Can a stacked team win without a great coach? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Can a stacked team win without a great coach?

1) this year is full of big money rosters within mediocre programs. Which teams will make their coaches look better than they are?

Calipari's roster, having got some big names in the portal with Davis and Aidu, teamed up with some other older carryover players like Brazille/Mark goes against his common approach. As mentioned, Mike Woodson made a haul in the portal and could reap the rewards of covering up some of his coaching gaps.

2) which coach will win despite an average roster?

This day and age, very hard to win the big one without NBA talent on the roster. Tony Bennett typically wins without stars, but his offense is being seen as a bit stale amongst the new gen and impacts his ability to recruit. Pope has done pretty well in the regular season despite not having a super talented roster at BYU. TJ Otzelberger at Iowa St, Kelvin Sampson come to mind. Both emphasize defense. Sampson has an above average roster, but elevates the outcome and squeezes every last drop out of what he has.

3) historically, can you point to instances where a coach won a Natty with a mediocre team, or vice versa?

Some of the more notorious runs: Nova with Rolly, the 2 Uconn runs, NC St 1983. Sometimes it's just about getting hot at the right time. All you need to do here is look at the lowest seeded Champs to find.
 
navery12 said:
To win a title you basically have to be a really good to great coach. There's really no exceptions in the last 20 years. To lose in the title game the bar is much much lower though, so you can definitely luck into some deep runs as a mediocre coach

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Honestly, the guys who lost, other than Dutcher, are all very good.

As to the premise? You won't have a stacked team in college basketball unless you have a good coach. So it's an impossible hypothetical. Also "stacked" doesn't mean a bunch of 5 star freshmen, those teams will mostly lose even with a good coach. Experience and maturity is very important.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Honestly, the guys who lost, other than Dutcher, are all very good.

As to the premise? You won't have a stacked team in college basketball unless you have a good coach. So it's an impossible hypothetical. Also "stacked" doesn't mean a bunch of 5 star freshmen, those teams will mostly lose even with a good coach. Experience and maturity is very important.
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Penny Hardaway got some pretty great recruits.
I'm sure there are a lot of examples where a sub-par coach got great recruits based on name or school alone. Indiana, Michigan, and OSU have all gotten top recruits with Woodson, Howard, Chris H. over the past few years. Louisville had a top 10 class last year. USC has reeled in some huge freshman talent. I think it's way more common than we think at first glance. We just don't pay attention because these teams never did anything.
 
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Hoophound said:
Hopefully, Dan is the best coach in the game. However, I tend to think we have the best coaching staff in the game and that each of the guys is integral to our success. Based on their willingness to stick around, I think they may agree.
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Whole heartedly agree. The unity of this staff is formidable. The scary thing for our opponents is that I don't see any of them leaving soon. They've got lightening in a bottle and the culture they have created including sophisticated offense, relentless defense and willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the team translates throughout the entire team. I can hardly believe what I am seeing at times. Can't wait til they start up again.
 
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It happens in the NBA all the time. I always say that great players can coach themselves and anyone can coach a great team. A truly great coach wins with lesser talent.
 
Scottzer said:
This will sound crazy to say on this board but number 3 was satisfied by KO in 2014. That team - by all metrics standards, should not have won a title. Yet, for that season, which really didn’t have great teams anywhere, perhaps apart from Louisville, UConn had one of the hardest paths and got it done.
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Confirmed
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Hans Sprungfeld said:
Leaving aside what happened afterward, what's your personal take on how Ollie notched 6 consecutive victories, defeating Martelli, Wright, Izzo, Hoiberg, Donovan, and Calipari (who have won a total of 6 National Championships), and noting that each of the defeated opponents were at the top of their respective conferences, or had the top-ranked freshman class?
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Calhoun’s recruits & Ollie rode the wave. Calhoun stuck around the program & continued to push for greatness. Ollie was able to help them believe.

His mistake was pushing Calhoun away after the success. That decision, his divorce, & the AAC combined to ruin the guy.

But important side note - without that brimah And-1 in round of 64 - that seasons ends with a first round exit. It was one March madness play away from starting the dark years even earlier.
 
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Waquoit said:
If this was true, we would have seen some evidence of the greatness after Bazz graduated.
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Guards were never an issue under Ollie. He just sucked with bigs.

Boatright and Jalen Adams were great guards. In Adams case he was on horrible, injury riddled teams.
 
UCTitleTown said:
It happens in the NBA all the time. I always say that great players can coach themselves and anyone can coach a great team. A truly great coach wins with lesser talent.
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It was once said of Casey Stengel when managing the 1950's Yankees that Shirley Temple could have managed them to all the pennants.
 
Hans Sprungfeld said:
Leaving aside what happened afterward, what's your personal take on how Ollie notched 6 consecutive victories, defeating Martelli, Wright, Izzo, Hoiberg, Donovan, and Calipari (who have won a total of 6 National Championships), and noting that each of the defeated opponents were at the top of their respective conferences, or had the top-ranked freshman class?
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I think 'Coach' Bazz deserves a lot of credit here. The Senior 1st team All American 'Jersey Hangin' Champion point guard knew what needed to get done to win a Championship and was a conductor of men out there.
 
Kitaman said:
I think 'Coach' Bazz deserves a lot of credit here. The Senior 1st team All American 'Jersey Hangin' Champion point guard knew what needed to get done to win a Championship and was a conductor of men out there.
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Did Coach Bazz develop and teach himself how to run the team?
 
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