Best coached game by Calhoun

[nomar]

I don't agree at all. He developed wonderful game plans and most of them worked to perfection but he is far from a great game coach, making adjustments on the fly. It wasn't a part of his DNA. There was also his Irish stubbornness when he often refused to bend. Maybe that has more to do with my and other's impressions that he wasn't a good game coach. He stayed locked into his pregame mindset and that was it, win or lose! Not to say he would lose gracefully because he's always had a lot of passion.

Every team's fanbase has criticisms of their coach. Lord knows how many times I said "that game's not going on JC's highlight reel." Like I said before, nobody's perfect. If you had to pick someone to be your coach for a single game, who would it be?

 

[Deadrody]

1) Maryland 2002... a team who's second best player is Johnnie Selvie

Please stop repeating this as if its true. You are not a fraction as witty as you think you are.

Tony Robertson, Taliek Brown, Ben Gordon, and Emeka Okafor would all easily be listed ahead of Selvie on any list of "best players" on the 2002 team. If not all four of them, then without question, at least ONE of them, thereby invalidating your foolish quip that you seem so proud to repeat at every possible opportunity.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Please stop repeating this as if its true. You are not a fraction as witty as you think you are.

Tony Robertson, Taliek Brown, Ben Gordon, and Emeka Okafor would all easily be listed ahead of Selvie on any list of "best players" on the 2002 team. If not all four of them, then without question, at least ONE of them, thereby invalidating your foolish quip that you seem so proud to repeat at every possible opportunity.

Gordon and Okafor became better players than Selvie, but there is no way either was better than Selvie in 2002. Gordon was still "gentle Ben" and Okafor was completely one dimensional as a shot blocker. I am as big a Robertson fan as anyone, but he was not better than Selvie in 2002. Taliek Brown's best was never as good as Selvie.

 

[CallMeBruce]

They were both already better than Selvie. Selvie was a decent scorer at the four, but he didn't make his free throws, he didn't rebound well, and he turned the ball over a ton.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I don't believe that he was the greatest at everything and yes, there were many instances where he could not get his players to respond well (2006 is glaring, especially when compared to some of his earlier accomplishments, such as the 1988 NIT where at times it appeared that the force of JC's will alone carried that team to the title).

He had many flaws as a head coach. The thing is, all of his contemporaries also had many flaws. When looking at his contemporaries, I cannot think of anyone who I can state was better in game than JC was. I may be overlooking someone but I can think of many current and future HOF coaches who have many flawed results on their resume, I cannot think one who I would put ahead of JC.

Pitino, Izzo, Donovan and Calipari are better game coaches than Calhoun. I would say Bennett, Ryan, Wright and Dixon are too. Carnessecca, Tark and Keady were three of the best game coaches I have ever seen. Coach K used to be a great game coach, but he has faded badly in recent years. I think Roy Williams is an excellent game coach, but he has faded badly on player development recently. Boeheim and Chaney might as well stayed home for games because their coaching basically ended when practice ended.

Calhoun's insane stubbornness helped and hurt at times. It helped because it inspired confidence and trust in Calhoun, it hurt because when Calhoun was wrong, he could be really wrong. Calhoun was the best player development coach in the history of college basketball, and even Calhoun critics would agree with that or at least acknowledge he was one of the best. When you are the "best ever" at an aspect of coaching that comprises 30% or 40% or 50% (pick a number) of what a coach does, you can get away with not being the best on some of the other aspects of coaching.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

They were both already better than Selvie. Selvie was a decent scorer at the four, but he didn't make his free throws, he didn't rebound well, and he turned the ball over a ton.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/41/year/2002/connecticut-huskies

Selvie did turn the ball over a lot, but the whole team turned the ball over a lot that year. Selvie also averaged 11.4 ppg, shot over 50% from the field and averaged 6 rpg while generally picking up the other teams' best 3 or 4 (and even the occasional 2) on defense.

That said, start a separate Selvie thread if you want to argue Selvie.

 

[Gurleyman]

Judge it by the "oh crap, he's injured" (or in foul trouble) corollary. How much would you have been wringing your hands if any of those guys couldn't play. I think without any question, it would start like this:

1) Caron
2) Emeka

Our team would completely change without either of those two guys out there.

The third could be a close battle between the other four, but I think I'd go Ben 3, Selvie 4, Taliek 5, Tony 6. Ben could fill in for either guard and we don't lose much, but Taliek/Tony couldn't give us the shooting/floor spacing that Ben did. We only had Mike Hayes backing up the 4, so there was a drop off without Selvie and you could put him three behind Emeka, but Caron was a very good rebounder at the 3 and could get you some paint points, and Selvie's shots could have been divvied up by other guys.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Pitino, Izzo, Donovan and Calipari are better game coaches than Calhoun. I would say Bennett, Ryan, Wright and Dixon are too. Carnessecca, Tark and Keady were three of the best game coaches I have ever seen. Coach K used to be a great game coach, but he has faded badly in recent years. I think Roy Williams is an excellent game coach, but he has faded badly on player development recently. Boeheim and Chaney might as well stayed home for games because their coaching basically ended when practice ended.

Calhoun's insane stubbornness helped and hurt at times. It helped because it inspired confidence and trust in Calhoun, it hurt because when Calhoun was wrong, he could be really wrong. Calhoun was the best player development coach in the history of college basketball, and even Calhoun critics would agree with that or at least acknowledge he was one of the best. When you are the "best ever" at an aspect of coaching that comprises 30% or 40% or 50% (pick a number) of what a coach does, you can get away with not being the best on some of the other aspects of coaching.

I may give you Izzo but I am a bit hesitant at the moment. I do remember a few instances where Izzo's team did get knocked out by teams they should have beaten (although I will admit to this being very few and his consitency at final four runs was the best since K from the mid 1980's to the mid 1990's). Pitino did some great in game coaching when he took PC to the final four in 1987 but he has been hit or miss for most of his career (like nearly every other coach).

The only time I remember Calipari beating JC were two games at MSG where the talent disparity was immense. In each of those games we made early adjustments (after getting nearly blown off the court) and turned the games into very compelling contests. I don't see anything about Donovan or Wright that places either ahead of JC. If in your eyes JC's greatest fault is being to stubborn to stray from his standard approach when it isn't working, how can Dixon possibly make this list? Bennett and Ryan are good if you long possessions with a lot of motion and many passes but this is more of a style of play than it is being any type of quality or creative in game coach.

Carnessecca, Tark and Keady were all horrible game coaches. I cannot think of one instance where their teams stood a chance in an important game when the opponent could come within shouting distance of their talent. I would love to see an example of any tournament game (and the three combined coached a ton of tournament games) where they fielded an inferior team but won because they outcoached the opposition.

My take is that you are only looking at JC's warts. He's human, everyone is so perfection is out of reach. He has however had far more quality moments than he has had games where he was outcoached, especially on the biggest stage (look at his record in opening round tournament games and twll me who comes close). If the list of people who were better game coaches during his career is only a handful, littered with hall of famers and open for debate with most if not all, that tells me he was in fact one hell of a game coach.

 

[David 76]

Duke 1999. He prepared for that game all season and we "shocked the world"

 

[PacificStorm]

Duke 1999. Beat the best Duke team ever. Followed by Duke 2004 semifinal where Emeka played only half the game.

 

[PacificStorm]

All of the above nominations are excellent. For honorable mention, I'd suggest the 6 OT game vs Syracuse because Coach Calhoun gave Jonathan Maldendove - the greatest Husky bench player of all time - more time on the bench than he could ever get in an extended game.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I may give you Izzo but I am a bit hesitant at the moment. I do remember a few instances where Izzo's team did get knocked out by teams they should have beaten (although I will admit to this being very few and his consitency at final four runs was the best since K from the mid 1980's to the mid 1990's). Pitino did some great in game coaching when he took PC to the final four in 1987 but he has been hit or miss for most of his career (like nearly every other coach).

The only time I remember Calipari beating JC were two games at MSG where the talent disparity was immense. In each of those games we made early adjustments (after getting nearly blown off the court) and turned the games into very compelling contests. I don't see anything about Donovan or Wright that places either ahead of JC. If in your eyes JC's greatest fault is being to stubborn to stray from his standard approach when it isn't working, how can Dixon possibly make this list? Bennett and Ryan are good if you long possessions with a lot of motion and many passes but this is more of a style of play than it is being any type of quality or creative in game coach.

Carnessecca, Tark and Keady were all horrible game coaches. I cannot think of one instance where their teams stood a chance in an important game when the opponent could come within shouting distance of their talent. I would love to see an example of any tournament game (and the three combined coached a ton of tournament games) where they fielded an inferior team but won because they outcoached the opposition.

My take is that you are only looking at JC's warts. He's human, everyone is so perfection is out of reach. He has however had far more quality moments than he has had games where he was outcoached, especially on the biggest stage (look at his record in opening round tournament games and twll me who comes close). If the list of people who were better game coaches during his career is only a handful, littered with hall of famers and open for debate with most if not all, that tells me he was in fact one hell of a game coach.

On the last paragraph, you are trying to wrap yourself in a Husky flag, and I don't feel like having that argument.

Carnessecca, Tark and especially Keady were incredible game coaches. Keady had 1 first round draft pick, Glenn Robinson, between 1983 and his retirement at the end of 2005, and won 7 Big 10 COY's in that period. He couldn't sell a top recruit to save his life (that comb over was probably distracting during recruiting visits), but his game coaching was unmatched. Carnessecca would destroy our press. Tark had the best college team of my lifetime, the 1990 and 1991 UNLV team, that did not have a single player that went on to be a star in the NBA. Larry Johnson was a 2 time all star, which is nice but not spectacular, and Augmon and Anthony were role players. That team was destroying teams by the end of 1989-1990 and through most of 1990-1991. I believe that Anderson Hunt point shaved the 1991 Final Four game and UNLV couldn't pull it out at the end. Just a theory which I can't prove, and certainly not a reflection on Tark who had an incredible run over those 2 years.

 

[intlzncster]

Judge it by the "oh crap, he's injured" (or in foul trouble) corollary. How much would you have been wringing your hands if any of those guys couldn't play. I think without any question, it would start like this:

1) Caron
2) Emeka

Our team would completely change without either of those two guys out there.

The third could be a close battle between the other four, but I think I'd go Ben 3, Selvie 4, Taliek 5, Tony 6. Ben could fill in for either guard and we don't lose much, but Taliek/Tony couldn't give us the shooting/floor spacing that Ben did. We only had Mike Hayes backing up the 4, so there was a drop off without Selvie and you could put him three behind Emeka, but Caron was a very good rebounder at the 3 and could get you some paint points, and Selvie's shots could have been divvied up by other guys.

Good corollary. But I'd pick Emeka over Caron 10 times out of ten, Even though Caron was 60%+ of his team. Mainly because we were a number 1 team that year and SHOULD have won that Championship. If we hadn't because of no Mek, it would have been the biggest WTF in UCONN history.

 

[intlzncster]

On the last paragraph, you are trying to wrap yourself in a Husky flag, and I don't feel like having that argument.

Carnessecca, Tark and especially Keady were incredible game coaches. Keady had 1 first round draft pick, Glenn Robinson, between 1983 and his retirement at the end of 2005, and won 7 Big 10 COY's in that period. He couldn't sell a top recruit to save his life (that comb over was probably distracting during recruiting visits), but his game coaching was unmatched. Carnessecca would destroy our press. Tark had the best college team of my lifetime, the 1990 and 1991 UNLV team, that did not have a single player that went on to be a star in the NBA. Larry Johnson was a 2 time all star, which is nice but not spectacular, and Augmon and Anthony were role players. That team was destroying teams by the end of 1989-1990 and through most of 1990-1991. I believe that Anderson Hunt point shaved the 1991 Final Four game and UNLV couldn't pull it out at the end. Just a theory which I can't prove, and certainly not a reflection on Tark who had an incredible run over those 2 years.

Injury derailed LJ as much as anything. He had signficant back issuesmost of his career. Guy was one of the best college players of my lifetime. Can't discount further career shakeout. Augmon was ridiculous in college too.

 

[DogMania]

Duke 99

I too have the 99 NC game against Dook as his best ever, but the 2004 F-4 win against Dook is right on its heels. Knowing when to take out and put back in players who were picking up fouls, some ridiculous ones but's that a whole other story, was brilliant. Conversely, Coach Rat-Face kept his bigs in there in the first half with 2 fouls and road them deep in the game with 4 which turned out to be a critical mistake. JC had Mek on the floor late in the game while K had his best bigs watching their team lose from the bench as spectators disqualified with 5 fouls. Every time I revisit how that game played out, a big smile comes across my face. See it?!?!

 

[Gurleyman]

On the last paragraph, you are trying to wrap yourself in a Husky flag, and I don't feel like having that argument.

Carnessecca, Tark and especially Keady were incredible game coaches. Keady had 1 first round draft pick, Glenn Robinson, between 1983 and his retirement at the end of 2005, and won 7 Big 10 COY's in that period. He couldn't sell a top recruit to save his life (that comb over was probably distracting during recruiting visits), but his game coaching was unmatched. Carnessecca would destroy our press. Tark had the best college team of my lifetime, the 1990 and 1991 UNLV team, that did not have a single player that went on to be a star in the NBA. Larry Johnson was a 2 time all star, which is nice but not spectacular, and Augmon and Anthony were role players. That team was destroying teams by the end of 1989-1990 and through most of 1990-1991. I believe that Anderson Hunt point shaved the 1991 Final Four game and UNLV couldn't pull it out at the end. Just a theory which I can't prove, and certainly not a reflection on Tark who had an incredible run over those 2 years.

Carnesecca's career NCAA record was 17-20. Calhoun's was 50-20 (48-15 at UConn). The number of times Louie won more than one NCAA Tournament game in a season? Three - 1979 (lost to Penn in Elite Eight), 1985 (lost by 20 to Georgetown in FF), 1991 (lost to Duke by 20 in Elite Eight). That's it.

The same argument you made about Tark, you could say about our 1998 and 1999 teams. Rip was a 2 or 3 time all star, nobody else amounted to anything in the NBA (El-Amin played a half season, calling Jake a role player would be charitable). We lost seven games in those two years, UNLV lost six in their two years (in a weaker conference). We lost one game at something approximating full strength in 1999 - UNLV lost one in 1991. UNLV almost had their title run sabotaged by Ball State (although we almost had ours sabotaged by Gonzaga). We were less dominant or seemingly invincible at our peak, but if the argument is about coaching then that would be a feather in JC's cap to win all those games without just rolling out the basketballs and overwhelming teams.

 

[nomar]

On the last paragraph, you are trying to wrap yourself in a Husky flag, and I don't feel like having that argument.

Carnessecca, Tark and especially Keady were incredible game coaches. Keady had 1 first round draft pick, Glenn Robinson, between 1983 and his retirement at the end of 2005, and won 7 Big 10 COY's in that period. He couldn't sell a top recruit to save his life (that comb over was probably distracting during recruiting visits), but his game coaching was unmatched. Carnessecca would destroy our press. Tark had the best college team of my lifetime, the 1990 and 1991 UNLV team, that did not have a single player that went on to be a star in the NBA. Larry Johnson was a 2 time all star, which is nice but not spectacular, and Augmon and Anthony were role players. That team was destroying teams by the end of 1989-1990 and through most of 1990-1991. I believe that Anderson Hunt point shaved the 1991 Final Four game and UNLV couldn't pull it out at the end. Just a theory which I can't prove, and certainly not a reflection on Tark who had an incredible run over those 2 years.

That stuff about UNLV is unbelievable. Just because LJ's back went out -- and you're right that he was not a star, because he was a SUPERSTAR (2nd Team All-NBA) before his back injury -- and Augmon and Anthony didn't impress you during their FIFTEEN and ELEVEN YEAR NBA CAREERS, respectively, that's supportive of your argument?

The 1990-91 team had 3 players drafted in the Top 12, plus George Ackles (a 2nd round pick), plus Anderson Hunt (a good college player), plus 1992 1st rounder Elmore Spencer coming off the bench.

And they lost to a less talented team. Great game coaching, indeed. Oh wait, you made that unsubstantiated allegation that Anderson Hunt threw the game. Jesus.