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NCAA Basketball Thread: '21-22


NYRaider

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1 minute ago, RandyMossIsBoss said:

Maybe he felt writing was on the wall for him to get canned? Or maybe he’s just a real dude and realized he was not gonna succeed at Texas.

Has to be one of the most underachieving programs over the past 5 years when you look at their recruiting classes. 6, 6, 8, 17, Greg Brown

I think the writing was on the wall. When Texas fired Rick Barnes they said it was because they hadn't made the Sweet 16 in his last 7 years leading the program. Shaka hasn't even won a tournament game in 6 years there after they made him one of the highest paid coaches in college basketball. 

I just don't think Shaka was ever a great fit at Texas. At VCU he was known for his full-court, high pressure, high level defense. I think at a smaller program where you're landing lower ranked recruits it's easier to get them to buy into that style of play and it's more effective playing against lesser competition. He also had no ties to the state or program, since he took over there were 12 5* recruits from Texas and he only managed to land 3 of them. 

Chris Beard would make the most sense as his replacement. He went to college in Texas and actually started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at UT. He has also spent time as an assistant and a head coach at a variety of programs across the state. I'm just not sure that he'd leave Tech for Texas though, especially with the success he has had there and the fact that they're paying him $6M per year.

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7 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

He's from Wisconsin so this makes all the sense in the world. Think Marquette will be a better program than Wisconsin in no time. That's how low I am on Greg Gard. 

I think Shaka's style of coaching with his full-court pressure defensive minded approach suits a program like Marquette a lot better than it suited Texas. He obviously won't be able to attract the same type of talent but I think that'll actually work in his favor. To play his style of defense effectively you need gritty guys that get after it on defense. And I'd say that most of the top tier recruits aren't/weren't interested in playing that way as they're more so focused on just taking a quick pit stop before going to the league. 

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27 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

I think Shaka's style of coaching with his full-court pressure defensive minded approach suits a program like Marquette a lot better than it suited Texas. He obviously won't be able to attract the same type of talent but I think that'll actually work in his favor. To play his style of defense effectively you need gritty guys that get after it on defense. And I'd say that most of the top tier recruits aren't/weren't interested in playing that way as they're more so focused on just taking a quick pit stop before going to the league. 

He'll do very well here IMO. He'll get plenty of types from the Milwaukee/Chicago/St. Louis areas to fit. Wouldn't surprise me if Marquette is better than Texas sooner rather than later.

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 Marquette is going to hit a gold mine with Shaka. 

Milwaukee area has been flooded with talent as of late: Tyler Herro, Mike Foster, Devontes Cobbs, Pat Baldwin, Jalen Johnson, Tyrese Hunter, Desmond Polk, ect.

I think Shaka is a dude that can keep those kids home in the future. 

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Speaking of Tyrese Hunter, I wonder if Smart puts the press on him or not. Otzelberger is from Milwaukee so he's got Wisconsin connections and likely enough to keep Hunter committed but Smart would be flat out stupid not to put the press on him.

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19 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

He'll do very well here IMO. He'll get plenty of types from the Milwaukee/Chicago/St. Louis areas to fit. Wouldn't surprise me if Marquette is better than Texas sooner rather than later.

Agreed. Even when you look at the guys that have stuck in the league from Marquette, guys like Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder, and Wes Matthews, they're all gritty, tough, defensive minded players. 

And I agree about Marquette being better than Texas sooner rather than later. It'll be interesting to see who Texas ends up hiring as their next head coach. Texas has made some interesting decisions with their athletics programs over the past few years. First they fired Barnes after his lack of tournament success and hired Shaka Smart who had zero ties to the program or the region. 

And their football program was already on the decline in Mack Brown's final few seasons there before he resigned. They hired Charlie Strong to replace him, a guy who had zero ties to the program or area  and he turned the program into a dumpster fire with 3 straight losing seasons. 

Then they finally seemed to make a good hire in Tom Herman who inherited a losing program from Strong. When Herman was hired Texas hadn't won a bowl games in 4 years and hadn't had a 10+ win season in 8 years. During his 4 years there they had a winning record overall and in the Big 12 every season, they won a bowl game in all 4 seasons, had 1 10 win season, and finished ranked in the top 25 in 3/4 seasons. 

So what does their AD decide to do? Fire Tom Herman to hire Steve Sarkisian another guy that has zero ties to the program or area. And is a guy that has had off the field issues, has never led a program to a 10+ win season, and has a 46-35 record in his head coaching career. 

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Somehow Iowa State and Marquette managed to land two good coaches with legit Wisconsin ties while the University of Wisconsin holds on desperately to the Bo Ryan castoff who cannot recruit or coach up his guys. Galaxy brain people in charge at UW. Swear that university loves mediocrity and "values" over anything else. That and the money the football program brings in just being "good enough." ******* joke. All the resources to be a national power, no desire to do it.

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Just now, NYRaider said:

Agreed. Even when you look at the guys that have stuck in the league from Marquette, guys like Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder, and Wes Matthews, they're all gritty, tough, defensive minded players. 

And I agree about Marquette being better than Texas sooner rather than later. It'll be interesting to see who Texas ends up hiring as their next head coach. Texas has made some interesting decisions with their athletics programs over the past few years. First they fired Barnes after his lack of tournament success and hired Shaka Smart who had zero ties to the program or the region. 

And their football program was already on the decline in Mack Brown's final few seasons there before he resigned. They hired Charlie Strong to replace him, a guy who had zero ties to the program or area  and he turned the program into a dumpster fire with 3 straight losing seasons. 

Then they finally seemed to make a good hire in Tom Herman who inherited a losing program from Strong. When Herman was hired Texas hadn't won a bowl games in 4 years and hadn't had a 10+ win season in 8 years. During his 4 years there they had a winning record overall and in the Big 12 every season, they won a bowl game in all 4 seasons, had 1 10 win season, and finished ranked in the top 25 in 3/4 seasons. 

So what does their AD decide to do? Fire Tom Herman to hire Steve Sarkisian another guy that has zero ties to the program or area. And is a guy that has had off the field issues, has never led a program to a 10+ win season, and has a 46-35 record in his head coaching career. 

Texas football is Indiana basketball. Lofty expectations that make no sense in this era and they want immediate payout. You cannot rebuild a program in one friggin' class. Not in this era.

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11 hours ago, beekay414 said:

Texas football is Indiana basketball. Lofty expectations that make no sense in this era and they want immediate payout. You cannot rebuild a program in one friggin' class. Not in this era.

And Tom Herman seemed to be getting things back on track, especially considering the state of the program when he took the job. 

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5 minutes ago, agarcia34 said:

That move would be ideal for Texas. Beard never seemed like someone who would stay at Tech long. More of a a job that would land him his next big job. 

Texas is going to have to pay him a ton though. With the extension he just signed at Tech he's currently the 4th highest paid coach in the country at around $5M per year. Texas was paying Shaka Smart $3.4M per year over the last few seasons. Plus they'll also have to pay a $4M buyout to Tech to pry him away. 

Texas definitely has a lot more to offer from a resources perspective. But Tech just finished building a new $30M practice facility for their mens/women's basketball programs and over the last two recruiting cycles Beard has had higher ranked classes than Shaka did at Texas. 

In the last 20 years Texas has only made it out of the 1st weekend of the tournament 5 times and has only made the Final 4 once and that was in 2003. 

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