by Greg Pogue
Posted January 10, 2013
excerpt:
It can be called tough love, that relationship between player and coach. But if the coach got it right when he recruited said player, then said player should have the attributes the coach wanted for his team in the first place. Passion and intensity are always high on the check list for a coach while recruiting a player.
MTSU men's basketball coach Kermit Davis wanted Bruce Massey on his team. And the senior has been a main cog in a program surge to what could be called, if the current growth continues, a major mid-major player.
And that's saying something these days when their ranks - often fueled by tradition - include Butler (consecutive national title runner-up) and Final Four upstarts Virginia Commonwealth and George Mason. You can also think Gonzaga, Creighton, Tulsa, Wichita State, etc.
For a mid-major like MTSU, every game is key in the battle for a strong RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) number, a chief component for the NCAA Tournament selection committee come March. Now sitting in the upper 30s, MTSU can keep winning and stay in the NCAA at-large invitee discussion at the least, yet conversely has a slim margin for error for low-RPI losses that could harm NCAA tourney at-large invitee.
Which makes road losses that get away even more difficult to stomach. Like last Thursday's overtime losers at Arkansas State, for example. Let's just say Davis wasn't happy about the effort and, ultimately, the result in their first game after Christmas. During the game, Davis and Massey had a heated discussion on the sidelines during an early timeout just four minutes into the game that concerned certain goings-on within the game.
This post was edited on 1/21 10:04 PM by MTLynn
Pogue’s Ponderings
Posted January 10, 2013
excerpt:
It can be called tough love, that relationship between player and coach. But if the coach got it right when he recruited said player, then said player should have the attributes the coach wanted for his team in the first place. Passion and intensity are always high on the check list for a coach while recruiting a player.
MTSU men's basketball coach Kermit Davis wanted Bruce Massey on his team. And the senior has been a main cog in a program surge to what could be called, if the current growth continues, a major mid-major player.
And that's saying something these days when their ranks - often fueled by tradition - include Butler (consecutive national title runner-up) and Final Four upstarts Virginia Commonwealth and George Mason. You can also think Gonzaga, Creighton, Tulsa, Wichita State, etc.
For a mid-major like MTSU, every game is key in the battle for a strong RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) number, a chief component for the NCAA Tournament selection committee come March. Now sitting in the upper 30s, MTSU can keep winning and stay in the NCAA at-large invitee discussion at the least, yet conversely has a slim margin for error for low-RPI losses that could harm NCAA tourney at-large invitee.
Which makes road losses that get away even more difficult to stomach. Like last Thursday's overtime losers at Arkansas State, for example. Let's just say Davis wasn't happy about the effort and, ultimately, the result in their first game after Christmas. During the game, Davis and Massey had a heated discussion on the sidelines during an early timeout just four minutes into the game that concerned certain goings-on within the game.
This post was edited on 1/21 10:04 PM by MTLynn
Pogue’s Ponderings
