kchoya
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by kchoya on Apr 1, 2010 12:11:57 GMT -5
On a pernoanl note, I had a long conversation with Lavin about bball and life while he was coach at UCLA and I left rather unimpressed. He doen't come off as overly intelligent. Instead I remember thinking he is the master of the sound bite. All form no substance. My guess is that New Yorkers will see right through this guy and after another sub-par season will rip him apart. This is an interesting observation. I always had the impression that Lavin was extremely glib, but there was no substance behind the chatter. I don't know if Lavin was clean, but I certainly don't know that he wasn't, so I won't make any accusations as to that. As to his ruining the program, I wasn't referring to the five Sweet 16s. I was referring to the fact (indisputable) that he left the program in an absolute shambles, the worst it had been by far during my lifetime (of course, John Wooden covered a lot of that territory). UCLA was awful in Lavin's final year, and it was the culmination of a downward spiral, with no prospect for improvement. I call that ruining the program. I know Lavin's last year and Howland's first year were crap, but I don't think a program is ruined if it was back in the NCAAs the following year, followed by three consecutive Final Fours.
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hoyarooter
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 10,218
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Post by hoyarooter on Apr 1, 2010 14:10:02 GMT -5
Which is why Howland isn't getting fired at UCLA, despite this year's problems.
I never said the program couldn't be revived. We don't need to look farther than 37th & O to see that programs that are doing poorly can be revived quickly. That's what Howland accomplished, but the fact that he was able to do that in two years doesn't mean the program wasn't in the toilet when he arrived.
BTW, one extremely encouraging development re Lavin is that he wants to surround himself with experienced coaches. He never did that at UCLA, for whatever reason.
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Post by rustyshackleford on Apr 12, 2010 0:24:25 GMT -5
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hoyarooter
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by hoyarooter on Apr 12, 2010 12:14:29 GMT -5
UCLA, because they will be better coached and in a weaker conference.
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tonyparker
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
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Post by tonyparker on Apr 12, 2010 12:26:32 GMT -5
St. John's. Because they return a whole team of seniors in a conference that will be significantly weakened by the graduation and early departure of star players.
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hoyarooter
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 10,218
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Post by hoyarooter on Apr 12, 2010 20:06:00 GMT -5
St. John's. Because they return a whole team of seniors in a conference that will be significantly weakened by the graduation and early departure of star players. Everybody said this about the Big East this year, too, and it didn't exactly prove true until the tournament swan dive. Wanna bet a dime on it? ;D [and I really mean a dime; this is not gamble speak]
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