I understand people are angry about what was admittedly a pretty pathetic loss. Particularly on the heels of reality check loss.
But if you were an Alford fan you should still be one. Nothing has changed.
UCLA hasn't played defense since he got here, they are probably never going to under him. The players have changed but the philosophy is the same.
They are undisciplined. Well, they've been undisciplined his entire time here. That's not going to likely change either.
They play wide open transition basketball which exciting against worse opponents and sometime to their detriment against good ones. They've been doing that since he got here.
Alford makes confusing in game decisions. Well, he's done that too. Sometimes he looks great doing it other times it's head-scratching. That's been a pretty consistent theme as well.
They're not better than they were at the beginning of the year? They haven't been a team that dramatically improved over the course of the season, in fact they've often played worse later in the year.
It appears he can recruit so UCLA will probably be a regular in the top 5-10 (which they probably should be anyway, but that's a discussion for another time). But he's always been a decent recruiter, even at NM.
This team may sadly have a similar arc to his NM teams, look like a team that can make a deep run then lose in or before the sweet 16. Only difference is with the talent he gets at UCLA once in a blue moon, they could also get red hot or get a crazy lucky draw and get a little deeper. But it would be illogical to think that suddenly they are going to be a solid consistent team when they've never been one before.
I don't think it's fair or equitable to expect after 4 years thing to dramatically change. To be successful he needs a ton of talent, and even with that it's unlikely that they will be consistent as they rely on being able to outshoot their opponents. They recruit shooters over athletes so they'll never be a good defensive team, and those shooters are not interested or overly encouraged to even try that hard on defense. He is who he is, and he isn't changing.
Point is, none of this is new. So, if you liked him yesterday, or after Kentucky nothing has changed.
But if you were an Alford fan you should still be one. Nothing has changed.
UCLA hasn't played defense since he got here, they are probably never going to under him. The players have changed but the philosophy is the same.
They are undisciplined. Well, they've been undisciplined his entire time here. That's not going to likely change either.
They play wide open transition basketball which exciting against worse opponents and sometime to their detriment against good ones. They've been doing that since he got here.
Alford makes confusing in game decisions. Well, he's done that too. Sometimes he looks great doing it other times it's head-scratching. That's been a pretty consistent theme as well.
They're not better than they were at the beginning of the year? They haven't been a team that dramatically improved over the course of the season, in fact they've often played worse later in the year.
It appears he can recruit so UCLA will probably be a regular in the top 5-10 (which they probably should be anyway, but that's a discussion for another time). But he's always been a decent recruiter, even at NM.
This team may sadly have a similar arc to his NM teams, look like a team that can make a deep run then lose in or before the sweet 16. Only difference is with the talent he gets at UCLA once in a blue moon, they could also get red hot or get a crazy lucky draw and get a little deeper. But it would be illogical to think that suddenly they are going to be a solid consistent team when they've never been one before.
I don't think it's fair or equitable to expect after 4 years thing to dramatically change. To be successful he needs a ton of talent, and even with that it's unlikely that they will be consistent as they rely on being able to outshoot their opponents. They recruit shooters over athletes so they'll never be a good defensive team, and those shooters are not interested or overly encouraged to even try that hard on defense. He is who he is, and he isn't changing.
Point is, none of this is new. So, if you liked him yesterday, or after Kentucky nothing has changed.
