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BOOM-Shaka-laka

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7774 said:
My 2 cents. I haven't read all the posts in this thread, and this is long so feel free to ignore......
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Excellent post. And I totally agree. Whose to say that Stephens or Smart won't fall off the basketball map? I actually am not entirely sold on Stephens yet. Don't get me wrong, both these guys have done an outstanding job and should be lauded for their accomplishments at such a young age and at mid majors no less. But what will their legacies be? Did they catch lightning in a bottle? Or are they the real deal? A couple of down years for these guys and there will be new flavors of the month. I see more upside in Smart and would have no problem with him replacing Calhoun. I like his qualities which have been mentioned throughout this thread. I feel the same way with Ollie. I, like all of us, want a continuation of Calhoun's success. That isn't a given. You see guys have success with a team in the NCAA tournament, they get a deal with a bigger program and fail. Happens more often than the other way around. I dunno what the right answer is. It will be interesting to see our future going forward.
 
FASTEDDY said:
There literally is no chance of Shaka being next UC coach only b/c HCJC wants to keep it in house...
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Don't say no chance. JC does not have as much "hand" as he had a year ago. As much as everyone said JC hated Hathaway, JC owned him. As far the new AD and Prez go, I haven't heard or seen as much public genuflecting as you might expect. JC went on the Francesa show and talked about how he wanted to be a future resource to UConn. When had he said that before? I just saw how UConn won't be part of the BET if UConn doesn't get NCAA eligibility. If UConn is not declared eligible for the tournament, JC is done. The how and why will be handled by the spin doctors.
 
If they hire someone outside the family, that person will run the program their own way. Thats why Calhoun as a future resource may not mean anything in this case. Will the new coach even care what Calhoun has to say? The new coach would get their own people in there as assistants, consult with their own inner circles as far as advice, and most importantly we dont know what the relationship would be with the former players.

The way it is now, guys like Allen, Gay, Gordon, Walker, Butler, Okafor all come back over the summer to work out with the team. If Kevin Ollie becomes the next coach he will make sure this continues. If somebody outside the family takes over, they have to continue to get the current NBA guys from Uconn to come back. Will this happen if Smart, Stevens, Miller takes over? Maybe maybe not. Thats just the risk you take hiring somebody from the outside. If Ollie is still here as an assistant when JC decides to leave then the job is his. I just can't see them hiring an outsider
 
7774 said:
I'm also of the belief that people value 1-2 years of good NCAA tournament results waaaaayy too much. There is just such insane variance in that tournament, and if any program should realize that it should be us. We went 49-5 in the Big East regular season the 3 years Ray was here and never even made the Final Four. Then last year 9-9 and bink, 3rd National Championship. It defies logic to some extent.

Brad Stevens made back to back championship games, but was one of the craziest plays I've ever seen in my whole life away from losing in the 2nd round. Would he be valued as highly if Nasir Robinson hadn't made an idiotic foul? Probably not. Shaka Smart's VCU team probably didn't even deserve to be in the tournament last year based upon their regular season resume. If they don't get in last year, do we even know who Shaka Smart is? Probably not. This isn't to say these guys aren't great coaches. They may be. They also might not be. Kevin Ollie isn't a sure thing. Neither is Mike Hopkins at the Cuse. Or Shaka or Stevens. There are no sure things.
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well said. this was pretty much my point.
 
That's certainly a good point about tournament variance affecting people's perceptions. Sports media and fans opinions are basically a constant cycle of overreactions to small samples. Still, most everyone seems to hold Shaka in high regard. And whether or not his tournament success was a product of variance, the fact is that success will only help him on the recruiting trail
 
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Jim Calhoun's coaching tree has not gone far. Have to wonder if he cares to continue his tree at UConn.

We might be staring into the Shaka Smart era of UConn basketball, anyway.
 
7774 said:
My 2 cents. I haven't read all the posts in this thread, and this is long so feel free to ignore.

To me, 2 things have been pretty obvious over the last 2 decades:

1. No matter how great a program you are, you're probably going to drop off after a coaching legend leaves.
2. Even if you make the wrong hire when you replace your legend and drop off, you can bounce back quickly if you make the right hire the next time.

Pitino left Kentucky, Tubby took over and had great success with Pitino's recruits, then had less success, got fired, and Billy G took over. He of course was a complete disaster, but they hired PayPal and bounced right back.

Dean Smith left N.C. Bill Guthridge took over and had success with Smith's recruits, then he retired and they hired Matt Dougherty, who was a complete disaster. But they bounced right back with Roy.

Same with Indiana; Knight, Mike Davis, Crean, etc. Although Crean took a few years.

Those are 3 of the "big" 6 programs in college basketball history. To me there is no shame to me in having less success initially, because even the all time great programs have proven it's likely, but I understand if people feel differently.

I'm also of the belief that people value 1-2 years of good NCAA tournament results waaaaayy too much. There is just such insane variance in that tournament, and if any program should realize that it should be us. We went 49-5 in the Big East regular season the 3 years Ray was here and never even made the Final Four. Then last year 9-9 and bink, 3rd National Championship. It defies logic to some extent.

Brad Stevens made back to back championship games, but was one of the craziest plays I've ever seen in my whole life away from losing in the 2nd round. Would he be valued as highly if Nasir Robinson hadn't made an idiotic foul? Probably not. Shaka Smart's VCU team probably didn't even deserve to be in the tournament last year based upon their regular season resume. If they don't get in last year, do we even know who Shaka Smart is? Probably not. This isn't to say these guys aren't great coaches. They may be. They also might not be. Kevin Ollie isn't a sure thing. Neither is Mike Hopkins at the Cuse. Or Shaka or Stevens. There are no sure things.


So given that I would rather see Ollie get the job, because he's family, he's everything that has ever been great about UCONN basketball, it's what JC wants, I love him, and even if he fails it's been proven we can bounce back with a good hire post Ollie. We'll be able to leverage a brand new practice facility and 25 years of greatness on the court, and we'll get whoever the new "Shaka Smart" is 5 years from now. Because there will be someone, it's just how it works.
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Great post
 
Ts5034 said:
If they hire someone outside the family, that person will run the program their own way. Thats why Calhoun as a future resource may not mean anything in this case. Will the new coach even care what Calhoun has to say? The new coach would get their own people in there as assistants, consult with their own inner circles as far as advice, and most importantly we dont know what the relationship would be with the former players.

The way it is now, guys like Allen, Gay, Gordon, Walker, Butler, Okafor all come back over the summer to work out with the team. If Kevin Ollie becomes the next coach he will make sure this continues. If somebody outside the family takes over, they have to continue to get the current NBA guys from Uconn to come back. Will this happen if Smart, Stevens, Miller takes over? Maybe maybe not. Thats just the risk you take hiring somebody from the outside. If Ollie is still here as an assistant when JC decides to leave then the job is his. I just can't see them hiring an outsider
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If the NBA guys care about UCONN they will come back and help out. By the way, if their support is so great, why haven't they ponied up for the new practice facility? Ray Allen could afford it all by himself.
 
Henry said:
If the NBA guys care about UCONN they will come back and help out. By the way, if their support is so great, why haven't they ponied up for the new practice facility? Ray Allen could afford it all by himself.
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This is always a sore subject here. Your point does make sense but believe it or not, its really not about the money. One of the knocks on Hathaway was that he didnt raise the amount of money that he should have for the practice facility. Yes the NBA alums make millions and if they all decided to pitch in for it then great...but this is a situation where the school shouldnt have to depend on their money to fund it 100%
 
Maybe the alums are waiting to see if the admin. will follow Calhoun's lead before giving a boatload of $$?
 
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Henry said:
If the NBA guys care about UCONN they will come back and help out. By the way, if their support is so great, why haven't they ponied up for the new practice facility? Ray Allen could afford it all by himself.
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Took the words right out of my mouth! It's great that they come back and practice and all that but how about show some financial investment into the program that helped you get to where you are today. Didn't Carmelo recently donate a large chunk of money to Syracuse? He played one year, won a NC, and is giving back. Haven't seen that being reported about a single UConn player. Whether it's donating to the new practice facility or something else, I don't seem to see a lot of "giving back" from players who made it to the next level thanks to JC and UConn.

EDIT: He did donate money: http://www.suathletics.com/news/2009/9/24/Melo9.24.09.aspx Per the article: "Anthony’s gift represented one of the largest individual donations to Syracuse University Athletics and is also believed to be one of the largest by a current professional athlete to the school they attended."
 
The financing of the practice facility was a huge issue to JC (due to the strained relationship between coach & Hathaway).

JC believed that JH did not want to do anything to get the practice facility funded beyond having JC ask his NBA players to foot the entire bill. Because of this JC did not want any of his players donating a penny until a legitimate fundraising effort had been completed.

I imagine that as we now have someone ctually raising funds (Pendergast) and a good amount raised towards the facility, we will see donations from NBA players.

As far as JC's successor, it has already been pointed out that the school cannot name someone coach in waiting even if that is the plan (and they are also planning on only going the the necessary motions once the day arrives to promote KO). Even if the school could do this, it is not a given that this would be the best move.

One final comment, I vividly remember JC speaking of both Stevens & Smart, at the final four last year saying "if this is the future of coaching, I am very happy with the future of this game". For all we know, JC had a conversation or two with one or both of these bright young coaches and left the impression that he would be in favor of one of them replacing him when the day arrived (which would not be too far down the road).
 
I love the idea of KO taking over when JC retires but if Shaka Smart is waiting for the uconn job and he is available when JC does step down then he has to be the #1 guy on the list. you cannot go with a young zero experience guy over a proven young guy with final four and tournament experience. i think if SK is really dedicated to uconn and in it for the long hall and not just using uconn as a springboard to the nba and he does wait for JC to retire and turns down other jobs in the mean time we`d be foolish not to sign him. if we`re lucky the transition could turn out well like it did at ku
 
I really think we need calhoun for one more year. I have faith in Shaka, but i'd like to see him coach for one more year before I can say he's proven. I love the style of play he brings to the table, its just the question of his ability to recruit if he brings his own assistant coaches in. I think if Ollie moves to assistant coach and keeps recruiting, those two could be deadly
 
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