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Kevin O'Neil was placed into a situation which was completely unfair to him. The fact that he even made the tourney this year to keep the streak alive is commendable. O'Neil was brought in to do something that Lute Olson cant: teach defense! It was a brilliant move to bring a defensive minded coach to coincide with Olson's offensive style. Putting these two together actually works-the problem was that Olson wasnt around. In regards to the bench- Arizona had to have had by far one of the worst benches in College basketball this year. The first guard off the bench was Dillon, and the first big man was Walters...Need I say more?
I know Im going to get blasted for this but I have to admit that I think Lute Olson over the past few years has really lost his stuff. Being an alum of UofA (class of 2002), I watched first hand the efforst of Lute Olson. Im not sure anyone can say they do a better job in recruiting talent, but when it comes to "Xs and Os" of basketball I find myself constantly shaking my head when I watch the Cats. Case in point: the dreaded Illinois game in the tourney when the Cats blew the 15 point lead in 5 mins. Down by 1 Lute called a timeout and designed perhaps one of the worst plays. The cats barely got the inbounds in time and our best shooter, Salim Stoudamire didnt even get a look.
The offense this year was at times, painful to watch- their motion was pitiful and ineffective. - this is a product of Lute.
Conclusion: Lute is an outstanding recruiter who needs a guy like Kevin O'Neil to actually teach the game.
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