Turgeon might want to rein in comments about Nick Faust
Let me begin by saying I love Mark Turgeon's candor. It's way too early to know for sure if he's the right coach for Maryland's men's basketball team in the post-Gary Williams era (although I happen to think he is.) But no matter how well Turgeon does, you've got to love the fact that he tells it like it is.
Having said that, I offer this bit of advice: go easy when talking to the media about Nick Faust's confidence.
I've seen coaches do this sort of thing before. And sometimes it gets in the player's head and makes things even worse.
To recap, Turgeon made his comments about Faust after Maryland's 71-62 loss to Illinois in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
The highly touted freshman guard had just suffered through a tough 2-for-11 night shooting in front of the home crowd at Comcast Center.
"The poor kid, he's lost his confidence," Turgeon said. "He's air-balling shots. He's a young kid."
Turgeon didn't say it to be mean or overly critical of a kid who is expected to play an important role with the Terps the next few years.
And this isn't to suggest that Faust, the former City standout, is an emotional piece of bone china who shatters at the slightest criticism.
But Faust is a proud and sensitive kid who's still learning what big-time college basketball is all about. And as we all know, so much of shooting a basketball is all in a player's head. So as a coach, you might not want to be questioning a kid's confidence when the kid himself might not even see it as an issue.
In other words, Faust might simply have chalked up his poor shooting against the Illini as one of those nights. Same thing with his 1-for-5 from the floor and 3 points in the Terps 78-71 win over Notre Dame Sunday in the BB&T Classic in Washington.
No need to plant a seed in his head that he's lacking confidence this early in the season.
All evidence indicates the kid will be back. He's too good a player to stay in a shooting slump for long. He was a terrific scorer at City and he's only played in seven games on the collegiate level.
Give him time. He'll find his stroke again. No need to put any more pressure on him than what he's already feeling.
US Presswire photo of Nick Faust / Dec. 4, 2011
Comments
Pretty tame comment from a coach, if you ask me. Hardly the stuff for an entire column. It doesn't sound negative. It's just a statement of the obvious
Faust needs to work on his foul shooting too. Missing 4 in a row against Notre Dame gave the Irish an opportunity to make the game closer than it should have been..
Posted by: bob b | December 5, 2011 3:00 PM
Kevin if you ask me you better stay with the sports that you are suppose to be familiar with, football and baseball.Although this kid has come into a very unstable situation at MD that Gary Williams created he was still suppose to be a very high calibur recuirt. So far he has looked anything like that.He has looked horrible in every facet of the game and for you to chatise this coach is in poor judgement.Stick to being a apoligist for the orioles and the ravens and leave the terp basketball team to a very good coach.
Posted by: blancione | December 5, 2011 4:23 PM
Kevin I agree with you and more. Obviouslly, Turgeon can recruit and appears to be a good practice coach. Book is still out on being a good game coach. But there is a pattern with him about making comments about his player that are negative. GW only spoke positive stuff to the media. Turgeon would do well to pick up on that and quit calling his players out in the media.
Posted by: John | December 5, 2011 5:22 PM
Come on...really...spot on comments...no need to write about that...I hope turgeon can coach football too actually...he is making great progress with such a young squad...this group will be as good as their defensive intensity!
Posted by: Terpboy34 | December 5, 2011 6:25 PM
Turge is the perfect hire for U of MD. No coach in the country could be a better fit who was available.
Glad he is coaching U of Md and not you. Believe me he is communicating with Nick every single day. Sean, Padge and Parker getting a lot better under Turge. If GW was still here this would be far worst because Sean would not be shooting like this, Padge would not be playing as well and Stogs could not be player better.
Posted by: MIke | December 5, 2011 6:42 PM
Poor Cowherd. He's lost his confidence. He has air-balled several columns in a row.
Posted by: SmittyATL | December 5, 2011 7:54 PM
"book is still out on being a good game coach"
????????????? WTF
Turgeon took Texas A&M to 4 consecutive NCAA Tournaments and you the book is still out.
Whatever you are smoking is definitely mind altering.
Posted by: Terpoholic | December 6, 2011 5:56 PM
wow -- fairly weak column as it fails to mention how Coach Turgeon noted that Nick was being forced to play out of position and because of that, he Coach Turgeon, owned a big part of the problem -- over all not great journalism here.
Posted by: curlybyrd | December 6, 2011 9:54 PM
If the coach wants to comment on his players through the media, so be it. This coach is a proven commodity. We are very fortunate to have a coach of this caliber take the reigns of the state's flag ship university. This guy is going to win where ever he coaches, and I'm grateful that's going to be in College Park !
gw
Posted by: gw | December 7, 2011 4:02 AM
Yeah...and Mosley was a great scorer in high school and look what a bust he has been. Foust is hurting the team in the starting lineup and should come off the bench to see some PT. I know there is little talent to replace him with but at least get someone that can shoot a free throw. Carolina gets Barnes and Duke gets Rivers. We get Foust. What's wrong with this picture?
Posted by: 70Terp | December 7, 2011 8:49 AM
As Terpoholic responded to John's, "book is still out on being a good game coach"?
It never surprises me as little as some folks know about sports. Turg is a "absolutely terrific" game coach. Gary, Larry Brown, Roy Williams attested to that and as pointed out taking A&M to four straight NCAA's. I've already seen he's ability in the few games this season, and that's without very much talent. I've seen vast improvement by several players already -- Parker, Pankey, Weis, etc.
As for what your someking John, it must be "good stuff"!!!
Posted by: Darryl | December 19, 2011 11:28 AM