Sigh

I won't take on every point one by one but will say his years at Missouri State were fairly successful. He improved yearly, and I know a couple of Mo. St. Fans that really believed in what he was doing there. Maybe it would have served him best to stay there and work on his craft a little more. Perhaps he got pulled to the big leagues a little too soon.

Martin's first year at UT shocked me. They really over achieved and had an outside shot at making the tourney. The last two seasons have drawn mixed results. Kpt's point about inconsistency is well - taken and I'm not sure how to answer it other than saying dogging it seems to be a problem basketball - wide now at the college game, for many coaches, even nationally successful ones.

Many will disagree with me on my next point, but I'll say it anyway: I think 6 years of a head coaches career is a pretty good indicator of the future, but not the whole book. Cuonzo may be stubborn (remember playing McBee over McRae for half the season?) but is well-intentioned. It strikes me more as a sort of internal cautiousness than arrogance.

As for recruiting, the heart of the team is Richardson, a player Cuonzo heralded even as an under recruited prospect. Stokes was a monster pick - up who has been uneven but amazing since January. Maymon and McRae he inherited but the have markedly improved since Martin took over. No one believed at all in Maymon until Martin took over. McRae despite being and enigma at times has blossomed as well. And though I'm not certain of this, Davis, Thompson and Hubbs seem to be good building blocks for the future.

Alas, no one has to agree with me. I can say in full disclosure I am suffering from a form of "hiring and firing" fatigue and I sort of internally crave stability. And so I don't really want to go through another hiring process where the uncertainty of the new hire kind of hangs out there, knowing our athletic leadership being what it is.

 

As I've said over and over today, I'm thrilled with what's happening, hope that he and the program have turned a corner, he's here for 20 years and cut down nets, but stand by my criticism of this team and staff up until tip-off against Vandy on March 1 100%.

 

I just want to see the emotion in the locker room, on the court.

 

I don't think any of the criticism is unjustified, I just see the trajectory a bit differently.

 

Damn.

I hoped Sab would have learned his lesson after the Jesse Scroggins letter.

I guess that's too much to ask.

 

On 3: I also see no reason he can't find one, except that he really, really obviously needed to find one after last year, and he didn't. If Cuonzo had a good offensive-minded X's and O's guy that he trusted, I think we might've been in the top ten all season. That he hasn't hired one seems to be his own fault.

On 2: He certainly might have a successful career coaching basketball. He does, as you say, get guys who want to play for him. And he's developed at least a few players at UT. But he's also had areas of consistent struggle (see: out-of-bounds situations, end of half situations) that don't seem to be getting much better, and his teams consistently take until mid-February before they figure out how to play basketball, and then forget again in November. Are these growing pains for a young coach who may one day be a great one? Maybe so. Do we have good reason to think so? I'm not so sure. Right now, Cuonzo as a basketball coach is not an abject failure, but he's also not been particularly successful. He will learn things, but how much will he learn, and how much will he grow as a coach? And how long will it take?

On 4: It is nice to like our coach. Not willing to trade a lot of wins for it, but it is certainly nice to like our coach.

On some of the recruiting comments: we have one competent player out of each of Cuonzo's first two recruiting classes (Richardson and Stokes). Maybe the three freshmen from this year are better (and there certainly were some encouraging signs), but the first two recruiting classes are some reason for concern until we see how the next two develop.

 

If I were Cuonzo, I'd skip town for another job after this tournament ends.

 

I'd add Armani Moore but yeah the point stands

 

Despite my continued disbelief that Cuonzo is the long-term answer, you cannot argue with how the team is playing now, and when it counts the most.

But, after giving all credit where its due, I can't help but wonder how many other coaches could achieve the same, given our current wealth of upper-class talent. I'd guess that there are 20-30 (40-50?) D1 coaches who could be reasonably expected to reach the Sweet 16 with our current roster.....and who may not have been required to play a play-in game to do it.

Simply, I like Cuonzo and am happy for this run, but it doesn't explain away all of the many of and well-chronicled deficiencies, nor do I believe that our current level of achievment is exclusively, or even uniquely, attributed to him.

As I've said elsewhere, this run reminds me of Dooley's freakish loss in Baton Rouge. He was unfit for the job before that game, and would have been equally unfit afterwards, even had we won it. But had he won, we would still be stuck with him, as that win would have covered up a multitude of later sins, as fans would have been crowing about that for three years (he's less incompetent than Les Miles!). I don't want to actually risk making the same mistake here, and hope that we aren't.

 

i get the point you're making but he's no DD on any level

 

10th highest salary in the SEC, but in the 3 years he's been here he is 3rd in the SEC in wins. Whether the long term answer or not, we've gotten substantially more than what we actually paid for. Just food for thought.

 

I'm not so sure on the "substantially" part, but this little run has been fun to watch, even if the competition is so-so. I also think a lot of those SEC coaches above him are outright stealing money. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Frank Haith just sits in his office eating Oreos and masturbating.

 

To be fair, Mizzou's AD told him he needed to work on his exes and O's.

 

Do you think 9 or 10 SEC teams are ever going to make the tournament in the same year? Do you think the SEC pays basketball coaches significantly more than other major conferences?

If the answer to both of those is no, then "substantially" is supported. Reasonable people can agree to disagree, but since when am I ****ing reasonable you lousy stinking son of a [itch bay]?




I'll hang up and listen. Go Vawls.

 

Your mom.

 

Somebody's got to do it.

 

The new and improved IP.

I'm digging it.

 

Needs more Jesus, imo

 

You mean everyone doesn't do that? I thought I had a door on my office for a reason.

 

Don't we all?