Did you hear how Loyola, Md. kept Davidson's Stephen Curry scoreless?
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/...56&prov=ap
For those who don't know- when Ed DeChellis left for Penn State, current Greyhounds coach Jimmy Patsos, who was then an assistant on National Champion Maryland, PUBLICLY BEGGED for an interview at ETSU but did not receive one.
And since then, he has taken Loyola from a 1-victory season to three straight winning seasons.
But this one takes the cake.
And that quote- "Will anyone remember if we lost the game by 30 or that we held Curry scoreless?"
That's like asking if anyone will remember if the Diamondbacks won the World Series or Byung-Hyun Kim gave up some home runs?
If the Steelers won the Super Bowl or Ben Roethlisberger had a bad game?
Now, the question is how much you want to bash Patsos here. Obviously this strategy failed miserably- but do you chalk it up as trying something new in November or do you hold it against him because it was rather obvious rather early this wasn't going to work.
And as we've discussed on here many times, Bartow has made his share of mistakes as well.
But after this- would you rather have Patsos or Bartow on the bench calling the shots?
That's bizarre. One of the axioms of sports is you stay with a winning strategy and change a losing strategy. He certainly violated that. I think you hold it against him because he stuck with it even when it was proven it couldn't win the game, but without seeing their personnel, it's hard to be definitive about it. They may have lost by 40 if they'd tried to play it straight. I'd say he knows better than we do, sitting here from afar.
[Sorry if you think I'm "building" on your post..........lol.......]
No, it isn't.
It also doesn't answer the question of whether you'd rather have Bartow or Patsos.
Can't make a decision based on that one scenario......not enough info. Not nearly enough.
Then feel free to add any scenarios you wish.
There's five years of track record as the boss on either man.
What I'm wondering is if this is going to be a positive or a negative for Patsos. He may come off as a creative coach trying new things- a la Tony LaRusa in baseball- or an absolute idiot.
"Track record" is not enough in and of itself. I know murry's style, mistakes, philosophy, etc., very well. Can't say that for Patsos. There's no way myself, or anyone else on this board, could make a qualified judgment on that, unless they followed Loyola hoops heavily.
But hey, in yet another thing we agree on, I also think he should have at least been interviewed.
Great strategy, Davidson wins by thirty. Why is this relevant again?
Because it was conceivable that he could have been ETSU's coach instead of murry.
Not only that, but Davidson is a former conference rival.
They say "There but for the grace of God go I" when someone sees something negative- but could we say "There but for the grace of ETSU administration go the Bucs" concerning the success of the Wildcats?
As far as the coach goes- you have to understand I think whoever coaches ETSU right now is largely irrelevant.
I think a lot of Murry Bartow's hire had to do with the fact he was a good yes man. He knows how to put on a happy face. And at ETSU currently, SAYING things are okay is often better than things actually BEING okay.
But Patsos might have been able to win a game or two in the 2004 NCAAs- perhaps accomplishing the Sweet 16 prediction Sports Illustrated lay on ETSU.
However, if he was vocal enough to campaign for an interview in the press, how much do you want to bet he would be vocal enough to get fired here- or at least move to another job in a short period of time.
I dont know, I would have lost alot of respect for the moron by employing the strategy that he did. Lets double team Curry every possession and play the entire game 3-4. Why not forfeit the game if you go into it knowing that your gonna lose and give up from the opening tip
From
SI:
12 Davidson Wildcats
Last Week: 14
Davidson Wildcats (5-1)
More on the Jimmy Patsos Watch: The Loyola (Md.) coach who patented the Stop Curry At All Costs D -- losing to Davidson by 30 as he double-teamed Steph at all times, holding him to zero points, then saying afterward, "I'm a history major. They're going to remember that we held him scoreless or we lost by 30?" -- wrote a letter to PTI's Wilbon & Kornheister, who had ripped Patsos for the stunt. Albany Times-Union writer Pete Iorizzo ran a copy of it in his blog this week, and it includes some great lines explaining the defensive strategy and praising Davidson's way of handling it. Like this one: "As an American I wish we had leaders like McKillop and Curry, who could have gotten the CIA and FBI to talk so we could have prevented the 9-11 tragedy, or saw that Fannie Mae was creating a mortgage crisis coming which could cripple a country. The Davidson basketball family united the way I wish Wall Street would have instead of letting so many Americans retirement be lost. I wish his staff could have advised the administration who got us into a war in Iraq which cost us countless lives, and disabilities, countless money and has gone on longer than WWII. I know these are extreme examples to show that the Davidson basketball family adjusted, made smart choices and unselfish choices for the good of the team."
Next three: 12/6 vs. N.C. State, 12/9 vs. West Virginia in Jimmy V Classic, 12/13 vs. Chattanooga
SI's Power Rankings
That's fairly weird. I think we can say Patsos would have been more *interesting* than bartow.
I'd like to think that this was why Patsos didn't get an interview. That maybe ETSU sent out some feelers and they said Patsos wouldn't be too out there.
However, does anyone really think that is the case? The AD can't check out a construction company building his soccer field. He's going to know about this?
Especially when another school is willing to hire him and when UCLA wanted him as an assistant.
But most importantly- one does not refuse a job interview because heresay says the applicant is flaky- at least not ethically.
One interviews the candidate and sees for himself if he is a flake.
A few other points-
A- I'm not surprised at all he said this. Basketball culture is so left of center that it has become a cult sport and I'm sure this is not an uncommon line of thought. It is no more surprising than Kanye West's "George W. Bush doesn't care about black people."
B- Can you imagine IF Patsos was hired? Instead of "Really, Dave and Paul do such a great job" we'd have a coach publicly speak his mind!
Doesnt relate to where this thread has went, but anyone watch the Davidson/West Virginia game? Curry played as bad as he could possibly play, the team could have also played much better, and they STILL beat West Virginia, a very well coached team that while not a powerhouse was still 7-1 coming into the game and is now 52 in the RPI after the loss.
Davidson will win alot of games this year, this may legitimately be a two league conference if Davidson gets upset in the conf. tourney. Wish we were there!
Well, obviously.
Personally, I think Davidson might have won the national championship last year if they would have come up with any sort of play in those last 16 seconds.
They would have beaten UNC with the egg the Tar Heels laid in the Final Four. I'm less sure they would have won a game against Memphis, but considering how the Tigers folded at the end I would also have given the Wildcats a chance.