Texas gettin Smart
- Thread starter keysersosay#1
- Start date
Does Kenny Williams get out of his scholarship with VCU? Remember, he chose VCU with many thinking it was between VCU And UNC:
http://www.vcuramnation.com/2014/08/espn100-sg-kenny-williams-commits-to-vcu-spurns-offers-from-north-carolina-indiana-georgetown-etc/
This post was edited on 4/3 10:25 AM by Sk1310
http://www.vcuramnation.com/2014/08/espn100-sg-kenny-williams-commits-to-vcu-spurns-offers-from-north-carolina-indiana-georgetown-etc/
This post was edited on 4/3 10:25 AM by Sk1310
Kenny Williams, not Smith.
But I agree with your thinking wholeheartedly. From the link, it basically stated as much:
"While many national pundits had Kenny
Williams as a lock for North Carolina once Roy Williams offered, it
ultimately came down to the fact that Kenny Williams wanted to be at VCU
under a rising national star in Shaka Smart."
That indicates that Williams might not want to be there now.
As far as Smart goes, I'm not all that impressed. In fact, I think both he and Strong are overrated and Texas might have jumped the gun on both hires. I guess we'll see but if I'm Bill Self, I'm not worried.
He'll still be available when Roy leaves ..this is a young man who has a chance to continue to build his resume'...vcu,TX then maybe unc ..only thing left to do after that is the NBA!!
To be honest though,Shaka Smart will probably need to change his style to be good at Texas. His style at VCU might not work at Texas.
Please keep this in mind at VCU his style worked,because his teams overwhelmed a lot of 2 and 3 star talented teams. I know he made a final 4 run. But his style of play bothered teams that was not used to playing it in March.
Shaka has not been as impressive lately at VCU in March has he?
A good team will not be bothered and will kill that style once they adapt to it in the long run.
NC fans let's not forget that MU under Mike Anderson ran the press the hell out of you defense, in the Big 12. Yes it creates havoc but a good guard team with size will kill that style of play most of the time.
Kansas record against MU during that time, with that style says enough.
MU may have won some games with that style of play. But MU still did not win a conference title with that style. I know that MU did win a Big 12 tournament Championship but not much else.
WVU with Bob Huggins last year did the same thing and it won't work, against most teams in the long run. Texas and Baylor destroyed WVU with that style.
KU has seen it before with MU and last year with WVU. In the long run I'm sure Kansas will be fine against that style.
Please keep this in mind at VCU his style worked,because his teams overwhelmed a lot of 2 and 3 star talented teams. I know he made a final 4 run. But his style of play bothered teams that was not used to playing it in March.
Shaka has not been as impressive lately at VCU in March has he?
A good team will not be bothered and will kill that style once they adapt to it in the long run.
NC fans let's not forget that MU under Mike Anderson ran the press the hell out of you defense, in the Big 12. Yes it creates havoc but a good guard team with size will kill that style of play most of the time.
Kansas record against MU during that time, with that style says enough.
MU may have won some games with that style of play. But MU still did not win a conference title with that style. I know that MU did win a Big 12 tournament Championship but not much else.
WVU with Bob Huggins last year did the same thing and it won't work, against most teams in the long run. Texas and Baylor destroyed WVU with that style.
KU has seen it before with MU and last year with WVU. In the long run I'm sure Kansas will be fine against that style.
he may be making the same mistake grant made: leaving VCU for a big name football school in a region that's great for high school football. i hope he enjoys his big paycheck because he's gonna miss coaching in basketball rich central virginia.
They needed some excitement, Barnes style was boring and those fans seem disinterested alot. Shaka will have the joint jumping at Texas.
Smart has 0 conference regular season titles in 6 seasons, and he has averaged 9 losses per season - in a non-Major conference. His regular season finishes, in a non-Major conference, are: Tied 5th, 4th, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, and Tied 4th. His last 4 teams, all rated for at least part of the season, until such times the piled up losses against small time competition meant they could not be ranked, have lost in the NCAA Round of 32 twice and then twice in the Round of 64.
Exactly what in his body of work says that he is more than another media hyped flavor of the month?
Nor did Smart build VCU. Smart's predecessor Anthony Grant's 3 VCU teams all finished 1st in the regular season - 3 consecutive league championships. Grant's winning % at VCU was slightly higher than Smart's.
....and still has a more recent final four than Roy. Dont underestimate the power of a young and fiery coach that kids wanna play for. Central Va might be a fertile recruiting area, but Texas, in particular Houston and Dallas, is a freaking gold mine
So Smart has had 1 fluke FF run with a 12 loss team that was 4th place regular season in a non-Major conference. 1 NCAA tournament run says more than the body of his work?
Yes, many playrs seem interested in playing for him. His teams always had the best depth of talent in their leagues. and yet with more talent down through player #13 than their peers, Smart's teams never won a conference regular season.
What you may not grasp is that VCU was perfect for Smart. His systenm requires the most depth of talent - playing waves is how he wears down foes. And because VCU is a large open admissin state university, it is much easier to get the needed depth there than at a school like Richmond. That goes double when you factor in location - the number of high quality run/jump athltes playing basketball who live within 150 miles of the VCU campus is amazing. And many of them are not going to have any chance to get admitted to schools like UVA, UNC, Dook, Davidson - even Villanova or Richmond.
Texas is a an Elite school, but it is huge. And it is much easier to hide a string of really dumb jocks at a school of 50,000 than at a school of 20,000. I think Smart is smart enough to know that. He would have had a tough time getting 12 or 13 players he wants at a school like Marquette, but it is possible at Texas.
But that still gets us back to Smart's entire record. He is not the top winning % in VCU history. Grant looked every bit as impressive when he left VCU, and it was said that players would clamor to play for him at a Major conference school. He has been fired for failing to win when the SEC was as weak as it ever has been.
Will Smart be able to sign a higher quality of talent at Texas than he signed at VCU? Almost certainly. But Big 12 basketball is much better. Smart has had teams with much deeper talent than their league foes, and he has failed to produce even 1 regular season champ.
So if I am coaches like Self, Hoiberg, Huggins, Kruger, Drew, I aint worried. Weber and maybe Ford should worry. Tubby Smith is ready to retire anyway, and Trent Johnson is the very definition of mediocre who is at TCU only because its basketball is historically hopeless.
All things considered, I say that Smart at Texas will be very much like Smart at VCU.
Texas = comatose giant in basketball. A vegetable. Good luck to mr. smart. Barnes gave them their greatest success in basketball ever.
