Nah. We're not gonna play that game.
CNC or anyone else here doesn't get to throw staff members under the bus before the primary culprit (CNC) gets the bulk of the blame.
At the end of the day, Nicki Collen is THE Head Coach.
She has final say (or should) over anything that happens during the course of a game.
That is what she gets paid the big bucks to do.
If she CAN'T do that, then perhaps she should step aside and let one of her assistants take over the reigns - since it seems like some on here are always quick to defend the indefensible and absolve CNC of any wrong-doing.
I mean, if the assistants are gonna get blamed for losses before CNC, then they might as well be in the HC role themselves and get paid for it.
But until that happens - Then, yes - CNC is 100% to blame for the nonsense we witnessed on Thursday.
We saw the exact same thing happen in the Iowa State game, where CNC thought it was a great idea to leave a shooter open.
The difference is that Olivia Miles is not Jada Williams, and made us pay over and over again. You can't implement that strategy against a Top 5 Player in the country and expect to get away with it.
Miles was 7/9 from 3 in that disastrous 3rd quarter.
For those of us at the game, it was one of the most ridiculous scenes we might have witnessed in the history of the program (at least post-Pam Bowers).
Once Miles hit her first 2 3-point attempts in the frame (which put her at 4 makes for the game), it was time to either double her, play tighter defense, or force her inside.
If she beats you driving to the basket, or other players get in on the act and beat you, then so be it.
Instead, we continued to sag off of Miles, and she hit 5 more three's in the quarter.
And the frustrating part was that most of her makes were either from our players going under screens or sagging off of her completely. The only shot that was somewhat contested was the step-back 3 she hit over JVG to end the quarter.
Had CNC instructed the players to start battling over screens or to get right up in Miles's face, then I can assure you that would have happened. But the light defense and continuing to go under screens was absolutely intentional.
And somehow, ZERO lessons were learned during that onslaught.
Of TCU's 25 points in the 3rd quarter, Miles had 23 of them.
How did we fail so miserably in our efforts to guard one player?
As many on here have mentioned (myself included), CNC struggles with making in-game adjustments.
There is absolutely no reason that folks in the stands or on Sic'em 365 should be able to better assess a situation in real-time than the coach who is actually getting paid to do just that.
But here we are.
I could go on and on, but I think long-time posters on here know where I stand when it comes to CNC's coaching at times.
If she continues no-showing in the biggest games (particularly those at home), then perhaps we should consider the possibility that CNC just isn't cut out for the job.
Or we simply lower expectations entirely, and just accept the fact that we will become a middle-of-the-road team moving forward.
Losing is one thing.
But the way we keep losing big games is what bothers many of us (myself included).
