BASKETBALL

This USC Loss Had A Familiar Feature

Tell me this doesn’t describe so many USC losses during the Enfield Era.

“I thought in the second half there were a couple possessions where we went one on one too much instead of just playing basketball the way we’re capable of,” Andy Enfield said. “We also missed some wide open, timely shots. To win a game like this, they hit a couple of big three’s and we missed some. We also had eight turnovers in the second half.”

USC going one-on-one and not running any offense is a feature, not a bug, of the Enfield system.

And it’s often why the Trojans fail to get over the hump against good teams. Perhaps also why Andy Enfield avoids playing too many good teams.

42 thoughts on “This USC Loss Had A Familiar Feature”

    1. I AM GLAD YOU ARE HAPPY TODAY MR OWNS
      I MEAN
      THE SUN HAS TO SHINE ONCE IN A WHILE EVEN UP A RATS ASS MY GOOD FRIEND !!😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇

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      2. What is there to gloat about? USC was the lesser team! Do you also celebrate Russian victories? Jump for joy when the Lakers won? Bang a trash can for the obvious team the Astros to win? It’s pretty pathetic to be happy about the obvious. Man up and show up after UCLA does the annual pipe dream bust and Cronin cryin’ spiel.

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  2. Did I miss my chance to say Thanks Enfield?
    (And here Thanks means fire) on Facebook my real self posted that if Basketball were a real sport, USC would hire a real coach!
    The fact is USC just doesn’t know what it’s doing here. The excuses are Pat Haden and Lynn Swann.

    Liked by 1 person

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    2. Happy St. Pat’s to you, George….and to all the rest of our Irish Brothers & Sisters ….
      #….ExceptTheOnesInMyOwnExtendedFamily….
      #[…ButTheyWouldn’tBeAbleToHearMeRightNowAnyway]

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  4. George, and here all along I thought you were a thoroughbred of a dog, not a mere mutt (just kidding)
    Me– 1/2 Irish on my mother’s side, 1/2 English on my father’s, which accounts for my fighting ways and negotiating ways I suppose
    I never celebrated St. Patrick’s because it is my mother’s birthday as she awaits for my arrival somewhere in the sky

    Liked by 1 person

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      1. To be honest, George, odds are that the answer is ‘No’-
        I want to believe it is so, but I think ‘heaven,’ if it exists, and I had such a good time on earth I don’t need a “heaven,” but it is complicated– what about the hermit that does not want to reunite with anyone?– Is he “required” to join-in with his estranged folks
        God knows, and He/She is not telling

        Liked by 1 person

      2. George and John,
        I think we do unite with those who’ve gone before us….
        #CheckOut”TheFine-TuningDesignArgument”ByRobinCollins

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  5. Not a bad coach. They play pretty good defense which is a sign of a well coached team. But not as good of a coach as Cronin. A Good recruiter.

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    1. HI PARCELMAN
      DID YOU CATCH THE OPENING OF MY NEW
      NOVEL YESTERDAY ??

      ITS GOING ON SALE SOON
      BUT FOR YOU ITS FREE MY FRIEND.

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      1. Sorry GT
        I missed that one.
        I guess I was too busy watching ‘Dancing with the stars’ and ‘Singers with masks’ and playing video games and waiting for the glorious “Great Reset” and “New World Order” that’s coming. It’s going to be wonderful……heaven on earth. Hallelujah

        Liked by 2 people

      2. George is incorrigible.
        He probably woulda been my best friend in Catholic School [meaning we woulda gotten suspended together frequently]…….

        Liked by 1 person

      3. A lot of young people start out on the wrong track. The ones who turn out to be successful(like you) realize that that is a dead end road and they straighten up and fly right. The ones that don’t realize that end up in jail.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Typical wolf mentality, he rides Enfield hard after a loss where they were an underdog. But when they won 14 straight at home he went “crickets”…except for his repeated comments about crowd size.

    He had the usual boner after the clock reached double “00”

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      1. Well, as Woody Allen once said, George: “That’s better than the other way around. You have to get the order right.”

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    2. As much as I want to defend Scott’s honor — that was funny, Gabby.
      I’m always thinking this thought as Andy is about to lose a game: “Scott’s holding his breath at this very moment — he just can’t wait for the buzzer!”
      #”Ah!Yes!!!It’sAnotherBig”L”ForTheRecordBooks!”

      Liked by 2 people

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  7. Enfield is a ‘good’ coach but he’ll never ascend to anyone’s top 25 nationally by any measurement of peer skill. The AP/USAToday weekly polls show that year after year. Sports is full of coaches/managers who haven’t any idea on how to prepare for a playoff or tournament.

    Enfield seems to recruit well but for whatever reason he can’t coach well regardless of the regular season record.

    He has been head coach at USC for 10 years and sorry to say even if USC had defeated MI St. I don’t see him changing in how he prepares his squad for tourney play. They always seem either uptight or clueless instead of playing the game they’re capable of playing.

    Lose the Pac-12 go home and get ready for the ‘big dance’ – lose the 1st round of the men’s NCAA tourney hello November.

    He’s paid $1.4 million per year – a state of the art facility and yet the same affliction has hit the NYY with Aarn Boone and Buck Showalter with the NYM. The former is beloved by his players and team mgmt. but is now in his 6th year of ‘no go’. per AL pennants (0-5) The latter has never gone far in MLB playoffs in 21 years six appearance closest 2014 lost ALCS to KC.

    Cronin prepares his players … the contrast 2 years ago when the Trojans were done within 3 minutes of the tipoff … mere hours later Ucla took Gonzaga to double OT because Cronin understands the need for the players themselves to have enough pride to check themselves and their teammates.

    Time for the ‘smooth glide’ to end for Enfield esp with the great talent he recruits but can’t mold into a team.

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  8. YOU TOO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SC BASKETBALL BEING ONLY AVERAGE–
    (Thank you George for the upper-case idea)–

    The best basketball venue I have attended it being compact and intimate, I am talking Galen Center the home of SC basketball, is a graveyard most basketball nights except if sucla is visiting.
    If I am a basketball star I am going to sucla’s Pauley Pavilion where I will have a raucous crowd most nights to show-off to.

    Dandy-Andy can only get so far in the upcoming Big-10 and NCAAs because he cannot get 5 quality players in any one year to come to SC due largely to
    YOUR moribund SC-basketball interest

    Liked by 2 people

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      1. Interesting point, hombre, why would you keep me awake past 8 o’clock-

        But the idea of ‘money’ as God has unfortunately become the 2023 ‘mantra’

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  9. Why would USC ask for Enfield to win a championship? Bohn is the one who has to endure the failure. USC is a football school.

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  10. same old BS from same old same old…SC was an over achiever this year,plain and simple.I , as most did, had them pegged for 4th-6th place in Pac12, not winning 20 and not going to nc2a…when SC did not get 1 big man out of transfer portal, not 1 shooting guard or point guard,that told me SC just slightly above avg this year.
    They exceeded that and I had no thought they would beat Mich St. The guards are good ,no better, & in the clutch? and the fwrd/cntr just adequate.So,I am pleased with this year,they exceeded my expectations,just like football did. Next year could be better,just as football will be.

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  11. Memo to: This World

    Actually there’s nothing to gloat about ’cause Andywinning and non-cupcake BB competition are mutually exclusive. But I learned to gloat from the usual boorish, rah-rah suspects gloating over Clown U, FB 90 years ago.

    Gloating, This World, can be fun for a day or so.

    Connecting bozo BB’s 60% ONE&DONE failure rate doesn’t quite qualify for inclusion when comparing the Dodgers; the Lakers and UCLA BB success or failure.

    Let’s not forget TW, for every time I gloat, I receive 3 or 4x that in bozo rah-rah licks.

    Besides, Owns always owns up when Bruin FB and BB crash and burn and that’s a FACT.

    Now that Kansas has been deleted, feel free to gloat if the Bruins don’t make the Final Four.

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