Ok, we’re paddling upstream in a douche canoe re the damn good classification. Is it fair to say Shaka at least deserves some damn respect?
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Shaka is a damn good coach)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
He hasn't proven to be n above-average power five coach yet. I've stated that many, many times. It's in the article.
Shaka took a perennial tournament team and in year 2 tied Bob F Weltlich for the alltime loss record. In year 3 he’s hoping to avoid missing a second straight tournament. Neither Barnes or Penders did that.
No, but both coaches had disaster seasons on their watch, just like Shaka a year ago.
I like Garrett Wilson and sure hope we get him. But, there's no way he ranks ahead of DeMavin Leal and certainly not 10 spots better. Then again this is just Rivals' rankings, which aren't particularly respected by those who follow recruiting closely..
Vs top 25 and power 5. Total - 10-10 and 4-7 respectively
Count here if you want.
2014-2015 2-2 0-2
2013-2014 2-1 1-0
2012-2014 2-4 0-3
2011-2012 1-2 0-2
2010-2011 2-1 2-0
2009-2010 1-0 1-0
Since we’re throwing out shaka’s Last season can we throw out Barnes last couple? It’s only fair
Ketch's defense of Smart is over the top and uses statistical analysis that is not entirely contextual to the current situation. Personally I like Smart, I've seen practices up close , been with the team on road trips , like his overall approach and organization. That being stated, his x and o maneuvers are very inconsistent and the past two years indicate we really don't know what we have in Smart. A team that can pull off the road win against OU but can get whacked by a shorthanded TCU. It's a fair observation that our half court offense is simply terrible most of the time- we run a psiposphy not an offense. While we don't block out offensively or defensively , make lazy passes and lazy receptions -- thats endemic to all of college basketball .
The caterwauling here by some fans is a moot point -- no change is going to be made due to the economics of the situation for a minimum of one year and probably two years regardless of NCAA qualifying. Certainly I'm not in favor of making a change this year as the optics of such a move would be extraordinarily difficult to justify.
Smart is an enigma. He is undergoing some OJT for Big 12 basketball where there are excellent tactical coaches that have recruited well for their systems. Every team must bring their A game and every coach must bring their A game adjustments every night with rare exception. You simply have to shoot and make three pointers in this era. It not as simple as saying "don't shoot threes because you are not a good three shooting team " -- that would be the equivalent of saying don't pass the ball in football , it simply is not an option. We don't run the 3/4 and 1/2 court trap press as much as I thought we would -- bringing Smart here made me think that would be our staple in year 3 . Has he not recruited "shooters " ?? -- I'll let the recruitnik gurus answer that. I will say I watched Jacob Young hit so many three's running the opponents offense against our first team, that Smart had to set him down because they were not getting anything done -on the road no less -- over the course of several segments he hit 19 of 21 threes that I counted. But he sure has not lit it up like he did in high school during games. Perhaps that goes to our offensive scheme where we ( by we I mean Smart) does not seem to put players in a position to succeed consistently by design-- only by individual effort is that accomplished.
This is a very different situation that C.Strong. Strong was overmatched in virtually every aspect of the Texas job - organization, focus , attention to detail - and it was very obvious from early on he was in over his head and confirmed by the Iowa St game of 2015. Smart's situation is very different -- there are many things he does right -- virtually all the things behind the scenes are well run but the on court performance is so inconsistent as to raise questions as to long term viability. I'm hoping that something clicks and clicks very soon . As Del Conte said Texas needs to win " for our soul " in everything other than football .(Of course he also indicated football is for the whole package -- our,soul, financial well being of the department, football drives the train) .
The caterwauling here by some fans is a moot point -- no change is going to be made due to the economics of the situation for a minimum of one year and probably two years regardless of NCAA qualifying. Certainly I'm not in favor of making a change this year as the optics of such a move would be extraordinarily difficult to justify.
Smart is an enigma. He is undergoing some OJT for Big 12 basketball where there are excellent tactical coaches that have recruited well for their systems. Every team must bring their A game and every coach must bring their A game adjustments every night with rare exception. You simply have to shoot and make three pointers in this era. It not as simple as saying "don't shoot threes because you are not a good three shooting team " -- that would be the equivalent of saying don't pass the ball in football , it simply is not an option. We don't run the 3/4 and 1/2 court trap press as much as I thought we would -- bringing Smart here made me think that would be our staple in year 3 . Has he not recruited "shooters " ?? -- I'll let the recruitnik gurus answer that. I will say I watched Jacob Young hit so many three's running the opponents offense against our first team, that Smart had to set him down because they were not getting anything done -on the road no less -- over the course of several segments he hit 19 of 21 threes that I counted. But he sure has not lit it up like he did in high school during games. Perhaps that goes to our offensive scheme where we ( by we I mean Smart) does not seem to put players in a position to succeed consistently by design-- only by individual effort is that accomplished.
This is a very different situation that C.Strong. Strong was overmatched in virtually every aspect of the Texas job - organization, focus , attention to detail - and it was very obvious from early on he was in over his head and confirmed by the Iowa St game of 2015. Smart's situation is very different -- there are many things he does right -- virtually all the things behind the scenes are well run but the on court performance is so inconsistent as to raise questions as to long term viability. I'm hoping that something clicks and clicks very soon . As Del Conte said Texas needs to win " for our soul " in everything other than football .(Of course he also indicated football is for the whole package -- our,soul, financial well being of the department, football drives the train) .
I think I am misunderstanding your argument then.
Ok... agreed he's a damn good coach (and a better person).
Agreed...he as not demonstrated he is or can be a good power 5 coach.
I think the Texas fans want a coach that competes for Big 12 basketball titles (reg season and post) and NCAA tournament wins. Not sure Shaka is that guy (and I am on the another year train for a lot of reasons).
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@o5prey
1. He was 2 & 4 for the rest of his Tournament results. Also, in his first year at VCU he did win the NIT.
2. The A10 is not some chickenshit conference. Kepom normally has it rated 7th or 8th. His out of conference strength of schedule was around 100, just about the same as Texas
3. His offense does need some work.
16-18 vs 11-22 aren’t the same. But if you must, it’s one disaster out of 17 vs one out of 2 and it might be 2 if 3.
Just to be clear, I’d love nothing else than for Texas to finish strong and go on a run this March. I pull for ALL Texas teams and coaches. That doesn’t mean I can’t have serious doubts deep into year 3.
Do you think Lon Krugar is thinking to himself this weekend, "How did we lose twice to a team with shitty coaching?"
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Well, I don't know if Lon Krueger has thought that, but it has sure crossed my mind several times since Saturday.
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You don't think a guy that took a team slotted into the play-in game as a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament to the Final Four can coach? A guy who coached a team to consecutive wins over an 11-seed, a 10-seed, a 6-seed, a 3-seed and a 1-seed can coach?
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I sort of loosely equate winning a BCS (pre playoff)bowl game in football to making the final four (or at least the elite eight) in basketball. And Charlie Strong did that. Then he followed it up the next year with an 11 win season and a bowl win against Miami.
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Well, I don't know if Lon Krueger has thought that, but it has sure crossed my mind several times since Saturday.
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You don't think a guy that took a team slotted into the play-in game as a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament to the Final Four can coach? A guy who coached a team to consecutive wins over an 11-seed, a 10-seed, a 6-seed, a 3-seed and a 1-seed can coach?
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I sort of loosely equate winning a BCS (pre playoff)bowl game in football to making the final four (or at least the elite eight) in basketball. And Charlie Strong did that. Then he followed it up the next year with an 11 win season and a bowl win against Miami.
Interesting take on Smart. I admire your willingness to go against the conventional wisdom of the OB community with your support of a coach struggling to keep his head above the .500 mark. I'm not close enough to the program to evaluate what goes on at practice or their team meetings but I was impressed with his public persona when he was hired. He is an impressive representative for the program but he better get things turned around on the court. Next year is year four and I believe he needs to win close to 25 games, finish in the top three or four in the Big 12 and win a game in the ncaa tournament to keep his job. I hope he does whatever he needs to do because I like what he brings to the program otherwise.
Ketch quoted every response except the one that absolutely destroyed him.
Be better.
Repetitive? From the guy who literally copied and pasted a portion of his blog in this thread over and over?
I stopped reading at page 9, back to the grind.
You know they are 16 and 11 right now, right? Even if they lost all four remaining games (unlikely), and lost their opening Big 12 Tourney game (unlikely), they would still be 16 and 16, which is .500.
Do you actually pay attention to basketball or do you just like exercising your ability to be a under-informed/over-opinionated UT sports fan?
Fascinating thread...
Seems a lot of people read the first words and skipped parts like this
"A fair assessment of his first three seasons in Austin: decent, disaster and damn good. I'll defend Smart in a lot of areas, but I can't argue that the totality of his three seasons have equated to definitive, tangible success."
Seems a lot of people read the first words and skipped parts like this
"A fair assessment of his first three seasons in Austin: decent, disaster and damn good. I'll defend Smart in a lot of areas, but I can't argue that the totality of his three seasons have equated to definitive, tangible success."
