papawasamustang wrote:PonyDoh wrote:Harp's issues fall w/Harp
When you put up the type of #'s he did in HS you have a certain confidence level.
As a player, you have ? about your game when you enter college, but you still have that confidence.
I saw Harp put up a double/double his Freshman year. I saw him hit several key shots in highly contested games his freshman year. I saw him rebound & add some nice assists. The confidence was there. Although not earth shattering, I saw some things in this kid. Many on this board said he would be a great 6 man off the bench.
Then last season comes. All the ranting about what great shape the kid is in. Big deal was made about his great mile run time. The kid was training in the summer. The season starts & the Scooby Doo mystery begins.
Fast forward to this season. The kid is showing NOTHING.
I don't care if he Doh's babysitter, Ping pong partner, future Grad Asst., whatever, he shouldn't be playing. His confidence appears to be totally gone.
Is he burnt out on basketball?
Is he a sucker for love? Does he show up with the weak knees (if u know what I mean)
Can he not make that transition from practice to a game? I would love for some of his teammates to discuss how he practices vs. how he plays.
Is he Doh's whipping boy & is beaten down so badly we are seeing the results?
If he's not burnt out & hasn't found that true love than its got to be the fact that the HC has destroyed his confidence.
If he does make shots in practice & really is one of the top 5 behind Crum doors, the HC is doing a really poor job to both the team & Ryan re: getting him untracked in games.
I've seen something close to this first hand but not this bad. The player usually gets buried at the end of the bench & you never hear from them again. What makes this so strange is the playing time continues with 0 results.
Here's hoping the next time he gets into the game he jacks it up every time he touches the rock, makes a few & as he walks off the court smiling the 1 finger salute is prominently displayed to all 750 of the SMU faithful (which includes me).
That's a good/fun post, and I'd like nothing more then to see Harp perform. As you stated, there are a ton of reasons a kid isn't performing. That said, and you mentioned it yourself, he's had his chances. This isn't a matter of playing time. The staff likes Harp, or they wouldn't let him run around doing nothing, despite all of us clamoring for him to ride the pine. At some point, you have to seize the opportunity, get out of your own head, or just play for yourself & eff the coach. He's not doing any of those, despite repeated opportunities. Haynes pretty much sucked the other night, but his stat line is proactive, at the very least. All you can do is give a kid opportunity, after that he needs to get it done. This is supposed to be big business
