Indonacious

March 21st, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^

Personally, I'm more of a Brad Stevens fan. Brad Stevens recruits in a tough region against some real powerhouses and coaches up his players. I don't really like the VCU "havoc" defense, as I think it is a little gimmicky and ends up being better in a tourney setup than it does in an conference setup because I think it loses some of its efficacy with familiarity. That being said, both would be great hires, but I wonder if 5* recruits would be that gung-ho about playing in VCU system, as they may be looking for something that translates more closely to the NBA, etc.

eamus_caeruli (not verified)

March 21st, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^

Problem is that happened two years ago, and VCU, who has no business doing it with their AD budget, gave him a huge raise . I think a he is around 1.5-1.7 per year. He has a good salary and no pressure, at least not like BIG or ACC type pressure.



Question is, does his system play when he can recruit legit talent? Would they want to play that style? Bballers want to play somewhere that can get them to the NBA on a year or two.

snarling wolverine

March 21st, 2013 at 10:54 PM ^

Alford did the same thing Tubby Smith did - leave a school where he was on the hot seat before they could fire him, for a less-prestigious program.  He didn't do very well at Iowa.  He succeeded Tom Davis, who had them in the tourney pretty much every year, and performed at about the same level as Amaker here.

He has done extremely well at UNM, though.  It must be as mind-boggling to Iowa fans as Amaker's success at Harvard is to us.

 

Jimmyisgod

March 21st, 2013 at 10:37 PM ^

Do not attempt to run with VCU.  I know we have great athletes, but this team plays 12 guys every game and just goes all game.  You get the ball into half court and sprint back, when we break their press we only take the shot if we have a layup or a dunk.

VCU is very entertaining to watch.  I really hope we play the game we want against them because that's the best team I've seen in the tourney so far.

TheGhostofYost

March 21st, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^

People need to chill about VCU. Yes, they force a lot of turnovers.  They also give up a lot of easy buckets, which is why they are 236th in opponent FG%.

CC_MFan

March 21st, 2013 at 10:52 PM ^

In MSU game they were literally grabbing the ballhandlers arms as they drove by.  Also, the picks are more like O Linemen engaging rather than a pick.  It sure makes for some ugly basketball when the ref's ignore these things and others.

roosterbaan

March 21st, 2013 at 10:58 PM ^

ok, vcu is good no doubt. 

but they are shooting lights out tonight.

better tonight against akron than against us. 

no way they shoot this well against us and burke shoots as badly as he did tonight.

beilein will have the boys ready.

 

Dale

March 21st, 2013 at 11:03 PM ^

Just saw Tommy Amaker's halftime interview and it bothers me to say I immediately noticed he was sans turtle neck. Did harvard make him give it up? is he a changed man? 

Section 1

March 21st, 2013 at 11:03 PM ^

And looking very good.  I thought New Mexico was supposed to be good.  This game is a bracket-destroyer!

I always thought Amacker would succeed; perhaps his problem at Michigan was that he wasn't good at recruiting super-studs.  I never joined in the Michigan fandom beat-down of Amacker.

So much for the pundits who thought the Mountain West was some sort of power conference.

snarling wolverine

March 21st, 2013 at 11:07 PM ^

Amaker recruited well enough.  He landed Daniel Horton, Dion Harris, Lester Abram, Epke Udoh, Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims, to name a few.  But his teams were always really careless with the ball and also seemed to fade as the year went on.

 

MGo_Bro

March 21st, 2013 at 11:10 PM ^

Missouri continuing the trend of terrible postseason play from the SEC.. why, oh why, did I pick a team from this awful conference in the Final Four? That damn Florida pick is going to just ruin my bracket.

ish

March 21st, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^

It appears that the teams that beat VCU got to the free throw line. That might be one way to slow their insane pace. I don't see how people commenting here could not be impressed right now. I don't care if they're playing a middle school team. These guys look really good.

Dantana

March 21st, 2013 at 11:56 PM ^

Check out the article about VCU's press that was linked above.

Basically, two players were asked if Smart would call off the dogs. One responded by saying only if they were up big with a couple minutes remaining. The other said they would still press, just not trap, and that he has never heard Smart tell them to stop pressing.

 

LSCrepair

March 21st, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^

I dont normally watch anything other than Michigan games but it seems like almost every game tonight has had a flagrant foul reviewed and called. Here is one now in the Montana-Syracuse game. Is it a normal thing to see this much?

The Truth Hurts

March 21st, 2013 at 11:24 PM ^

IT'S CALLED HAVOC FOR A REASON.  Thats the problem with the society today, everybody want everyone to take their foot off the pedal.   No you stop me if you don't, I will score 100 and beat you by 50.  good approach Shakain trying to send Michigan a message.  I hope our kids are watching .