Turnovers frustrating Martin

Not playing Damien Leonard because of a perceived defensive deficiency is insane since the rest of the team has been getting dominated off the dribble and DL at least provides some possibility of scoring. There is no way that Smith or Richardson are better than Leonard - no way in the world. Page has has 2 terrible games and yet DL gets no shot? I am not saying he is a worldbeater, but good lord you can't tell me that he doesn't deserve some PT when we obviously need scoring.

I am pulling for DL a lot. But, when he is in, he just doesn't seem to know where to go with the ball.... several times tried to pass it all the way across the court vs half court defense and got intercepted and dunked.... things you don't do in church ball.... but I know he can get hot and score points... am waiting on that but his ball handling, passing and defense really disappoint....

I'm no coach but I go to a lot of the games and love our local boys to "do good" ....

We don't have the defensive capabilities as a team to allow another defensively incapable player to start or get major minutes. Add that to the fact that while he's offensively talented, he hasnt' proved himself to be skilled enough to positively affect the scoreboard in a manner that would greatly offset his lack of defense. I could understand if he's Allen Iverson, and is locked in for getting you 20+ a night. But he hasn't shown that, and until he does or improves his defense, he won't see PT.

Coaches are not immune from questioning - this is in fact a message board where opinions can be expressed. I am a fan of USC like everyone else. Martin is a step-up from Horn and our guys are playing hard and the addition of Thornwell was a major get (although we owe some gratitude to Horn and Boynton for keeping us in the game with him). I am not sure that is enough to say well let's just give him a pass for the year. Martin inherited a mess.....and him calling NC State and telling them he was going to inflict a NCAA firestorm re: their allegedly tampering with Gill and Harris was great - I commend him because Early and company (allegedly) made contact throughout the year. Losing those 2 hurt very badly because they were good and will be good. I recognize we are low on talent, but my point is simply that DL has a higher upside than Smith or Richardson.......and him starting slow last year while bad (or awful in some cases - see Elon) is not unlike most true freshman. He did have 15 on UNC and 17 on Kentucky in that catastrophe. I would bet he will get a shot here soon once SEC play starts. If he plays bad (and not in 2 minute increments which is impossible to judge someone on) then I will be the first to say try someone else. We don't have an Iverson - agreed - but I am not convinced that leaving a potential offensive weapon on the bench in favor of equal or less players when we need buckets is very smart. And yes I do watch games....including St. Johns and Clemson.

I saw Leonard play in high school and I know that he is capable of being a dynamic scorer. Sometimes you have to let a kid play his game. Back in the 80's a kid named David Brown from Darlington went to Furmanand his first two years did not make any impact. His high school coach and I drove to Greenville and talked to his coach and convinced him to let David play his game, which was three pointers. The Next year I saw a whole page spread in the Greenville News that had a caption at the top that said Two Great Bombers. At the top was a picture of a B-52 and at the bottom was a picture of David. If a kid is not feeling comfortable shooting, his percentage will be terrible,but on the other hand when a coach says ,shoot the lights out, it does make a difference. Like I said , I have seen Leonard light it up from three point range more than one time. The size of the floor is the same and the goal is the same height. He is capable and he knows it. When the season is over and the final four have been selected you will see that each of these teams have made that cut because they have capable three point shooters.

As Herman Cain would say, "IM FRUSTRATED!"

I saw him play in the NC vs SC all stars game. He had thirty something points, and hit a three at the buzzer to win it. He can score in BUNCHES when he gets confident. I was very excited when he signed with us. He will get it going sooner rather than later. He just needs to work in Martin's system a little while.

Yes we understand you have been to the practices and know more than Martin. Leonard is doing everything the coaches ask and Martin just doesn't like him, we get it.

81 - I tend to agree more with Spurrier's method of trying to get people going......i.e. - trying to get Shaq Roland and Jerell Adams (to some degree) some touches and build some confidence. These are 19 year old kids and while you can bench, yell at, quiet game some of your marginal players (see Coach K method), why wouldn't you try to get a potential offensive weapon going? I agree that you have to practice hard to get PT - that is true. But, making a point cannot take the place of trying to develop some scoring from a guy who you are right obviously can play since OK State flew across the country to try to land him.....as did Arizona (Sean Miller is an excellent coach too)........as did Kentucky with Orlando Antigua trying to land him..........kids get in the doghouse and lose confidence all the time - my question is whether it is the right strategy to do that to someone who has scoring ability that the guys playing in front of him do not. As you know, shooters play in rhythm and they cannot get anything going if they get yanked after the first missed shot, etc. Again, I do think Martin will play him more once SEC starts

Right now, I don't see how he can be more than a good spot up shooter. He is simply not skilled enough or athletic enough at this point to create much of his own offense. Maybe he can develop as he is still young.

Defensively, he is just a huge liability at this point. He simply cannot stay with college guards and defend the ball. He gets beat so easily that it forces too many rotations, leaves wide open shots and leaves our players on terrible rebounding positions because our defense has had to over rotate.

I don't think it is a matter if letting him play his game. He has to learn to play defense because we will never be a zone team under Martin long term. We need to build our program on tough nosed defense and he needs to learn how to play it before he can ever flourish here.

Maybe he needs to transfer. Frank's style isn't for everyone. Maybe he can take it and maybe he can't. That is understandable.

I would say this is his second coach at the collegiate level. Did both limit his skills, or just Frank?

I haven't seen them. He seems like he could be a great shooter and I want him badly to succeed. He does have some obvious limitations that would be apparent under any coach.

I think he can get hot on some nights and really help with double digit scoring nights on occasion. At this point, I'm not sure he is ready to be consistent.
You seem personally invested and I can understand and respect that. Still, I think it is clouding your view of his talent level.