One of the things Pope promised when he got the job was getting Kentucky back in those tournaments. I wonder when that's going to happen? The fans really missed playing in those during The Cal era.
Monday Games
- Thread starter TheResistance
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He’s just a skinny freshman with NBA potential. He won’t do much in college and they won’t win much…
The Zags looks really good again this year. If we don’t get our act together quickly we are gonna get beat down about 4 more times before conference play.
I would love to snatch him away from the Zags. He will never leave them but he’s a fantastic coach. I can only imagine what he would do here or at UnC or somewhere.
Man...Idk...He's pretty skilled. I know everyone likes to crap on Barnes about the no final fours and all, but he sure does win a lot of games and plays a style that tends to travel. My guess is they'll finish the regular season better off than the Cats, as much as I hate to say it. Granted, the next 2-3 weeks will tell us a lot about both teams.
That was sarcasm on my part. I know it’s hard to come thru in text sometimes.
He’s a damn good coach and recruiter, I’m surprised they have not broken thru more often honestly.
My bad, thought it might have been. Can never be fully sure. Don't get me wrong, I'm not Vols closeted fan. Barnes just seems like one of those guys that plays a style that is super competitive most of the time.
The 'Fit the System' scheme has a sound to it but, we never really see it. If you look at the recruits we are going after in 27 and the ones we initially started recruiting in 26, you will see that we offer almost every top ranked player. They all do not fit the system. The fact that we are still going all out for Stokes goes against what Pope said about 'only Players that are interested in the name on the front of the jersey. I hope he gets everyone he wants, like this year, but Fit the System is just Pope speak.
Agree. I think Pope just put out the playing for the name on the front of the jersey thing for the fans because they eat it up. He knows the players don't really give a crap and has been trying for the top players but just hasn't been able to land them yet.
Gonzaga got really lucky there because I'm sure Few could go anywhere now given the track record but he just seems to love being in Spokane.
Kinda similar to Sampson and Houston.
But it's just .........you look at those two coaches and look at Few's teams offensive efficiency numbers and Sampsons defensive efficiency numbers and the consistency here. There's zero dropoff year to year. You can basically pencil in that Gonzaga will have a good offense and Houston will have a good defense. So even in off years by those teams, they will still be good.
It tells me 1) these guys have systems and they clearly work. They have a way they want their teams to play basketball and it's effective. and 2) the players they get have bought in completely.
And it's not to say they haven't complimented in by bringing in talented players. Few has had a bunch of very good players. It's just these guys have figured it out.
Crazy the Zags hung 95 on Bama while shooting 6-22 (27%) from 3PT. Outrebounding Bama by 12 and the Tide shooting 9-29 (31%) themselves from 3PT and 14-23 (61%) at the charity stripe obviously helped.
Love that the game gave Pope a bunch to scout. Key will be to limit their offensive rebounds and hit our 3's. Could be Michigan State all over again if not. We do have the size Bama doesn't to offset Ike and Huff, but need to get real tough real quick!
Yeah that's pretty telling. Usually when things happen you don't normally expect, you just assume some team went crazy from 3. Like when we lost to MSU you could easily look and be like welp the team that came into this shooting like 30% from three just happened to hit 11 of them and shot 50%.
The fact Gonzaga did that last night without shooting lights out from 3. Rebounding 46% of their misses and only turning it over on 14% of their possessions shows they can be efficient on offense through other means besides shooting and I think stuff like that really plays in March where you are bound to have an off shooting night at times.
Completely agree. I was very impressed with the effort win from a team that did all the little things right. If the athletes we have on our team played as well together and focused on the team stats (not the individual ones) we too could be scary. Time will tell....I have hope!
Sampson is a great coach. Has been for decades. IU was really stupid to run him off. I’m glad they did.
He’s now taken 2 schools to the FF.
That’s a short list. I would think every coach that’s done that is in the HoF.
I don’t know if he is. But he should be if he’s not.
Speaking of Monday games, Houston looks beatable. Syracuse was 8-31 (26%) from 3PT and 12-29 (41%) from the line and only lost by 4 in OT.
Key in most of the big Monday matchups was that most teams had 7 guys play significant (15+) minutes. We have to get our rotation trimmed down!
Key in most of the big Monday matchups was that most teams had 7 guys play significant (15+) minutes. We have to get our rotation trimmed down!
Agree, Sampson is a heck of a coach and recruiter. He kind of forced IU's hand though after the NCAA probe/findings. Outside of the "illegal" phone calls (done at OU too), the culture was supposedly toxic and he alienated the big money around the program. Me, I love that it helped IU spiral further. Sure the things he was doing were being down by others and are now mostly legal today, but he got caught and IU had to save face.
The crooked NCAA had this to say in the report: "A head coach does not promote compliance when he intentionally ignores committee penalties directed at him for intentional rules violations. A head coach also does not promote compliance when he himself commits intentional violations. This is particularly true when he commits these violations with the knowledge and assistance of a coach on his staff."
That said, I have always liked to watch him coach. His teams are gritty and play hard for him!
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That's the second escape for Houston. Sqeaked by Auburn too.
Then again last season they were 4-3 through seven dropping games to Auburn, Alabama and SD State, then proceeded to lose just one more time in the regular season and make a title game lol.