https://www.cbssports.com/college-basket...-25-and-1/
He is assuming they are going to land Hampton and Achuwa, currently heavy favorites to get. Pretty insane, but honestly I think this is good in a way for UC and the rest of the conference. Alot of the negative recruiting against UC has been the AAC and not playing against the best. Hopefully Penny can keep reeling in talent, and Samson can continue keeping a top 15-20 team for us to compete against. Mick must have realized his short reign in the AAC was up and fled.
(05-01-2019 07:20 PM)jarr Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.cbssports.com/college-basket...-25-and-1/
He is assuming they are going to land Hampton and Achuwa, currently heavy favorites to get. Pretty insane, but honestly I think this is good in a way for UC and the rest of the conference. Alot of the negative recruiting against UC has been the AAC and not playing against the best. Hopefully Penny can keep realing in talent, and Samson can continue keeping a top 15-20 team for us to compete against. Mick must have realized his short reign in the AAC was up and fled.
But I thought that that type of player couldn't be recruited to the AAC, that they instead wanted to play for legendary power conference teams like Penn State and Ole Miss.
I think that's why Mick left. He saw what was coming and knew in his heart his usual cast of 2 star projects that 'play real hard' wouldn't cut it.
(05-01-2019 08:14 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote: [ -> ]I think that's why Mick left. He saw what was coming and knew in his heart his usual cast of 2 star projects that 'play real hard' wouldn't cut it.
I still look back to our ole pal Rath insisting that Penny would be a disaster for Memphis and the AAC, and getting rid of has been Tubby Smith was a bad idea. Good thing they didn't take his advice.
in what universe is an old tubbs considered a commodity? he's a fine coach, teacher but his time for the booth shoulda begun a decade ago. that rathcal was jesting surely
(05-01-2019 09:02 PM)Lush Wrote: [ -> ]in what universe is an old tubbs considered a commodity? he's a fine coach, teacher but his time for the booth shoulda begun a decade ago. that rathcal was jesting surely
Not sure what his deal was, but he was quite vigilant in his disgust for that hire, and their decision to axe Tubby This was probably a few weeks prior to his grand sendoff for the long journey North.
I will be shocked if Memphis is a top ten team next year. Lots of incoming talent doesn’t always equal a good team.
Not convinced Penny is all that yet. He can recruit in his initial wave, but can his teams play defense? If you look back several years in recruiting rankings, Memphis wasn't exactly bringing in stiffs, but Penny only managed to get slightly above .500. This year's freshman class can easily be next year's transfer or draft applicant with little to show for it. And his recruiters could easily be elsewhere next year.
At this point, he's just as likely to be a flop as he is a success. Early returns on his game coaching is underwhelming (and not totally unexpected).
for never having coached a collegiate game before and to win twenty games with tubby's three stars is unappreciated
(05-01-2019 09:40 PM)Lush Wrote: [ -> ]for never having coached a collegiate game before and to win twenty games with tubby's three stars is unappreciated
I mean they brought the entire roster back (including the best scorer in the league) from a team that finished 5th in the aac and made the aac semis... and finished 5th in the aac and made the aac semis. He inherited a good situation with an experienced team.
He seems to be recruiting like crazy. I'm not ready to say he can coach them to an elite level. We'll see.
(05-01-2019 09:46 PM)bearcatmark Wrote: [ -> ] (05-01-2019 09:40 PM)Lush Wrote: [ -> ]for never having coached a collegiate game before and to win twenty games with tubby's three stars is unappreciated
I mean they brought the entire roster back (including the best scorer in the league) from a team that finished 5th in the aac and made the aac semis... and finished 5th in the aac and made the aac semis. He inherited a good situation with an experienced team.
He seems to be recruiting like crazy. I'm not ready to say he can coach them to an elite level. We'll see.
To be fair, Tubby Smith is the one who coached them to 5th in 2017-18.
I thought the story on Tubby has always been that he's a terrible recruiter, but a pretty good coach (am I wrong on that?). I mean, the dude DID win a national title with a roster that included zero lottery picks and only 1 guy who got drafted that year (Nazr Mohammed, who wasn't exactly a dominant college player). So if Penny can coach as good as Tubby, the rest of the conference better watch out.
Also, the conference was deeper in 2018/19 than in 2017/18. The conference won 15 more OOC games in 18/19 (120-50 in 18/19 vs 105-49 in 17/18), and was more than a full point better in Sagarin ratings. 7 teams won 22 or more games in 18/19, compared to only 4 with 20 or more wins in 2017/18. The conference got 4 NCAA bids, 2 NIT bids, and 1 CBI bid in 2019. We only got 3 NCAA bids and 1 NIT bid in 2018.
(05-01-2019 08:14 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote: [ -> ]I think that's why Mick left. He saw what was coming and knew in his heart his usual cast of 2 star projects that 'play real hard' wouldn't cut it.
He left because the AAC might have one top 10 team...?
(05-01-2019 11:15 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote: [ -> ] (05-01-2019 08:14 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote: [ -> ]I think that's why Mick left. He saw what was coming and knew in his heart his usual cast of 2 star projects that 'play real hard' wouldn't cut it.
He left because the AAC might have one top 10 team...?
He left because he knew he was not up to the challenge going forward and UC (quite rightly) refused to give him a long term deal. He found a sucker in UCLA when they wiffed on literally every other candidate. He will not last out his contract in Westwood but he he should be set for life as long as Dan didn't steer him into too many bad bets.
(05-01-2019 11:39 PM)gerhard911 Wrote: [ -> ] (05-01-2019 11:15 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote: [ -> ] (05-01-2019 08:14 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote: [ -> ]I think that's why Mick left. He saw what was coming and knew in his heart his usual cast of 2 star projects that 'play real hard' wouldn't cut it.
He left because the AAC might have one top 10 team...?
He left because he knew he was not up to the challenge going forward and UC (quite rightly) refused to give him a long term deal. He found a sucker in UCLA when they wiffed on literally every other candidate. He will not last out his contract in Westwood but he he should be set for life as long as Dan didn't steer him into too many bad bets.
This
(05-01-2019 11:39 PM)gerhard911 Wrote: [ -> ] (05-01-2019 11:15 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote: [ -> ] (05-01-2019 08:14 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote: [ -> ]I think that's why Mick left. He saw what was coming and knew in his heart his usual cast of 2 star projects that 'play real hard' wouldn't cut it.
He left because the AAC might have one top 10 team...?
He left because he knew he was not up to the challenge going forward and UC (quite rightly) refused to give him a long term deal. He found a sucker in UCLA when they wiffed on literally every other candidate. He will not last out his contract in Westwood but he he should be set for life as long as Dan didn't steer him into too many bad bets.
Would anyone think it would be appropriate for Dan to change his twitter name to "Santa Anita Dan"?
(05-01-2019 08:40 PM)jarr Wrote: [ -> ]I still look back to our ole pal Rath insisting that Penny would be a disaster for Memphis and the AAC, and getting rid of has been Tubby Smith was a bad idea. Good thing they didn't take his advice.
Ha!
I still recall going at it with him over this.
Everyone wants to look at what Drexler did in Houston. The difference is Clide never showed up. He came to games like 5 mins before tip off. Penny built his network for years, and is reaping the rewards. As long as he can perform he'll continually get those kids walking through that door.
mc
(05-02-2019 04:06 AM)marcuscan Wrote: [ -> ] (05-01-2019 08:40 PM)jarr Wrote: [ -> ]I still look back to our ole pal Rath insisting that Penny would be a disaster for Memphis and the AAC, and getting rid of has been Tubby Smith was a bad idea. Good thing they didn't take his advice.
Ha!
I still recall going at it with him over this.
Everyone wants to look at what Drexler did in Houston. The difference is Clide never showed up. He came to games like 5 mins before tip off. Penny built his network for years, and is reaping the rewards. As long as he can perform he'll continually get those kids walking through that door.
mc
Just because the kids walk through the door doesn't mean they stay or play well together. Calipari has a difficult time maintaining consistency with UK because of the turnover and he is an established coach at the NCAA level. I give it difficult to believe that Penny is going to outperform him or to put him in this level especially considering last year and how that team performed. They went for broke on offense and were one of the worst on defense. We've demonstrated you can't be successful, especially in the postseason, playing like that. Defense is a product of coaching and effort. Just saying... It doesn't appear to be a focus and it's one of the bigger indicators of coaching. It smacks of AAU-ness, which is Penny's background.
(05-01-2019 10:09 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote: [ -> ] (05-01-2019 09:46 PM)bearcatmark Wrote: [ -> ] (05-01-2019 09:40 PM)Lush Wrote: [ -> ]for never having coached a collegiate game before and to win twenty games with tubby's three stars is unappreciated
I mean they brought the entire roster back (including the best scorer in the league) from a team that finished 5th in the aac and made the aac semis... and finished 5th in the aac and made the aac semis. He inherited a good situation with an experienced team.
He seems to be recruiting like crazy. I'm not ready to say he can coach them to an elite level. We'll see.
To be fair, Tubby Smith is the one who coached them to 5th in 2017-18.
I thought the story on Tubby has always been that he's a terrible recruiter, but a pretty good coach (am I wrong on that?). I mean, the dude DID win a national title with a roster that included zero lottery picks and only 1 guy who got drafted that year (Nazr Mohammed, who wasn't exactly a dominant college player). So if Penny can coach as good as Tubby, the rest of the conference better watch out.
Also, the conference was deeper in 2018/19 than in 2017/18. The conference won 15 more OOC games in 18/19 (120-50 in 18/19 vs 105-49 in 17/18), and was more than a full point better in Sagarin ratings. 7 teams won 22 or more games in 18/19, compared to only 4 with 20 or more wins in 2017/18. The conference got 4 NCAA bids, 2 NIT bids, and 1 CBI bid in 2019. We only got 3 NCAA bids and 1 NIT bid in 2018.
All fair and good points. I will also say Memphis should have been improved from 2018 to last year and despite nearly identical conference results they were measurably improved. I think last year was solid from penny and his staff but just wanted to stress tubby left him what should have been a top 5 conference team and that's exactly where they finished. I'll be interested to see penny with his own guys and how he does getting them to fit. He'll clearly have talent.