every player in the country has days that they struggle, look lazy on the court, make a dumb play, ect..., Problem is RR cant go to the bench and take them out, give a teaching lesson and send them a message because he has no bench.. and if a player knows that they are more likely to do it again.. Hopefully that will change next year with depth and players.

[smootness]

Most of the true teaching is done in the offseason. Once you're in the middle of the season and you're playing 2 games a week in addition to going to class, etc., it's just hard to teach a lot. Most of the practice time is taken up trying to come up with a gameplan to attack your next opponent, watch some tape, etc. I think sometimes we overestimate how much a coach can really get in there and change things. It's the players out there on the court; the coach can draw up plays and decide who plays, but if a kid wants to do something, he's going to do it.

Even NBA teams don't really have a lot of time to go over the basics of playing basketball during the season.

So I'm sure it's frustrating for coaches in a situation like Ray is now. He's trying not to lose his team, and he sees serious flaws, but there's only so much he can do to correct it right now, and the risk is there of it snowballing into a disaster. He just kind of has to try to patch things up and then get into serious work in the summer and beginning of fall.