How bad is Missouri basketball?
- Thread starter patdog
- Start date
Frank Haith took a program that Mike Anderson had built into a top tier Sweet 16 type program and blew it up. The ashes are still falling from the sky.
It is awful. I actually liked the Anderson hire, but he hasn't even nudged the needle in year two. In a bad league.
It turns out Strickland wasn't the only SEC AD who made a bad hire:
Haith took over a good situation from Anderson and literally ran it into the ground. And Anderson has been a disappointment at Arkansas, but that hire made sense at the time. As did Grant at Alabama who was a major disappointment. And to make matters worse, when they couldn't get Pitino and others interested in the job, they held on to Grant for a lame duck season. UT made a decent hire with Martin, but then went brain dead and brought Tyndall in. Johnnie Jones seemed to be the default candidate at LSU and while he has recruited well, does anybody think they are anything more than a one-and-done in March? And Tony Barbee might have been the worst hire of them all.
Hopefully, the latest round of hires will reap some benefits. Pearl was a good choice at Auburn, but I am very surprised they aren't any better than they are in year 2. Martin has slowly gotten South Carolina better. Barnes, Howland and Johnson all seemed to make sense. Billy Kennedy has a great hire at A&M and I think Michael White is an excellent long range hire for Florida.
Going forward, I think Stallings is the next shoe to fall. Fox at UGA might not be too far behind.
Yeah. That's why I said he was a decent hire at UT. It is telling that even though he got his last UT team within a few seconds of the Elite 8, he wasn't very popular in Knoxville. I thought it was because he wasn't Bruce Pearl, but he's actually has some talent at Cal and is doing a Johnny Jones imitation with it.
I think Martin and South Carolina are smoke and mirrors both this year and long term. They played a garbage OOC schedule, and to their credit they won them all. But still, it's telling when your best win is Alabama. The rest of the league is so bad, they might do enough to hang on to an NCAA bid though. That might force them to make more of a commitment to Frank Martin, but I don't see him as the kind of guy who is going to build and sustain a winning program.
I could see Vandy making a change after this disappointing year. Stallings seemed to leave his career behind after beating UK in the 2012 SEC tournament finals. That team was talented enough to be a Final Four contender.
I could see Vandy making a change after this disappointing year. Stallings seemed to leave his career behind after beating UK in the 2012 SEC tournament finals. That team was talented enough to be a Final Four contender.
It's crazy,
all of the bad hires made throughout the league over the past 5+ years. I don't think it's a coincidence with the state of the conference.
all of the bad hires made throughout the league over the past 5+ years. I don't think it's a coincidence with the state of the conference.
From time to time when my UK buddies can't comprehend why they are so bad in football year after year, I remind them of my theory that I think UK's basketball tradition kills them on the gridiron. As in "if you go there to play football, you'll be a second class citizen to the basketball players". Especially after the middle of October.
I think the opposite might be true when it comes to basketball in the SEC (outside of the Commonwealth). Fanbases put so much time and energy into football, that they're almost ready for a break once January rolls around. That and the region is so full of athletes who play basketball but who aren't necessarily great at the game. And when you do find elite players, they often times pack up for prep school and AAU ball and become national recruits for the Dukes, UKs, KUs and the UNCs of the world to pick off.
I hope it gets better because I miss my annual trips to the SECT, but it looks like it's a couple of years away.
Very few SEC athletic departments contain anyone who knows much about basketball. There are former football people all over the place, but very few former basketball people.
All good points about South Carolina. They are currently a projected 8 seed but we've seen teams with gaudy records going into February fade into oblivion.
I'm surprised Florida is projected as a 7 seed. They've played a good schedule, but WV was their only win against a quality opponent. Even so, I like Michael White and think he will do well there.
The only other two teams in the projected field are A&M (3) and UK (4). I've seen enough of Kentucky to question if they can make it to the second week of the NCAAT.
I don't know if that is true.
Florida has multiple titles in this century, and LSU has been nationally relevant when they aren't making bad hires. UT went .500 last year and was top 20 in attendance.
Everyone schedules like they do for football and doesn't leave the southeast, and each AD hires coaches after having one Cinderella moment.
Florida has multiple titles in this century, and LSU has been nationally relevant when they aren't making bad hires. UT went .500 last year and was top 20 in attendance.
Everyone schedules like they do for football and doesn't leave the southeast, and each AD hires coaches after having one Cinderella moment.