Donnie Jones Future?

[KnightVision82]

2010 20+ wins
2011 20+ wins
2012 20+ wins
2013 < 20 wins
2014 < 20 wins
2015 ?

One has to ask if 6 seasons of mediocrity is enough. Losing too many games before league games. Losing too many league games. Not winning championships. Have to take some responsibility for sanctions too. One out of six years we had Big East schedule. AAC is like CUSA schedule. Big assistant coach from UF has had his chance.

 

[muckdawg24]

Can't even coach his team to make free throws.

Not AAC Material.....NEXT!

 

[Poolside Knight]

 

[igKnight]

Tied for 71 out of 351 Division I teams for free throw %. Ahead of AP Top 25 George Washington, South Carolina, Cincinnati, Providence, Xavier, Villanova

 

[KNIGHTTIME^]

Tied for 71 out of 351 Division I teams for free throw %. Ahead of AP Top 25 George Washington, South Carolina, Cincinnati, Providence, Xavier, Villanova

Don't let facts get in their way.

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

2010 20+ wins
2011 20+ wins
2012 20+ wins
2013 < 20 wins
2014 < 20 wins
2015 ?

One has to ask if 6 seasons of mediocrity is enough. Losing too many games before league games. Losing too many league games. Not winning championships. Have to take some responsibility for sanctions too. One out of six years we had Big East schedule. AAC is like CUSA schedule. Big assistant coach from UF has had his chance.

In my opinion, he's got this year and next to show significant improvement (2016-2017 should be much better than 2015-2016).

If he can't make it work by then.....see ya! (nothing personal against Donnie)

ps: He need to light a fire under these guys. He's so mellow that I don't see this happening. We start off games so sluggishly.......where's the fire!!!!

 

[C-MontCityKnight2]

Should have been fired along with GOL. Out with the old regimes, in with the new.

 

[coffeyucf]

Another thing with Donnie is his best years were with Kirks guys. Clanton, Marcus Jordan, etc.

Speaking of Marcus I know some don't like how he bailed on his last year but he had some highlights for sure... Beat #18 Florida, Defending NC #4 UCONN, ranked as high as #17. No tourney bids but some milestones for UCF basketball.

 

[Square Knight]

AAC is like CUSA schedule.

You can't be serious. AAC schedule is orders of magnitude more difficult than CUSA was.

 

[firm_bizzle]

#fire

 

[KnightDoc23]

How was tonight ? Seemed like it shouldn't have been that close!!!!

 

[80'sKnight]

I doubt percentage of free throws is going to matter much to the "fire everybody" AD. Wins- the only thing that matters. If the AD was "mad" enough to fire the long time much loved basketball coach at Buffalo in just 1 year, what do you think he'll do with "let's give him one more year" Jones? I'm betting you should already be talking about who the next hire should be. I'd bet he doesn't give a crap about scholarship reduction and "not fair" to judge him because of that etc. He'll look and see the reduction were because of a stupid decision by Jones, and he's done nothing to redeem himself from that stupid decision to use a runner so good bye. Being "fair" doesn't matter. Since he's a basketball guy, he's more pissed than anyone on here to be in charge of a losing team. Start looking for replacements. It's over.

 

[KNIGHTTIME^]

I doubt percentage of free throws is going to matter much to the "fire everybody" AD. Wins- the only thing that matters. If the AD was "mad" enough to fire the long time much loved basketball coach at Buffalo in just 1 year, what do you think he'll do with "let's give him one more year" Jones? I'm betting you should already be talking about who the next hire should be. I'd bet he doesn't give a crap about scholarship reduction and "not fair" to judge him because of that etc. He'll look and see the reduction were because of a stupid decision by Jones, and he's done nothing to redeem himself from that stupid decision to use a runner so good bye. Being "fair" doesn't matter. Since he's a basketball guy, he's more pissed than anyone on here to be in charge of a losing team. Start looking for replacements. It's over.

Speraw started the relationship with the runner. Tribble pushed to continue it as the records show.

 

[mattropolis]

FT's matter and tonight we shot them well. In fact, FTs is what won us that game. The last several games have been a nice improvement in this area. It doesn't make up for the low basketball IQ this team has. Three examples:
1) On Bethune's last posession before half they were down to 3-4 seconds left and their guy drains a three. We had two fouls to give. No excuse for not playing smart.
2) Daiquan got his pocket picked late in the game and he let the guy put in a lay up. You grab the guy and put him to the line to earn his two points.
3) See #1 for same thing happening at the end of the game.

Ridiculously poor basketball IQ for our program. I saw Danny White there tonight. I hope he was taking mental notes of how little fire and game IQ we have after 5 years of DJ. I hope he brings in somebody new next year.

 

[KNIGHTTIME^]

FT's matter and tonight we shot them well. In fact, FTs is what won us that game. The last several games have been a nice improvement in this area. It doesn't make up for the low basketball IQ this team has. Three examples:
1) On Bethune's last posession before half they were down to 3-4 seconds left and their guy drains a three. We had two fouls to give. No excuse for not playing smart.
2) Daiquan got his pocket picked late in the game and he let the guy put in a lay up. You grab the guy and put him to the line to earn his two points.
3) See #1 for same thing happening at the end of the game.

Ridiculously poor basketball IQ for our program. I saw Danny White there tonight. I hope he was taking mental notes of how little fire and game IQ we have after 5 years of DJ. I hope he brings in somebody new next year.

1) i'm pretty sure we already had 10 team fouls but I like the idea of sending them to the line down by 3 with 4 seconds remaining though. Was a clutch shot and deep.
2) walker has been a bit better but that possession was a killer. He did come up big on 3s.

 

[Knight_Light]

FT's matter and tonight we shot them well. In fact, FTs is what won us that game. The last several games have been a nice improvement in this area. It doesn't make up for the low basketball IQ this team has. Three examples:
1) On Bethune's last posession before half they were down to 3-4 seconds left and their guy drains a three. We had two fouls to give. No excuse for not playing smart.

UCF was actually in the double bonus at the end of regulation...Coaches discussed fouling in closing seconds...but they remember a similar game (last year), where a dumb play by a UCF player cost a 4 pt play...and they didn't want that to happen.

Crazy game...35 pt margin changes...glad UCF came out on top in the end.

PS. That Bethune kid who had a career night (35 pts, 7-12 from 3), Potts...his nickname was Garden Gnome

 

[akhenaten]

Donnie's teams finished in the bottom-3 in their first 2 seasons in the American, and these non-conference results do not bode well for conference play this season. If they finish bottom-3 for a third straight season, I don't see Donnie getting one more year. I think from what we know about Danny White, he's not going to see much point in prolonging those results.

The Sentinel reported B-CU basketball was rated #338 out of 351 teams. And they were blowing us off the court in the first half, and came back to force overtime in the second half. So what are UConn, Memphis, Cincinnati, SMU, Temple, Tulsa and Houston going to do? I think you either have to make a change, or just throw in the towel and say we're not going to be able to compete in basketball in this conference.

 

[firm_bizzle]

New AD has a firm_bizzle mentality. Expect good things to happen soon.

 

[80'sKnight]

Do you really think us barely getting by B-CU is really impressing White. I just think he's going to pull the trigger quickly, regardless of who started the relationship with the runner or FT or whatever. Losses and unimpressive wins over bad teams won't save him. I'm just going on what he did in Buffalo. Who knows, maybe he's learned to be more patient.

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

FT's matter and tonight we shot them well. In fact, FTs is what won us that game. The last several games have been a nice improvement in this area. It doesn't make up for the low basketball IQ this team has. Three examples:
1) On Bethune's last posession before half they were down to 3-4 seconds left and their guy drains a three. We had two fouls to give. No excuse for not playing smart.
2) Daiquan got his pocket picked late in the game and he let the guy put in a lay up. You grab the guy and put him to the line to earn his two points.
3) See #1 for same thing happening at the end of the game.

Ridiculously poor basketball IQ for our program. I saw Danny White there tonight. I hope he was taking mental notes of how little fire and game IQ we have after 5 years of DJ. I hope he brings in somebody new next year.

agree!

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

Donnie's teams finished in the bottom-3 in their first 2 seasons in the American, and these non-conference results do not bode well for conference play this season. If they finish bottom-3 for a third straight season, I don't see Donnie getting one more year. I think from what we know about Danny White, he's not going to see much point in prolonging those results.

The Sentinel reported B-CU basketball was rated #338 out of 351 teams. And they were blowing us off the court in the first half, and came back to force overtime in the second half. So what are UConn, Memphis, Cincinnati, SMU, Temple, Tulsa and Houston going to do? I think you either have to make a change, or just throw in the towel and say we're not going to be able to compete in basketball in this conference.

THIS ^

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

It was hard to stop the high shooting percentage that BCU had last night...almost unreal.

I still say that Donnie is not motivating these kids. And to back it up, here is Donnie's own words:
......I thought we kind of sulked a little bit the last couple of days, felt sorry for ourselves in practice,” said UCF coach Donnie Jones. “But we competed hard, it’s just our guys were feeling sorry for themselves and so we carried that over today a little bit more. I was hoping that wouldn’t happen but we were trying to find the right combination to play.
“No excuses. We gotta be able to come to play every night if you’ve had a week off or no nights off, that’s important,”

Ah......well yeah Donnie. It's your job to get these guys fired up and motivated!
We have to get rid of these lethargic starts and come out FIRED UP.
The teams we play look much more motivated than us during warm up and game start.
Does anyone else see this?

 

[mattropolis]

UCF was actually in the double bonus at the end of regulation...Coaches discussed fouling in closing seconds...but they remember a similar game (last year), where a dumb play by a UCF player cost a 4 pt play...and they didn't want that to happen.

Crazy game...35 pt margin changes...glad UCF came out on top in the end.

PS. That Bethune kid who had a career night (35 pts, 7-12 from 3), Potts...his nickname was Garden Gnome

That's just DJ making another poor decision in my opinion. Ever watched a pro game where they have a foul to give and don't use it? Probably 99% of the time they foul the guy before he shoots. Sure, sometimes they can get the shot off but that's why you foul them before they setup to shoot. The kids should just know to do this. I might give a pass to a new freshman early in the season for not doing this but that would certainly be a teachable moment. Our next practice I'd have each kid go out there in that situation 10 times and make them foul the dribbler before they shoot. Everybody not in on the play would be watching. That's about 130 times it would be run and all the kids watch or participate. I think the point would be made and the behavior would be learned.

 

[Central Floridave]

Bethune-Cookman's #10 Potts reminded me a little bit of AJ Rompza. He played amazing towards the end of regulation.

 

[mattropolis]

Bethune-Cookman's #10 Potts reminded me a little bit of AJ Rompza. He played amazing towards the end of regulation.

Totally agree. When people started jeering him when he finally fouled out I was like,"I wish we had a PG, or any player, with that kind of fire and grit. Kid was leaving it all on the floor. I was telling the person I was with that he reminded me of Rompza...grit...determination...getting under other players skin...etc...

 

[Knight_Light]

Totally agree. When people started jeering him when he finally fouled out I was like,"I wish we had a PG, or any player, with that kind of fire and grit. Kid was leaving it all on the floor. I was telling the person I was with that he reminded me of Rompza...grit...determination...getting under other players skin...etc...

All true..but last night was his career night...as odds are...he will go back to shooting in the 20 percentile from downtown...meaning he won't be nearly as effective as we was last night (making 7-12, 58.3%), which also helped him get into the lane when UCF players ran out around screens by the perimeter.

 

[thelandman19]

The problem is that our team lacks intelligence in the game. That's the difference between most of our losses being wins. That's on Donnie. I honestly think we haven't played a team better than us yet..

 

[Knight_Light]

The problem is that our team lacks intelligence in the game. That's the difference between most of our losses being wins. That's on Donnie. I honestly think we haven't played a team better than us yet..

Almost every team in the country could say the same thing for their close losses too.

Intelligence has nothing to do with it as in most sports, it comes down to execution...and in close losses, the difference is 1 or 2 possessions from an entire game.

In some games this year, UCF made good choices and/or capitalized on opposition mistake/turnovers and won close games...in some of the close losses, opposition made good choices and/or capitalized on UCF mistakes/turnovers and won close games.

"Intelligence" is just a generic cop out excuse for not winning a game...which will happen to probably every team in the country (odds are no team will go thru this year undefeated).

PS. Speaking of intelligence (basketball IQ, let alone in the "real world), AJ Davis might be one of the most "intelligent" UCF Hoop player in decades...and is clearly a new leader for the team. His challenge is learning to play in control on D as he picks up way too many silly fouls when out of control...which has caused him to foul out of 3 games, be in major foul trouble in others...which has forced him to be on the bench for extended periods...which was one of the major reasons why UCF lost a close game or 2 this year.

 

[thelandman19]

AJ is not that intelligent of a player. He relies on his athleticism for most of his success. Him and Shaheed both take way too many terrible shots for D1 athletes. I see way too many bad shots on this team, no extra pass to find that good shot, lack of effort on defense, boneheaded mistakes, etc. etc. We should have beat just about every team we played without those mistakes.

 

[Knight_Light]

AJ is not that intelligent of a player. He relies on his athleticism for most of his success. Him and Shaheed both take way too many terrible shots for D1 athletes. I see way too many bad shots on this team, no extra pass to find that good shot, lack of effort on defense, boneheaded mistakes, etc. etc. We should have beat just about every team we played without those mistakes.

AJ is #2 on the team in assists with 38 (PG Walker has 44).

Considering the entire team (let alone AJ) is playing without UCF's best player, BJ Taylor, who just so happens to be the #1 PG...AJ, Redshirt Soph (sat out all of last year trasnferring from Tennessee), who hadn't started a game since HS..had immediate pressure to help with ball handling, let alone scoring with BJ out...and I'd say he is off to a good start (leads team in scoring, #2 in assists, #2 in rebounding, hitting 87% from FT line...team leading 41 made FT's, #1 in steals, tied for #2 in blocked shots).

Anyone that has watched all the games still sees that AJ is somewhat raw (not having started for almost 3 years will do that to you), and most of his fouls/mistakes are for being too aggressive.

Shaheed Davis basically helped save the BCU game...as when he was put in the 5 spot to start 2nd half...he made dunk after dunk after dunk.

Don't think anyone who watched the few mins Shaheed played last year would have ever guessed he would have been such an impact player this year...so its been a pleasant surprise (#3 in scoring at 10.5, leads UCF in rebounding).

AJ has cut down on his 3 pt attempts of late...as he realizes his value to drive the lane, get other bigs into foul trouble...and scoring buckets and/or get to the line where he normally converts.