b52legend
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Dec 6, 2019 6:38:30 GMT -5
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Post by b52legend on Dec 6, 2019 6:38:30 GMT -5
I love the Musselman strategy in today’s game. I’ve been preaching for it on this board for a while. That was before it seemed like our only way out like it does now. How is he so successful getting transfers without tampering? It doesn’t make sense to me. He can’t be the only program who wants transfer of great players. I don’t know for sure, but based on what I have seen since he became Arkansas coach: - he was an NBA head coach and G-League head coach. I’m sure he plays up that he knows what they are looking for at that level. - puts a lot of emphasis on analytics. He has former NBA analytics guys on staff. Probably sells being able to improve guys games and weaknesses. - he plays a short rotation (7-8 guys), so that gives guys an opportunity for a lot of playing time and video. - so far, at the college level, he has won. - his next recruiting class is so far all highly rated high school kids. So I don’t know to what extent the targeting of transfers was a strategy borne out of desire as perhaps necessity at Nevada and certainly in his first year at Arkansas as a late hire.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Dec 5, 2019 17:16:56 GMT -5
This statement is a ridiculous. Arkansas has a 18,000 seat arena on campus and currently has a top 5 recruiting class. Muss will have them humming in the next few years. Unless you're Rutgers, nearly every Power 5 team has a sizeable and impressive on-campus (or near-campus) arena to appeal to recruits. NBA arenas aren't that big a deal anymore, specially if you (or the NBA) can't fill them. The primary point was that it seems silly to say that the Arkansas program is a joke. They have a lot of fan support, and if the team starts to win can easily fill the stadium. 2 years ago they averaged 15,247 a game, and the team wasn’t great. Not sure about last year.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Dec 5, 2019 16:49:10 GMT -5
This statement is a ridiculous. Arkansas has a 18,000 seat arena on campus and currently has a top 5 recruiting class. Muss will have them humming in the next few years. Top 157 not top 5 and who is Muss? If your that much into Arkansas then your on the wrong forum. This looks like 5 to me: 247sports.com/Season/2020-Basketball/CompositeTeamRankings/Muss is the coach. Musselman. Was at Nevada for the last 4 years. I am from Arkansas so I know the program. I guess to be a true Hoya fan I need to be ignorant of what is actually going on at other teams.
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b52legend
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Dec 5, 2019 16:15:15 GMT -5
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Post by b52legend on Dec 5, 2019 16:15:15 GMT -5
Yes he is! With that said I find it interesting that more schools aren't on him, Arkansas is a joke. This statement is a ridiculous. Arkansas has a 18,000 seat arena on campus and currently has a top 5 recruiting class. Muss will have them humming in the next few years.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Mar 27, 2019 14:44:52 GMT -5
Let's also stop the charade of pretending like it takes a good coach to take a team starting 5 McD's AAs to a Final Four. But someone got injured? Oh well, better trot out another 5-star player right off the bench. Last year Duke had 4 5-star players and 1 4-star player. The year before Duke had 4 5-star players and 2 4-star players. That's 8 5-star players and 3 4-star players signed in two years. They should've lost to UCF yesterday. I could coach that team to a one point win against UCF. If anyone's curious, they signed 4 5-star players and 1 4-star player the year before, as well. The year before that? 4 5-star players. Ridic. I don't think its possible to hate Duke basketball more than I do but its just not true saying Coach K isn't a very good coach. That fact was proven in 94 when he took Grant Hill and a group of freshmen to c'ship game and 95 when his team went 13-18 the season he missed with back surgery. I will add that the 94 team was not good enough to play for a c'ship and they should have won if not for the luckiest game winner of all time.... "Luckiest game winner of all time...."? I'm not sure about that. It was a high arcing shot, but it was shot by Scotty Thurman (All-SEC, shot 43% from 3 for the season). He said after the game that it was actually a shot he practiced by shooting over broomsticks. Also, that Arkansas team was the better team and deservedly won the game. So off-topic, and doesn't take away from what Coach K has done as a coach, but as an Arkansas fan I felt the need to set the record straight.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Nov 16, 2018 12:48:59 GMT -5
I can't think of anything more useless and not reflective of what basketball people think than Instagram comments. There is no discussion of Mac McClung as an NBA prospect right now in basketball cirfcles, trust me. You can find every ridiculous thing imaginable to say on Instagram. I don't think anyone on here is claiming he is an NBA prospect now. The point of referencing the comments, in both number and type, was that among the general public there is a lot of (and a growing level of) interest in Mac, and by extension, the program right now. Instagram comments are meaningless, but 280,000 views and thousands of comments on YouTube or whatever other social platform are meaningful metrics to gauge the number of eyeballs out there focused on GU. It is why advertisers pay Instragram "influencers" to hock there stuff. Mac is our very own "influencer" and he is selling the program to the public. That is a good thing.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Nov 16, 2018 12:44:42 GMT -5
That game was not reflective of the type of games we will play going forward. Illinois attempts to play an in your face pressure defense. Truth is, they are terrible at it. It's Underwood's style but it's the reason we were able to score 88 points. I have serious questions about Mac scoring in the halfcourt setting. I don't see the handle to create off the bounce. He scored 12 points on 14 shots, and that was an improvement on the previous 2 games. That's not good. I told everyone that said he was a real good shooter that he was not, and that the area he needed to improve the most is his catch and shoot ability. He's got a long way to go there. He is definitely good in transition. But so far this season the only times he's been able to score is against a defense overplaying everyone where he can just rip through and finish for an uncontested layup. He will get better. He's exciting. But right now he's not even a better player than Blair. 24 points on 34 shots is absolutely brutal and if it continues his minutes will have to go to Blair. He created lots of important shots because of his driving ability -- the Blair 3, the LeBlanc dunk, the Malinowski 3 -- those were shots he created in the half court because of his drives. Blair isn't creating those shots. Mac doesn't need handle to create off the bounce...he needs an angle. He may not be able to create those angles himself, but ball rotation in the half court should be able to create those angles for him, and his explosion and ability to finish make him a threat if those angles present themselves. Also, the threat of Mac breaking out on the fast break, where he has shown an incredible ability to finish, will cause teams to protect against that -- that will help out our defensive rebounding. Does his shooting need to improve? Yes. Does the fact that he has not shot well through 3 games mean he is worse than Blair? No.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Apr 17, 2018 12:27:11 GMT -5
You guys are welcome to disagree. I really enjoy those live look-ins into the huddle. I would watch carefully for all the coaches...especially the top coaches. I think PE could do better here. Otherwise, I was extremely pleased. That PE would potentially sacrifice a game to keep his huddle notes confidential is utterly absurd. I actually agree with you. But I think that is to be expected. This year was his first year as the head man...ever. Some of the late game situations. Some of the adjustments. Probably could have been a little better. But if what we are seeing externally is any indication, I would expect he is grinding on his "coaching" game as well. He doesn't strike me as the type of guy who thinks he knows it all and can't improve --- also a +.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Apr 17, 2018 10:24:00 GMT -5
We are a little more than 1 year into the "Patrick Ewing Era", part II, at Georgetown, and I am honestly surprised at the progress he has made and what he has shown as a coach. Count me amongst the many who had hope for Ewing as a coach, but also a good dose of skepticism about his ability to run a program, recruit, develop players and, despite his extensive experience, coach the college game. From what I have seen:
- Work Ethic- I have been blown away by the work ethic and commitment coach has shown. I guess I shouldn't have been skeptical given his playing career and years toiling away on NBA benches, but Ewing has surpassed my expectations in his level of commitment to the program. He is hitting the recruiting trail HARD. He is at the gym early. He is giving interviews and getting the program exposure. He is working with our players. He is doing what it takes. -Player Development - One of my frustrations with JT3 was a failure to develop players. We had guys who showed great promise as freshman fail to progress, and a number of players who seemed to take a step back. In Ewing's first year literally every player on the team looked better at the end of the year than they did at the beginning. Every. Single. Player. I think it is reflective of Ewing's ability to coach up players, and reflective of the culture of hard work and commitment that he is setting. - Recruiting - There is work left to do to get to where we need to be, but Ewing has put together a fantastic first class that is beyond what I think most of us could have hoped for. He addressed needs and attracted good talent. Perhaps the Ewing name still carries some weight, and his style of play is one that should be attractive to every position. - Coaching/Style of Play - Beyond player development (see above), I was impressed with Ewing's coaching this year. He generally coached to the team's strengths and didn't try and fit the players into a system that didn't work for them. He also let the players play (while at demanding that they play smart and within themselves). It is a style of basketball that should resonate with players and one that they should be able to relatively quickly integrate into. There were hiccups (too many turnovers and late game collapses), but it will be interesting to see if those hiccups are to some extent addressed by the additional pieces being added to the team. Lastly, it is just cool to have a 7 foot coach roaming the sideline.
We didn't have a great year from a results perspective. But from what I saw on the floor, the culture I see starting to build, the development on the roster, the players coming in, and the work that coach continues to put in, there is every reason to be (cautiously) optimistic as a Hoya fan. Certainly moving in the right direction, and faster than I anticipated.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Nov 27, 2017 15:50:21 GMT -5
After watching a lot of the PK80, I think we made the right call pulling out. We are not ready for that level of competition and I think the best we could have hoped for would have been 1-2. Why do that now? We got a plenty good test with Richmond and the prevailing story lines are still around us being undefeated and not us getting blown out by 40 (hi UConn).
As for our strength of schedule, I couldn’t really give a rats ass about that. This year it’s all about getting ready for conference play where we’ll either validate ourselves as a real team or we won’t. I hope we are for real, but we aren’t there yet and going to the PK80 wasn’t going to help anything other than stats.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Nov 27, 2017 15:31:25 GMT -5
UConn is losing to Arkansas by 37 points. It's going to be a long season for the Huskies. Arkansas has a really good basketball team (Sweet 16 potential) and played a tremendous game against UConn. I wouldn't read too much into it from the UConn side, other than that they played poorly and lost to a really good team.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Mar 24, 2017 15:10:33 GMT -5
Speaking of random names -- How about Tim Duncan? Arguably the best big ever at Big Man U. He is all class and very intelligent. Not to mention he spent 15+ years under the consensus best basketball coach alive. Sure he has not head coaching experience and isn't a proven recruiter, but who wouldn't want to play for Timmy D and a number of NBA coaches have shown recently that prior coaching experience is not a prerequisite for knowing what you are doing.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Mar 23, 2017 17:10:08 GMT -5
Who is the Nebraska coach? Perhaps we should consider him -- he knows how to recruit Georgetown players. In all seriousness, Archie Manning, Smart, Hurley -- all good choices. How about Few? Throw $3.5 million on the table and see his reaction. I just want somebody that has a lot of fire -- both in terms of passion for the job and on the recruiting trail -- and has a big enough personality that they won't be subservient to the Thompson legacy and can go about building a new culture around the program. You don't want a new culture around the program. The culture around the program is far bigger than the Thompsons. The culture around the program is arguably its biggest asset. Obviously we don't want to erase our history -- we want to build on it. I was speaking more about the culture of the team. Given the number of transfers and reports of unhappy players, I think we do need a shift in culture around the team.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Mar 23, 2017 16:49:02 GMT -5
Who is the Nebraska coach? Perhaps we should consider him -- he knows how to recruit Georgetown players.
In all seriousness, Archie Manning, Smart, Hurley -- all good choices. How about Few? Throw $3.5 million on the table and see his reaction. I just want somebody that has a lot of fire -- both in terms of passion for the job and on the recruiting trail -- and has a big enough personality that they won't be subservient to the Thompson legacy and can go about building a new culture around the program.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Mar 20, 2017 23:40:54 GMT -5
They were talking about how former players aren't asked to help out and are "pushed away" by the powers at be at Georgetown, and at one point it was mentioned that Reggie's son had 4 miserable years at Georgetown and finally enjoyed the college experience at 1 year post-grad at a school in Delaware. Sounds like excuses on Riyan's part. A lot of kids never got that opportunity. Some wise words from Geno Auriemma about the importance of team over ego: Can't you have a team focused program where guys are not miserable? Doesn't seem to me that we need to ask everybody to be miserable for 4 years so the team can succeed -- if anything, the fact that Riyan stuck with it for 4 years without saying a bad word himself in public shows that he was pretty team focused. I think JT3 has had difficulty cultivating the right culture. Look at some other programs out there (or in the tournament). The guys seem like they would die for each other. The coach is out in front of the media talking about their "love" for the players. Been a while since I have seen that type of atmosphere around our program.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Mar 20, 2017 20:45:52 GMT -5
Late getting into all this, but is Waters the real deal or just our great hope? I see talk of him leading us to the Elite 8. Is he really that type of player? Just looking at the rankings, he looks solid (4 star guy), but not the type of guy that is going to put the program on his back and single handedly save JT3s job.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Mar 20, 2017 20:39:25 GMT -5
There are lots of considerations, but it simply isn't tenable for a basketball coach to continue on with a "big time" program long term without (1) wins and (2) the support of the majority of the fan base. JT3 currently has neither. Regardless of his family name, what a great guy he is, or anything else, the university is paying him $3 million + to win games and raise the profile of the University amongst applicants and the alumni base (i.e., increase giving). Maybe they keep him another year, but their hand will be forced.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Jan 17, 2017 14:47:33 GMT -5
I agree that Talent makes a huge difference, and is probably the most important factor in winning and losing. I disagree that this team doesn't have the talent to win. This team has the talent to make the tournament. They simply are not being coached up to the level necessary, or being placed in positions, to win.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Jan 17, 2017 13:40:23 GMT -5
I know it's a chat board and so we "chat." We discuss our thoughts in real time. That's the format. And that's OK. But I still think it simply doesn't make any sense at all to analyze this season as it relates to the Coach and future job security until the season is over. If you made your mind up five years ago, four years ago, or just last year, then obviously the performance of the team this year reinforces your earlier conclusion. I get it. After each loss Eagle and Alto chime in. And that's fine. But if you hadn't mind up your mind after last year (and I hadn't), then you have to let the year play out before you say "he has to go" or whatever. Until the year is over, you simply can't assess the year in its totality or the state of the program in its totality. I know people think they can and/or that they "know" how the year will turn out. But that's simply not true. I didn't have my mind made up about JTIII at the end of last year, and have been an ardent supporter of his over pretty much his entire tenure, thinking that he truly gave us the best chance of long-term success as a program. I don't feel that currently, and I'm pretty comfortable with that mid-season conclusion for a couple of reasons: - At this point it is clear we won't make the NCAA tournament. Given the talent on this team, that to me is an unacceptable outcome. - We have seen what should have been one of our best players leave the team mid-season. This goes to coach on a couple of levels: (i) it continues a long trend of transfers, (ii) it reflects a lack of player development from a guy who most observers think has the tools to be a contributor at a major program (both based on his prior early career-performance and based on his size/skill/athleticism) and (iii) it reflects a lack of buy-in on the part of players to the program. - Our record is not reflective of a lot of close losses or bad-luck on the injury front. It is reflective of the team we are -- not a very good one. The flaws are too numerous to list, and, in contrast to years past when I would think "if only we had X healthy" or "wait until next year when X gets on the hill", I have no such hope to cling on to currently. - The apathy from the fan base has reached a critical mass. I along with almost everyone I know has tailed off in terms of game-watches, trips to DC and general enthusiasm for the program. Maybe I'm a fair-weather fan, but most fans are. It is not realistic at this point to call upon our fans to do more without putting a better product on the floor. Watching our games is often depressing and not particularly enjoyable. I watch sports and go to games because it is enjoyable -- the loss to Providence, the loss to Maryland, the loss to Arkansas St., the loss to Wisconsin, the loss to Butler, the loss to OK. St..... not enjoyable. I don't know that replacing JTIII at the end of the season would be the "right" move, but the administration sure better be evaluating their options right now. If they wait until the end of the year, they may miss out on options, and I think there is plenty of factual data on the table right now to warrant starting that process.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Nov 21, 2016 22:20:10 GMT -5
Come on it was so refreshing. Aren't u sick of Ronnie Thompson ? Too many Thompsons for my liking! You answered your own question but Walton is better for about 1 minute out of a 2 hour broadcast. The rest is atrocious. Off-mark. Walton's call of the game was gold. He was simultaneously entertaining and informative. He followed up his "TJ Leaf" reference by actually breaking down how we should be attacking the press. I was thinking JT3 should send the kids over to listen to Bill for a bit... If nothing else, he doesn't stick to some garbage "talking points" and calls it like he sees it. If he called every game, it might get old, but I loved it today.
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