odhgibo

Height helps, but ... So does quickness. So does shooting. So does intelligence. So does desire. So does knowing how to play together. Has anyone seen the lineup that the NIT finalist not coached by Shaka Smart is putting on the floor? (http://www.lipscombsports.com/mbasketball/roster/?view=list) I'd take that team over any MAC team other than UB. Someone else mentioned Texas Tech, which is a great example of how "measurables" aren't necessarily determinative. (Given how well TTU played against Villanova last year and then how they've marched through this year's tournament, UB's loss to them doesn't seem so bad.)

Great posts can be ruined by simple math errors -- 0.001% of 17,100,000 = 17.1, not 17,100. Good post overall, though.

Cincinnati appears to be his landing spot https://www.landof10.com/penn-state/ex-penn-state-cornerback-t-j-johnson-lands-cincinnati-lions-hope-sign-recruits-early

http://www.cantonrep.com/sports/20170829/mckinleys-lepear-toles-headed-to-state-fair-community-college I really don't understand the thinking behind one year at a prep school followed by another at a low-level JC.

The shooting occurred just to the west of I-77 and about a mile south of the Pro Football HOF ... not really one of Canton's rougher areas. I've never heard why this kid fell off the college hoops map. If it was academics, prep schools and JUCOs would seem to have provided viable alternatives.

These might provide a bit of levity now that the benefit of hindsight is available.

The tiny bit of video I've seen leads me to suspect that he has yet to develop a taste for contact. He might not try to avoid it, but he doesn't seem to relish it either. Given the way that most D-1 college games are played these days, post players with finesse and touch are not valued. Regardless of whether that's right or wrong, it just is. Unless a 6'11" player is equally aggressive, he can be neutralized, if not controlled, by a 6'8" opponent who plays at the edge of the way the game is officiated.

Cap'n K's whole post is excellent, but the portion quoted above is something I've been thinking for several weeks without being able to crystallize into a cogent thought. I have to think that the now-departed coaching staff saw that they effectively would be starting over in 2017-18, replacing a majority of scoring and rebounding (and maybe assists) and having to implement a completely new offense (and maybe defense). Doing so with a depleted roster and few immediate prospects for replenishment could not have looked like a fun task. Worse, the 21+ win streak seemed likely to go by the wayside, ending the "consistent excellence" story that Coach KD like to relate whenever the opportunity presented itself. What 2017-18 holds and whether the future is as bright as initial indications seem to suggest remains to be seen. What I can't prove, but strongly suspect, is that both will be at least as good as they would've been had not the change been forced on UA.

He spent one year on KD's staff 4-5 years ago ... by no means a "holdover"

351 teams played D-I hoops last year. Half of those teams do no more than allow leagues to have 10+ teams -- Columbia, Idaho, Gardner-Webb, Radford, etc. Of those in the top 175, 10-15 are blue bloods who are at or near the tops of their respective Power 5 conferences (Duke, KU, UK, UNC, Louisville, Arizona, Wisconsin, etc.), then 25-30 basketball powers who often show up in the Top 25 (Florida, Michigan, Xavier, Villanova, Butler, Iowa St., Creighton, etc.), then 25-30 programs which make the occasional foray into the upper echelons (Clemson, Ga. Tech, Alabama, Tennessee, Utah, USC, Baylor, etc.). Setting aside Gonzaga, which chose to spend like a blue blood and now has entered those ranks, the best mid-major schools fit into that second tier. Very few are in the third tier because, unfortunately, if they don't maintain the excellence necessary to stay near the top, they tend to fall past the third tier and back into the ranks of the mediocre (VCU? SDSU? Davidson?). If my math is right, 100-115 teams in that great middle: respectable, top half of their respective conferences, occasionally catching a little lightning in a bottle to jump into the top 50 for a year or two with the right coach and recruiting class. Think Cal, Belmont, Nevada, Colorado State, Missouri St., Iona, Princeton, Oakland, UNC WIlmington, Iowa, Seton Hall, etc. The Zips are in that group -- usually within the top 100 but rarely within the top 75. This means that they're better than ~200 schools, about equal with ~75, and significantly below another 75. The MAC has slipped so much in the past decade that, for Akron to achieve consistent NCAA tournament bids and wins, it must absolutely dominate the conference ... I mean like Louisville in the Metro during the late 70s/early 80s, Houston in the SWC in the early 80s, Butler in the Horizon, and Gonzaga in the WCC for the past 25 years. A 0.723 tournament winning percentage in a Power 5 conference is something to write home about. The same percentage in the MAC means you're the tallest dwarf ... you beat the other dwarfs almost 3 out of 4 times. It doesn't mean that you are prepared to compete with the big boys. What I want to see is a team that's ready to jump from Top 100 to Top 50, regardless of whether the rest of its league makes overall improvement. Can that be done at a school that tries to play football at a (nominally) high level? I don't know. Maybe Akron can be the first ...

If FBS football weren't a consideration ... From ESPN -- Another round of realignment Wichita State could officially jump from the Missouri Valley, where it has been a member since 1945, to the American Athletic Conference as soon as this week. That could potentially be a boost for the depth of the American, but it would set off a chain reaction of mid-major conferences like the Valley and Horizon scrambling to adjust by seeking new members. ...

I was thinking the same myself. Lol. CWG's heart is in the right place at least. Don't tie a dog to the bumper.

Mike Thomas was quoted in the PD story: "[W]hen you go through any experience, you should be a lot smarter and a lot better for it." That reminded me of a former boss who was fond of saying, "Good judgment is the result of experience. Experience is what you gain from bad judgment." I suspect that Groce arrived in Champaign-Urbana thinking he had the world by the tail. I hope that he now feels fortunate to be able to continue doing what he loves.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics ... I know. In O'Shea's last three years, OU was 58-37 and they finished 4th, 4th and 3rd. Groce had a very mediocre first year, 15-17 (6th), before going 70-39 (5th, 3rd, 3rd). As a point of comparison, KD in those same three years was 69-36, playing what I suspect was a weaker OOC schedule.

Sorry, I screwed up the quote feature