Jump to content

Point and laugh at Shaka Smart


Wulaw Horn

Recommended Posts

46 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

I think that can happen to anyone that takes a high profile job in any profession. All of the sudden you're trying to square peg it for no reason when they actually wanted you for who you were before.


I believe that happens. I do not believe Shaka Smart hid his true nature for 6 years in an effort to meet what he considered the special circumstances of the job, and part of that consisted of not working officials. 

It’s my opinion that in many of these threads, particularly over the past few days, that there are a lot of us (not you, so I’m sorry this comment is being directed towards you - that part is unintended) who are coming to overarching conclusions regarding people like Beard, Adams, and Shaka Smart, when we simply have too little evidence to form anything remotely final. 

I feel highly confident Shaka is going to Shaka this up. If not this year, then certainly in years forthcoming. Congrats to him for doing well so far. As far as the other two, I feel like both fan bases have reason to be excited about their futures. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

i just read that Shaka was going after the officials so hard that multiple assistants had to pull him back. cool, that's great. thanks for uh, literally never doing that in six years here you fucking guy. 

i cannot believe that as right now, it simply appears that Shaka spent six years here trying to be someone he's not, without ever considering doing what got him here in the first place. that's just awesome. 

Is he running the same offense he ran here?  My thought is he was trying to get to the NBA by getting one and done's and running an O he hadn't run before.  wonder who his OC is now.

while I didn't expect him to beat Nova twice(we will see how good they are), I expected him to do better because the Big East isn't the Big 12 night after night and everyone on his schedule isn't "getting up" to play Marquette.

we'll see where this ends up.  He couldn't handle Big 12 and Texas, that much was obvious.  He'd have some WTF wins but then have complete meltdown WTF losses.  maybe generally getting his ass handed to him multiple years and in multiple NCAA's had him do some soul searching.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It’s funny how these things work out. Smart is probably a better fit at a school like Marquette. It’s out of the limelight, but the school is all basketball all the time which helps. I think that this is a place he can probably consistently win at in the regular season. He’ll get players that fit what he wants to do and you can probably pencil him into the tournament every year.

His tournament coaching acumen, outside of that one Final Four run, leaves A LOT to be desired. Maybe he learned from his struggles at Texas and worked on his shortcomings as a coach. If so good for him. If not it’ll show when the lights are their brightest in March. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/3/2022 at 10:26 AM, dcar00 said:

Is he running the same offense he ran here?  My thought is he was trying to get to the NBA by getting one and done's and running an O he hadn't run before.  wonder who his OC is now.

while I didn't expect him to beat Nova twice(we will see how good they are), I expected him to do better because the Big East isn't the Big 12 night after night and everyone on his schedule isn't "getting up" to play Marquette.

we'll see where this ends up.  He couldn't handle Big 12 and Texas, that much was obvious.  He'd have some WTF wins but then have complete meltdown WTF losses.  maybe generally getting his ass handed to him multiple years and in multiple NCAA's had him do some soul searching.

I believe he is back to pressing

  • Rage+1 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

It’s funny how these things work out. Smart is probably a better fit at a school like Marquette. It’s out of the limelight, but the school is all basketball all the time which helps. I think that this is a place he can probably consistently win at in the regular season. He’ll get players that fit what he wants to do and you can probably pencil him into the tournament every year.

His tournament coaching acumen, outside of that one Final Four run, leaves A LOT to be desired. Maybe he learned from his struggles at Texas and worked on his shortcomings as a coach. If so good for him. If not it’ll show when the lights are their brightest in March. 

If he's not trying to run an NBA offense, which he has no idea how to coach, with players who can't shoot and is back to pressing a lot(havoc) he'll probably do OK.

Shaka experimented with us, instead of running what got him the job, in a league that isn't going to allow you to experiment.  disasterous results followed.  we should have fired him after year 3 when it was obvious his "experiment" wasn't working.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/3/2022 at 8:03 AM, MotownHorn said:

Another impressive win for Shaka and his boys! 🤣

Cha-ching! 🤑

Right on schedule to lose another tough first round tourney game to traditional basketball powerhouse Stephen F. Austin Northern Iowa Nevada Abilene Christian err...South Dakota State? 

Meme Reaction GIF

  • Haha 1
  • Rage+1 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"And part of my job as a coach is to help
cultivate that. It's part of my job, again, to
share a vision and to communicate. But I'm
really excited about that, and how important
is it to success, it's hugely important. It's
going to be a phenomenal opportunity for us
to be part of just a basketball program that's
so beloved and supported by the folks around
it. And it's huge. It makes a huge difference."

Let's unpack that some more. Wow. First thought: *this* is who Shaka is- a much better mouth piece than he is a program builder. As he takes a an extremely thinly veiled shot at the UT students and fan support, emphasizing how hugely important it is to not only have great fan support, but to also have a great rapport between your players and their fans, Shaka straight up states that making that happen is part of his job. In other words, he says the right thing, and then does *nothing* to back it up.

SLX has been the flag bearer here in pointing out and praising the job that Coach Beard has done doing exactly what Shaka describes, and the difference between Beard and Shaka is night and day (no racist). Beard has been here 9 months, and in that time he has run laps around Shaka's entire six year body of work when it comes to getting fans and students engaged with your program and it's players. You cannot overstate how much more Beard has done for his program in this specific area, whereas Shaka, who will tell you that that's part of his job, and hugely important to winning, did nothing. From his phony personality to his never ending coachspeak answers and hollow platitudes, to his straight up apathy towards engaging the students, this is just another crystal clear example of what a fraud this guy is. thank god that he's Marquette's problem now. 

  • Hook 'Em 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I read that Shaka piece, rather than a shot at UT, I took it more that he was admitting he grossly neglected his job responsibilities, whether he meant to convey that or not.

He had 6 years of malingering and never built that real connection, while in reality achieving the opposite in alienating a significant portion of the fanbase and maybe his own team.  Maybe he just learned a lot from fucking up so bad?  IDK.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

"And part of my job as a coach is to help
cultivate that. It's part of my job, again, to
share a vision and to communicate. But I'm
really excited about that, and how important
is it to success, it's hugely important. It's
going to be a phenomenal opportunity for us
to be part of just a basketball program that's
so beloved and supported by the folks around
it. And it's huge. It makes a huge difference."

Let's unpack that some more. Wow. First thought: *this* is who Shaka is- a much better mouth piece than he is a program builder. As he takes a an extremely thinly veiled shot at the UT students and fan support, emphasizing how hugely important it is to not only have great fan support, but to also have a great rapport between your players and their fans, Shaka straight up states that making that happen is part of his job. In other words, he says the right thing, and then does *nothing* to back it up.

SLX has been the flag bearer here in pointing out and praising the job that Coach Beard has done doing exactly what Shaka describes, and the difference between Beard and Shaka is night and day (no racist). Beard has been here 9 months, and in that time he has run laps around Shaka's entire six year body of work when it comes to getting fans and students engaged with your program and it's players. You cannot overstate how much more Beard has done for his program in this specific area, whereas Shaka, who will tell you that that's part of his job, and hugely important to winning, did nothing. From his phony personality to his never ending coachspeak answers and hollow platitudes, to his straight up apathy towards engaging the students, this is just another crystal clear example of what a fraud this guy is. thank god that he's Marquette's problem now. 

thats why he needed to be at a basketball only school. It was a horrible hire by Texas.  it's all those students have to look forward to on the sports front.  additionally, no one is expecting him to prepare players for the NBA.  he can run what he needs to and if he wins and makes the tourney he'll be fine.  Big East has enough clout that he doesn't HAVE to come in first or second or maybe even third to make the tourney.  it's not a one bid league and it's not the Big 12 or ACC.  good fit.

he'll get fired if he loses but the gym will still be pretty packed because what the fuck else is there to do at Marquette?

Barnes wasn't the best at engaging the students but he was good enough and he won and won at levels we hadn't really seen.  there were some rocking times at the Erwin Center for the first 12-13 years under him.  people just forgot.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, slorch said:

When I read that Shaka piece, rather than a shot at UT, I took it more that he was admitting he grossly neglected his job responsibilities, whether he meant to convey that or not.

He had 6 years of malingering and never built that real connection, while in reality achieving the opposite in alienating a significant portion of the fanbase and maybe his own team.  Maybe he just learned a lot from fucking up so bad?  IDK.

 

it was a shot but thinly veiled while trying to make it look like he was being reflective.  he's good at being disingenuous.  dude doesn't need to be a coach in a P5 conf and especially at a football school.  he's a good coach in the right situation and that's it.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

@SL Xpresshas mentioned it before and I noted it when we hired Beard,  but you're severely understating how exceptional he is in the area of engaging fan interest.  I literally have never seen a coach behave in this manner before.  Even Mack, who when he first arrived at UT, did a lot to motivate interest, didn't approach it in a manner in which he clearly took sole responsibility for the mission. Chris Beard is the fucking Michael Jordan of this sort of endeavor and the fact that other coaches don't come close to approaching him in this area ain't really that much of an  indictment. 

Edited by Catdaddyhorn
  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

 

@SL Xpresshas mentioned it before and I noted it when we hired Beard,  but you're severely understating how exceptional he is in the area of engaging fan interest.  I literally have never seen a coach behave in this manner before.  Even Mack, who when he first arrived at UT, did a lot to motivate interest, didn't approach it in a manner in which he clearly took sole responsibility for the mission. Chris Beard is the fucking Michael Jordan of this sort of endeavor and the fact that other coaches don't come close to approaching him in this area ain't really that much of an  indictment. 

Beard doing all these "Wanted" posters for specific fans (Hawaiian shirt guy, 1000 t-shirt girl) is really cool to highlight individual fans who are making an effort.  That's a great way to encourage fans to stand out more and be noticed. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Beard doing all these "Wanted" posters for specific fans (Hawaiian shirt guy, 1000 t-shirt girl) is really cool to highlight individual fans who are making an effort.  That's a great way to encourage fans to stand out more and be noticed. 

We just need the o.g. GOO dancing for the cameras before every Big Monday commercial break like back in the day.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tough break for Shakablah and undoubtedly @MotownHorn last night as the Marquette Marauders went to Connecticut and not only lost but failed to cover. 

Fucktwit goes @Butler, Georgetown, @Creighton, Butler, @DePaul, St John’s to close out the regular season. That should be a 6-0 run and Motown should go ahead and bet all of his family’s grocery and heating oil money each game on the spread. 

Then the postseason and comedy. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Haha 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/30/2022 at 2:21 PM, closetojumping said:

You negged me first, dipshit. Twice, because you couldn’t handle the back and forth. I let the first one go, but with the second one, it was obvious you’re just a pussy that can’t handle discourse. So I negged your weak shit on the last two pages, fully expecting to then come on here and see you whine about it, which you laughably and predictably did. 

I enjoy being petty. I’ll use a mid morning coffee break to go through tomorrow and neg every post you’ve ever made if you bitch any further and act duplicitous. You won’t be able to shame me or change my behavior with any of it either. So, your move, Mr. Checkers. 

Also, sorry for your loss today. Don’t take it too hard, I’m sure Shakablah will have a big recovery for you. 

Holy shit I was laughing so hard. 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/3/2022 at 7:13 AM, Brian Fantana said:

I think that can happen to anyone that takes a high profile job in any profession. All of the sudden you're trying to square peg it for no reason when they actually wanted you for who you were before.

Yeah Shaka felt he was underappreciated and overcriticized for his poor results at Texas.  And unfortunately, he found it easier to blame others for his results than take ownership.

Culturally, Texas wasn't a good fit for Shaka -- he had no clue how to succeed at Texas,  and he resented Horns Fans and The University for his failures.  At Marquette, basketball is their most popular sport so now King Shaka and his ego are getting the praise that he believes is his birthright.

The interesting part will be when adversity strikes for King Shaka at Marquette.   Who will be at fault.  Who will the great King Shaka summon forth to appear and be beheaded to save his kingdom.

 

It won't be this season for King Shaka, but soon very soon...

 

                        WINTER IS COMING

giphy.gif

 

Edited by LTtxfan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Tough break for Shakablah and undoubtedly @MotownHorn last night as the Marquette Marauders went to Connecticut and not only lost but failed to cover. 

Fucktwit goes @Butler, Georgetown, @Creighton, Butler, @DePaul, St John’s to close out the regular season. That should be a 6-0 run and Motown should go ahead and bet all of his family’s grocery and heating oil money each game on the spread. 

Then the postseason and comedy. 

Nice to hear that you were thinking of me as you went to bed last night!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/8/2022 at 9:19 AM, Js1 said:

Beard doing all these "Wanted" posters for specific fans (Hawaiian shirt guy, 1000 t-shirt girl) is really cool to highlight individual fans who are making an effort.  That's a great way to encourage fans to stand out more and be noticed. 

Don't forget Drunk David Ash.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Tough break for Shakablah and undoubtedly @MotownHorn last night as the Marquette Marauders went to Connecticut and not only lost but failed to cover. 

Fucktwit goes @Butler, Georgetown, @Creighton, Butler, @DePaul, St John’s to close out the regular season. That should be a 6-0 run and Motown should go ahead and bet all of his family’s grocery and heating oil money each game on the spread. 

Then the postseason and comedy. 

Jerry Seinfeld Popcorn GIF by Sheets & Giggles

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, HookEm said:

It's going to be funny when we match up with them in some Round of 32 game.  The selection committee loves the potential of stuff like that.

And all of us on here, Horn or not, will watch that sumbeech.

Edited by slorch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Good Lord.  Butler was up 21 at one point.

This post has a surprised tone to it which feels misplaced to me. 

Shaka is going to Shaka things up. It's like gravity. His teams will always come up with surprising wins/performances. And they'll always have surprising losses/performances. It's the Way of Shaka. Shakablah. 

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I"m trying to come up with a theory of how Shaka can beat teams like Kansas but then woefully underperform during the rest of the year. I think because he coaches so poorly, he basically lets the great athletes he's recruited just do their thing, along with a constant barrage of indescriminate 3 pointers from shooters who can't shoot (because he hasn't developed them). This combination produces lightning in a bottle every once in awhile.  The three pointers fall, and the athletes make incredible defensive plays and enough plays on offense to beat a better team. But math kicks-in eventually, and his teams lose way more than they should. This is pretty much how his whole coaching career has gone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I"m trying to come up with a theory of how Shaka can beat teams like Kansas but then woefully underperform during the rest of the year. I think because he coaches so poorly, he basically lets the great athletes he's recruited just do their thing, along with a constant barrage of indescriminate 3 pointers from shooters who can't shoot (because he hasn't developed them). This combination produces lightning in a bottle every once in awhile.  The three pointers fall, and the athletes make incredible defensive plays and enough plays on offense to beat a better team. But math kicks-in eventually, and his teams lose way more than they should. This is pretty much how his whole coaching career has gone.

He’s proven that being an emo coach is a very profitable business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I"m trying to come up with a theory of how Shaka can beat teams like Kansas but then woefully underperform during the rest of the year. I think because he coaches so poorly, he basically lets the great athletes he's recruited just do their thing, along with a constant barrage of indescriminate 3 pointers from shooters who can't shoot (because he hasn't developed them). This combination produces lightning in a bottle every once in awhile.  The three pointers fall, and the athletes make incredible defensive plays and enough plays on offense to beat a better team. But math kicks-in eventually, and his teams lose way more than they should. This is pretty much how his whole coaching career has gone.

 

I don't think it's that much of a mystery, frankly. It was very apparent from the moment he got to Texas. 

For one, he's charismatic. He's also not ignorant about basketball. Now, what he should do is replicate what he did at VCU. Recruit a team full of athletic guys who may not have pure basketball skills but have a chip on their shoulder. Full court press teams and just send waves of guys off the bench. Count on effort and transition baskets for wins. It's a limited formula, but there's an inherent amount of success available if done right.

But he's not going to do that, because that's not his identity. He wants to coach NBA players. Probably wants to coach in the NBA. He's enamored with getting the most talented guys he can, not in getting the guys who fit his system, or create an identity around a program and recruit to that. Kids want to have freedom on the court. Shaka is going to give them that.

He doesn't know how to build a coaching staff, or a support staff. He doesn't know how to raise the expectations for the people around him. He doesn't know how to create a sense of urgency. He doesn't know how to change his mind on something, and then get buy in on that change in direction. He doesn't know how to manage upwards, through administrations and donors. He has no idea how to manage laterally, through peers within the program or with people outside the program. He only knows how to be charismatic, and he thinks that should be enough. He doesn't have any kind of feel for how to create a legitimate two way relationship with folks.

He doesn't know how to create measurements for success. He doesn't know how to build relationships where he can call people accountable, and they'll respond in a positive manner. 

What this all means is that he'll never create a consistent product. When things go well, it will snowball. Confidence will soar. Players will feed off of one another. When there are struggles, there's no resiliency. People point fingers. They play hero ball. 

Shaka's counter at Texas is opposite of Beard's this year. Shaka would do his best against athletic teams when his team had success, because that success snowballed. Shaka had his most difficulty against disciplined teams that ran systems, especially on defense. Beard on the other hand, is going to have his biggest issues against athletic teams, because his guys don't match up. If I see a team like Kentucky or Auburn in our bracket, it means trouble. But Beard is going to be great against the Abilene Christians of the world, because this team is going to out Abilene Christian them. 

Beard's approach is going to produce a lot more consistency. And if he can get the athletes, too, like he did at Tech, he can make some deep runs. Shaka is always going to have issues, both through the course of a season, and then in the tournament, because he'll never be able to produce a consistent product. 

  • Hook 'Em 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

there are two "behind the scenes" stories, one about Rick Barnes, and one about Shaka Smart, that, when compared to each other, really drive home how fundamentally clueless Shaka Smart is.

Rick Barnes told Kevin Durant, "you're the worst defender i've ever coached. I thought AJ Abrams was the worst, but i've got to apologize to him for that, because you are somehow even worse."

meanwhile, according to Jase Febres in 2021: "Shaka tells me i'm the best shooter in the country every day."

one coach takes a once-in-a-generation player, finds his weaknesses, puts said weaknesses on front street, and challenges him as a man to do better. the other coach takes a guy who offers nothing outside of the idea that he's a good shooter, and then tells him every day how great he is, even though he's not even shooting well. it's embarrassing that we even offered Shaka Smart the job. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Js1 said:

Challenging a player to be better defensively versus giving a shooter confidence, considering how much it’s a mental thing?

Sorry Derka, I think your example was not good

image.gif.ba3e8dd8def2962a9c5a3de74cfe32e5.gif

 he isn't "giving him confidence" by lying to his face about the quality of his play for an extended period of time, he's actually neglecting to do anything to substantive to improve Jase's shooting while gassing him up with hollow nonsense. if you can name a single championship coach who operates that way then maybe you'll have a point, but i won't hold my breath. you think Nick Saban, Gregg Popovich, or Bill Belichick are constantly telling their shitty players that they're best at what they do in their respective sport? 

Edited by shadow_operative
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

there are two "behind the scenes" stories, one about Rick Barnes, and one about Shaka Smart, that, when compared to each other, really drive home how fundamentally clueless Shaka Smart is.

Rick Barnes told Kevin Durant, "you're the worst defender i've ever coached. I thought AJ Abrams was the worst, but i've got to apologize to him for that, because you are somehow even worse."

meanwhile, according to Jase Febres in 2021: "Shaka tells me i'm the best shooter in the country every day."

one coach takes a once-in-a-generation player, finds his weaknesses, puts said weaknesses on front street, and challenges him as a man to do better. the other coach takes a guy who offers nothing outside of the idea that he's a good shooter, and then tells him every day how great he is, even though he's not even shooting well. it's embarrassing that we even offered Shaka Smart the job. 

It’s funny that you tell that story like it shows what a great coach Barnes is instead of it being clear evidence that he wears his guys down and that’s why his teams almost always get worse as the season goes on instead of getting better. 

Edited by MotownHorn
  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rick Barnes has one of the best track records of developing players in all of CBB, and down to a man they all credit him for pushing them beyond what they thought they were capable of. that's a common trait among winning coaches (Barnes is top 20 all time in wins) and it's a trait which Shaka does not have. major d-1 players need to be challenged, not coddled, or worse, repeatedly told that they're the best at what they do when that's far from the truth. you look up now and KD is now one of the better defensive players in basketball, while Febres is a career .358 shooter from deep who has no impact on his team as a senior. you tell me which guy's method works and which one doesn't. 

Edited by shadow_operative
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is no "one size fits all" to coaching. Some guys need to be torn down to truly reach their potential; others need to be built up. For most, it's probably a mix of both. The key to being a great coach, I think, is understanding how much--or little--of one technique is ideal.

That said, give me Rick over Shaka all day, every day. It's stupid to even be discussing this.

  • Hook 'Em 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...