It's inevitable that whenever a team begins losing - especially when losing was not expected heading into the season - that that team's fans begin looking for explanations. Some of these are more rational than others. In the case of UofL basketball, injuries have a lot to do with it (but then this leads to the totally unsubstantiated suggestion that injuries are the product of especially intense practice habits).

Some explanation are not so rational. I have no desire to shelter Pitino from criticism - indeed I think he'd serve himself well by talking less - but I have little patience with people whose anxiety and frustration leads them to assert that the team's struggles are the result of bad coaching just because they need someone to blame. Bad coaching could be the problem, but then what is the evidence, other than that the season isn't going the way you want it to? Steve Krapthorpe's teams bore the marks of poor coaching. Pitino's squad, I think, does not. They're a limited bunch decimated by injuries. Why should we expect more? (If you want to criticize recruiting, fine, but that's another issue).

It's more reasonable to conclude that Pitino is a good coach with a good staff who know more than we do how to lead a basketball program. That hardly means that they're above reproach, but it does mean fans should bear in mind their limited information and maintain a healthy respect for their own ignorrance. I haven't read a single person criticizing the coaching say anything insightful. If keen observors with good basketball knowledge want to offer criticism, by all means, do so. But let's try to stop the criticism that is only a projection of anxiety and the need to blame.