Reminder: It’s a 1-Bid League

and Darrin Horn Knows That

^^^ TOO LONG TO READ? I get it. Give it a listen instead ^^^

An op-ed by Kyle Craven

Hello. It’s me again.

I know you haven’t heard from me in awhile, so maybe you care very little about what I have to say. That’s okay. I accept that — it’s totally fair. But based on what I’ve seen all season, hear me out, maybe a voice who’s been removed from the day-to-day can be just the voice you needed to hear from? Maybe I can help to cool the criticisms of a coach who’s basically done nothing but win? OR maybe I’ll just use this as a soapbox to feel important for the next hour, only to face down a 25% unsubscribe rate from a bunch of people who don’t care to hear from me anymore! Either way, I’m rolling the dice.

I see constant criticism of Darrin Horn, often times from the same group of people and almost exclusively when the Norse lose games. Throughout my lifetime, I have learned something about sports: you don’t always have to dominate all season in order to steal the grand prize at the end of the year: a championship. Take the 2007 New York Giants for instance. The team was 5-6 at one point, their head coach on the hot seat until they rattled off 5 straight wins before losing their final game of the season against the New England Patriots. The 9-7 Giants barely made the playoffs, but they saw those Patriots again just a few weeks later in the Super Bowl and this time they defeated New England, a team that was 18-0 in one of the most epic games of all-time. I grew up a Dallas Mavericks fan and witnessed that team win their only championship while starting off as a 3 seed in the NBA playoffs. The point is, in many sports (college football being probably the biggest exception), hiccups are part of the experience. It’s not always about how you start, but how you finish. Nowhere is this more relevant than in Horizon League basketball. A team that goes 18-2 can be upset in the final tournament and miss out on the NCAA Tournament all together. A team that goes 2-18 can rattle off 3-4 miracle wins in a row and end up making “the big dance”. In this league, you use the regular season to grow, get experience, test out different rotations, try out various schemes on offense and defense, all with the hope that you’ll be able to string together 3-4 wins in a row during the first and second weeks of March, cut some nets, and go dancing. Darrin Horn has clearly figured that part out.

Photo from: @NKUnorseMBB on Twitter

Are there legit criticisms of his coaching style, ability and personnel decisions? I mean, sure. Nobody is immune from criticism. I just don’t think he’s earned much of the criticism he’s gotten, especially what I consider to be the most unfair takes.

CRITICISM #1: In Game Adjustments

I see a ton of criticism during games and ESPECIALLY after losses about the lack of in-game adjustments. But what in game adjustments would people like to see? I’ve yet to see a legitimate basketball answer to this question that sounds like it’s coming from someone who knows the game, or at least is thinking about it rationally. Listen, I’m not an expert. I played throughout high school, read some books on strategy, watched some documentaries, coached a few seasons, but by no means am I as basketball savvy as say, a former collegiate player. But even I know that “get the ball inside more” isn’t a REAL analysis of an adjustment that needs to be made. What I’d like someone to suggest is HOW we could get the ball inside more, what specific change would you like to see Horn make with his chess pieces in order to position the ball in the paint more often? I’m not asking for you to draw up a play, but just tell us all what you think might work because just shouting generic tactical changes has always seemed lazy to me.

Aside from the fact that the worst shot in basketball is a turnaround post shot (speaking purely statistical here, points per shot attempt is the lowest among these attempts), the Norse have never really been known for their imposing physical presence on the offensive block. Yes, Drew McDonald was an incredible post player and as of today the best player in school history, but he’s not walking through that door. What also made Drew such a dynamic force down low is that he didn’t force anything. We ran many sets that involved getting Drew the ball in the block and allowing him to read the defenses reaction and find cutters or wide open teammates along the perimeter. Drew’s complete offensive game, from his complex post move package, to his court vision to his three point shooting ability made him absolutely lethal inside. We haven’t had a player like that since.

So our other option (and I’ve seen plenty of people suggest this) is to drive the ball to the rack. The fact of the matter is that the Norse attempted 338 more two-pointers than 3s this year. The Norse shot 47.7% from 2 and 35.2% from 3. Based simply on the data alone, the Norse score 95.4 points for every 100 two pointers they take, and 105.6 points for every 3 pointer they take.

And that’s not to mention the fact that (see picture below) the Norse were considerably ineffective at the rim this season. Getting to the rim is great because it can open up other looks, but contested shots at the rim are not a strength that this team has.

OBVIOUSLY I am not calling for the Norse to exclusively shoot 3s, and maybe they could make a little more of an effort to work the thing inside, but it’s not nearly as bad as people make it out to be.

Another in game adjustment I see people complaining about a lot is defense. I really don’t have a lot to say here. The Norse run an aggressive match up zone. This zone is predicated on how aggressive the guards play. When the guards are up in the dribbling space of their covers, hawking passing lanes, and flying to the wings/corners to close out on threes, it’s one of the most effective defenses in the country. When they aren’t doing those things, we are ass-out exposed. Entries into the post become so easy that you might as well not even be playing defense. Reversals from inside to the wings for 3 become wide open looks. Cutters fly by a defense who has lost track of them because they are collapsing to the ball inside. The defense works when the guards commit to playing aggressive and focused. To suggest that “adjustments aren’t being made” because they refuse to switch to a man to man in the middle of the game is a short sighted criticism. Teams don’t just throw away the philosophy that they’re built on mid-game because the players aren’t executing. If you want evidence of this, look no further than Tony Bennett at Virginia. The man runs a pack line defense which is probably the most rigid, stringent defense in existence. The final score of their games are often in the 50s, maybe in the 60s if it was a real shootout. I’m sure that’s not a fun style to watch. And I’m sure there is the occasional game where the team just doesn’t show up ready to play as a unit. In that case, it’s incumbent upon the coach to find the players who are willing to put forth the effort worthy of being on the court.

CRITICISM #2: Personnel

This brings me to the second major criticism I’ve seen online. Year after year, I see people criticizing the personnel, both the talent level and the use of those players. I myself have had my own criticisms of players, but it’s always been from a place of support and nuance. I’ve definitely been checked on those, but because I haven’t had people give me the benefit of the doubt when calling me out on those critiques, I try extra hard to give people the benefit of the doubt when I see theirs. But it doesn’t mean I always agree. I mean, surely we aren’t openly disparaging young 20-something’s just because we don’t like the way they play a sport we ourselves weren’t good enough to play past high school. Right?

Let’s talk about the personnel decisions that the coaching staff makes. Three years ago, it was Karl Harris for me. Two years ago, I was stunned by the apparent lack of use of Trey Robinson and the overuse of Adham Eleeda. I was vocal about it. Confused. But what I had to realize was that the coaching staff is privy to about 1,0000,000,000% more information than myself or any other fan. They see every second of practice. They know how these kids are handling themselves in class. They are aware of what may or may not be happening in their personal lives and how well they are adjusting to a life that must not be very easy for a TEENAGER to undergo. Maybe they’re choosing to give a player minutes because they really liked what they saw against a certain team earlier in the year, or maybe in practice. Maybe they’re giving a player minutes in order to send a message to someone else that “hey, there are 12 dudes who are about that life, so it’s time for you to show up.” The truth is we don’t know all the reasons. For us to assume that coaches play favorites or show a lack of creativity would be an understandable conclusion to draw if we were at a dysfunctional organization (DETROIT MERCY ANYONE?) but here, at NKU -- patently absurd. No, the more realistic scenario is that these coaches carefully construct rotations based on matchups (first and foremost) and also based on chemistry and progression. If players who were highly recruited are not doing the things that are being asked of them, they don’t play. Plain and simple. I know this doesn’t give the answer that everyone is looking for: one that validates why or why not certain guys play because the blunt fact of the matter is that we do not know and we will never know the full reason. So I choose to trust the staff that is 79-44 (64.2%) since they’ve been here, including 8-2 in the most important games of the season — the Horizon League Tournament.

I get that we all want 4 star recruits. It would be awesome to have guys choose NKU over UC. But the fact of the matter is that this just isn’t realistic. Very rarely (especially in the age of the transfer portal) do kids choose to play down a level when they have an offer for a bigger program with more exposure in front of them. I know what you’re thinking right now and it’s probably some form of “Well wouldn’t they rather come here and start for NKU rather than sit the bench for 2-3 years at UK?” That makes sense. But have you ever spoken to a 17-18 year old? Much less a 17-18 year old who is at the TOP of their game on their team, conference, region, etc. Those are the players we go after. And guess what, they ALL think they can play over anyone, anywhere. Rarely do you find a 17-18 year old kid so down to earth that they are able to critically think through the argument posited above, rather their thoughts are “oh you think I CAN’T start at Purdue? Alright, I’mma show you.” This staff might not land 3 stars up and down but I’ll argue that they strategically target the players that they know will fit what they’re trying to do. They go after high character players, who contribute to their teams success in multiple ways in high school. Guys who play the game the right way. And that’s only resulted in 2 of the last 3 freshmen of the year.

Maybe you’re concerned about the lack of size? Fair. Despite what you may or may not have heard throughout your life — size does matter. But size is hard to come by in D1 basketball, especially at this level and the Norse are no strangers to this.

HOWEVER, I’d push back by reminding you that NKU gets the absolute most out of their players regardless of size. As mentioned above, the primary responsibility of our defense is to use the aggression and length of our guards to mitigate the lack of size down low. And aside from the few times Loudon Love ate our lunch, I’d say we tend to do a pretty good job of swarming the ball when it actually does get inside. Not to mention this program consistently boasts the BEST pound for pound rebounders in the nation *stares admirably at Jalen Billups, Drew McDonald, Adrian Nelson and Chris Brandon.

The main thing I want to caution against is the personal (not personnel) criticism of the players. Trust me, I’ve had to be checked/reminded of this plenty in the last few years. These are kids at the end of the day, at the very least young men. They are growing, learning how the world works. They are applying their disciplinary studies to this new world that they are learning about. Add in the demands of being an athlete, which in our case includes a very vocal and passionate fan base, it can be a lot for a young person to endure. Criticizing a “weak” recruiting class could be an unintended jab at a kid who quite literally hasn’t gotten the chance to prove us wrong. It’s not unfair to ask for a little grace, understanding and trust, right?

WE HAVE THE BEST FANS IN THE LEAGUE

Heck of a closing header right? But I mean that. I missed you guys a lot this year. And the thing that makes our fans so amazing is the love and passion you have for the Norse. You live and die on the wins and losses, whether it’s to Texas Tech in the Round of 64 or Texas Southern in a triple overtime game in November 2019. You love the Norse. And part of any healthy fandom is legitimate criticism of the program and the coach. I’m not here to police any of that criticism from anyone. The only thing I’ll consistently push back on is any premature calls to fire the coach. The man has won consistently, but first and foremost he’s been:

• scandal free

• a cultivator of GROWTH for young men

• a passionate advocate of the university

It’s hard to ask for much more than that. Norse Up!