Precious to Memphis

[tcf15]

Makes you think

 

[djct1999]

Makes you think

about what? Its clear what is going on. Its almost impressive how blatant they are to win at all costs. We will see more and more of this. Administrations will draw a clear line in the sand. Some schools will go "all in", others will choose to do it the "right way". The division between the two will be quite obvious. It already is.

 

[Zissou]

It’s good for the conference. Solidifying P7 status.

 

[MemphisBlues]

Before Rayjon Tucker committed to Memphis Memphis lead in the Hampton predictions at 247. After Boogie and Rayjon committed allegedly Hampton dropped Memphis from his list. So it wouldn't surprise me that if everyone doesn't come to Memphis, especially an elite guard, Hampton would be add Memphis back and Memphis would be the favorite again. Most people in Memphis were fully aware of Mike Miller's and Penny Hardaway's connections in the AAU circuit. Hamptons father even said that if he had any eligibility left he would want to play for Mike Miller.

 

[thatguyed]

So it is possible for a former NBA player with no real previous coaching experience to be able to recruit top notch talent in a second tier league to a school with great facilities and history? Huh! Who'da thunk it. I thought that was impossible.

 

[MemphisBlues]

It's a lot more than just being an ex-nba player. It's even more than being 2x NBA players. I think the real key is having deep connections in the AAU circuit. Two coaches have and run their own AAU programs oh, programs that are not run by a relative, Mike Miller's and a good friend, Pennys. A lot of people in Memphis saw this coming while even while most of the people in the rest of the country were talking about the perils of an unproven coach. The fire and hire was even called the 'clown show' by one National writer. But that wasn't local. Hence the increase in the first year of Pennys hire of four million dollars in ticket sales and donations before any of this even happened - when Tubbys players were still starting.

 

[mauconnfan]

Lots of young talented kids who all want to play 25-30 minutes. They’re going to be good but there will be unhappy kids like it or not. That’s a tough job for an unproven staff although lots of good basketball players can also make it easy. Should be interesting for sure.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Basically, there's a real chance that 4/5ths of their starting lineup was acquired in the month of May.

”acquired”, eh?

 

[UConnNick]

”acquired”, eh?

Bought and paid for would be more accurate.

 

[Waquoit]

Yes, the regrettable Dana Kirk era. I believe their 1985 Final Four appearance was posthumously vacated. They were the only non-Big East team in it that year.

Because BC choked.

 

[Waquoit]

root for ucf football. we get a taste of that too!

Can't do it. Just can't.

 

[CL82]

Ummmm
. yeah

Not quite a victory lap, more like a slow victory stroll down down to the coffee shop for a latte.

 

[whaler11]

Can't do it. Just can't.

no kidding. i was being sarcastic.

 

[CL82]

Not to mention the old JC recruiting strategy of come to UConn and play against so and so...

No, that's what other teams in the American say. Our sell is come to UConn and be a part of the dynasty.

Blah, blah, blah Dynasty, can't win our conference, blah, blah, maybe we should try having a winning season first, blah, tough to say for a team that hasn't made the NCAA's recently...

All true, but no one, not Duke, not Kentucky, not anyone, has won more national championships than UConn over the last 20 years. That's what you sell, not playing against freaking Memphis. SMH.

 

[CL82]

View attachment 43340

When Precious transfers to UConn next year, won't you look silly?

#thegrindcontinues

 

[CallMeBruce]

Based on him acting like a jackarse towards other coaches who have been doing it forever and he's been doing it for a few months.

Could you be at all specific? As in - what did he actually do?

 

[Engineer90]

Lots of young talented kids who all want to play 25-30 minutes. They’re going to be good but there will be unhappy kids like it or not. That’s a tough job for an unproven staff although lots of good basketball players can also make it easy. Should be interesting for sure.

Yeah but they were AAU coaches so...they got this.

This success has nothing to do with AAU or being trendy. It has everything to do with Fed Ex boosters.

 

[mauconnfan]

Could you be at all specific? As in - what did he actually do?

Maybe he's offering quarter to a half mil? I mean what can the other cheating coaches be mad at? Is he out there saying "I will double any offer you get with Fed Ex support"?

Honestly it's all about their AAU ties, he and Miller, Miller's and if FedEx is part of it then it's going to be tough to beat. Still think they will have a real tough time with too many good players. Calipari is 10X the coach Penny may ever be and he had his difficulties. That team last year was very talented and they were so inconsistent you could see they were not challenged from the staff more or less just thrown out there. The talent will be high this coming year, the inexperience will be also and that's the whole bench. Just glad Larry Brown isn't sitting there with him.

 

[AAC Guru]

A! A! C!

Love this league!

 

[StunningSteve]

Love this league!

 

[AdamaNation]

Congrats to Memphis. Their coach and staff delivered an all-time great class (1, 17, 25, 38, 81) while ours managed to snag about as good as we can expect (61, 67, 93) given our conference and the state of the program. Hurley should focus our recruiting efforts on the types of recruits who fall in the 50-100 range from now on as it’s clear we are not realistically going to be players for the 5 stars unless we can swipe one from PSA. Our continued inability to recruit talented bigs remains our achilles heel.

Serviceable would work for now.

 

[mauconnfan]

Have to say screw Memphis they had enough success, not happy they got Precious. UNC would've been fine with me. I get the "league thing" for us but let's keep the rah rah crap to a minimum it won't be long until we will be playing against them, with them despite their outstanding recruiting classes. Hell it's 2nd nature to us we've already ruined freshman stardom at UK enough they're next. Soon enough.

 

[imno1]

I may be naive but I’m giving Penny the benefit of doubt. Has he done everything above board? Probably not. Most programs don’t. But I think he’s done a great job selling his vision. Now let’s see what kind of coach he becomes. I thought he did an credible job in his first year. The team improved a lot as season went on.

 

[superjohn]

Could you be at all specific? As in - what did he actually do?

Sure, he acted like an idiot towards Rick Barnes and the Tennessee players when he played them with his made up comments and actions. And a month or two into his coaching career he was already calling out other coaches for being jealous of him. This us against the world mentality right off the bat may be working for him with recruiting but I think there are bigger things at play....He talks about the purity of college basketball while half of college basketball is under a FBI probe...

I don't have the evidence but basically every coach at Memphis and every coach nationally who steps in right away and gets the best recruiting classes has cheated. I have trouble pretending this is any different?

 

[dante]

lol how is your ten million coming along

try rooting for uconn and not their competition.

imagine the places you’ll go.

if you are dimwitted enough to think the AAC is going to elevate UConn you should probably go back to the beginning.

horray. I hope memphis state cheats hard enough that someone notices the aac. impossibly dim.

I don't know your thinking but a strong top 10 Memphis or Houston Or Wichita State losing at Gampel infront of a sellout crowd on national TV is nothing but good for UConn. The stronger the other programs are the better UConn gets the stronger the Confernce gets the better the perception, the more bids, the recruiting and so on.