From RealGM

Pretty good write-up with the Tigers predicted 3rd behind SMU and UConn.

Quote:Two of the critical August roster changes involved the Memphis Tigers. At the start of August, Memphis simply had too much frontcourt depth. Incumbents and former Top 40 recruits Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols need minutes, transfer Calvin Godfrey is too good to ride the pine, and former Top 40 recruit Kuran Iverson seems poised to breakout. It simply wasn’t clear how elite big man prospect Dominic Woodson was going to get on the court. And suddenly, Woodson left Memphis and enrolled at a Tennessee program with one of the weakest frontcourts in the SEC.

Meanwhile, Memphis’ guard depth was not great. While Rashawn Powell and Markel Crawford can step in after sitting out last year, while Avery Woodson was a Top 100 JUCO guard, and while Dominic McGee is a Top 100 freshman, none of those players had played meaningful minutes against power conference competition. Thus Memphis added Vanderbilt guard Kedren Johnson. Johnson was a high volume scorer who had played over 1500 minutes in the SEC. Memphis lost a quality big man and added a quality guard, but what really happened in August is that the Tigers re-shuffled their lineup to get better roster balance.

And with great depth at the wing, where Nick King seems prepared for a breakout season and where Trahson Burrell was a Top 10 JUCO, the Tigers currently have incredible depth at forward, guard, and wing.

The real question for Memphis is not talent. The question is whether Josh Pastner’s sideline execution can begin to match his impeccable recruiting. While Pastner’s teams are almost always overwhelmingly stocked with blue chip recruits, he has only had a Top 25 margin-of-victory once in his career. Last year was pretty typical. Despite being ranked 13th in the AP preseason poll, the Tigers finished 37th in margin-of-victory. Memphis is recruiting at a level where they could compete for the American Conference Title every year. But until they start executing at that level, Pastner will never be viewed as an elite coach.

Good writeup. I really hope Godfrey is as good as projected. Gonna be NICE to be loaded in the paint for a change.

(09-04-2014 09:28 AM)mairving Wrote:  From RealGM

Pretty good write-up with the Tigers predicted 3rd behind SMU and UConn.

Quote:Two of the critical August roster changes involved the Memphis Tigers. At the start of August, Memphis simply had too much frontcourt depth. Incumbents and former Top 40 recruits Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols need minutes, transfer Calvin Godfrey is too good to ride the pine, and former Top 40 recruit Kuran Iverson seems poised to breakout. It simply wasn’t clear how elite big man prospect Dominic Woodson was going to get on the court. And suddenly, Woodson left Memphis and enrolled at a Tennessee program with one of the weakest frontcourts in the SEC.

Meanwhile, Memphis’ guard depth was not great. While Rashawn Powell and Markel Crawford can step in after sitting out last year, while Avery Woodson was a Top 100 JUCO guard, and while Dominic McGee is a Top 100 freshman, none of those players had played meaningful minutes against power conference competition. Thus Memphis added Vanderbilt guard Kedren Johnson. Johnson was a high volume scorer who had played over 1500 minutes in the SEC. Memphis lost a quality big man and added a quality guard, but what really happened in August is that the Tigers re-shuffled their lineup to get better roster balance.

And with great depth at the wing, where Nick King seems prepared for a breakout season and where Trahson Burrell was a Top 10 JUCO, the Tigers currently have incredible depth at forward, guard, and wing.

The real question for Memphis is not talent. The question is whether Josh Pastner’s sideline execution can begin to match his impeccable recruiting. While Pastner’s teams are almost always overwhelmingly stocked with blue chip recruits, he has only had a Top 25 margin-of-victory once in his career. Last year was pretty typical. Despite being ranked 13th in the AP preseason poll, the Tigers finished 37th in margin-of-victory. Memphis is recruiting at a level where they could compete for the American Conference Title every year. But until they start executing at that level, Pastner will never be viewed as an elite coach.

I consider a 'top 25 margin of victory' a win that is by more than 20 points.
In that sense...Josh has 31 wins of more than 20 points.
The writer can go pound sand.

(09-04-2014 10:07 AM)EarthBoundMisfit Wrote:  

(09-04-2014 09:28 AM)mairving Wrote:  From RealGM

Pretty good write-up with the Tigers predicted 3rd behind SMU and UConn.

Quote:Two of the critical August roster changes involved the Memphis Tigers. At the start of August, Memphis simply had too much frontcourt depth. Incumbents and former Top 40 recruits Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols need minutes, transfer Calvin Godfrey is too good to ride the pine, and former Top 40 recruit Kuran Iverson seems poised to breakout. It simply wasn’t clear how elite big man prospect Dominic Woodson was going to get on the court. And suddenly, Woodson left Memphis and enrolled at a Tennessee program with one of the weakest frontcourts in the SEC.

Meanwhile, Memphis’ guard depth was not great. While Rashawn Powell and Markel Crawford can step in after sitting out last year, while Avery Woodson was a Top 100 JUCO guard, and while Dominic McGee is a Top 100 freshman, none of those players had played meaningful minutes against power conference competition. Thus Memphis added Vanderbilt guard Kedren Johnson. Johnson was a high volume scorer who had played over 1500 minutes in the SEC. Memphis lost a quality big man and added a quality guard, but what really happened in August is that the Tigers re-shuffled their lineup to get better roster balance.

And with great depth at the wing, where Nick King seems prepared for a breakout season and where Trahson Burrell was a Top 10 JUCO, the Tigers currently have incredible depth at forward, guard, and wing.

The real question for Memphis is not talent. The question is whether Josh Pastner’s sideline execution can begin to match his impeccable recruiting. While Pastner’s teams are almost always overwhelmingly stocked with blue chip recruits, he has only had a Top 25 margin-of-victory once in his career. Last year was pretty typical. Despite being ranked 13th in the AP preseason poll, the Tigers finished 37th in margin-of-victory. Memphis is recruiting at a level where they could compete for the American Conference Title every year. But until they start executing at that level, Pastner will never be viewed as an elite coach.

I consider a 'top 25 margin of victory' a win that is by more than 20 points.
In that sense...Josh has 31 wins of more than 20 points.
The writer can go pound sand.

Ummm...it is a stat.

Not sure where the writer got the 37th. Memphis was 56th last year.

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men...eam/147/p2

(09-04-2014 09:28 AM)mairving Wrote:  From RealGM

Pretty good write-up with the Tigers predicted 3rd behind SMU and UConn.

Quote:Two of the critical August roster changes involved the Memphis Tigers. At the start of August, Memphis simply had too much frontcourt depth. Incumbents and former Top 40 recruits Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols need minutes, transfer Calvin Godfrey is too good to ride the pine, and former Top 40 recruit Kuran Iverson seems poised to breakout. It simply wasn’t clear how elite big man prospect Dominic Woodson was going to get on the court. And suddenly, Woodson left Memphis and enrolled at a Tennessee program with one of the weakest frontcourts in the SEC.

Meanwhile, Memphis’ guard depth was not great. While Rashawn Powell and Markel Crawford can step in after sitting out last year, while Avery Woodson was a Top 100 JUCO guard, and while Dominic McGee is a Top 100 freshman, none of those players had played meaningful minutes against power conference competition. Thus Memphis added Vanderbilt guard Kedren Johnson. Johnson was a high volume scorer who had played over 1500 minutes in the SEC. Memphis lost a quality big man and added a quality guard, but what really happened in August is that the Tigers re-shuffled their lineup to get better roster balance.

And with great depth at the wing, where Nick King seems prepared for a breakout season and where Trahson Burrell was a Top 10 JUCO, the Tigers currently have incredible depth at forward, guard, and wing.

The real question for Memphis is not talent. The question is whether Josh Pastner’s sideline execution can begin to match his impeccable recruiting. While Pastner’s teams are almost always overwhelmingly stocked with blue chip recruits, he has only had a Top 25 margin-of-victory once in his career. Last year was pretty typical. Despite being ranked 13th in the AP preseason poll, the Tigers finished 37th in margin-of-victory. Memphis is recruiting at a level where they could compete for the American Conference Title every year. But until they start executing at that level, Pastner will never be viewed as an elite coach.

Spot on

Yah this writer knows something, I'm sure of it.

Top 25 margin of victory is now a recognized stat???

Write up was fair.

What is a Top 25 margin of victory? Covering the pt spread? Maybe it simply means passing the eye test.

ouch!

"Memphis is recruiting at a level where they could compete for the American Conference Title every year. But until they start executing at that level, Pastner will never be viewed as an elite coach."

(09-04-2014 11:07 AM)Tony85 Wrote:  What is a Top 25 margin of victory? Covering the pt spread? Maybe it simply means passing the eye test.

Number 1 margin of victory means that the average margin you won your games.

It is a crap stat.

(09-04-2014 11:04 AM)Mimi Wrote:  Top 25 margin of victory is now a recognized stat???

It's a stat but I am not sure of how predictive it can be of a teams success. There were a lot of games where we called off the dogs instead of running up the score and we were on the opposite end of some not so close games.

Top ten last year.
1. Louisville
2. Wichita State
3. Louisiana Tech
4. North Carolina Central
5. Arizona
6. San Diego State
7. Stephen F. Austin
8. Harvard
9. Florida
10. Mercer

http://espn.go.com/golf/rydercup14/story...-wild-card

The stat is silly but the overall message is on point regarding perception and expectations.

(09-04-2014 11:13 AM)tiger2000 Wrote:  The stat is silly but the overall message is on point regarding perception and expectations.

It was a good write-up because the writer did his homework. Lots of stuff has happened with our team in the last few weeks. He was able to capture all of that instead of relying on old research that was outdated.

(09-04-2014 11:08 AM)Mick Light Wrote:  ouch!

"Memphis is recruiting at a level where they could compete for the American Conference Title every year. But until they start executing at that level, Pastner will never be viewed as an elite coach."

What do they know?

(09-04-2014 11:17 AM)Brother Bluto Wrote:  

(09-04-2014 11:08 AM)Mick Light Wrote:  ouch!

"Memphis is recruiting at a level where they could compete for the American Conference Title every year. But until they start executing at that level, Pastner will never be viewed as an elite coach."

What do they know?

I expect that we will compete for the title this year as we did last year. We weren't out of title contention until the week before the season ended.

(09-04-2014 11:13 AM)tiger2000 Wrote:  The stat is silly but the overall message is on point regarding perception and expectations.

It is an odd stat to choose, but it does have some correlative value to being a good team. (Although w/l does too.)

Getting out of the gate/blocks will be critical for our season....Not only @ the beginning of the season, but also in games as well....If our team comes out like gang-busters and set the tone for our games.....We will gain in confidence throughout the year and be very tough to contend with!!!! Play with a sense of urgency and confidence in the gameplan and ability to execute that gameplan. I believe that starts with Austin Nichols and our forwards getting mid-range shots and attacking the baseline with our Stretch-forwards. Our guards playing tenacious D on the perimeter and taking advantage of the defense when they begin to gamble to stop our stretch-forwards from attacking the middle of the floor and baseline....

We have several mismatches that will be available to us....The key is taking advantage of them!!!!!

This also further illustrates that these two should not be compared: Some coaches choose unethical methods to go after elite recruits....We all know by the way that Josh runs his team that he obviously has morals that are lights years and atmospheres above Cals....

It's going to take Josh a little bit of charisma training to get there (omitting the sleaze factor of-course) But Josh is on the right course and we (Memphis) along with Josh will rise to the TOP of this Mountain and prove that Good guys can win and be at the top!!!!!


http://www.espn929.com/johnmartin/GQ-Cal...s/19830876


QUOTE:

To GQ’s point, I do remember a story about a sno-cone machine when Calipari left Memphis. He apparently wouldn’t pick it up himself in Memphis and sent someone to get it in Nashville. But that's more petty than greedy.

We all remember the now infamous quote from Calipari when he stepped off the plane following their Sweet 16 loss to Missouri: “Memphis is where I want to be.”

Not even a week later, Calipari accepted the job at Kentucky, dissembling what would've been the best Memphis recruiting class ever — one that would’ve ultimately included Xavier Henry, Demarcus Cousins, and John Wall.

Calipari also got out from under an academic scandal that involved Derrick Rose’s SAT scores, leaving first-year coach Josh Pastner to clean up the mess. Memphis was put on a 3-year probation, forced to vacate the 2007-08 season (the best in school history), and had to pay back $500,000 in tournament revenues.

It wasn’t his first vacated season. A year after leading UMass to the Final Four, the NCAA stripped the program of its victories that year due to a scandal involving Marcus Camby and jewelry and prostitutes.