Has coaching become secondary?

[TheLivingLegend]

Some past and recent comments from coach Cal...

At the start of the season coach Cal said he doesnt coach defense till a month into the season. I found that strange and possibly bs.

Recently coach cal was asked what he does to prepare for the tourney. his response. "well rested" and "have fun"... that was followed up with "shorten practice, around a hour a day absolutely no longer than 90 minutes" and "only watch a max of 7 min of film a day"

This coming from a coach who has GREAT success in the tourney.

Is recruiting become more important than coaching? If so, what do you think about micks recruiting? I actaully have some concern with next years class... Without a lucky grab (lance) has mick recruited all that well thus far?

(Not trying to start a bash mick thread, or a mick is a Legend thread, just curios what others thoughts are)

 

[ralph1950]

Some past and recent comments from coach Cal...

At the start of the season coach Cal said he doesnt coach defense till a month into the season. I found that strange and possibly bs.

Recently coach cal was asked what he does to prepare for the tourney. his response. "well rested" and "have fun"... that was followed up with "shorten practice, around a hour a day absolutely no longer than 90 minutes" and "only watch a max of 7 min of film a day"

This coming from a coach who has GREAT success in the tourney.

Is recruiting become more important than coaching? If so, what do you think about micks recruiting? I actaully have some concern with next years class... Without a lucky grab (lance) has mick recruited all that well thus far?

(Not trying to start a bash mick thread, or a mick is a Legend thread, just curios what others thoughts are)

Recruiting has always been more important than coaching. If you have the best players you are going to win a lot. If you put lousy players with the greatest coach who ever was you are still going to lose. Tom Creen was a great Final 4 coach when he had Dwayne Wade at Marquette, he is not winning a lot at Indiana with the worst overall talent in the Big 10.

 

[Bluecat]

Recruiting has always been more important than coaching. If you have the best players you are going to win a lot. If you put lousy players with the greatest coach who ever was you are still going to lose. Tom Creen was a great Final 4 coach when he had Dwayne Wade at Marquette, he is not winning a lot at Indiana with the worst overall talent in the Big 10.

Good point. When it comes to Cal, I think it's in his best interest to keep all the future NBA guys happy and having fun, because they don't want to put up with a hard arse coach who will actually make them a better player. Thats part of WHY he gets them. If he runs out of those guys and has to develop players again, he will get much tougher.

I think Mick is still trying to figure out how to walk the line of being their friend who recruited them and being the hard nosed coach who demands!!!

 

[swg]

You definitely want your team to be loose...especially if they have the talent. With a team like UC, motivataton becomes huge, as they need to play better than they are.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

Good point Ralphy, but is your first question when hiring a new coach.. Can he recruit? Or.. Can he coach?

 

[Not Guilty]

I find it funny when I see UC fans say our staff got lucky to land Lance Stephenson, like he was forced to come here or something.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

I find it funny when I see UC fans say our staff got lucky to land Lance Stephenson, like he was forced to come here or something.

UC got VERY lucky to have Lance. If other teams did not back off, there is ZERO chance he would be here.

 

[Bluecat]

I find it funny when I see UC fans say our staff got lucky to land Lance Stephenson, like he was forced to come here or something.

Not sure what this has to do with this thread, but since you asked, I've never said lucky, but Lance didn't have his choice of places to go when he made his choice. Lots of schools backed off, and he wanted playing time in a big conference.

 

[Not Guilty]

UC got VERY lucky to have Lance. If other teams did not back off, there is ZERO chance he would be here.

The only team that backed off was Kansas, and they came calling back when they thought they were going to lose Xavier Henry.

Mick and his staff were smart enough not to back off. Have you seen any of the problems with Lance that were initially reported? He has been a good teammate that wants to win, does well in class, is going to stay another year and hasn't had any problems off the court.

Our staff deserves praise for landing such a recruit. Not being called lucky. Of course it all depends on your agenda.

As for the overall progress of our recruiting, almost all of the problems with the roster are in the upper class, and that makes total sense if you knew what Mick and his staff were recruiting to. The only underclassman than I am down on is Dixon, and I think its too early to give up on him.

Yancy, Cash, Lance, Parker, and Thomas is a strong core to have, and every indication I have is that recruiting will only improve.

 

[Not Guilty]

Not sure what this has to do with this thread, but since you asked, I've never said lucky, but Lance didn't have his choice of places to go when he made his choice. Lots of schools backed off, and he wanted playing time in a big conference.

Lance had a lot more options than you realize. Lots of schools said they weren't interested publicly yet recruited him very hard throughout the summer. You are being gullible if you think otherwise.

Its like a coach that publicly says they are not interested in a job opening after being privately told they are not a candidate.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

Your drunk. Kansas was not the only team who backed of Lance. Maryland also tried to throw lance under the bus. UC had zero shot at Lance until late in the recruiting season. If I recall a yahoo article stating "lance running out of options with teams backing off."

I think all that BS that people found on lance was a load of crap, he has been nothing but a great student athlete for UC. Im extremely glad we picked up him, congrats on Mick. But Lance fell into our hands, to think otherwise is absurd.

 

[Not Guilty]

Maryland backed off because they were dumb enough to commit a recruiting violation.

There are a lot of schools out there that privately wish they were lucky enough to land Lance. That happened to be us.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

less than you think and hardly any "big" named schools.

 

[BearcatAlum1]

less than you think and hardly any "big" named schools.

To think that UC was the biggest school recruiting Lance is foolish.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

I disagree, but I dont really care. Has nothing to do with the topic. Lance is a bearcat.

 

[Kingsley Court]

Lance had a lot more options than you realize. Lots of schools said they weren't interested publicly yet recruited him very hard throughout the summer. You are being gullible if you think otherwise.

Just wondering, how do you know this? Not questioning if it's true or not, just wondering how you came about this. Just wanna know how there were schools who weren't interested publicly, yet you still have the inside information.

Also on the question. I think coaching is just as big as recruiting. Sure you need talent, you also need people to coach them.

 

[Thegreatone]

Lance and Mick have both said schools were trying to get back with him late in the recruiting season. I think most backed off with the UA stuff at Maryland. Lance had other options. Some hometown schools and memphis and others were still there.

Getting to the point. I think this is where assistant coaches come into play. They need to really know the game or be great recruiters. It is more about a staff than 1 guy.

Mick's recruiting has been fine for me. I think we have the talent to compete with most people in the country.

Only thing I don't like is we need one or two people who really understand the game. I think Jaquon can fit this role. Also I wouldnt mind seeing him getting a great shooter even if he isn't as athletic.

 

[swg]

I'm sure Lance liked the fact that UC was recruiting him hardest when other teams were giving him the virtual 'stiff arm' while waiting to see what fall out there might be. It was a great move on the part of UC's staff.

 

[ralph1950]

UC got VERY lucky to have Lance. If other teams did not back off, there is ZERO chance he would be here.

How do you know that? Answer. you do not.

 

[ralph1950]

Good point Ralphy, but is your first question when hiring a new coach.. Can he recruit? Or.. Can he coach?

Neither, most often it is track record, and it is difficult to determine if his track record is because he is a good coach or because he had the best players is his conference. Tom Creen was a great coach when he had Dwayne Wade at Marguette, Keno Davis was a great coach at Drake when he had the best players in the Valley Conference 28-5, he is the same coach at Providence but his record is what ( I am not going to look it up) 13-17, 6-12 Big East? So now Keno is a lousy coach?