No, but the non-basketball people acting like Manning has no idea what he's doing just gets old. When we run multiple off-ball screens for Collins and he's open but our guards don't hit him, that is not on Manning. When Woods misses every shot and every free throw to let Clemson back in the game, that is not on Manning. When Woods banks in a terrible shot then gives himself the green light to take another terrible shot today that is not on Manning. When Collins sets a pick for Crawford then rolls to the bucket but Crawford pulls it back out, or when he forces that shot to end the game instead of lobbing it to an open Collins for the game-tying dunk... You get the picture.
It's also shit luck that a guy shot 100% from deep. Duke went 1/8 against NC State's garbage defense just one game ago at home. Fucking unreal.
But no, I don't hold Manning unaccountable nor do I think there's nothing a coaching staff could do. It's more that Manning is pretty much a constant as coach. We have a decent motion offense, we're adding some good wrinkles, we're limited on defense, but we're progressing. He's no X's and O's master but he's fine and will hopefully continue to improve.
My point is the wild swings are much more player-oriented to close out games than they are coaching oriented on this team. We lost Collins after 5 minutes in the first half and built a 10 point lead at halftime. The tools are there, the system is fine. But no player is stepping up as a leader to win games for this team down the stretch. While that's ultimately on Manning, it's not some individual set of playcalling in the final 90 seconds that's causing it.
