I’m no Lutz cheerleader or basher. I think he does a good job but I don’t think he’s the second coming of John Wooden either.
However, I give him lots of credit for showing remarkable restraint by not putting Baldwin in the game. My guess is that he probably could have played but it would have been risky. Given as rough as Cincy plays, probably smart not to risk him for the rest of the season. Had to be killing both of them to see the ball given away so often.
[i]Originally posted by warriorsociety[/i]
[b]Following up on Bobby Lutz thoughts...
I had earlier which you may or may not have seen or cared about, where I said I thought Lutz may just be the best coach in CUSA. I just heard that they are 14-4 on the road over their last 18 games. I think I may be convinced. I love Tom Crean and I’d probably still choose Pitino simply for recruiting reasons, but there is simply no arguing with Lutz results, especially considering that they play up the road from Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest.
[/b]
The thought was definetly there, but when he realized by putting Baldwin in, we still wouldn’t win, theres no reason…and it wasn’t the NCAA either, we need him for the rest of our games. We lost, but our season isn’t over. Remember, we were supposed to lose, if you go by rankings, we didn’t pull a Miss. St. here. We’ll be fine.
Mitch started stretching when we were down by 10 or so… I think if we could have cut the lead to 2 or 4 and got back in the game, I think Bobby was going to put him in. If it was close late in the game maybe Mitch would provide us with a little boost to steal a win on the road. As it turned out, things went downhill quickly after that and the chances of us winning were shrinking fast so there was no point in putting him in.
It was clearly a case of break in case of utmost emergency, and Lutz did the right thing not doing that. I would have been 50 times more upset had Mitch played last night than I am over the outcome. A HUGE part of last night’s loss is a domino effect that stems from Mitch’s absence. But shoving him on a sinking ship would have done nothing but risked losing him for the season.
I’ll add a different angle. It would have been a huge act of desperation to put Mitch in that ball game. He was looking at a lose-lose situation, so he stood pat. He did the right thing.
Now, why did he have Mitch “warm up”, dunno. Maybe he was teaching the rest of the team a lesson.
[i]Originally posted by LutzFan[/i]@Jan 20 2005, 11:03 AM
[b] Mitch started stretching when we were down by 10 or so... I think if we could have cut the lead to 2 or 4 and got back in the game, I think Bobby was going to put him in. If it was close late in the game maybe Mitch would provide us with a little boost to steal a win on the road. As it turned out, things went downhill quickly after that and the chances of us winning were shrinking fast so there was no point in putting him in.
That’s just my speculation though. [/b]
I tend to agree. If Lutz had no intention of playing him, he wouldn’t have dressed out or he wouldn’t have let him stretch for 5+ minutes. I think that had we closed the gap to within a few points, Mitch would have come in. Part of me is glad it didn’t come to that because I was getting a really bad vibe about Mitch slashing to the basket and taking another lick on that shoulder. I’m proud of Bobby for keeping him on the bench but I’m not so sure that Cincy pulling away didn’t have more to do with it.
Kummer, Moss and Moxley all said last night that Mitch could have played last night. However, if he had re-injured the shoulder now, he would be gone for the remainder of the season. I don’t know if 2 days extra will make a difference there, but it’s apparent that he must play. The player rotations without him are terrible. Eddie can’t be the defensive force that he usually is if he’s at the point.
We talked to Fran Frashilla in the hotel lobby yesterday morning for several minutes and saw him again last night afterwards. He is extremely high on the 49ers still and feels that Charlotte will rule the A-10 next season too.
I’m not rehashing the game, looks like most everyone has analyzed already. Their fans (not the message board posters) speak very highly of the Charlotte program and Coach Lutz.
[i]Originally posted by HP49er[/i]@Jan 20 2005, 01:09 PM
[b] Their fans (not the message board posters) speak very highly of the Charlotte program and Coach Lutz. [/b]
Thats very nice of them. Its too bad the team wasn't so kind to charlotte.
I can’t stand it when people bash the coach, and say we should fire lutz, and say we could get a better one. Their may be better coaches available but they would not be committed to building a program at charlotte, instead most would use it as a stepping stone for a higher profile program. Lutz cares about charlotte and is doing a heck of a job overall, recruiting against the big four. He is much much better than herb who can only recruit because of the name “Nc State” and the acc, it is not possible to recruit on the charlotte name alone. and combine that with the a-10 vs acc you have to really sell players on the program, which he has done a great job of and is improving(withers, iti, drayton, Beasley the # 2 player in his class), was that possible when lutz started?
[i]Originally posted by gamer+Jan 20 2005, 12:31 PM-->
[b]QUOTE[/b] (gamer @ Jan 20 2005, 12:31 PM)
<!--QuoteBegin-HP49er[/i]@Jan 20 2005, 01:09 PM
[b] Their fans (not the message board posters) speak very highly of the Charlotte program and Coach Lutz. [/b]
Thats very nice of them. Its too bad the team wasn't so kind to charlotte. [/b][/quote]
They actually are kind to Charlotte and participate in charities. Guess you were talking about giving Charlotte Ws every night they play.