Hurley quote from The Athletic on Bouknight

[intlzncster]

He's obviously a good coach but he probably had more talent than any coach in history and only won 2. Some people still talk about him like he's the greatest coach ever.

Wooden had more talent than any other coach. Practically had more talent than the rest of the NCAA at the time.

He also won 11 titles of course.

 

[superjohn]

I think I could have coached the 1982 team to a NCAA championship with Jordan, Perkins and Worthy! Not to even mention McDonald All-Americans on team like Matt Doherty, Jim Braddock and Buzz Peterson.
2 championships in 37 years coaching at UNC with their recruiting ability and "special courses for athletes" vs:

Jim Calhoun with 3 championships in 26 years at UConn (with where program was when he started) with what I consider "less" talent than Dean Smith had is "a coach who did more with less than probably any other coach ever".

Calhoun is definitely a better coach than Dean Smith, IMO.

Dean Smith had Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse playing together surrounded by other burger boys and then Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter surrounded by other burger boys and couldn't win it all. It's a good thing freshman Jordan hit the jumper to beat G'Town because somehow Dean Smith lost in the sweet 16 with a team consisting of Jordan, Kenny Smith, Brad Daugherty, Joe Wolf, and Sam Perkins.

 

[Waquoit]

Smith also gets downgraded for his "Four Corner Offense" which was a blight on humanity. It hastened the shot clock in college though.

 

[Waquoit]

I think I could have coached the 1982 team to a NCAA championship with Jordan, Perkins and Worthy!

He almost lost!

 

[Samoo]

My guess is that with his suspension the focus was on running plays for the guys that were going to be playing in the first 3 games. He's also still playing (relatively) low minutes, so he hasn't been the focal point. With a week off from games, I think we'll start to see that change against Maine on Sunday.

Based on Hurley's comment, the game against low level Maine, and with a week to incorporate plays for goodnight - +20 pts. with +4 boards and +2 assists. He'll play some inconsistent but perfectly acceptable d with several special plays because of his evident ability to sometimes see what is going to happen before it does. Kid may not make it to sophomore year.

 

[imno1]

only need to run one play. Give James the ball. Get out of the way. Press after basket is made

 

[80shusky]

Surprised we are not hearing more Rip comparisons. His game is a lot more like Hamilton's than any of the others. It's been two games but you can see that he has that way of getting to his spots and you are surprised when the ball doesn't go in.

Yep his mid-range jumpshot reminds me of Rip too style wise. Would love to see us run some curls for him and see how effective he could be.

 

[Palatine]

He almost lost!

Ewing was a force of nature that year. Losing to that Georgetown team would not have surprising at all. G'town won the NC the next year and went back again the year after that.

The fact Thompson only won one NC with Ewing.......

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

... has immediate freshman impact like Butler

Post-handle, and yep

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Ewing was a force of nature that year. Losing to that Georgetown team would not have surprising at all. G'town won the NC the next year and went back again the year after that.

The fact Thompson only won one NC with Ewing.......

Didn’t Ewing win 2? His senior year and either his junior/sophomore? Might be wrong here. I know he lost his freshman year to NC and another year (junior?) to Nova..

 

[Waquoit]

Ewing was a force of nature that year. Losing to that Georgetown team would not have surprising at all.

That team got smoked at home by Dom Perno.

 

[businesslawyer]

I think I could have coached the 1982 team to a NCAA championship with Jordan, Perkins and Worthy! Not to even mention McDonald All-Americans on team like Matt Doherty, Jim Braddock and Buzz Peterson.
2 championships in 37 years coaching at UNC with their recruiting ability and "special courses for athletes" vs:

Jim Calhoun with 3 championships in 26 years at UConn (with where program was when he started) with what I consider "less" talent than Dean Smith had is "a coach who did more with less than probably any other coach ever".

The fact that we saw maybe the best coach of his era at work has skewed what people think of other coaches. It's not easy to win national championships. I know we made it look like it is, but it's not. Dean Smith was a great coach. Period. Not just because of two championships but because he innovated and he won consistently, game after game year after year.

 

[Waquoit]

Didn’t Ewing win 2? His senior year and either his junior/sophomore? Might be wrong here. I know he lost his freshman year to NC and another year (junior?) to Nova..

Uno. They didn't make the FF his sophomore year (NCSt.). Won as a junior, lost to Villanova as a senior.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I recall him hitting a shot from the free throw line vs Buffalo. He seemed to move so slowly. It's a composure/poise you don't see in freshman. That one play told me we had a good one. I'm now impressed at how many different ways he's scored. Multi-dimensional.

 

[Marat]

I recall him hitting a shot from the free throw line vs Buffalo. He seemed to move so slowly. It's a composure/poise you don't see in freshman. That one play told me we had a good one. I'm now impressed at how many different ways he's scored. Multi-dimensional.

Yeah - I'll be looking for a highlight reel dunk (non alley-oop) soon. Actually he almost had one on the put back attempt vs Buffalo when he jumped out of the crowd. That would have been something.

 

[pj]

The fact that we saw maybe the best coach of his era at worked has skewed what people think of other coaches. It's not easy to win national championships. I know we made it look like it is, but it's not. Dean Smith was a great coach. Period. Not just because of two championships but because he innovated and he won consistently, game after game year after year.

Going to eight final fours and winning two means that you are winning 50% of your games in the Final Four -- i.e. against the best coaches of your day, you are holding your own. Dean Smith was superior to others in recruiting talent but only on par with the best coaches in the country in coaching the big game.

More remarkable is JC winning championships in 3 out of 4 trips to the Final Four, 7-1 winning record against the best coaches of his time coaching comparable talent. That's a mark of a great coach.

 

[Marat]

Going to eight final fours and winning two means that you are winning 50% of your games in the Final Four -- i.e. against the best coaches of your day, you are holding your own. Dean Smith was superior to others in recruiting talent but only on par with the best coaches in the country in coaching the big game.

More remarkable is JC winning championships in 3 out of 4 trips to the Final Four, 7-1 winning record against the best coaches of his time coaching comparable talent. That's a mark of a great coach.

I still think if not for the Dyson injury, JC had a very solid shot to get to the final, and beat UNC . They were firing on all cylinders (#1 team) before Dyson went out.

 

[intlzncster]

The fact that we saw maybe the best coach of his era at worked has skewed what people think of other coaches. It's not easy to win national championships. I know we made it look like it is, but it's not. Dean Smith was a great coach. Period. Not just because of two championships but because he innovated and he won consistently, game after game year after year.

Only 15 coaches have won 2 championships. It's a small group. That group also makes up about 60% of all NCAA championships. Pretty crazy to think about.

 

[Chief00]

Chief’s top 3 college coaches:
1) Wooden
2) Calhoun
3) Coach K

 

[jayteeman]

I know people are comparing him to JLamb, but they're wrong. Bouknight is better

Now let's be careful. We're talking Jeremy Lamb here.....I'm not putting anyone in Jeremy Lambs class until we see a tournament championship.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Eight final fours. Won two. He wasn't the best coach ever but he was definitely respectable.

Calipari is still way worse with much more. Put Boeheim on that list as well.

and Rick Barnes

 

[CL82]

Dean Smith did less with more than probably any coach ever.

Probably, but I think Boeheim is somewhere close to the top of that list. Frankly Calipari should be as well.

 

[SubbaBub]

Yep his mid-range jumpshot reminds me of Rip too style wise. Would love to see us run some curls for him and see how effective he could be.

I noticed them running the 'circ;e' for Polley. He hit it too. So, that is another option that we didn't have last year. Give DH a ton of credit as all of the returning players have noticeably improved their games, to a man.

 

[Gwynning]

Surprised we are not hearing more Rip comparisons. His game is a lot more like Hamilton's than any of the others. It's been two games but you can see that he has that way of getting to his spots and you are surprised when the ball doesn't go in.

I was thinking the exact same. He has this slender glide about him and is a step ahead of everyone. Really early to put him into the mold of a past Huskie but Rip seems like the best comp right now.

 

[TheChamps990411]

3 games and is better than Lamb. Going Full Yard already.

I don't even like the comparison tbh. He reminds me of Dwyane Wade. No not the superstar version in the NBA but the kid that developed into a heck of a player in his 2 years at Marquette. I really can't believe more people aren't making the comparison. Wade was bigger around 200lbs but the game was very similar. I know I'm not the only one old enough to remember DWade in college.