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Fire Shaka Smart


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13 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

You've watched Nevada far more than me, but from what I remember in the tournament Nevada ran a lot of ball screen stuff with a shitload of ball pounding too. Of course not all ball screen offenses are the same and they often look different from game to game depending on how well they're defended . Villanova and Golden State run ball screen offenses as well, but they mix in so much more coordinated movement on the backside and are wholly unselfish to go with their exquisite shooting so it doesn't look anything like our garbage ass version of those same concepts. 

It's his uptempo style that I really like. That 2010 team we had with Damion James, Avery Bradley, Jordan Hamilton, J'Covan brown, Doj Balbay, etc liked to get up and down and they were so fun to watch before the epic, unprecedented implosion. That game track meet we had with UNC at Jerryworld was some of the most exciting basketball I've ever seen at Texas, and Musselman's teams have reminded me of that one.

 

 

Edited by Goo Punch
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I'm not sure that most here realize/remember that that run his team made last year, leading up to and through the tournament, took place after losing their stud starting PG and having to go to a six man rotation. This guy can really coach.

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Also, it's early in the season, but Nevada is currently #2 nationally in AdjO, behind Duke, and ahead of KU, Nova, UNC, Gonzaga, UK, et al.

https://kenpom.com/index.php?s=RankAdjOE

I would *STRONGLY* encourage some of our more mouthy posters to pay some more attention to this man and his team before spewing any more BS about how only a middling program would hire him. So strange how our fan base seems to revere a guy like Chris Beard, yet they'll turn around and talk shit about Eric Musselman and act as if he's beneath us. Our fans (myself 100% included) also said the same thing about Jay Wright when Barnes got fired, and Dabo Swinney when Mack got canned. If the guy can coach the guy can coach. If he's never coached at this level before then it may simply be that he just hasn't gotten his chance to do so. It doesn't mean he can't do it. 

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50 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

Part of my dad's job was making videos for the basketball team (recruiting videos, season recap videos, etc), and I remember as kid thinking that Tom Penders really had it figured out when he said in one of them, "Well my philosophy is that if we shoot more shots than the other team then we should score more points than they do." 
 

edit: @Catdaddyhorn's last post sums it up pretty nicely. just keep shooting.

I really hope you keep it up, Derk. Eventually you will get perma-banned. What a great day that will be.

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46 minutes ago, immortal13 said:

I really hope you keep it up, Derk. Eventually you will get perma-banned. What a great day that will be.

you quoted that post to say this. okay. why don't you send me another five consecutive, insane private messages in a span of 90 seconds while you're at it. 

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5 hours ago, Goo Punch said:

for your own edification, here's a post from the old Fire Shaka thread on shaggy, made by chi town bevo:

2a3c4ab02111e9b034e7dd9d3f086cd5.jpg

Musselman is a good coach with a long track record of developing players and running a fun, fast, high scoring, uptempo offense. it because most of you don't know dick about him that means he sucks. he'd be a huge upgrade over Shaka, and Texas would be fun to watch again. But hey, who wants that when we can keep changing players but getting the same asstastic product every year?


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Then why isn't he coaching at a Power 5 school with a resume like that. And before you make a total fool out of yourself, I know far more about him and his Dad than you do so don't pull that crap on me.  

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15 hours ago, texasstrong12 said:

Musselman has never been past the sweet 16. Granted, he hasn't been a college coach for long but that's why he's a questionable hire at best. It's just a guessing game on how he would do at Texas. 

Buzz Wiliams hasn't been past the round of 64 in 5 years. 1/11 years as a coach he's made it past the Sweet 16. 

Paul Weir has made the tournament 1/3 years. Never advanced past the first round. 

This is why "fire X coach" is always a hilarious discussion. The coaching market is shit and if these are the best options you're firing Shaka for a total guess. 

The idea is to "win big" so let's hire from a pool of candidates that has a grand total of 1 win past the round of 32. Hoiberg and Donovan are just message board dreams until they are actually fired in the NBA. Not to mention Donovan isn't coming here even if he is fired. 

Fair enough, but you can't only look at NCAA tourney results so heavily as obviously there is so much context and variables involved in assessing a coach.  Using that sole argument to immediately dismiss three coaches isn't very deep without further context behind why they are/are not good coaches.  I'd argue some fairly successful coaches with great talent and some NCAA success in the tourney are actually average to bad coaches versus some less proven guys in the tourney that have better maximized their situation. 

For Musselman, I just believe he is good coach that has excellent offensive acumen and that he could parlay that well into Big 12 play.  I'm pretty sure for Weir I know about 1000% more about him because for one I know he has only been a head coach two full prior years so 1/3 is very misleading and outright wrong.  It's his third season starting now, but as I said, he's not ready but I think he's got potential to be a good coach down the road and let's see if can rebuild the New Mexico program.  I wouldn't chase Buzz Williams but not because of his NCAA tourney record.

Shaka is recruiting well, but I can't believe anyone with real basketball acumen would argue he is a great tactician.  It's pretty obvious, and so much so to me, I will never really argue the point as I think that's a waste of time.  Whether Texas could get anyone else better IS a legitimate argument, and I don't know if there are a lot of good choices out there.  Shaka himself of course had the one magical run, but he also was at a non-power 5 program with four straight seasons trending down for the most part with mostly a worse overall record, worse conference record, and less success year by year in the tourney going from 2nd round, 2nd round, then 1 and out, and 1 and out with those last two years being upset as the higher seed against a double digit seed.      I'd also argue Will Wade might have done as good a job if not better with VCU after Shaka left considering the overall situation.

I think Texas is not the kind of program that can easily hire someone with huge NCAA tourney success as it is and/or they wouldn't leave their program for a lateral or downgrade move, so I think you have to have some risk involved in hiring anyway.  If Texas was a true blue blood, you can go after anyone but the basketball program is not the football program.  I'm realistic enough to believe it will be very hard for Texas to crack into this group consistently but I do believe we can have a program that is challenging for the Top 10-15 consistently with an NCAA appearance annually with the threat to make the Sweet 16 every year.  Maybe once in a while, we get a magical recruit/run/hot streak that cracks into the Elite Eight and beyond.  

Shaka's now 23-31 in Big 12 play.  I don't think it's unfair to say that with the available talent during this run that 23-31 is disappointing.  I think a legitimate worry is if another coach can recruit this well, but I'm not worried we could find another coach that can at least hit .500 in conference even if recruiting is not quite the same.  I still am happy to give him more time this year and see if he gets better, but it's equally fair to critically evaluate his tenure so far as underwhelming.

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3 hours ago, realgreggym said:

Then why isn't he coaching at a Power 5 school with a resume like that. And before you make a total fool out of yourself, I know far more about him and his Dad than you do so don't pull that crap on me.  

I'm legitimately curious.  He seems like a great offensive mind to me and I can only judge him by what appears to be his talent level/roster and adjustments/schemes and so forth, but I do wonder why someone over 50 with his seeming talent is where he is right now.

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3 hours ago, UTDD said:

I'm legitimately curious.  He seems like a great offensive mind to me and I can only judge him by what appears to be his talent level/roster and adjustments/schemes and so forth, but I do wonder why someone over 50 with his seeming talent is where he is right now.

Do you know Norman Dale .... ??

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13 hours ago, Goo Punch said:

But you've proven time and again that our iq and level of common sense drop dramatically due to the oncoming rage you feel every time you see me post.

Interesting typo.

Regarding potential hires -- why is it a foregone conclusion that no established coach would want to come to Austin?  For one thing, we could money whip anyone.  Add in a new arena, a rich recruiting base, very little instate competition except when Scott Drew is in full on cheat mode, and our status as a football school, it seems to me like plenty of guys would see this as a can't-miss job.  I'm sure some don't want to play second fiddle to football, but plenty would see that as a great advantage in terms of job security.

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11 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Interesting typo.

Regarding potential hires -- why is it a foregone conclusion that no established coach would want to come to Austin?  For one thing, we could money whip anyone.  Add in a new arena, a rich recruiting base, very little instate competition except when Scott Drew is in full on cheat mode, and our status as a football school, it seems to me like plenty of guys would see this as a can't-miss job.  I'm sure some don't want to play second fiddle to football, but plenty would see that as a great advantage in terms of job security.

Which established coaches do you have in mind?

I don't think we can bring in the relatively successful blue blood coaches - K, Roy, Self, Calipari, or the not quite blue bloods but perennially successful programs - Boeheim, Izzo, Beilein, Wright.

So then you're talking about the best of the rest: Altman, Few, Huggins, Brey, Painter, Cronin, Marshall; or proven CBB coaches in the NBA - Donovan, Hoiberg.

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6 minutes ago, Red Five said:

This is based on absolutely nothing, but I have a hunch CDC would go really hard after Few. 

Few isn't leaving.  Ever. You have no idea how much money they throw at him behind the scenes up here. His official is like 1.3, but he's closer to 4 after the zag donors get done.  He owns the town, anyone will play him because it isn't a bad loss and he basically has a guaranteed tourney bid every year. Oh, and the media and fans think he walks on water. Why would he ever leave?

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33 minutes ago, pops said:

Few isn't leaving.  Ever. You have no idea how much money they throw at him behind the scenes up here. His official is like 1.3, but he's closer to 4 after the zag donors get done.  He owns the town, anyone will play him because it isn't a bad loss and he basically has a guaranteed tourney bid every year. Oh, and the media and fans think he walks on water. Why would he ever leave?

He'd be an idiot to go anywhere near a P5 program. His life is Cinderella every day.

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16 minutes ago, Ghost of Shag said:

I'm not up on what coaches would/wouldn't take this job, so I'm just wondering....

...why not Gregg Marshall?

He's basically Few lite. Owns the town and gets paid 3 million per (officially) to be the cock of the walk. He seems to have higher aspirations, though so maybe he'd leave.

But he's one of the old school guys that will mother fuck you and kick kids out of practice because they are pussies. Would that fly in Austin if he wasn't winning big xii titles?  

He can probably make 40 million dollars in Wichita over the next 10 years and never waste one bead of sweat over job security. That's tough to replace. 

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3 hours ago, pops said:

He can probably make 40 million dollars in Wichita over the next 10 years and never waste one bead of sweat over job security. That's tough to replace. 

I crunched the numbers. $40 million in Kansas equates to $1,225.75 in Austin. 

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4 hours ago, Machinator said:

Which established coaches do you have in mind?

I don't think we can bring in the relatively successful blue blood coaches - K, Roy, Self, Calipari, or the not quite blue bloods but perennially successful programs - Boeheim, Izzo, Beilein, Wright.

So then you're talking about the best of the rest: Altman, Few, Huggins, Brey, Painter, Cronin, Marshall; or proven CBB coaches in the NBA - Donovan, Hoiberg.

None in particular.  Your list of those who wouldn't even consider the job is probably correct, and mostly obvious -- we're not gonna go after K, Roy, or Boeheim simply because they're old and it would be absurd to even think any would switch for Texas.  Calipari is a dirtbag, and however we might dabble in the seedy side of the sport, we're not going there.  Self isn't leaving Kansas for Texas, and he has his own skeeze factor.  I seriously doubt Izzo would leave MSU.  Beilein is getting up there.  Wright is almost perfect, but he doesn't seem like he'd jump.  He's a Pennsylvania native.

Derka is gonna skewer you for leaving Musselman off your next tier (although one might argue he isn't "established" in college.)  Huggins and Marshall just seem like cultural mismatches, but maybe not.  I don't know about Few -- I'll take others word for it that he's completely happy (kinda like Chris Petersen at Boise State?  heh) . . . but one guy who IS established is . . . wait for it . . . Jamie Dixon.  Makes you wonder?  I don't know if CDC would go after him, and I don't know if there's dirt somewhere that would preclude him from consideration.  He seems pretty damn capable.

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Yeah but Dixon is already back home at TCU and they will pay him pretty well to coach there with way fewer expectations than he'd have on him at Texas. He's another guy who would be hard to pull away from where he is because he's already happy, at home, and well paid. very similar to Mick Cronin at Cincy, who I see as a Rick Barnes lite. Cronin has the potential to win pretty big at Texas as well, but i don't think anyone will pry him from Cincy any time soon, as that's his home and they like him and pay him well. The Xavier/Cincy rivalry was reignited under Cronin and Mack (who could have been a Shaka replacement had he not just gone to Louisville), which should buy him a few more years there if nothing else.

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5 minutes ago, Machinator said:

Is Enfield considered a good coach? I know he recruits well (how he recruits well is perhaps a matter Texas doesn't want to deal with).

I thought it was Tim Floyd and Kevin O'Neill that were doing the hinky shit at USC.  Enfield has turned the program around.  We all know what he did at FGCU.  He was an NBA shooting coach/consultant for 6 years.

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11 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

These posts are making me realize how hard it is to get a great coach here. Hey what about the recently hired coach at Tennessee? He has them rolling.

Uh - no. Caring about your basketball program is what's hard apparently. Shaka should have been fired the minute that tourney game ended last year. You have fucking Mo Bamba and can't win a tournament game. At least Durant won in the first round.

Barnes was a great enough coach (he was - despite the fact that you held on to him for too long) that he overrode the shitty basketball culture. 

Now, Texas has a very mediocre coach with mediocre culture it's always had and it's showing. They will need CDC AND a great coach AND (if we're being honest) a better arena to play in AND fans that actually give a shit.

But as long as UT keeps making the tournament boosters won't give enough of a fuck to give roundball the love that it needs.

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3 hours ago, ztejas said:

Now, Texas has a very mediocre coach with mediocre culture it's always had and it's showing. They will need CDC AND a great coach AND (if we're being honest) a better arena to play in AND fans that actually give a shit.

Here are the things that are going to have to happen in order for Texas fans to care about basketball in the way, say, Michigan State fans care about basketball:

1.  the football team will need to suck.  If they're good to great, the fans won't care about basketball in anything approaching "rabidity" (is that a word?).

2.  the students need to be incented to come to the games, which in part means the olds (and I am approaching that demographic) need to be kicked out of their season ticket courtside empty seats.  CDC might actually pull this off.

 

I'd be shocked if #1 happens over any appreciable stretch of time.  This dooms us to 2nd-3rd tier among "basketball schools", and that's OK.  It doesn't mean the TEAM can't be a consistent top 10 power.  It just means the players and the coach need to be OK with it, and plenty are.

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4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

in the way, say, Michigan State fans care about basketball:

1.  the football team will need to suck.  If they're good to great, the fans won't care about basketball in anything approaching "rabidity" (is that a word?).

Why are you using MSU as an example here? They've had a fucking great program considering their spot in the Big10 pecking order over the last decade. And I think the football team sucking works against UT roundball. Winning cultures spread. If the football team is badass - the hoopers are going to be a little cockier and more loose and the fans are going to be more hype. Shit is infectious. 

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

2.  the students need to be incented to come to the games, which in part means the olds (and I am approaching that demographic) need to be kicked out of their season ticket courtside empty seats.  CDC might actually pull this off.

Part of the issue (and maybe most of that) is that the Erwin Center fucking sucks. It's a joyless cavern of an arena straight out of the 70s. UT needs a sexy fucking 12,000 seat stadium that suffocates the court. If you ever get the chance in Dallas - go to an SMU game. Moody is absolutely phenomenal to where the typically disinterested Mustangs are on their feet the entire game.

Moody_Game_26_Photo_2_2.jpg

That should be the blueprint for UT, but obviously a bit bigger. Premium seats everywhere that sell out every single night. Austin can refurbish the Drum and keep using it for shitty pop concerts. 

 

Then again.... college basketball is a dying sport so who really cares at the end of the day. 

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19 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Why are you using MSU as an example here?

Because they're a great program with a great coach and rabid fans?  

 

 

Quote

Part of the issue (and maybe most of that) is that the Erwin Center fucking sucks. It's a joyless cavern of an arena straight out of the 70s. UT needs a sexy fucking 12,000 seat stadium that suffocates the court.

That should be the blueprint for UT, but obviously a bit bigger. Premium seats everywhere that sell out every single night. Austin can refurbish the Drum and keep using it for shitty pop concerts. 

I'm getting the feeling you don't really pay much attention to what's happening in Austin?

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11 hours ago, pops said:

He's basically Few lite. Owns the town and gets paid 3 million per (officially) to be the cock of the walk. He seems to have higher aspirations, though so maybe he'd leave.

But he's one of the old school guys that will mother fuck you and kick kids out of practice because they are pussies. Would that fly in Austin if he wasn't winning big xii titles?  

He can probably make 40 million dollars in Wichita over the next 10 years and never waste one bead of sweat over job security. That's tough to replace. 

JMO, based on scant observations, but Gregg Marshall strikes me as a guy who wants to be the cock of the walk wherever he is.  I don’t see him going to a school where he could win a title and still be the 2nd most famous coach on campus.

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Quit using the Erwin Center as an excuse. I have probably been to more college gyms than anyone on this board.  We went to some really bad gyms like the old Barnhill. It had dirt around the court. It had wooden bleachers and behind the bleachers, they had a batting cage and pens for the FFA animals. And yet, the fans would show because they were fans.  The Holler House had a corrugated steel wall behind one of the baskets with no seating but they showed because they supported their team..

Fans will either show because they're fans or they won't.

 

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4 minutes ago, realgreggym said:

Quit using the Erwin Center as an excuse. I have probably been to more college gyms than anyone on this board.  We went to some really bad gyms like the old Barnhill. It had dirt around the court. It had wooden bleachers and behind the bleachers, they had a batting cage and pens for the FFA animals. And yet, the fans would show because they were fans.  The Holler House had a corrugated steel wall behind one of the baskets with no seating but they showed because they supported their team..

Fans will either show because they're fans or they won't.

 

I think the Erwin center has an impact but we're a football school and then I would even argue baseball is the 2nd biggest sport. 

I don't think anything will change that unless Texas consistently becomes a top 10 program in basketball. 

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14 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Because they're a great program with a great coach and rabid fans?  

 

 

I'm getting the feeling you don't really pay much attention to what's happening in Austin?

Yes - but they also have a good football team. You're acting like good football and good basketball are mutually exclusive which (as I commented) I don't think is true. Winning is infectious. 

 

And on your second point, yes, I agree with you. As I said - you need CDC and a new arena - and CDC is trying to make that happen for you and I agree with his take. Outside of that, no I don't watch Texas play basketball because I don't watch much college ball at all. I don't need to watch them to know they are middling at best. 

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4 minutes ago, realgreggym said:

I have probably been to more college gyms than anyone on this board.

Sick. Do you want a fucking cookie? The Erwin center is a piece of shit for sitting in the middle of a city with 2.5 million people. It's a shit college basketball venue and it's a shit concert venue. Either refurbish it or move on. Texas fans don't pay to watch their team in person - they pay for the experience and the status of being at the game. The experience at the Erwin center is garbage starting with the fact that it's more of a bitch to get to your seats than the AA Center in freaking uptown Dallas. 

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2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Yes - but they also have a good football team. You're acting like good football and good basketball are mutually exclusive which (as I commented) I don't think is true. Winning is infectious. 

No, I'm acting like UT is not going to be a basketball school, especially if the football team is winning at their historical pace.  I wasn't using MSU as an example of a school that does both sports well.

If it makes you feel better, use Duke as the example.  Or better yet, Kansas.

I do believe UT is somewhat unique in that it's just REALLY hard to motivate our fanbase for basketball.  Yes, attendance goes up when the team is better, but that's to be expected.  The fans still aren't very engaged, and not all that knowledgeable.

It's rare to be elite in both sports, anyway.  UF comes to mind.  Maybe OU a couple of times.  I'm not thinking of too many others.  Ohio State, I guess.

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Just now, jimmyjazz said:

If it makes you feel better, use Duke as the example.  Or better yet, Kansas.

That's all I'm saying. Your example confused me. 

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

I do believe UT is somewhat unique in that it's just REALLY hard to motivate our fanbase for basketball.  Yes, attendance goes up when the team is better, but that's to be expected.  The fans still aren't very engaged, and not all that knowledgeable.

No - it isn't - and I'm going to continue making this point in this thread. Your fan experience for basketball is utter shit. CDC recognizes that and he's trying to fix it. Until that happens you might need to put Brad Stevens and Joel Embiid out there to get back to the Elite 8. 

And - Michigan is probably the most relevant good at both school overall. Maybe not in terms of championships, but they are almost always top 3 in their conference in each and have had serious contenders in basically every decade since the 1960s in each sport and won championships in both since then. 

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2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

No - it isn't - and I'm going to continue making this point in this thread. Your fan experience for basketball is utter shit. CDC recognizes that and he's trying to fix it. Until that happens you might need to put Brad Stevens and Joel Embiid out there to get back to the Elite 8. 

Well, no.  You're wrong.  Not wrong that the Erwin Center sucks, but wrong that it's the main reason fans aren't engaged.  Fans aren't engaged because they don't really care all that much about basketball.  Rick Barnes improved the quality of play quite a bit after Tom Penders was canned and attendance went DOWN.  All at the Erwin Center.  There's all you need to know.

Furthermore, UT advanced to the Elite 8 four times (yes it should have been more) under Penders and Barnes.  We don't need Bill Self to get there.  We need a coach who can recruit like Barnes & Smart have done, and who has reasonable X & O capability (which Barnes had -- sorta -- and which Smart has yet to demonstrate).

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24 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Well, no.  You're wrong.  Not wrong that the Erwin Center sucks, but wrong that it's the main reason fans aren't engaged.  Fans aren't engaged because they don't really care all that much about basketball.  Rick Barnes improved the quality of play quite a bit after Tom Penders was canned and attendance went DOWN.  All at the Erwin Center.  There's all you need to know.

Furthermore, UT advanced to the Elite 8 four times (yes it should have been more) under Penders and Barnes.  We don't need Bill Self to get there.  We need a coach who can recruit like Barnes & Smart have done, and who has reasonable X & O capability (which Barnes had -- sorta -- and which Smart has yet to demonstrate).

I agree, but I also think a new facility could make a huge difference. And I coule also be totally wrong on that, but either way we need one.

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