OT link: Shaka Smart agrees to Texas job
any suggestion to the contrary is simple absurd. I hope he finds more success at Texas. Dude seems like a good guy, great motivator, and not too full of himself.
In my mind, and perhaps others here, I began thinking Smart was overrated after Michigan dismantled them in the 2013 tourney. I know Beilein is a top basketball mind and can take even the best coaches to school, but Smart had no response. Yeah yeah, Beilein had 5 NBA players on that team, but I'd expect any coach that got his team to the NCAA tourney to be able to adjust his strategy to keep the game closer when your default system isn't working.
Yeah yeah, Beilein had 5 NBA players on that team, but I'd expect any coach that got his team to the NCAA tourney to be able to adjust his strategy to keep the game closer when your default system isn't working.
What a ridiculous comment
"Yeah yeah. Ohio State is loaded with future NFL players, but Indiana should have kept it closer than that."
That was a TERRIBLE matchup for VCU. Their strength was M's strength. Michigan ran out four ball handlers and the biggest guy on the floor.
The Rams entered the day forcing an average of 19.9 turnovers per game, the most in the nation. Michigan was only committing 9.2 per game, the fewest in the nation.
I think this thread is doing a tiny bit of exposing on people that know how college hoops work and people that don't.
If I see one more poster call Smart overrated for losing to the national runner-up 2013 Michigan team in the Round of 32 I might laugh my ass off.
Smart has the most wins in his first six seasons of any coach in college bball history save Brad Stevens, who is in the NBA now.
I was more impressed with VCU's performance, relative to their talent levels, against that Michigan team than I was with Syracuse and Jim Boeheim in the final four. Or what Billy Donovan and Florida managed against us.
Now there were weak coaching jobs.
Did you guys expect Smart to perform a miracle against 5 future NBA players on the floor? Are you aware its VCU?
Find me a coach in college basketball that would have kept it closer with the same roster.
But he's never won his conference either, and that's after being handed three time defending championship team.
and that's just about the one flaw in an otherwise sterling resume. Averaging 26-29 wins a season, won the conference tournament, took the 2011 team from first four to Final Four, slaying quite a few giants along the way.
No coaching hire is a flawless choice. Smart ticks about 80-90% of the boxes that you want, which puts him in that elite percentage of candidates. And that's about all you can ask for.
Beilein ticked maybe 60% of the boxes, in comparison. No hire is perfect. You just pray it works.
That run was a mediocre USC team, perpetually overrated Georgetown, a solid Purdue, 10 seed Florida State, and Kansas. The only "giant" was Kansas.
Since then he's beaten one team ranked in the top 15 (Saint Louis) and four teams ranked in the top 25 (Wichita, Memphis, UVA before they became really good and Butler) in four years. I'm not saying he's a bad coach, I'm saying he's very overrated based on one flukey run. He's hardly a giant killer.
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There are plenty of coaches at Mids who run circles around him.
Exactly. First clue that somebody doesn't understand the basketball? They call a press a gimmick.
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What a perfect hire by Texas. OMG THEY PRESS, YOU GUYS. I think we'll see how he's got to change his strategy when playing in a power conference that has guys who can dribble.
I think you'll see how good his system is when he is able to recruit better overall athletes.
I'm always skeptical of guys who've never won their own conference at any level because they should, at least hypothetically, have similar players to their competition. My guess is he's a perpetual 5-9 seed, maybe makes a run one time, never wins the Big 12.
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1. the Pitinos, most notably Rick, plays a variation of Smart's system.
2. there is nothing to say that Shaka won't tweak his system as needed. [we don't really run Beilein's meme 1-3-1 system]
That's garbage man... VCU didn't win 4 tourney games because one doesn't take their opponent seriously.
at UT than at VCU. He's no dummy.