The SLTHst of SLTH

[BigCat]

Has any coach ever actually gone to a school that is traditionally not very good, built things "the right way" and after a long, drawn out process become a consistently elite basketball school?

Few and Crew

[michigancat]

Has any coach ever actually gone to a school that is traditionally not very good, built things "the right way" and after a long, drawn out process become a consistently elite basketball school?

Maybe Seth Greenberg at VT.  But they aren't elite.  But that's probably the closest example.  And I'm not sure he does things "the right way".

Tony Bennett and John Beilein might be a good examples, too.  But again, not elite.

[chum1]

Majerus at Utah?

[The Whale]

http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2010/02/11/the-value-of-a-coach/*



*Yeah, from a Kitchen tweet.

There's something wrong with the price per win for McNeck.  Should be about 250K or so based on the numbers in the article.  Which is still redic. but makes him look slightly better than Pat Knight.

[mcmwcat]

http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2010/02/11/the-value-of-a-coach/*



*Yeah, from a Kitchen tweet.

There's something wrong with the price per win for McNeck.  Should be about 250K or so based on the numbers in the article.  Which is still redic. but makes him look slightly better than Pat Knight.

conf wins?

[sir spankalot]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but what is a slth?  A sloth?   

Solid Long Term Hire.  It was started when everyone threw fits when we hired Huggins and then Martin.  Everyone said we should have gotten a Solid Long Term Hire like McDermott, Sadler, BzD, etc. 

Dammit!  Sh1t like that happens!  I wondered how that applied to basketball coaches, only to learn that SLTH meant something else entirely.

[The Whale]

http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2010/02/11/the-value-of-a-coach/*


*Yeah, from a Kitchen tweet.

There's something wrong with the price per win for McNeck.  Should be about 250K or so based on the numbers in the article.  Which is still redic. but makes him look slightly better than Pat Knight.

conf wins?

Nah...the values are the total budget / total wins.  It matches up for all of them except McNeck.

[sys]

Has any coach ever actually gone to a school that is traditionally not very good, built things "the right way" and after a long, drawn out process become a consistently elite basketball school?

gonzaga is probably the best modern example.  duke should get mention.  they were good once, but had been down for over a decade before they knight's favorite slth.  georgetown was nothing till thompson.  things seem to have stabilized somewhat now, but for a while, big east programs seemed to rise and fall with coaches.  seton hall, providence, etc.  not sure how true that is though, maybe just my big-east ignorant perception.

maybe mu under stewart?


i think it used to be easier.

[catzacker]

not sure how to evaluate the caveat "the right way".  my impression is that anyone that's good is so because they weren't afraid to get dirty (or their program/boosters weren't afraid to).  and few at gonzaga is only looked on as clean because he doesn't get elite talent and wins.  he still could have to cheat just to get the talent he does. 

[sys]

yeah, i don't know how you'd evaluate the right way.  i don't even know how you'd define the right way.

[EMAWzified]

There's a couple of reasons I think coaches of underdog college teams wouldn't go for the 2 for 1  (FWIW, Frank said Clemente wanted to do that against Baylor but he shut him down, of course Clemente went for it against KU.)
First, there's no NBA advance the ball to half-court after a timeout at the end of the game.
Of course, NBA teams play 2 for 1 at the end of each quarter. But even lousy NBA teams have playmakers who can get up a shot one-on-one. That's not always the case in college.
But I agree, dribbling the ball out front until the shot clock runs down kind of defeats the purpose of running the offense to get the best shot. Nebraska forced itself into a one on one play last night despite not having that great of playmakers. Colorado wasn't any better a week earlier.

[sys]

thought of a good one:  wisconsin.  nothing till bennett and ryan.

[felix rex]

yeah, i don't know how you'd evaluate the right way.  i don't even know how you'd define the right way.

Near as I can tell, only UNC and Duke still do it "the right way". For UNC, that may be why they fade under Roy  . For Duke, that may be why they get to the sweet 16 but no further (super-SLTHs are still SLTHs).

"Doin' it the right way" seems to be a euphemism for people that lose with dignity. Mediocrity with integrity and all that.

[Trim]

The Cap Journal guys get their SLTH on at the end of the 2/11 podcast.  http://cjonline.com/radio/podcast

[sys]

The Cap Journal guys get their SLTH on at the end of the 2/11 podcast.  http://cjonline.com/radio/podcast

meek and corcoran are really doing a great job with these podcasts.

[Trim]

Now on iTunes!

[steve dave]

The Cap Journal guys get their SLTH on at the end of the 2/11 podcast.  http://cjonline.com/radio/podcast

meek and corcoran are really doing a great job with these podcasts.

I enjoy them

[sys]

this last one was their best.  i didn't really like the one with "earl" or whatever they called the old, awkward sounding guy.

[kso_FAN]

The Cap Journal guys get their SLTH on at the end of the 2/11 podcast.  http://cjonline.com/radio/podcast

The Doc/Barnes bit at the end was priceless.  Great stuff.

[BigCat]

Bz whipped out a SLTH classic during the B12 round up by explaining that against KSU he will "try to put ourselves in a position where we have a chance to win the game."

This as opposed to getting blown out on a frequent basis which most SLTH resumes cannot handle too much of.

[kso_FAN]

I didn't realize Gillispie could be so SLTHy.

Head Coach Billy Gillispie
Opening Statement…
“Hard fought game for us, we played extremely hard, as hard as we could possibly play against a very physical team. We just had too many turnovers. I thought we had a great chance to win the game, it was just a matter of what the situation was. We just kept turning the ball over. I am real proud of our guys as far as their effort goes. Their toughness is about as tough as we have played all year long.”

On the five final turnovers…
“We were stopping them several times in a row, whether they were missing or we were forcing them to miss, we were getting some defensive rebounds at that particular time. We step out of bounds twice in the game and once during that stretch, we did not get a great shot at the basket. I knew it was four, but I guess it was five straight times, and you just cannot do that if you are going to win anywhere, but especially on the road against a good team.”

On matching the physicality…
“Best way to beat a pressure defense is by penetration, and we definitely were not able to get around the guards. (Kevin) Wagner was able to get around them the first time we played K-State and he is down with an injury, so that definitely hurt us, but we still should not turn the ball like we did. We have to do a better job of screening for each other and passing the ball. We had some opportunities for some high-lows, we threw the ball out of bounds and when we did get opportunities we did not finish close to the basket. That was the downfall. If you finish the plays close to the basket, whether it is on a drive or it is on a pass, that usually relieves the pressure a little bit. Their guys are more athletic than us, so they can over play us on the wing but also beat us on the back door or really press them on the perimeter. If we tried to beat them on a ball screen, or just a straight drive, they were able to recover. We just have to be a little bit faster. It hurt us not having those guys out there.”

On the first half…
“They missed some shots obviously. I thought our guys were in the right spot for the most time, we did not give up our spot close to the basket like we did when we played at home. They got two or three baskets off of our triangle-and-two, because we gave up our spot close to the basket. Tonight, we did not do that. We have one guy guarding two and he was doing a good job. They made a smart substitution and put in two guards, and that is when we got out of it. They only had six field goals in the first half and we had some opportunities, when you had 13 turnovers and they only had six, that is why you are going to be down. If we had been playing efficiently we might have had a lead at halftime, they were not shooting any better than they were.”

[nicname]

 Gillespie and Tech makes me wonder how Frank would handle inheriting a steaming pile of crap like thy have in Lubbock.  I wonder if his demeanor would be different coaching a team like that.  I mean, every game is pretty much just more practice for TT right now.

[Cire]

I think if Frank inherited a team that he did not recruit ( I know BCG recruited most) it would be a disaster.

[kso_FAN]

I think if Frank inherited a team that he did not recruit ( I know BCG recruited most) it would be a disaster.

Yeah, I'm not sure he would do well in that situation.

[catzacker]

frank would do well taking over Marquette or WVA.  Other than that?  A Trainwreck.

btw, is Marquette a step up from KSU?  Even?  With the Big East reshaping, I was just wondering how a job like that is viewed.  Also, I want prospects lined up when UCONN makes their run after Backy McBacky can't walk anymore.