G.O.A.T.? | The Boneyard

G.O.A.T.?

prankster said:
John Wooden or Dan Hurley?

Discuss among yourselves.
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Wooden but Hurley is starting to make a case to be the best since. Wooden didn’t have to deal with NIL, the transfer portal, guys going pro early, or even having to win 6 games to win the title. But it’s incredible what he built there. And they’ve only won sporadically since he left, and not recently.
 
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I love what coach Dan has accomplished; he only needs to win 8 more to be in the same league as Coach Wooden.
 
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Calhoun is the GOAT. it isn't even close. He built a program from nothing, and he wins with way less talent than Duke, etc.

Hurley is the current generation GOAT, and will be for as long as he decides to coach.

It just so happens Uconn has the 2 greatest coaches that ever lived.

Talking about Wooden is like talking about Babe Ruth.
 
alphasigko said:
I love what coach Dan has accomplished; he only needs to win 8 more to be in the same league as Coach Wooden.
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Wooden was winning titles when you had to win two games and a coin toss to get a trophy.
 
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Time to start a Favorite Salad Dressing thread
 
The thing about this is that Wooden is revered for his accomplishment. But then we hear how much ucla was cheating with the help from the rich booster. Yet people still talk about him like he was a mythical creature because of his integrity.

Yet look how we look at Tark or Calipari. Maybe Wooden could claim ignorance but is that a defense.

Couple that with how different and easier the tournament was when Wooden was the Wizard.

I was young during Walton reign but remember it well. Don’t really remember the Lew Alcindor teams. But I do remember watching those Walton teams play beautiful basketball. So he did get all those hired pieces to play together.

Don’t think comparing Hurley with Wooden is even worth the effort.

In a year or two we will have a hard time just getting consensus on who is UConn G.O.A.T. as a men bb coach. And I have not even mentioned Geno. Basketball capital of the world stuff.

Calhoun put us in this position and now Hurley has taken that legacy and accomplished incredible things. I loved when they hired Hurley. He just felt like the right choice. And honestly I really disliked him when he played for Seton Hall. But as a coach I felt he was the perfect hire.

Wherever Hurley goes on to accomplish from here can he really ever be greater than the creator of this thing we all love?
 
Hunt for 7 said:
Wherever Hurley goes on to accomplish from here can he really ever be greater than the creator of this thing we all love?
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Nobody will be able to touch JC as the creator and program builder. But I do think it's possible Dan Hurley can be a better coach and recruiter, especially given how the environment has changed. Let's not forget that so far Dan Hurley has run a squeaky clean program. We all know that while JC wasn't nearly as bad as the worst of his contemporaries, he did get his hands dirty from time to time.
 
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Fishy said:
Wooden was winning titles when you had to win two games and a coin toss to get a trophy.
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Started in the Sweet 16, and that game was usually against some weak conference champion.

He won tournaments when he never played a ranked team. Plus kids couldn't leave early.

I believe Bill Walton once said that UCLA had a bigger payroll than NBA teams. It was a different era
 
If we are just being objective based on career accomplishments, up to this point, I don't think Hurley is even in the top 10 of modern era coaches, let alone the top 5...

K
Calhoun
Williams
Donovan
Self
Wright
Pitino

All are modern era coaches with at least 2 titles, 4+ Final Fours, 500+ career wins and are in the HOF. Hurley only has 1 of those boxes checked off (he hasn't even reached 300 career wins, which is kind of wild).

Guys like Izzo, Boehiem and Calipari would also probably currently rank ahead of Hurley...

Although if Hurley continues his trajectory for another 10-15 years, he is a lock for the HOF, 500+ wins, very likely multiple additional Final Fours, possibly more titles and could end up being the best modern era coach.
 
John Wooden was an all time great coach but his overall legacy does have some questionable items to mix in with the good (in sort of chronological):

  • (Bad) He ran the program at UCLA for roughly a dozen years before making the tournament
  • (Bad) It took another five years before he won it all for the first time
  • (Good) With his first championship squad (Hazzard/Goodrich/Erickson, back to back) he introduced the 2-2-1 press to make it difficult for the opponent to slow down the game (no shot clock). An up-tempo pace of play greatly benefitted his team’s talents.
  • (Good) For his next run of champions he assembled what could easily be argued as the best multi-year starting lineup ever (Alcindor [Jabbar], Shackleford, Warren, Allen) without assistance (Kareem claims he first met Sam Gilbert during his sophomore year) and began a seven year run of titles.
  • (Bad) Basically every star that played for UCLA under Wooden post 1967 benefitted from Sam Gilbert, whether he was planning on attending with or without Gilbert’s influence.
  • (Good) Regardless of how he ended up with the talent, his work in practices, stressing preparation and fundamentals, led his teams, with massive individual talents, to put team play first and perform almost to script while constantly sharing the basketball.
  • (Bad) On the flipside of the time spent on preparation, he did almost no coaching during games. While this had little impact for the bulk of the seven year run plus the bulk of the 1973-1974 season, he sat still during the closing minutes of the first loss any of his then players were involved in at the collegiate level, when the blew a late double digit lead at Notre Dame, then limped through the final couple of P-8 games and eventually lost in OT in the national semifinals to NC State.
 
In my defense...

I heard some guy on TV, yesterday, bring up Wooden as the GOAT.

My immediately reaction was."that's bullsquease!". " If Hurley brings home a 3 peat, he would be the GOAT.

Which led to my post.

Modern NCAA being what it is, as well as the system/structure that Hurley has defined and implemented, would render him the GOAT because of the staggering impact he is having on the college game (not just players and their development, but the entire game planning/design no of his offense, etc.) but the enormous success he is bringing. All the while looking at modern day sized player losses to the NBA....

Quite extraordinary.
 
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