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Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Shaka is a damn good coach)

So....do you agree Dustin? Is Shaka a "damn good coach"? Is he worthy of Big 12 coach of the year votes this season?

I think he's better than a lot of Texas fans think, and to act like he wasn't one of the top hires when he came to Texas is rewriting history based on his results at Texas. During his first year, many Texas fans on here posted they thought he'd reach Final Fours soon.

There are aspects I think he's good at (defense, individual player development, recruiting, long-term vision and program construction, connecting with people and players) and areas I think he needs to get much better in (offense, implementing more schematic influence > player freedom, generating consistent results).

I think he's a good coach that hasn't done, overall, a good job at Texas generating results so far for many reasons. Perhaps he will in the future. Perhaps he won't. The collection of three and four-year talent that will be on future rosters is good.

I don't know about votes because Chris Beard probably runs away with that, a guy that's 2-3 vs. Smart and should have been 1-4, but if Smart finished .500 in the league I bet he'd get a vote because .500 probably puts a team 5th, maybe in a tie for 4th in this league. Only OU and Iowa State are within 100 spots of Texas (337th out of 351) in team experience (youth).

I do think some Texas fans, for reasons I don't understand, have dismissed Jones being away from the program as something that shouldn't have significantly influenced the season. At one point, Notre Dame lost seven straight games after losing its best offensive player during that whole stretch, and its point guard for four of those games after being 13-3, and 3-0 in the ACC. Life on the hardwood in good leagues isn't easy when you subtract an offensive talent like Jones.

If Jones is healthy, Texas is probably something like 19-8 and we're not even having this discussion.
 
There have been times when they have been coherent, Saturday, for example.
Against the team ranked 337th out of 351 in points allowed per game at 82 points per game. Context matters, correct? They rank dead last in points per game in the Big 12 conference, as they have the last two seasons. The offense is a downright disaster at Texas under Shaka Smart...saying anything other than that is just not being honest.
 
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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.
That was the CBI not the NIT.
Also Shaka coached in the Colonial Athletic Association his first 3 years not the A10. VCU started A10 play in the 2012-2013 season.
 
It can be debated whether Charlie is a damn good "head" coach. I'll at least say he';s a good head coach, just not at this level.

That might also be true of Shaka.
This comment made me stop down before I read any farther, so if it was said somewhere in the following pages, I apologize in advance.

“This level” is the only level that matters around here. At “this level,” the coaches and players are better than at mid-majors. So, I guess, if you want to say that he and Charlie are damn good mid-major coaches, that’s fine. But I don’t care if Shaka or Charlie is a damn good coach at any level other than “this level.”
 
During his first year, many Texas fans on here posted they thought he'd reach Final Fours soon.

Count me in that group. Having said that, I can't help but scratch my head at times because of what I see as coaching failures rather than mistakes made by players. Easy recent example was taking Jericho Sims out of a game after two and half minutes when he had made two easy dunks and the other team obviously didn't have an answer.

Too often I saw players not ready to catch the ball, much less make a pass that a teammate could catch in rhythm. And I saw players who didn't have a clue about how to block out after a missed shot. And at times I saw a team that had no energy or focus when they had every incentive to be totally focused.

Admittedly I am not on floor in the game, or on the sideline trying to coach in a noisy arena, but I see what I see and I throw my hands up as if to say "...what the heck is going on here?"

I like to win, but if my team loses I at least want to be able to say we lost to the better team today, or that was a (great) lucky shot at the end, etc. But I want to be competitive in losses and at times the Horns aren't mentally in the game. And that's on Shaka unless you can convince me otherwise.

And yes, losing Andrew Jones was huge just like losing Cam Ridley.
 
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Funny watching some of you argue with a column you haven't read.

It speaks to something...
Ketch - great column.
Has Shaka's tenure been somewhat disappointing, yes?
BUT, if this fan base will give Shaka 2 more years watch out.
 
@Ketchum

Still waiting for you to respond to the post I posted where I ask you specific basketball questions as related to actual coaching decisions by Coach Smart. You were real quick to respond to the others.
 
He basically made many of the same points I made.
True, but I didn't claim my points were irrefutable and I'm at least conceding that there are legitimate arguments to be made about the job Shaka's been doing.

On a side note, some of the examples being thrown around in this thread (e.g. Shaka's run at VCU and Charlie Strong making in a BCS bowl) have really impressed on me that a good coach and a successful coach are NOT always the same thing. Example - Barry Switzer won a Super Bowl with the Cowboys, which made him a successful NFL coach but not necessarily a good one.
 
It takes a damn fine coaching job to be in position to need a miracle to make the tournament with a top 3 draft choice on the team.
 
I don't profess to know whether Smart is a great coach or not but I do like him so you could say I have a bias. Regardless, I believe he deserves at least another year to demonstrate what he can do here. Texas isn't Duke, North Carolina or Kentucky and those programs aren't dominating this year either. I also believe that any coach at Texas deserves the support of the fan base while he is here. I don't really understand how this bashing of a head coach can help the program. Smart will either succeed or fail on his own merit but bashing him online isn't a productive contribution to the process.
 
I think he's better than a lot of Texas fans think, and to act like he wasn't one of the top hires when he came to Texas is rewriting history based on his results at Texas. During his first year, many Texas fans on here posted they thought he'd reach Final Fours soon.

There are aspects I think he's good at (defense, individual player development, recruiting, long-term vision and program construction, connecting with people and players) and areas I think he needs to get much better in (offense, implementing more schematic influence > player freedom, generating consistent results).

I think he's a good coach that hasn't done, overall, a good job at Texas generating results so far for many reasons. Perhaps he will in the future. Perhaps he won't. The collection of three and four-year talent that will be on future rosters is good.

I don't know about votes because Chris Beard probably runs away with that, a guy that's 2-3 vs. Smart and should have been 1-4, but if Smart finished .500 in the league I bet he'd get a vote because .500 probably puts a team 5th, maybe in a tie for 4th in this league. Only OU and Iowa State are within 100 spots of Texas (337th out of 351) in team experience (youth).

I do think some Texas fans, for reasons I don't understand, have dismissed Jones being away from the program as something that shouldn't have significantly influenced the season. At one point, Notre Dame lost seven straight games after losing its best offensive player during that whole stretch, and its point guard for four of those games after being 13-3, and 3-0 in the ACC. Life on the hardwood in good leagues isn't easy when you subtract an offensive talent like Jones.

If Jones is healthy, Texas is probably something like 19-8 and we're not even having this discussion.
end of thread.
 
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Against the team ranked 337th out of 351 in points allowed per game at 82 points per game. Context matters, correct? They rank dead last in points per game in the Big 12 conference, as they have the last two seasons. The offense is a downright disaster at Texas under Shaka Smart...saying anything other than that is just not being honest.
The offense needs to improve. No one has suggested otherwise that I am aware of.
 
This comment made me stop down before I read any farther, so if it was said somewhere in the following pages, I apologize in advance.

“This level” is the only level that matters around here. At “this level,” the coaches and players are better than at mid-majors. So, I guess, if you want to say that he and Charlie are damn good mid-major coaches, that’s fine. But I don’t care if Shaka or Charlie is a damn good coach at any level other than “this level.”
He still has a lot to prove. It might not happen.
 
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?

Do you actually read or jump to attacks? I said .500 after 3 seasons, not this year. Good grief
 
@Ketchum

Still waiting for you to respond to the post I posted where I ask you specific basketball questions as related to actual coaching decisions by Coach Smart. You were real quick to respond to the others.
re-post for me?
 
gan·der
ˈɡandər/
noun
  1. 1.
    a male goose.
  2. 2.
    informal
    a look or glance.
    "take a gander at that luggage"
verb
USinformal
  1. 1.
    look or glance at something.
    "Paulie gandered at shelves full of coffee paraphernalia"
I know what it means. So you're saying you'd "look he respects Shaka Smart." Wtf?
 
which part was dumb? Quote it.
It was the facts Ketch; in this political climate we have learned to ignore facts in the face of preferred opinions. Why state something that will be ignored by those that don't like the conclusion it drives?
 
It was the facts Ketch; in this political climate we have learned to ignore facts in the face of preferred opinions. Why state something that will be ignored by those that don't like the conclusion it drives?
fair enough.;)
 
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There have been times when they have been coherent, Saturday, for example.
But that's just it. Any coach can produce a coherent offense at times. I think it's reasonable to have higher expectations than at times. Consistency matters.

I'll acknowledge this is a tough comparison for Shaka, but I attended grad school at Indiana when Bobby Knight was coaching. Every offensive player knew their role and moved with purpose. The Motion Offense is a coherent, effective offense. Coach K runs Bobby Knight's Motion Offense at Duke. Coach K runs a coherent, effective offense that is constantly adhered to. Sure there are times they aren't making shots, but they know who they are and they're a Motion Offense team. They have an offensive identity.

Shaka's offenses lack motion, they lack purpose, they lack spacing principles and far too often rely on 1-v-1's, isolations, drive and kick for a 3 late in the shot clock. That's not a coherent offense that carries you through an entire season and allows you to compete for a Big 12 title or a deep run in the NCAA's.

There's never been a moment when I've watched Shaka's team on offense and thought "wow, that's a well coached team." I've said that about some of his team's defensive performances but on offense I've mostly thought "WTF are they doing?"

I'm a huge Shaka fan. I was elated when we hired him and I thought it was a home run hire. But, in year 3 I'm scratching my head about what the heck he's doing on the court.
 
But that's just it. Any coach can produce a coherent offense at times. I think it's reasonable to have higher expectations than at times. Consistency matters.

I'll acknowledge this is a tough comparison for Shaka, but I attended grad school at Indiana when Bobby Knight was coaching. Every offensive player knew their role and moved with purpose. The Motion Offense is a coherent, effective offense. Coach K runs Bobby Knight's Motion Offense at Duke. Coach K runs a coherent, effective offense that is constantly adhered to. Sure there are times they aren't making shots, but they know who they are and they're a Motion Offense team. They have an offensive identity.

Shaka's offenses lack motion, they lack purpose, they lack spacing principles and far too often rely on 1-v-1's, isolations, drive and kick for a 3 late in the shot clock. That's not a coherent offense that carries you through an entire season and allows you to compete for a Big 12 title or a deep run in the NCAA's.

There's never been a moment when I've watched Shaka's team on offense and thought "wow, that's a well coached team." I've said that about some of his team's defensive performances but on offense I've mostly thought "WTF are they doing?"

I'm a huge Shaka fan. I was elated when we hired him and I thought it was a home run hire. But, in year 3 I'm scratching my head about what the heck he's doing on the court.
I agree that he does do stuff that makes my head scratch, but all coaches do that. Shit, I questioned about 5 things Belichick did in the super bowl, from clock management at the end of the half to player personnel decisions to game strategy... and he's the GOAT.
 
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