Coaching hot seats

[azfan]

Now if we could only get rid of Joan from announcing their games...she's almost as a bad as Deb "is their a game on that I should perform analysis on vs. promoting my own ACC agenda" Antonelli.

Completely agree about Bonvicini. A good coach with over 600 wins but a very very poor announcer. Just as she was fired in Tucson I think she actually should be fired for poor performance as a broadcaster.

I think there's just a dearth of people to provide color or whatever she's supposed to be doing on the Pac-12 network.

And One: Joan Bonvicini, overlooked coaching legend

There are plenty of big names in women's basketball who have built programs to consistent success. But few have done it quite like Joan Bonvicini.

highposthoops.com

 

[WestCoast]

On the plus side, Adia is really, really good and has that program looking very good. I do wish they would play a less "physical" style given the nice set of players you have. This team is more than McDonald-Reese, Thomas, McBride, Pueyo and Alonso that all have an offensive skill set-no need to resort to ASU thug ball...

Is DefenseBB the alter ego for Oregon State's Scott Rueck?

 

[DefenseBB]

Is DefenseBB the alter ego for Oregon State's Scott Rueck?

Let's just say, you will never see us in the same room together...

I really like how their freshman Center Jones has developed...will she be FOY in the PAC12?

 

[WestCoast]

Let's just say, you will never see us in the same room together...

I really like how their freshman Center Jones has developed...will she be FOY in the PAC12?

All-Freshmen team for Oregon State's Taylor Jones. USC's Pili was selected and was the appropriate selection for FOY.

 

[bballnut90]

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My guess his biggest Wisconsin miss was clearly Megan Gustafson from Port Wing, Wisconsin and played for South Shore High School. It would have helped him if he had the Big 10 POY and Iowa didn't. .

Good point. She wouldve been recruited in Kelsey's era but another big miss by Wisconsin, although I dont think anyone had an idea how good she'd become

 

[Plebe]

.
My guess his biggest Wisconsin miss was clearly Megan Gustafson from Port Wing, Wisconsin and played for South Shore High School. It would have helped him if he had the Big 10 POY and Iowa didn't. .

His biggest Wisconsin miss? He wasn't hired by Wisconsin until Gustafson was finishing her freshman year at Iowa. How is he culpable for missing her?

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

On the plus side, Adia is really, really good and has that program looking very good. I do wish they would play a less "physical" style given the nice set of players you have. This team is more than McDonald-Reese, Thomas, McBride, Pueyo and Alonso that all have an offensive skill set-no need to resort to ASU thug ball...

If I may ask, where did you see it listed as a "revenue sport" as in all my dealings with 3 different D1 schools as one of the "sports support group" leaders, never was it listed as such. In fact, in my research from 2016, only UConn had mad money at WCBB. So from a "sport perspective" not really a discussion. Just curious why.

So I did a little research, and it turns out some schools / folks call it a revenue sport and some do not. When we were at Rutgers it was called a "Revenue Sport" to differentiate it from the sports that got no revenue from fans (everything else but football and MBB at the time). Those other sports had no admission charges and were called either "non-revenue" or "Olympic" sports, including golf, tennis, swimming, Field Hockey, lax, and yes, at the time, soccer. Times have changed.

I also saw a scholarly article that considered it a revenue sport; but conversely found several schools that call "baseball" for example a revenue sport because it is (for them). I agreed with your comment that it does not typically generate significant revenue, but the classification does apparently vary.

A lot of the physicality in the PAC is not so much the contact on the ball handler but is in going after blocks, loose balls, and the like. Which an awful lot of the ref's have no problem with. I regularly expect injuries; but as physical as our players are, I have never seen them do anything intentionally harmful and additionally (and unlike Rutgers) I don't see them playing a style that pushes the foul envelope. I don't think a review of U of A fouls would find the calls unbalanced (again, unlike (often) Rutgers). And in the PAC, an awful lot of foul calls are actually pretty ticky-tack while some really physical stuff is not called.

 

[j66kicker]

So I did a little research, and it turns out some schools / folks call it a revenue sport and some do not. When we were at Rutgers it was called a "Revenue Sport" to differentiate it from the sports that got no revenue from fans (everything else but football and MBB at the time). Those other sports had no admission charges and were called either "non-revenue" or "Olympic" sports, including golf, tennis, swimming, Field Hockey, lax, and yes, at the time, soccer. Times have changed.

I also saw a scholarly article that considered it a revenue sport; but conversely found several schools that call "baseball" for example a revenue sport because it is (for them). I agreed with your comment that it does not typically generate significant revenue, but the classification does apparently vary.

A lot of the physicality in the PAC is not so much the contact on the ball handler but is in going after blocks, loose balls, and the like. Which an awful lot of the ref's have no problem with. I regularly expect injuries; but as physical as our players are, I have never seen them do anything intentionally harmful and additionally (and unlike Rutgers) I don't see them playing a style that pushes the foul envelope. I don't think a review of U of A fouls would find the calls unbalanced (again, unlike (often) Rutgers). And in the PAC, an awful lot of foul calls are actually pretty ticky-tack while some really physical stuff is not called.

That definition makes sense. "Revenue" is not to be confused with "profit". I'm sure that most if not all D1 WCBB programs generate some revenue, even if it's only from ticket sales. But I'm also sure that most if not all D1 WCBB programs spend more than they take in, making them financially dependent on football, student fees, endowments and the taxpayers in the case of public universities.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I agree about Barnes. I would characterize both Wildcat and Sun Devil defense as intense, focused and physical.

I think this probably describes about half of the teams in the conference at this point. USC, UCLA, Stanford. I think a few teams have been doing it for years and everybody else responded eventually.

 

[azfan]

I think this probably describes about half of the teams in the conference at this point. USC, UCLA, Stanford. I think a few teams have been doing it for years and everybody else responded eventually.

Success breeds imitation. Intense, physical, constant defense works.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Success breeds imitation. Intense, physical, constant defense works.

More like an arms race. USC and ASU are the two that really ramped up the level of physicality in the league I think, and the Trojans are pretty much perpetually mediocre.

 

[azfan]

More like an arms race. USC and ASU are the two that really ramped up the level of physicality in the league I think, and the Trojans are pretty much perpetually mediocre.

I think the Trojans might be on the cusp of turning it around if you look at their freshman and youngsters. But I would point to Tucson where Barnes has come in and with the Pac-12 defensive player of the year in McDonald and a cast of a very intense physical defenders has found success.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I think the Trojans might be on the cusp of turning it around if you look at their freshman and youngsters. But I would point to Tucson where Barnes has come in and with the Pac-12 defensive player of the year in McDonald and a cast of a very intense physical defenders has found success.

Do you remember when Howland was the mbb coach at UCLA? After a few years most of the conference was going with slow, ball control offenses and hand to hand combat on defense. I hated it. Not basketball. I guess it's a matter of semantics maybe. I don't know that it's so much copying because it's successful as it is a matter of survival. If a team is going to play really physical against you, might as well do the same back to them.

 

[domerduck]

His biggest Wisconsin miss? He wasn't hired by Wisconsin until Gustafson was finishing her freshman year at Iowa. How is he culpable for missing her?

My bad, since she finished college last year with Arike who was mentioned in the original post as a recruiting miss, i thought they were in the same high school class. Did she redshirt or got hurt and took 5 years?

 

[Plebe]

My bad, since she finished college last year with Arike who was mentioned in the original post as a recruiting miss, i thought they were in the same high school class. Did she redshirt or got hurt and took 5 years?

The original post by @bballnut90 talked about recruiting misses by the school, not by Tsipis specifically. Samantha Logic was also mentioned, and she was high school class of 2011.

 

[Plebe]

To my mind, the big elephants in the room are Aston and Curry, as their contracts are up this year. If you haven't been renewed by March 1 of your contract expiration year, the writing is pretty much on the wall. Maybe they can save their seasons with a great postseason ... maybe.

Coale is extended through 2023. Last year was an unmitigated disaster and this was another sub-.500 year. Will OU bite the bullet and buy her last 3 years out? I somehow doubt it.

 

[domerduck]

The original post by @bballnut90 talked about recruiting misses by the school, not by Tsipis specifically. Samantha Logic was also mentioned, and she was high school class of 2011.

Thanks I should have used "the" vs "his" to avoid your admonition. I just was following suit that Wisconsin losing Gustafson was at least as big as losing Arike since she was in their conference.

 

[azfan]

Do you remember when Howland was the mbb coach at UCLA? After a few years most of the conference was going with slow, ball control offenses and hand to hand combat on defense. I hated it. Not basketball. I guess it's a matter of semantics maybe. I don't know that it's so much copying because it's successful as it is a matter of survival. If a team is going to play really physical against you, might as well do the same back to them.

I can certainly appreciate your preference in pace, defense, offense and how a game is plaed. One of the wonderful things about the BY is the discussion that we have particularly with opposing points of view.

Probably because I've spent so much time as a fan of CTT and Sun Devil basketball I really appreciate hard-nosed defense.

In addition to women's basketball we see this as well in the men's game particularly at the professional level.

The athletes that play basketball now are so elite and such outstanding offensive talents that to see a defense in a position to shut down these athletes and to actually do that is in my mind very entertaining and fun to watch.

In order to contain the offensive talent of these elite basketball players the level of intensity, physicality, and focus needs to consistently be very high. I really admired teams that do that.

So what you characterize as hand-to-hand combat I characterized as amazing defense to be admired and celebrated.

At the same time I do condemn thuggery and hand to hand combat.

Whether it's Arike tripping Crystal or Kermit Washington punching Rudy Tomjanovich or the Brittney Griner sucker punch as a freshman these are all clear examples of thuggery and combat that have no place in the game and are to be condemned.

 

[Dillon77]

In recent years they've missed out on landing in state recruits Arike Ogunbowale, Sidney Cooks, Samantha Logic, and two top 30 recruits for 2020 (Kapinus/Donarski). I wonder if they'll give him a longer leash or shop around for a new coach.

One of the issues with Tsipis' predecessor -- Bobbi Kensie -- is that she didn't click with the Wisconsin HS/AAU communities, whether by choice or whatever. That certainly had a lot to do with none of the top recruits you mention, as well the three- and four-star recruits that went to Wisconsin-Green Bay to solidify them a mid-major power.

Wisconsin was very mujch in the mix with Kapinus, but she chose to go to Penn State with new coach Carolyn Krieger, who was recruiting her heavily while Krieger was at Marquette.

To help with this catching up in Wisconsin, JT hired Kayla Karius as his co-recruiting coordinator from South Dakota. The Wisconsin native was an all-Horizon pick when she played as Kayla Tetschlag at Wisc.-Green Bay. Have not seen the direct results of this in Wisconsin yet, but the idea is it will build up the ties that bind for the future.

My guess his biggest Wisconsin miss was clearly Megan Gustafson from Port Wing, Wisconsin and played for South Shore High School. It would have helped him if he had the Big 10 POY and Iowa didn't. .

That was a miss by Wisconsin, for sure, but Bobbi Kensie was coach then. Tsipis didnt' come aboard until 2016 while Megan was a frosh at Iowa in 2015.

Still expect Wisconsin to give him another year...

 

[Plebe]

Can't help but wonder if we're seeing Stephanie White's last game here.

 

[DefenseBB]

Can't help but wonder if we're seeing Stephanie White's last game here.

so if we ignore the fact that she has two years left, the #1 reason she won't be fired is Vanderbilt can't afford to buy her out. They put a freeze on spending right after they "parted ways with the AD in early February"- polite way of saying "You're fired"...

Vanderbilt AD Malcolm Turner steps down after one year on the job

Vanderbilt athletic director Malcolm Turner has stepped down from his post, one year and three days after officially taking over the job.

collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com

 

[UcMiami]

Interesting discussion on defense - I think the Pac10 days with the exception of Stanford the national rep was it was a finesse league and generally the rest of the league was quietly dispatched from the NCAA. The recent history has certainly changed and part of that probably has been more physicality. You certainly can't look at the SEC and say they play soft and that had a lot to do with Pat and an arms race to match her. And the old BE and Uconn and ND/Rutgers pedigree was pretty physical. Baylor/TX/OK/AM also gave the Big12 a certain toughness.

With the skill and size of post players, if you aren't physical you are going to be run over - part of why ONO has struggled at Uconn.

Back to the OP - Aston has done really well reviving the in state recruiting at TX (after the GG debacle) but has struggled to coach up a competitive team. I think her seat is hot and I think TX would be wise to move on.

Coale has struggled to recruit after her Paris twin success. Not sure OK is a great draw, but there is HS talent all around her and she has to start landing some of it. She probably has her contract term to change the trajectory but time is getting short.

 

[triaddukefan]

I think Hoover might be safe after I looked at their roster today. Only lose one senior who played today.... and they have a good core returning.

 

[MSGRET]

I wish UNLV would fire Kathy Olivier, she has has only 4 winning season records over the past 12 years and they still won't get rid of her. While Regina Miller only had one losing season and they fired her and replaced her with Olivier. Their program has gone in the sewer since she arrived.

 

[Plebe]

I wish UNLV would fire Kathy Olivier, she has has only 4 winning season records over the past 12 years and they still won't get rid of her. While Regina Miller only had one losing season and they fired her and replaced her with Olivier. Their program has gone in the sewer since she arrived.

Do you know when her contract is up?