Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Shaka is a damn good coach)
- Thread starter Ketchum
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You guys act like this place is Kentucky. It's not. Outside of a six-year stretch in the last decade, it's just been an ok college basketball program throughout its history.
hi! When the time comes in the next 24 months, and do not even think for a second that it's not, that Shaka Smart is fired from his job at TX because he's not even close to up to the job, I just wonder what you'll say. It'll be spin though.
A
anon_v7x9c7xxmv5dr
Guest
So if I read that correctly Ketch you think Shaka has done a very good coaching job this year? Please explain. Because here we are in February and Texas once again not even in contention for the Big 12 Title and is hanging on for dear life when it comes to a tournament spot. I'm not sure how any of that results in a good coaching job by Shaka or his staff.
Shaka has managed an Incredibly difficult situation as good or better than I could ever imagine.
His defenses have ranged from good to great at times in three years. The effort and desire is definitely there. These young men fight and scrap. That is most definitely a feather in his cap.
His press has been disappointing to say the least. I thought his press game with the athletes he could get at Texas would create...havoc. Well, it’s as likely to give up an easy layup as it is to create a turnover.
Offense. Man, where to start. It’s bad. Real bad. It was bad his first year. It’s bad in his third year. No movement. No adjustments. No aggression. No flow. No points. One cannot watch us on offense and think, “that is a well coached team”. It is just not possible. It is a train wreck on that side of the court and that did not start this year. It is a calling card of his teams here at Texas.
I think he deserves, and will get another year. Hard to judge this year given the circumstances he and the team has had to deal with.
I had extremely high hopes for him and Texas. I have been extremely disappointed in his teams. He has now convinced me he alone can not do this. He needs input from some good offensive minds. If he needs to shake his staff up then so be it. The product is severely lacking. He has time to turn it around. I sincerely hope he can.
His defenses have ranged from good to great at times in three years. The effort and desire is definitely there. These young men fight and scrap. That is most definitely a feather in his cap.
His press has been disappointing to say the least. I thought his press game with the athletes he could get at Texas would create...havoc. Well, it’s as likely to give up an easy layup as it is to create a turnover.
Offense. Man, where to start. It’s bad. Real bad. It was bad his first year. It’s bad in his third year. No movement. No adjustments. No aggression. No flow. No points. One cannot watch us on offense and think, “that is a well coached team”. It is just not possible. It is a train wreck on that side of the court and that did not start this year. It is a calling card of his teams here at Texas.
I think he deserves, and will get another year. Hard to judge this year given the circumstances he and the team has had to deal with.
I had extremely high hopes for him and Texas. I have been extremely disappointed in his teams. He has now convinced me he alone can not do this. He needs input from some good offensive minds. If he needs to shake his staff up then so be it. The product is severely lacking. He has time to turn it around. I sincerely hope he can.
Do you think he's doing a good job this year, given the youth and the fact that he lost a player to cancer in the toughest league in America?
Forget last year.
I did explain...here it is again...
*****
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?"
We didn’t fire Barnes and hire Shaka to be average, which would be an improvement st this stage
No doubt that progress in the area of offense must be made. Player development and having older players in general will help.
You don't think this team is average?
@Ketchum
I actually thought your Shaka take was pretty spot on with the exception of the time zone / recruiting comment. Texas MBB has always recruited toe-to-toe with the best nationally and signed elite recruits from coast to coast.
Durant, Bradley, Hamilton, Thompson, Joseph and Kabongo were all 5-star non-Texas prospects signed prior to Shaka.
The MBB record in a vacuum looks awful, much like the FB team record did in year under CTH in 2017 (the obvious difference being year 1 for CTH vs. year 3 for SS). Once you factor in the critical injuries (Connor Williams), the incredibly close losses to highly ranked teams (USC, OU, OSU), and the difficulty of the schedule (Texas had a top 10 SOS in Football most of the year) you can objectively look at the record and be disappointed while also acknowledging the team, players and coaches are not as bad as the record suggests. It’s not an acceptable result and it’s not what you set out to accomplish, but it’s also not grounds for termination either IMO.
I actually thought your Shaka take was pretty spot on with the exception of the time zone / recruiting comment. Texas MBB has always recruited toe-to-toe with the best nationally and signed elite recruits from coast to coast.
Durant, Bradley, Hamilton, Thompson, Joseph and Kabongo were all 5-star non-Texas prospects signed prior to Shaka.
The MBB record in a vacuum looks awful, much like the FB team record did in year under CTH in 2017 (the obvious difference being year 1 for CTH vs. year 3 for SS). Once you factor in the critical injuries (Connor Williams), the incredibly close losses to highly ranked teams (USC, OU, OSU), and the difficulty of the schedule (Texas had a top 10 SOS in Football most of the year) you can objectively look at the record and be disappointed while also acknowledging the team, players and coaches are not as bad as the record suggests. It’s not an acceptable result and it’s not what you set out to accomplish, but it’s also not grounds for termination either IMO.
I'll say what he accomplished wasn't enough and he was a failure.
It's in the article. I don't know whether he'll ultimately sink or swim.
Again, it's all in the article.
Well it’s 8th place in a 10 team league and won’t make a tournament of 60+ teams...
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Hashtag GetHooked
Guest
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.
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.
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