H
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Unlike you, I'm an alum. I care what happens with the teams and his record it pathetic.Well thought out response based on reason and not emotion. Congrats.
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Shaka is a damn good coach)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
That doesn’t even make sense. What a joke. I can’t believe we pay for this.
Can you kindly read my post above (somewhere) about Shaka and Tom and kindly respond?
Second, IMO Texas basketball SHOULD be a perennial Top 10-15 program. Texas basketball is arguably a greater sleeping giant than Texas football. Shaka should be doing better. With all due respect, your answer makes it sound like people should be okay with Texas basketball mediocrity - mediocre in the sense of national relevancy.
Rick Barnes showed what the program was capable of and they were fairly close to being good enough to winning it all in 2003. He underachieved after that relative to the talent he brought in to the program.
You've convinced yourself they won't get in when those that do this for a living currently project them to make the tournament?
A team with six group one wins isn't at least average?
Your lack of rationality is showing.
I can't make this make sense for you. That's on you.
*****
Instead of focusing on what he hasn't done with this team, let's focus on what he has done, which is take one of youngest teams in the country (four in the top seven of the current rotation are freshmen) and put it on the door-step of the NCAA Tournament, despite playing in the toughest conference in the country.
A conference so tough that if the team shows up on any given night and plays like a team full of wide-eyed freshmen, an ass-kicking will commence, no matter the opponent.
Oh, and did I mention that along the way he'd lost his best scorer for the rest of the season because of a battle with cancer?
Texas now has six wins against RPI Group 1 teams, which is among the highest marks in the entire country.
Of its 11 losses this season, seven were to teams that went into this week ranked inside the AP Top 25 - No. 7 Texas Tech, No. 9 Gonzaga, No. 12 Duke, No. 13 Kansas, No. 20 West Virginia and No. 22 Michigan.
Three of those loses went into overtime. Two of the three that finished in regulation were lost by six and two points, respectively.
Do you think Mike Krzyzewski walked off the floor in November and thought, "If only that really young team that dominated my team for much of the game had a good coach?"
Do you think that likely Big 12 Coach of the Year Mike Beard thought to himself, "Yeah, that team was down Andrew Jones and pushed us on our home floor as much as anyone has all year ... if they only had a good coach."
Do you think Lon Krugar is thinking to himself this weekend, "How did we lose twice to a team with shitty coaching?"
Don’t understand why everyone is so worked up about Shaka. We win two more games we’re in.
NCAA loves Bamba and the AJ story. Cherry on top will be a good showing in the conf tourney.
Did anyone really expect 20-22 wins this season?
We are who we are. Our players are not a confident enough team to win with consistency yet. Not sure if we get there but they have put together some really good games including the OU second half. I thought we had a perfect combo:
Backcourt showed up. Bamba owned the defensive glass and paint. DO is our X factor and we will win every game with the combination of these three legs of the stool. We lose games when one of these legs are not there.
NCAA loves Bamba and the AJ story. Cherry on top will be a good showing in the conf tourney.
Did anyone really expect 20-22 wins this season?
We are who we are. Our players are not a confident enough team to win with consistency yet. Not sure if we get there but they have put together some really good games including the OU second half. I thought we had a perfect combo:
Backcourt showed up. Bamba owned the defensive glass and paint. DO is our X factor and we will win every game with the combination of these three legs of the stool. We lose games when one of these legs are not there.
Excellent and fair-minded post. It’s hard to refute any of this.
Just so we're clear here...the same guy who wrote this about the football team and Tom Herman in his first year...
is writing this about the basketball team and Shaka Smart in his third year...
You seriously couldn't make this stuff up if you tried. Hey OP, why do you hold each coach and program to such a different standard if not for politics?
is writing this about the basketball team and Shaka Smart in his third year...
You seriously couldn't make this stuff up if you tried. Hey OP, why do you hold each coach and program to such a different standard if not for politics?
Always? LOL. Texas didn't start its basketball program in 2001.
Bwahahahahahaahaha. Best troll job ever.
Shaka has recruited very well, no question about that. The flip side. His offense is childish. His defense isn't much better. He is famous for a full court press, that he never uses at Texas.
I want to like Shaka, just like I wanted to like Charlie. And I want him to be successful.
But the man gets less results out of more talent than anyone in the conference. And its not close.
Did you see the bigs OU played against us. With those guys, we would go winless in the conference. That's why we beat OU. That and Young was in his first shooting funk and never broke out. That's a team that has lost 5 in a row and 8 of 10. And based on that remarkable turn of events, you dug up his prior record and propped him up as a great coach..
Let me just say again. Bwahahahaha. Charlie had a great record in a meh conference as well.
Next year will tell. No Bamba. No more excuses of being young since we will start 3 seniors. Matt Coleman better turn into TJ Ford or you wont ever get to post about BB again.
Let me say this. I hope you are right, because I love BB. I hope my lying eyes are just blinded by the product I have watched the last two years.
Shaka has recruited very well, no question about that. The flip side. His offense is childish. His defense isn't much better. He is famous for a full court press, that he never uses at Texas.
I want to like Shaka, just like I wanted to like Charlie. And I want him to be successful.
But the man gets less results out of more talent than anyone in the conference. And its not close.
Did you see the bigs OU played against us. With those guys, we would go winless in the conference. That's why we beat OU. That and Young was in his first shooting funk and never broke out. That's a team that has lost 5 in a row and 8 of 10. And based on that remarkable turn of events, you dug up his prior record and propped him up as a great coach..
Let me just say again. Bwahahahaha. Charlie had a great record in a meh conference as well.
Next year will tell. No Bamba. No more excuses of being young since we will start 3 seniors. Matt Coleman better turn into TJ Ford or you wont ever get to post about BB again.
Let me say this. I hope you are right, because I love BB. I hope my lying eyes are just blinded by the product I have watched the last two years.
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anon_v7x9c7xxmv5dr
Guest
None of that changes the fact that in year 3 here we sit with absolutely no chance in hell of winning the Big 12 and only dim hope of making the tournament. I know, I know we almost beat this team and that team but we still lost. Furthermore we have just given away more than a few games. Well coached teams don't blow multiple leads late in games.
The last two years?
You're including this season? Because while it's not a great season, it'snot remotely close to a season ago.
I haven't defended his overall record. It cannot be defended.
I believe he was ok in year one, terrible in year two and pretty damn good in year three.
No...making the NCAA tournament at Texas should be expected every single year when you're paid in the top 12 in the country for a league that allows 68 teams in the tournament. Having an injury to one player should not affect that. Shaka is in his third year and it's basketball which means the team that he has built is entirely on him. If it's a young team, its because he's failed to build the program correctly. It's really surprising that you can't see the difference with which you judge Shaka versus Herman and Strong.
He will get another year to prove this can work. I was fired up as hell to get him. It’s been disappointing but, in spite of my anger at times during several games, I’m making no judgements (as if that matters) until it’s said and done next year.
We all know the answer to that question
I think people forget what Andrew Jones was on the verge of becoming. His removal from this roster - albeit an extremely tragic one - speaks to the job Shaka has done this year. I am by no means a "Shaka truther" but this year's job has to be commended. Losing Jones bumps every player who is playing up a rung. Osetkowski should be a 12 & 8 guy, instead we need him to go for 16 & 10 to win. Bamba should be an 8, 10 & 4 guy. Eric Davis wouldn't be counted on so much. The list goes on and on.
I would contend most on this board have never done a better job at their own jobs when faced with the type of hand he's been dealt.
Because they fired a coach who went to the tournament 16 out of 17 years and was perennially in the top 20-25 in the country and decided to pay the new guy top 12 money and give him an extension after a first round exit in year one.
@Ketchum - First off I won't say that Shaka isn't a good coach, I would say that it doesn't appear to this point that he is a great coach, though I was hoping that would be true when he was hired...
You're also missing a ton of other evidence though...that you are conveniently leaving out....
1) Besides the Final Four Run - a hot team that got good matchups / with guard play that got hot at the right time of the season from outside - shooting above their season average by a significant clip from beyond the arc....what were his other Tournament Results at VCU? Hint - not good. So that isn't exactly a Fact - the one seasons results are a fact - but the post-season results are more "nuanced" than that.
2) Those season win totals are significantly inflated - in comparison to a Power 5 school / playing in a conference in which VCU has more resources that its opponents - and those schedules were not tough in the OOC schedules either - but you're using them as if the benchmark stands as a Fact / and its certainly more "nuanced" than that.
3) His weaknesses on offense / of a team's offense are ones that followed him from VCU - if you goto the Rams message board now, or even when he was hired / it's all they would complain about - poor free throw shooting and an offense that didn't have direction. Even when they had veteran players and point guards btw.
You're also missing a ton of other evidence though...that you are conveniently leaving out....
1) Besides the Final Four Run - a hot team that got good matchups / with guard play that got hot at the right time of the season from outside - shooting above their season average by a significant clip from beyond the arc....what were his other Tournament Results at VCU? Hint - not good. So that isn't exactly a Fact - the one seasons results are a fact - but the post-season results are more "nuanced" than that.
2) Those season win totals are significantly inflated - in comparison to a Power 5 school / playing in a conference in which VCU has more resources that its opponents - and those schedules were not tough in the OOC schedules either - but you're using them as if the benchmark stands as a Fact / and its certainly more "nuanced" than that.
3) His weaknesses on offense / of a team's offense are ones that followed him from VCU - if you goto the Rams message board now, or even when he was hired / it's all they would complain about - poor free throw shooting and an offense that didn't have direction. Even when they had veteran players and point guards btw.
I’m convinced he gets next year. That’s fine. Ultimately, I do wish we could all get aligned around the fact that winning is what matters. I’m not going to jump all the way off this season. Thus I’ll reserve judgment to next year. And, I’m tired of being frustrated. If that makes sense.
You've somehow trivialized one of the greatest Final Four runs in history into "they had great matchups"...
As an 11-seed.
Yes, his win totals were inflated by the league he played in.... a damn good basketball league, nonetheless.
And he didn't win 20+ games sic years in a row,he won 26+ six years in a row.
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anon_v7x9c7xxmv5dr
Guest
Again how does having no mathematical chance at winning the conference and a slim chance at making the tournament equal a damn good coaching job? I didn't expect them to win the Big 12 but I expected them to at least contend for it...
Your tone in recent podcasts is what i'm deriving my statement from. It's nothing specific, it's more of something I've inferred. You're still in a wait and see mode with Tom, whereas with Shaka you're going balls to the walls for.
That's how it comes across to me anyway.
@Ketchum - specific examples of you being harder on Tom at his 3-4 mark posted earlier in this thread - there have to be 20 more examples if someone was to dig.
and that's from me who has higher standards for Tom than Shaka / because we're a better program in football - but certainly that is easily true.
and that's from me who has higher standards for Tom than Shaka / because we're a better program in football - but certainly that is easily true.
No one specific. I don't even recall a post you've made in the thread, even if I answered it., They are coming hot and heavy.
