In this case the "something" that reduces his role isn't anything negative about a person's character, just that they aren't playing well enough to win games. The "something" for me, is choosing to quit the team mid-season... I am hoping this one game suspension with Melendez is not a case of "something" and that he understands and accepted the punishment for whatever transgression he committed. I hope he is ready to come back and be a contributing member of the team in whatever role the staff has in mind for him for the remainder of the season...
We as fans don’t get to see the guys at practice. We don’t get to see how each guy is interacting with the others. We don’t get to see the day-to-day changes in how they are thinking and feeling. This again is where trust in the coaching staff is critical... because they do see these things. And they have one-on-one conversations when necessary to get a read on how the player is doing.
As for Melendrez... we have seen that something isn’t right with his game. And when on-court success is not happening, then the doubts and negative thinking start to creep in. And you cannot play this game without feeling confident. Maybe that is the issue here, or maybe not.
Illini fans have been trying so hard to ‘will’ the ball in for him when he takes a Three but that hasn’t helped. And since we don’t actually know what’s going on right now it’s tough to know what the path is going forward.
The loss of Clark and the effectiveness of Melendrez have greatly impacted this team. It has effectively shortened the bench by two key players. Whatever the Illini are able to accomplish this Season will have been reduced by some level with the status of these two important players.
While we can’t expect too much from Goode right now... he could go a long way in helping to fill the void. And the freshmen who are active Illini are showing growth in their games which is a great thing.