After a less-than-amazing season (although still improved from last year), I'm girding myself for the inevitable blame game that will follow. Having read this blog all season, I know that there is a portion of the fanbase that thinks Coach Turgeon is at fault and has let this team down.

Overall, the biggest critiques I see of him are timeouts, substitutions, and an alleged failure to improve players. I've never coached a basketball team, so I don't feel like I'm the person to defend Turgeon's use of timeouts or substitutions (but generally, I think the critics are overstating their case). The idea that players have not improved under Turgeon, though, is demonstrably false.

Let's start out with the guy that everyone agrees has shown improvement from last year: Alex Len. Even the folks who think that Turgeon can't improve players have to admit that Len has shown improvement, as would be expected given that he wasn't able to practice with the team for much of last season and wasn't terribly fluent in English last year. Here's how he fared:

Basically, his minutes went up slightly, but his points and rebounds both increased dramatically. His efficiency remains pretty consistent despite his increased production.

That's an easy one, though. Given all the obstacles he experienced last year, it would've been shocking if Len didn't show some improvement. What about the guy that everyone agrees has fallen off this year? What has Turgeon done with Pe'shon?

As expected, the stats show that Pe'shon has regressed, but not in every area. His minutes are down, which explains some of the decrease in points and rebounds. Despite his decreased minutes, though, his assists have actually gone up slightly and his TOs have dropped by almost half. If you could overlook his terrible shooting percentages, you would say that Pe'shon has shown improvement. Unfortunately, overlooking his abysmal shooting is easier said than done. It's even more baffling given his marked improvement at the FT line. I have no idea what Pe'shon's problems are, but it's clear that his play has fallen off this year.

That brings us to our second allegedly underachieving upperclassman: James Padgett

True, his minutes and his raw numbers are down. But his FG% and efficiency stats are improved, and his turnovers have fallen significantly. I don't think that he's underachieved so much as he's been supplanted by the fruits of Turgeon's recruiting efforts. It's hard to knock a coach if his freshman are able to outplay fair-to-solid upperclassmen.

That brings us to Faust, who I think has been the victim of much undeserved abuse this year. Here are his stats:

Faust is playing slightly less this year than last, but that's to be expected given our lack of scholarship players last year. Despite playing about 3 fewer minutes this year than last, his raw numbers have stayed about the same. His efficiency, though, is much improved. In fact, Faust currently has the second best 3pt% on the team. And despite shuttling back and forth between point and wing, his assists are up this year and his TOs are down. He's shown significant improvement across the board, and could be poised for a big year next season.

At the end of the day, I'm as disappointed as anyone that we couldn't scrape together 10 wins from a below average ACC this year. Barring a big performance in the ACCT, it does not look like we'll be going to the big dance. Still, the future is bright, and Turgeon has shown me enough for me to believe that he is absolutely the best man for this job.