# Top 20 or so coaches?



## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

If you had a major program, who would you hire as your coach to build up a basketball program? Everyone is eligible. Everyone pretty much knows the top 5 or so, but I would like to hear some others


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## kansasalumn (Jun 9, 2002)

1-Roy WIlliams
2-Coach K
3-Lute Olson
4-Tom Izzo
5-Scott Drew


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## Natty Dreadlockz (Jul 21, 2003)

John Chaney
Tubby Smith
Kelvin Sampson
Billy Donovan
Jim B


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## JuniorNoboa (Jan 27, 2003)

Jim Harrick
Jerry Tarkanian
Dave Bliss


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## KJay (Sep 22, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>JuniorNoboa</b>!
> Jim Harrick
> Jerry Tarkanian
> Dave Bliss


what no Larry E?


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>JuniorNoboa</b>!
> Jim Harrick
> Jerry Tarkanian
> Dave Bliss


Especially if you don't mind probation for a few years after.


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## JuniorNoboa (Jan 27, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>KansasJayhawk</b>!
> what no Larry E?


Well he never cheated .... other then on his wife.


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## KJay (Sep 22, 2002)

Coach Knight
Coach K
Coach Roy
Coach Jimmy B
Quinn


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## kansasalumn (Jun 9, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>KansasJayhawk</b>!
> Coach Knight
> Coach K
> Coach Roy
> ...


I won't put Quinn Snyder on any list until he takes Missouri to the Elite 8 at the very least. I know he is a great recruiiter and guy, but as a coach for me the jury is still out


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>kansasalumn</b>!
> 
> 
> I won't put Quinn Snyder on any list until he takes Missouri to the Elite 8 at the very least. I know he is a great recruiiter and guy, but as a coach for me the jury is still out


Ummm in *2002* he took Missouri to the Elite Eight as a 12 seed after they beat 5th seed Miami (Fla.), 4th seed Ohio State and 8th seed UCLA, before playing a pretty competitive game against No. 2 seed Oklahoma.


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## JuniorNoboa (Jan 27, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>newmessiah10</b>!
> 
> 
> Ummm in *2002* he took Missouri to the Elite Eight as a 12 seed after they beat 5th seed Miami (Fla.), 4th seed Ohio State and 8th seed UCLA, before playing a pretty competitive game against No. 2 seed Oklahoma.


Well you bring up an interesting case in that 2002 team.

They performed well for a 12 seed, but ....

But that team ridiculously underperformed during the regular season. In preseason, they were ranked top 5 by most IIRC. I thought it was a bit high, but they still were an 8 or 9 seed in the prior year that played Duke tough in round 2, and basically returned everybody 

It can be argued that Quinn finally got his team to play up to their talent level in the tourney. If your going to give himcredit for taking a 12 seed to the elite eight, you have to criticize him for almost leading a top 10 preseason team to the NIT.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>JuniorNoboa</b>!
> 
> 
> Well you bring up an interesting case in that 2002 team.
> ...


I'll give you two reasons why that team underachieved. 

1. Clarence Gilbert = ballhogging cancer. 
2. Wesley Stokes = completely overwhelmed at the PG spot in the Big 12. Hopefully he will play better at San Diego State, though I wouldn't hold my breathe. 

Let's also not forget that Kareem Rush had gotten injured that season and he was also proving to be quite the one-dimensional player that no one really suspected. 


Note: I don't ever think it's a good idea to judge a player based on how they play against Duke. Coach K refuses to adjust his defense even if one guy is killing them. Exhibit A= Nick Collison (2003), Exhibit B=God Shammgod (1997). These are two different style of players but Duke probably wins both games if he switches to a zone at least for a little bit of each of those games, though I admit that Providence that year basically ran Duke out of the gym.


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## KJay (Sep 22, 2002)

wow the firestorm that I started. 


I like Quinn because of his offense, now you can say that some players have not done well in it but I like free flowing three point shooting offense.


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## RapsFan (Feb 4, 2003)

Gene Keady 
Eddie Sutton
Bill Self


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## kansasalumn (Jun 9, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>newmessiah10</b>!
> 
> 
> Ummm in *2002* he took Missouri to the Elite Eight as a 12 seed after they beat 5th seed Miami (Fla.), 4th seed Ohio State and 8th seed UCLA, before playing a pretty competitive game against No. 2 seed Oklahoma.


sorry mistaken, FInal Four then. To be honest, I think he is agreat person, a great recruiter, and a solid coach. Just a solid coach. He has yet to reach a good coach in my book. 

OT: AJ looked phenomal last night vs Interhoop. forgot his stats somethign like 26 points and 20 something rebounds.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>kansasalumn</b>!
> 
> 
> sorry mistaken, FInal Four then. To be honest, I think he is agreat person, a great recruiter, and a solid coach. Just a solid coach. He has yet to reach a good coach in my book.
> ...


So now he has to go to the Final Four. Which one is it? He obviously made it to the Elite Eight. You can't just flip flop like that to make your point. You said which one he needed to get to and he has done that.


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## WildcatDan (Nov 6, 2003)

Wow... I can't believe that Tubby Smith has only been mentioned by one poster... This guy won ALL of the Coach of the Year awards last year... crazy. 

You know who else looks like they may be a great one in a few years? Dennis Felton. Took Western KY and made them into a nationally recognized team again. Now gets the chance to coach a little bit bigger of a program at GA and should do well there after all of the dust settles from the Harrick scandal. I am not saying that I would pick Felton in the top five right now; just that he will likely be there in the future.


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## JuniorNoboa (Jan 27, 2003)

Tubby Smith is another interesting case. The problem has been that Kentucky was good but not great, not Kentucky great, from 1999-2002.  And that causes doubts about a couch, given the level of recruits that should be available for such a prestigious program.

Prior to last year I would have said your inclusion of Tubby on such a list was misguided. But his performance last year, with a team that did not appear as talented, really changed my views on Tubby.

It's hard to doubt him after last year's performance.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>JuniorNoboa</b>!
> Tubby Smith is another interesting case. The problem has been that Kentucky was good but not great, not Kentucky great, from 1999-2002. And that causes doubts about a couch, given the level of recruits that should be available for such a prestigious program.
> 
> Prior to last year I would have said your inclusion of Tubby on such a list was misguided. But his performance last year, with a team that did not appear as talented, really changed my views on Tubby.
> ...


But he almost refuses to recruit NBA talent and yes I realize that Tayshaun and Keith are in the NBA. Everyone else seems to be lacking the talent to be big-time player on the next level, though that could change with his 7 footers when they are done.

Better believe Kentucky was overrated last year as was the entire SEC. If you don't believe me, check their NCAA tournament records.


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## JuniorNoboa (Jan 27, 2003)

Good points about the SEC last year. I do beleive that UK struggled a bit pre-January last year, so it gives even more credence to the SEC was overrated last year. 


I did hint to the fact that Tubby's recruiting was subpar given the program.


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## WildcatDan (Nov 6, 2003)

It is incredible how often Tubby's recruiting comes up when someone wants to downplay what he does... 

He now recruits (mostly) 4 year guys that will play as a TEAM and are willing to compete for their playing time. He takes his "less talented guys" and beats teams full of McDonalds All Americans- that is because he is an AWESOME floor coach. Last year was the first year we were able to see that system in action. The year before last (team turmoil) was so full of off court distractions that no coach in the world could have done any better than what Tubby did. That team had the "superstar" talent on it and the talent could not work within Tubby's system of team ball. Carruth and Stone - both highly regarded recruits- were "me first" kind of guys. 


Last year the Cats were one Bogans injury away from the final four. They had won 26 in a row at that point and were 32-4 - including a complete sweep of the SEC. (I will get to the strength of the SEC in a moment). The cats had ONE (Bogans) guy who was recruited to play in the NBA yet made it all the way to the elite 8. The question of "would a healthy Bogans have made them a final four team" will never be answered for sure but it definitely would have made for a much better game VS Marquette. 

I am not sure what happened with the SEC last year. Florida was a total flop - but that seems to almost always be the case with Florida in March. Georgia was great but we did not get to see what they could have done in the NCAAs. Mississippi State was apparently the victim of the dreaded 12 vs 5 seed upset curse - I had them going much deeper on my bracket but they had a bad night. Auburn, who barely made it into the tourney, did better than expected - that gives credibility to the Parity in the SEC theorys. 

Anyway, going undefeated through your conference and conf. tourney is so rare that discounting it for WHATEVER reason is just silly. 

UK's struggle pre january was mostly due to the fact that they were missing Hawkins and Daniels - two key players. Once the cats were full force they did not lose many games... 

Anyway, some people who are much smarter than me and have a much more rounded world view are the ones who vote on the coach of the year awards... I am sure that they would not have ALL chosen Tubby if they did truely think that he was the best coach around last year.

Oh yeah, Tubby DID win a NC his first year at KY (1998). Were those HIS players? No. Was it HIS team - sure nuff!


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

I don't know how much difference Bogans would have made. You guys were getting blitzed before he got hurt. Kentucky was never in that game as Novak, Diener, Jackson and Wade killed you guys.

I mean the guy had a Triple Double on you for god sakes. Even with Bogans they lose that game. 

I never said Tubby wasn't a great coach, as I have followed his coaching from Tulsa to Georgia to UK, only that his recruiting is avg. He chooses not to recruit top rated players or high-impact players and weave them into the team. 

But when they lose in the tournament the KSR usually erupts into mass hysteria cause they can't believe they won't win a title. With expectations as high as they are at Kentucky, you would think getting better players and weaving them into the team aspect would be a good idea. Kansas is a good example of this under Roy Williams.


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## WildcatDan (Nov 6, 2003)

Bogans was hurt in the game before the Marquette game. A healthy Bogans would have, more than likely, been able to counter Wade. With the bad wheel (severe sprain) he was barely able to keep up on defense and probably should have just sat out. KY WAS in the game and hung around most of it but could not overcome the crippled play of their leading scorer/floor leader/great defender. A healthy Bogans probably WOULD have made a difference. Like I said though, we will never know. 

Concerning the KSR... take what you read there with a grain of salt (actually, take it with the whole shaker). If you were to pay the money to join the House of Blue (the pay version of the KSR - I wouldn't expect anyone other than a UK fan to do so) you would see what the more level headed KY fan looks like. I barely post on the free KSR any more because I get tired of the negativity and flaming that goes on there so much of the time. The REALLY negative posters there have earned the not-so-flattering title of LOD (Legion of Doom) and are teased quite often about their "glass is half full" outlook. The HOB allows for more reasonable discussions whether the subject is positive or negative and the views seem to be much more objective.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Dually noted.


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## ErikDaniels14UK (Dec 8, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>newmessiah10</b>!
> 
> Better believe Kentucky was overrated last year as was the entire SEC. If you don't believe me, check their NCAA tournament records.


Kentucky wasnt overrrated last year they werent even number 1 until the end of the year even though they deserved to be number 1 before that.......yes they went undefeated in the sec but look at their pre confrence schedule last year it featured many of the top 25 teams indiana(we canceled their winning streak),north carolina(before their center got injured),notre dame(cliff hawkins d was awesome that game),and a couple more top 25 teams. 
oh yeah btw: the sec beat how many of the top 25 teams last year???


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>ErikDaniels14UK</b>!
> 
> Kentucky wasnt overrrated last year they werent even number 1 until the end of the year even though they deserved to be number 1 before that.......yes they went undefeated in the sec but look at their pre confrence schedule last year it featured many of the top 25 teams indiana(we canceled their winning streak),north carolina(before their center got injured),notre dame(cliff hawkins d was awesome that game),and a couple more top 25 teams.
> oh yeah btw: the sec beat how many of the top 25 teams last year???


You know the NCAA Tournamnent is the barometer for conference and season success. The Cats couldn't get to the Final Four. 

You mention all of Kentucky's non-conference wins, but how about those losses, like getting smoked by Louisville.


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## WildcatDan (Nov 6, 2003)

Hey, 32-4 is not a fluke. OK, they lost to Louisville.... on Louisvilles home court... and then won ALL of their games until the loss in the Elite 8 of the NCAA tourney. They only lost 3 games during the regular season and like I said earlier, they lost those before they had all of their players on the court. 

Yes, I know that a lot of people use the big dance as the only measuring stick for success in college ball... but does that make sense? A one and done tourney means that a better team can be beaten by a lesser if one team, or even one guy, has a great night and the other team a not so great night. The regular season HAS to count for something or else we would just go right to the tourney and not mess around with all of those unimportant games.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>UKBlueInMyBlood</b>!
> Hey, 32-4 is not a fluke. OK, they lost to Louisville.... on Louisvilles home court... and then won ALL of their games until the loss in the Elite 8 of the NCAA tourney. They only lost 3 games during the regular season and like I said earlier, they lost those before they had all of their players on the court.
> 
> Yes, I know that a lot of people use the big dance as the only measuring stick for success in college ball... but does that make sense? A one and done tourney means that a better team can be beaten by a lesser if one team, or even one guy, has a great night and the other team a not so great night. The regular season HAS to count for something or else we would just go right to the tourney and not mess around with all of those unimportant games.


I would wager if Kentucky played in the Big 12 last year they would have had at least 3 conference losses. They played in an avg. year for the SEC (which is down again this year), which allowed them to go undefeated. 

The way they bowed out of the tournament regardless of whether Keith Bogans was healthy or not, did not endear themselves to non-UK fans.


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## WildcatDan (Nov 6, 2003)

Well anyway... I can think of a lot of teams who would really be happy with a 32-4 season and making it to the elite 8. There is really no way to judge how KY would have done in the Big 12 last year - like the Bogans/Marquette game situation it is a scenario which is prone to speculation at best. They did what they did WHERE they were and with the people they had. That is all we can say for sure. 

I am not real sure what you meant by UK "bowing out" of the tourney last year. I am curious... what team ever DOES endear themselves to another team's fans during the NCAAs?


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

bowing out = losing. 

For a team that was so good they sure got whooped when it counted most. They were never in the game period. From tip till the end they weren't in the game and I have the game on tape.


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## WildcatDan (Nov 6, 2003)

You're right. They sucked. Of course, only 4 teams get past the elite 8. 

The cats did look down during that game, but they at least had a chance at it through most of the game. Only after Barbour made a wild move into the paint and was called for charging did it get out of UK's grasp.... and that was in the last few minutes of the game. 

The reason I questioned the term "bowing out" is because it implies that the cats just laid down. 

It is obvious that neither of us can see it from the other's point of view - I am a huge KY fan and tend to look at UK in a more positive light - you apparently are a fan of some other team and don't share my rosy view of the Cats. 

Who is your favorite college basketball team?


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## ErikDaniels14UK (Dec 8, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>newmessiah10</b>!
> 
> 
> You know the NCAA Tournamnent is the barometer for conference and season success. The Cats couldn't get to the Final Four.
> ...


thats one persons opinion.........im talking about over the cource of the year the sec was either the 1st or 2nd best confrence..........so many other teams had a shot of also making the ncaa tournment like georgia(u know what happened to them), and tennessee. what was the secs record against non sec teams??


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## NeverNervous (Nov 12, 2003)

I would take:

1. Rick Pitino
2. Coach K
3. anyone else would be a distant 3rd

To those wondering why Tubby only had a few votes, it's because the program has consistently underacheived compared to what it was right before he got there since his first year. Like last year, I don't care if you go 100-0, bowing out that early in the tournament is a choke job, having that good a record only makes it more so. Every Tubby team other than 1998 (which was a Pitino team as evidenced by a slew of players Tubby would not recruit) has been less talented, been less exciting, played less hard and been less successful than Pitino's teams. 

Now I'm not saying Tubby's a bad coach, I think he generally does a good job, especially at getting less talent to overacheive, but he has not lived up to the Pitino standard (which was very high). He did an amazing job at both UGA and Tulsa, which is really more the type of school his coaching style is geared for.


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## mateer (Mar 26, 2003)

Top names:
1. Roy Williams
2. Tubby Smith
3. Jim Boeheim
4. Tom Izzo
5. Coach K
Feel free to mix and match these guys from 1 to 5.
-If I was positive Pitino was clean (not saying he's dirty just that I'm not sold yet he's clean same with Shady Bill Donovan), he and for that matter huggy bear might be up there.

Larry Eustachy/Mike Price Category:
1. Jan Van Brenda Kopff 
2. Nolan Richardson Junior

And the not so obvious names:

1. John Beilien. Can coach at any level. Give him a couple of years and West Virginia will be a top team in the newly loaded Big East.
2. Laranaga. (George Mason)
3. Oliver Purnell (Clemson)
4. Ben Howland
5. Ernie Davis (Oregon coach what's his name?)
6. Stan Heath


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## WildcatDan (Nov 6, 2003)

NeverNervous... 

I am guessing that you are a Cardinals fan? 

I do agree that Coach K and Rick Pitino would likely be on my list as well as Izzo and Kramer... I just can't fathom leaving Tubby off of a list like that. 

Tubby's win/loss percentage at UK is pretty close to Pitino's while he was at UK. Jon Scott's website seems to be down or I would give you the figures... 



Also, the preseason top 14 coaches poll is out at CBS Sportsline... guess who is at the top of the list? 

Sportsline Top Coaches Poll


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## WildcatDan (Nov 6, 2003)

By the way Mateer, I personally don't think that Pitino OR Donovan are dirty. I think they are both just good recruiters. 

What baffles me about Donovan is that his teams really do underacheive. With the talent that he has year in and year out you would think they could really dominate - but they seem to fold in march.  Weird. Hopefully they will have a better run in the NCAAs this year.


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## UKfan4Life (Mar 5, 2003)

FINALLY someone mentions Rick Pitino. If I could pick any coach I'd pick Pitino. He took over a struggling UK team and made them overachievers by taking them deep, deep into the tournament and damn near the national championship many times. Then, once he got HIS players, he got a championship.

Saying UK was overrated last year is ludicrous. The SEC wasn't the best conference, not at all. The SEC doesn't really ever have great tournament records, nope. But I'll be damned if someone makes it look so easy as UK did to sweep the whole SEC like that last year. Florida is a tough team until the tourney, UGA was tough, but we all know what happened there. Mississippi State also wasn't a team to take lightly. Up until the Vandy game, UK was playing messy basketball with bad team chemistry. Want to know why Louisville beat UK? Ok, I'll tell you. It's something called 'intense conditioning'. Pitino conditions his team better than any other coach in the nation. The conditioning is one of the reasons a Pitino team wins so much and wins so much in a comeback victory. UK wasn't nearly as well conditioned as Louisville was last year. Anyone with a decent memory will remember that until the final minutes of the first half, UK was beating Louisville pretty bad, but then that Pitino conditioning came into effect and it showed throughout the rest of the game. UK was tired and Louisville was still going strong. That's why UK lost and if UK loses to them again this year, chances are that'll be the reason again.

On UK's tournament play last season: UK had a tough time with Wisconsin because they were mostly a guard based team and every last one of them was extremely fast. They were the Big 10 champs and had a hot-shooting Kirk Penny. If UK had placed Chuck Hayes on Penny at the start of the game, the game wouldn't have been as close. Once Hayes was on Penny in the second half, Penny was limited to only four points as opposed to a first half 21 points. Either way, UK still pulled out the win...without the team leader. Keith Bogans was the heart and soul of that team last season, and anyone who says differently doesn't know what their talking about. You can ask Tubby, you can ask the other players, you can ask anyone with any relation to UK basketball and they will tell you that Bogans was the oxygen the whole UK team needed to stay alive.

On the loss to Marquette: Why did UK lose to Marquette? Again, the injury to Bogans plays a major factor. Although he was playing, he was hurting the team, and anyone can tell that Marquette came into the game more mentally prepared than UK did. Marquette also had the home-court advantage with that huge crowd behind them. As soon as Marquette started a run, UK basically gave up. UK made a run in the second half, but it was stopped by an offensive foul on Antwain Barbour. Dwayne Wade is also a monster. Why'd he post a triple-double? Anybody that knows college basketball on these boards can answer that: he's a great player playing against a downed UK team.

On Tubby's recruiting: It's been a mystery as to why Tubby doesn't recruit big time. He wants players that will stay the full four years. He wants players that will buy into his system. If you can get a team of good college players (as opposed to GREAT individually talented, NBA-bound players) and get them to play your system and play as a REAL team, then you can go up against any team in the nation and have a shot at a win. That right there shows a point of Tubby's great coaching ability. From 2000 to 2001 to the out of conference play in UK's memorable 2002-2003 season, not all of the players were buying into Tubby's system. Remember, Bogans was somewhat of a hot-headed player up until last year. Eventually, the team started to click. They started playing team ball. They started playing _Tubby_ ball. Sadly, they clicked a little late and because of that, there are going to be haters and other people (maybe some could be ignorant) that will say that the only reason UK did so well was because they play in the SEC and that any good basketball team could do what they did, and they will completely disregard everything I just posted.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>mateer</b>!
> 
> And the not so obvious names:
> 
> ...


All great choices though it's Ernie Kent not Davis of Oregon. I especially like the Larranaga pick and Beilien of course because you are a Richmond fan.  

I would put Wainwright on that list too. He may look like an old hounddog, but he sure can coach his rear end off.


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## UKfan4Life (Mar 5, 2003)

The link that UKBlue posted has a quote that makes it pretty clear and sums up what I have to say about Tubby's recruiting in my post above newmessiah's:



> Others are said to recruit better, but Smith takes his players and defeats yours.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>UKfan4Life</b>!
> The link that UKBlue posted has a quote that makes it pretty clear and sums up what I have to say about Tubby's recruiting in my post above newmessiah's:


I think Tubby is an outstanding coach, but if Kentucky doesn't get back to a Final Four in the next 4 years, IMO I think he will need to upgrade the recruiting to at least try to get there. 

Would that be so much to ask?


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## UKfan4Life (Mar 5, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>newmessiah10</b>!
> 
> 
> I think Tubby is an outstanding coach, but if Kentucky doesn't get back to a Final Four in the next 4 years, IMO I think he will need to upgrade the recruiting to at least try to get there.
> ...


Not at all! Believe me, I'd love a bunch of high-profile recruits as much as anyone else would, but as long as they buy into Tubby's system, it's not a *major* factor. Tubby does try and go after big time recruits too, but he ends up getting mostly the guys that will stay the full four years. Read my above post if you want to hear more of my opinion (the long one) if you haven't already.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>UKfan4Life</b>!
> 
> 
> Not at all! Believe me, I'd love a bunch of high-profile recruits as much as anyone else would, but as long as they buy into Tubby's system, it's not a *major* factor. Tubby does try and go after big time recruits too, but he ends up getting mostly the guys that will stay the full four years. Read my above post if you want to hear more of my opinion (the long one) if you haven't already.


I read it and I don't dispute that Wisconsin and Marquette were tough teams to play for Kentucky, but to me I think it proves my point of how they were overrated (keep in mind when I say overrated, I mean they weren't the end all best team in the country, I think they were more in a group of excellent teams). 

Had Kentucky played better teams in conference than what they had to face in the SEC last year, I think they would have been better served and probably in the Final Four, though I will say that they were shafted by the committee in not putting them in the South Region.


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## UKfan4Life (Mar 5, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>newmessiah10</b>!
> 
> 
> I read it and I don't dispute that Wisconsin and Marquette were tough teams to play for Kentucky, but to me I think it proves my point of how they were overrated (keep in mind when I say overrated, I mean they weren't the end all best team in the country, I think they were more in a group of excellent teams).
> ...


Although I won't argue your opinion of what you mean by overrated giving your very reasonable definition of what you mean by it, I must bring up again that if Bogans didn't get injured, chances are (I'm not saying this as 100% pure fact) that UK could've gone all the way, or at least the Final Four/championship game because that means they would've kept going throughout the whole post season without having to suffer any damage to their confidence. The Bogans injury really hurt the confidence of the team, and as the (Marquette) game progressed, I think the team probably lost a lot of confidence in Bogans. To go undefeated in any of these major conferences is saying a lot. I think any other team in the nation would've lost at least once or twice in the SEC (to either LSU, MSU, Florida, or UGA). Even without a national championship, that was one hell of an accomplished season. I'm proud of the team and I'm proud of Tubby.


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## NeverNervous (Nov 12, 2003)

UKBlue:

Yes, grew up in Louisville (with season tickets to UofL) so I am a Cardinals fan, but was educated at UK (and attended every game) so the Wildcat's basketball success has direct effects on my well-being. When they play each other I can't watch.

My thoughts on Tubby style vs. Pitino/Donovan:

I spent college and law school at UK which spanned from 1993-2001 and from what I observed I would say Pitino's and Tubby's programs were as clean as any other big time college program. What I mean is there were lots of nice cars outside Wildcat Lodge and a ton of illegitimate children that were nicely cared for but you find that at any program. The media scrutiny in Lexington and now Louisville to prove Pitino is dirty is unbelieveable, remember it was a Lexington reporter that broke the recruiting violations that brought the program to its knees (and won a Pulitzer prize doing so). They have hounded Pitino as much if not more ever since with no results to speak of.

Tubby definitely recruits players will tend to buy into his defense oriented system and stay around for 4 years. Unfortunately for Tubby these types of guys are not the most talented players right now. I think he could get bigger names with a little change in playstyle and more concentration on offense, but he chooses not to do that. That is why I said his coaching style fits more into a UGA or Tulsa level program. This will be a big year for Tubby, because he has an experienced but not hugely talented team that exactly personifies a Tubby team. They've looked great so far and I'm excited to see what they can do.

I would probably take Donovan too if given the chance. I don't know if the fabulous talent is because he is such a greater recruiter or it's that he's a good coach and fun to play for and Florida is a great school to go to. From what I've seen of Florida, they play hard and smart and the unheralded role players like Bonner and Nelson (before the hype) are the ones who beat you.


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## WildcatDan (Nov 6, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>NeverNervous</b>!
> 
> Yes, grew up in Louisville (with season tickets to UofL) so I am a Cardinals fan, but was educated at UK (and attended every game) so the Wildcat's basketball success has direct effects on my well-being. When they play each other I can't watch.


LMAO!

Like I said, I don't think either Pitino or Little Pitino... I mean Donovan  are dirty. I think they play an exciting style and that makes them able to recruit some of the flashier players.


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## ArizonaOwnsYA (Oct 27, 2003)

wow, im lost for words.

lute gets no love. i think one person gave him some. wow


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## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

UK didn't have a cup cake schedule.

Playing Florida and UGA twice is not easy.


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## Zach (May 11, 2003)

Lute gets love from yours truly aka me. 

But no love for my man and fellow nc native Kelvin Sampson?!?!?!?! Look what he did in Oklahoma coach of the year national Pan-Am coach(or something like that) and people put QUINN ahead of him? NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO 
OUTRAGE!!!!!!:upset:


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Kelvin Sampson has one of the worst graduation rates in all of college basketball. 

I think it's something close to 12% of all athletes he has coached and that includes JUCO's, even with the adjusted numbers. 

He may win, but the players need to graduate or at least have long successful careers (i.e. Najera).


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## Zach (May 11, 2003)

they went back it turned out oklahoma's grad rate was 60%+ get it right. they actually have one of the best grad rates in the nation.


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## JuniorNoboa (Jan 27, 2003)

Well 60% would be middle of the class (which is fine) - but it would be nowhere near the top 10 teams in the nation, which are usually well over 80%.


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