Or at least put it squarely in the category of you not needing to constantly melt over it. There’s been a lot of patience, acknowledge that. Staff and teammates are either unwilling to put any heat on him or not wired that way. Is there enough heat on him? Yes. Is that part of the problem? Yes. But there’s some higher intelligence in booing him. There’s a massive ego there with neo. And that’s also the source of the humiliation for him. I’m glad to see somebody not treat him like a baby and hold him accountable. Granted you will probably rant about some YOU THINK YOU KNOW WHAT CMY DOES BEHIND CLOSED DOORS YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING. My point is, whatever’s going on, the fans are part of the village raising this kid, and always will be, wherever he goes, and maybe there’s some cards they can play and a role they can play that is necessary and prescient. I get your theory. The dude is cooked mentally, and this is making it worse. The counter point would be from a fans perspective it can’t get any worse. The outcome I’m hoping for is- and I honestly think it is legitimately in-play - is that Neo develops some kind of a chip on his shoulder. Rather than sulking sulking sulking. Currently Hammond is the only guy on the team who gets after it like he has something to prove out there. I wonder why? The answer should be obvious for anyone who’s followed this season. What did Hansberry do after dropping the ball on the blown challenge (which by the way was very weak on CMY part given that with 1.4s on the shot clock it was 90% a turnover already, can only win 0.1 possessions best case who cares?) Did he sulk did he fold? I don’t know the team dynamic but as an “insider” maybe you can - are these guys afraid to hold Neo accountable? Has anyone in Neo’s circle ever held him accountable or is he surrounded by a bunch of yes-men? Tobi Lawal looks like Kobe pulling up from 3 compared to Neo and Neo looks like Shaq at the FT line from three. That’s a problem. Even the announcers point it out the body language is terrible. He’s got a few games left in his college career and you’re right none of it matters, Neo will get drafted and nobody really cares much about what he does here. Except the fans. So is something going to change or not? I don’t care about production I don’t care about variance I don’t care about him helping the team in other ways. I care about the BODY LANGUAGE and I care about this dude being absolutely shook inbounding the ball and pulling up for rhythm 3’s. He’s so tentative and afraid to make mistakes and that SUCKS to see. I don’t care if it goes in or not I’d rather see 0-7 with him pulling up like the cockiest mf on the planet 7 times in a row than what we saw yesterday and a lot recently. I want to see Neo f’ing pissed, not shrinking. I don’t care the result. He should be pissed. He NEEDS to come out with something to prove. That’s how great players react we’ve seen it a million times. Is that a lot to ask from a 19yo? Absolutely. But that’s what we are asking for. Ball’s in your court, Neo. It’s that time in the season where freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore. He’s obviously got it in his head being told he took bad shots early in the season. He’s gotten mugged a lot. I don’t feel bad for the kid. This is ultimately something that he needs to go through, in a very spiritual way in a sense. Fans are fanatics. They’re idiots. They’re going to probably be at every game he plays in for many many years. The only choice he has is how does he respond, and I think it’s fair to say he needs a wake up call mentally. Because of what I said: not the results, but the body language. Neo should act like an ice cold killer out there. That’s what his talent level corresponds to. Not an indecisive and sheepish fawn that needs protection. The fans reaction: it’s insulting. It’s humiliating. Would a professional coach or friend etc ever do that? No. Let them be fanatics. I’d like to see Neo and those around him (yourself included) use it as fuel for a white-hot fire down the stretch where we see more guys diving on balls, more guys going HARD to the rim (where’s that from lawal d-wash style this dude should be trying to put people on posters a half dozen times a game) … more guys fouling HARD at the rim, more guys sprinting off screeners, more guys aggressively harassing ball handlers. Like I said Hammond is the only one playing with a chip on his shoulder. That’s what Neo needs and SHOULD have, not the sulking. Now’s the opportunity for that. I don’t get the wisdom in trying to protect him. Let him be a man out there. The fans cheering his benching should either be small potatoes - water off a duck’s back. Or fuel for the fire. So in that sense the response is either “who cares” or “good” … because like I said SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE and that is NOT his results or stat-line per se but it IS his attitude and body language.