Ernie's Mad Coaching Lab Finally Produces a Winning Formula

Is it just me or does it seem like Ernie's been in here reading the criticisms of his coaching efforts? Last night against UCLA he made some changes (eerily similar to what I've mentioned in the past) and the Ducks were FINALLY allowed to play ball. For the first time all season Ernie didn't over-coach. He didn't substitute every 4 minutes and the players on the court actually started to get into the flow of the game.

Waiiiit a minute, don't get ahead of yourself here. Yes, I am about to give some props, but that doesn't mean Ernie should stay on as head coach. A coach of his tenure shouldn't take this long to figure his team out.

Okay, so back to some positives from last nights game. Here are my top five observations of player/coaching improvements from last night's game.

#1. Jamil Wilson finally looked like he grew a "set" and was playing, and more importantly, shooting with confidence. It's like he knew that it would be okay to miss a shot and that it wouldn't result in an instant yank to the bench. He didn't play a ton of minutes, but he was allowed to play for decent stretches and you could definitely see that he reached a level of comfort within the game that I hadn't seen from him before.This kid is going to be a baller!

#2. Get it down to the big men! Getting the ball into the post early in the game not only got Dunigan involved, but it also helped to loosen up the UCLA defense and gave the Ducks a little daylight on the perimeter. Why did it take so long for Ernie to realize that our offense was WAAAAY to perimeter oriented? Only Ernie and God know that.

#3. Ernie stuck with a core group of players who have been playing decent lately and he gave them most of the minutes. A reasonable amount of consecutive minutes on the court will give our young players confidence. Let them play through some of their mistakes, coach them during timeouts and good things will eventually start to happen. Pull them from the game and yell at them with over-exaggerated gestures on the sideline after a mistake and you take two steps backwards. 

#4. Matt Humphrey was obviously playing with confidence and Ernie stayed with the hot hand! Props to Ernie for leaving Humphrey in the game for extended minutes once he recognized that he was bringing it. Humphrey can be an overly emotional player, but last night it really looked like he was controlling his emotions much better than in the past. If Humphrey learns to play within himself and not get too up or down after a great or poor play, then he will soon be splitting time with Wilson and they will make a very potent one, two punch. Imagine these potential options.

* Wilson starts and is playing great. Humphrey comes in to give Wilson a rest here and there, but Wilson plays over thirty minutes, has ten points and six rebounds and contributes to a Duck win...or

* Wilson starts and is playing okay, but not great. Humphrey comes into the game at the 14 minute mark and hits a couple of shots. The Ducks stick with Humphrey this time, he has 12 points, four assists and a couple of rebounds and the Ducks win!

* By halftime it should be obvious which of these two has come to play or is feeling the game better that night. Roll with the hot-hand during the second half and that position is solid!

#5. Controlling the tempo of the game. Last night when the Ducks pressed UCLA, they controlled the tempo and this is when they went on runs. When Oregon let UCLA stroll the ball up the court and easily get into their half-court offense, the Bruins were winning. It was a relief to see that Ernie recognized this and then used the press to turn the volume up or down as needed. He didn't run his players into the ground, but he did put the press back on when it was needed...especially in the second half.

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but Ernie (or someone on his bench) coached a very good game last night. He put his players in a position to win, gave them time to get into the game and made the correct calls regarding defense and pressing. If only he had been doing this last year or earlier this year. Regardless of how many games the Ducks win the rest of the way...we gotta let Ernie go. The athletic department needs to do whatever it takes to get Mark Few to Oregon! With Mark Few, Matt Court and our very strong alumni, Oregon would be poised to become a powerhouse basketball school. We raised our expectations with football and look what happened. Now, let's raise our expectations of Duck basketball and start competing for the conference crown every single season.

What do you think?