In Reply to: Yes and no. posted by klkl on January 06, 2026 at 22:03:06
Once Mara left, the blueprint for the team was fundamentally changed.
We already knew we had to relatively big forwards who could score - one more consistently than the other - but both of whom weren't very good defensively and the worry was when they each moved down a position and had to guard shorter but quicker opponents, their height would help offset their deficit in lateral quickness on defense.
Donovan Dent made his mark as a brilliant offensive PG but his defense was never his calling card. He wanted to improve his defense playing for Cronin but his inability to keep his man in front of him. Perry has decent height but his defense is questionable. With Clark out and our inability to replace Mara - whose disenchantment came rather late which further reduced our portal options and who still plays just over 20 minutes a game - all adds up to significant personnel problems as well.
On the personal end, these are good kids and they all recite the mantra about focusing on defense first, but these are primarily offense-minded kids - those mentioned anyway. You know Cronin and his staff harp on getting off to a good start and on playing aggressively on defense but they aren't preaching to Jaylen Clarks on this team. They say the right things but they have completely failed to execute that way. Not sure they can.
Can Dent and Perry and Freeny effectively keep a good quick point guard in front of them? And these guys even helping out really fill the hole we have in the paint on the defensive end? Can they do so without leaving other opposing players wide open for easy looks from outside?
Clearly based on the last two games anyway they can do okay at it when they get themselves all ramped up and going all out. Can they master doing that for 40 minutes - on defense, something it would appear they have never done before?
Coaching of course - and Cronin and his staff know it. Personnel and personal. It figured it would take awhile for this team to put it all together, particularly on defense. But can they even do it - this team, this season? And moreso can they do it without Skyy Clark, with Brandon Williams getting sick during a game?