The Get Ben Howland's Phone Number Postgame Report.

They won the Pac-12 last year. I'd take Howland in a second. I loved his Pitt teams. The guy can coach.

 

Howland had Love, Westbrook, Collison, Mbah a Moute, and a week to prepare in '08. Lost to Rose and CDR by 15 in Final Four.

 

And the PAC was garbage.

How did they do in the tournament?

 

I love when people act like Russell Westbrook as a sophomore was anything of note. He was 3rd team All PAC 10. Obviously dominant. Dean Smith had Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, Kenny Smith and Brad Daugherty and five days to prepare and lost to Uwe Blab and Chuck Franz.

 

The only really meaningful portion of that sentence is the last three words.

 

yeah when i read that i thought, damn, getting beat in the final 4 would be kind of awesome

 

No one got less out of more than Smith and I loved the Tar Heels. His '83-'88 period is absurdly bad in terms of underachievement.

 

Imagine making it there three straight seasons.

 

Travesty IMO.

 

A smarter coach would have played him more.

 

No, it's all meaningful.

 

Dean Smith squandered a ton of talent. I didn't think this was news.

 

How did he do without a roster of NBA players?

 

Actually, it appears that I have that information.

Second round.
Missed tourney
Second round
Missed tourney
First round
Fired

Sweet. Let's get that guy.

 

Where's his tenure at Pitt in that analysis? Of course, you're the guy who carries the flag for a guy who has coached his entire career in the CAA and A-10 and never won a single regular season title and managed to win the league tournament exactly once. Of course, you may have already moved on to some other up tempo flavor of the month.

 

I'd like a good explanation of what happened at UCLA before we grabbed him, but just because he didn't work in Los Angeles doesn't mean he won't work in Knoxville. Rich Rod didn't exactly succeed at Michigan, but that doesn't mean he was a bad hire by Arizona.

 

How exactly did it "not work" at UCLA?

 

Second round.
Missed tourney
Second round
Missed tourney
First round
Fired

That last part is meaningful.

 

Well, he got fired. And missed the tournament twice in his last four years. I'm not denying he worked at UCLA for a while, but something certainly went south, and his tenure obviously didn't end well. I'm sure you know more than I do about the why.

 

I don't even know who you're talking about. But let's get back to Howland without a roster full of NBA players.