Eh, I think a lot of it is the usual message board stuff. Massoud goes off for 31 and he's the greatest shooter ever, needs more minutes, etc. Knee-jerk reactions. He then shoots 19% over his next 3 games. Jalen has a good night and posts argue for him to start, that he's actually a good defender and player, etc. On either side of that one game are 2 point efforts. Now Antonio should sit, but he'll hit 4 3's in a couple weeks and he'll be back in the argument for starting.
This game isn't a referendum on anything. It wasn't a 40 minute meltdown. We lack talent, we came out dead at halftime, we gave up a 20-0 run and got blown out. It happens. Forbes deserves blame for the lack of energy the 2nd half started with because we've all seen this team keep the intensity elevated for long stretches against good teams. And Notre Dame is a good team playing at home.
It will also be true that when this team can't score in 10 minutes that it's largely due to the lack of talent that Manning left in his disastrous wake. But it's boring as hell to just accept that we're at the bottom of the heap talent-wise, fixing programs isn't a light switch, everyone is flawed and inconsistent, and game-to-game overreactions will be the norm for a while despite being meaningless.
We suck, and it's just going to be a game of blame bingo until we don't suck.
Totally agree.
For those that take the time to watch Forbes' press conferences, he loves his players. All of them. It doesn't matter if they were recruited by Manning or if Forbes brought them here. As stated by DCDeac, was Massoud a Forbes guy when single-handedly took out Pitt? Forbes raves about Isaiah Mucius; singled-out his attitude when WF beat Pitt, and Mucius was held scoreless; Isaiah did not care because the Deacs won.
After the game, Forbes was pissed because ND out-classed WF, and for the first time this year, WF never fought back when they faced adversity. News flash: this WF team isn't super-talented; WF ACC opponents are more talented, and have multi-million coaches and staffs that are gameplanning to beat WF. Other than BC (and maybe including BC), WF is the least talented team in the ACC. Doesn't mean that Forbes has segregated the team into "his guys" and "others". The opposite is true. This team is 100% together, and until last night, they fight to the bitter end. Last night was the exception, and Forbes was pissed. The man hates to lose.
As good of a coach as Forbes is, his ETSU teams had some craptastic efforts too, and he recruited all of those guys. Last year's 30-4 SoCon Championship team lost to Mercer (yes, Mercer) by 16. The year before, his 24 win team lost to Furman by 30. It happens to every team at some point.
Notre Dame was the better team. While they aren't uber-talented, they are more talented than WF, they are bigger and more experienced. WF does not have a big margin of error to be competitive. Yesterday, ND brought their A game, and for the first time since GT, WF did not. So, WF got dominated. Feel confident that WF will bring its A game, whenever the next game is, and WF's best player that night may be someone that Manning recruited, and that player will continue to play his ass off for his coach.