iKrager
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2012
- Messages
- 5,027
- Likes
- 2,081
I wanted to write an article on Mostella because I enjoyed watching Mostella take the court, and I always wondered why Mostella struggled as much as he did.
Mostella started off the 2014-15 season with a season high of 17 points against Shaka Smart's VCU squad; he was scoring every way, driving to lane, going to the free throw line, making 3 pt shots. One week later, he had a 13 point game against Bill Self's Kansas squad. You could see Mostella was on the verge of being a great freshmen.
After that game against Kansas, Detrick never scored in the double figures again, and even his minutes plummeted. What happened to Detrick? What made Detrick become a shell of his former self?
According to Detrick, he had attitude problems and had a difficult time adjusting to college basketball. He hit the inevitable "freshmen wall" and couldn't bounce back. He needed an offseason and he needed a coach with a simpler defense and style of play. The below quote doesn't say it, but Detrick is quoted as saying the match-up zone was "confusing" and "we'd get in trouble for missing a match up".
Detrick thoughts on his freshmen year:
So what has Detrick done differently over the offseason to produce the type of season he expects?
When Rick Barnes came to Tennessee he told Detrick...:
Detrick responded accordingly.
The best example of Mostellas improved attitude came after he wrapped up his second session of summer school.
Mostella has worked his butt off to become better. The coaches are saying it and now the players are saying it. His biggest issues as a freshmen were A) mentality B) ball handling C) defense (in the matchup zone). He has already improved all three of those things (Rick Barnes defensive system is quoted as "easier" to learn). Expect great things from him.
A Detrick Mostella quote fitting for the end of this post:
Mostella started off the 2014-15 season with a season high of 17 points against Shaka Smart's VCU squad; he was scoring every way, driving to lane, going to the free throw line, making 3 pt shots. One week later, he had a 13 point game against Bill Self's Kansas squad. You could see Mostella was on the verge of being a great freshmen.
After that game against Kansas, Detrick never scored in the double figures again, and even his minutes plummeted. What happened to Detrick? What made Detrick become a shell of his former self?
According to Detrick, he had attitude problems and had a difficult time adjusting to college basketball. He hit the inevitable "freshmen wall" and couldn't bounce back. He needed an offseason and he needed a coach with a simpler defense and style of play. The below quote doesn't say it, but Detrick is quoted as saying the match-up zone was "confusing" and "we'd get in trouble for missing a match up".
Detrick thoughts on his freshmen year:
At the beginning of the season, there wasnt no freshman wall there. I felt great and was doing things right, he said. The second half of the season, everything just changed like how they was scouting me guarding me, the way I felt, everything. It was just a freshman thing, for real. I believe it now. I ran right into that wall everybody talks about.
But it was good, for real. It taught me a lot of things, and now Im more humble and more prepared coming into my sophomore year.
So what has Detrick done differently over the offseason to produce the type of season he expects?
When Rick Barnes came to Tennessee he told Detrick...:
Mostella has been terrific, Barnes said, and I will tell you, we gave him every reason in the world if he wanted to transfer..
We opened the door and said, heres what weve heard, you can leave right now.
Detrick responded accordingly.
Kevin [Punter] told me today that he is really impressed with [Mostellas] attitude, Barnes said. So after he told me that, I talked to Detrick and asked him why people said he had attitude problems and he said, I did, because when I came in here, I had no idea what to expect and I thought I was going to come in here and everything was going to go my way, and it didnt. It was on me, but Ive learnt from it.
The best example of Mostellas improved attitude came after he wrapped up his second session of summer school.
Before going home, Barnes told the 6-foot-1, 175-pound guard to box while away to continue to improve his coordination.
Mostella did just that, and with that attitude, he could be closing in on finding that potential he showed in his Vols debut.
Hes worked hard, Barnes said. Hes very unorthodox [in the way he shoots the ball], but weve worked a lot with him on his coordination. The whole thing [about the boxing] was that its all about rhythm and getting him to sync his body up.
Mostella has worked his butt off to become better. The coaches are saying it and now the players are saying it. His biggest issues as a freshmen were A) mentality B) ball handling C) defense (in the matchup zone). He has already improved all three of those things (Rick Barnes defensive system is quoted as "easier" to learn). Expect great things from him.
A Detrick Mostella quote fitting for the end of this post:
This is where I want to be, for real, Mostella said. Im supposed to be here, with these guys and these coaches.