et tu brutus? Alas, when I saw the rantards screaming about the CCU loss, I kind of got it, but now it's on this board? Look, I know sports fans would rather us never lose a game, but here's what I see. First, to your point, let's be fair--every game is a different game, every season and every team is a different season and team. To say that a team and coach should be judged by one game here or there, is unfair. Especially in bball, where there are close to 30 games a season, you judge the 'body of work'--that's an entire season, whether the team is showing improvement and making tourneys. The folks that see the one game, and ask the question of "did Brady ever lose to" probably ignore the fact that CCU and Nicholls State (as has been pointed out) weren't actually that bad this year. CCU was a NIT team last year that won 28 games. Nicholls St has a team of experienced players back. In 2001 Brady lost to Weber State and New Orleans (now a Div III program). In 2002 Brady lost to Global Sports, an exhibition team. Second, you look at trends, and overall state of a program. You look at recruiting, coaching, player development, player attrition. The folks that are talking about recruiting and one and dones, and Kentucky vs LSU are ignoring the fact that Brady really couldn't convince a player (of reasonable prominence) outside of the Baton Rouge area to come (and stay) at LSU.... the exceptions to this were Tack Minor (bust), Magnum Rolle (transferred), Anthony Randolph (one and done), Regis Koundjia (transferred) and the list goes on. Trent has inked KC Ross Miller (Clearinghouse casualty), Aaron Dotson (WA), Andre Stringer (MS), Ralston Turner (AL), Johnny O'Bryant (MS). Trent is trying to sign top 100 players who also are likely to stay at LSU more than a few years, to develop a consistent program. The base he was building from included the necessity of walk-ons like Populist and Kinsley (who by the way is averaging 18 ppg now at UNO, developed under CTJ's program), and hobbled players that Brady left him. When folks compare that with what Calipari or Pearl have done, there's undoubtedly been better "bases" to build on. Pearl has been a good recruiter, but oh wait, there's a NCAA investigation of him? Calipari, well, no comment. Trent and LSU aren't going to be destinations for 5 one and done type of players to go in one year... All this said, does Trent need to be concerned? Sure. He's got a young team, which is talented enough to develop into an upper echelon SEC caliber team, but not immediately. I'm encouraged by the development of Aaron Dotson, the immediate impact of Stringer and Turner. You see some improvements out of Garrett Green. I'm less encouraged by Malcolm White, and the front line. But, rebounding, defense and the little things are a little suspect right now. Trent identified these things early and as "correctable" but maybe the players aren't feeling the urgency. It could also be that it takes time to develop the mentality and winning hunger after a pretty dismal season. But, I for one would like to let the season play out and give Trent, as he's said, 4 years to determine where he's at (for me, that's higher expectations in 2011-12). For those that want Trent's head (already), I thought I'd compare records of "similarly situated" coaches (some who LSU actually considered in its coaching search): Anthony Grant, Alabama, is 4-5. Tony Bennett, Virginia (who LSU plays), is 6-3. Oliver Purnell, Depaul, is 4-6. Johnny Dawkins, Stanford, is 5-2. Jeff Capel, Oklahoma, is 5-5. Development of a program is a process. In any case, I'd say give this team some time. They will need to grow and get experience. Frankly, the fact that they beat CMU, got CCU into overtime after being done, are silver linings. Them being right there with Memphis, also silver lining. It's not surprising for young teams to lose tight games. The key is do they get better on the little things, so that the tight games turn to wins in time.
When/If we get a new LSU basketball coach SabanFan will be doing the exact same thing. He doesn't have actual opinions. He just likes to hassle anyone who is critical of an LSU coach.
If you expect LSU to eventually become a Kentucky in basketball, you may need to lower your expectations. The reality is that we will compete for honors occasionally but never year in and year out. The commitment it takes to become a perenniel national power has never been and never will be there. Brady had good years and bad years. So will Johnson.
I still have faith in Johnson. I think we'll come around and he could have us rockin like Dale Brown's heyday.
I'm going to wait until the end of the year to judge this team, but I find both out main post players playing really soft and poor fundemental basketball. Warren and White are not boxing out, they aren't fighting for the ball. They act timid. On the other hand, I think Green is showing some improvement and Eddie Hustle looks like he isn't scared to get in there and throw and catch bows. I'm hoping Trent can get this thing turned around. We have more talent and should improve over last year. That is my expectation, so I hope it pans out.
When did I say that? And what exactly is your point? As for Brady, his problems were bigger than w/l record. He was an insufferable prick who sucked at recruiting (unless they came from UHigh), ran off too many kids, and he fielded incredibly boring and offensively inept basketball teams. He had worn out his welcome and grinded the momentum of the program to a halt. It was time for him to move on.
I don’t know why we are talking about Brady, I mean it isn’t like he has gone to Ark St and done anything there that would make anyone want him back. 2009-2010 : 17-14 2010-2011 : 3-6 thus far, off to a great Brady start And SF doesn’t really care about basketball, he just likes to get people going. I think that TnH stated it best, and since he is, in my opinion, our resident basketball guru I will take his opinion. Give it time, which means we should see things improve over this season and next season should be a solid.
Yeah, SabanFan has already admitted he doesn't know or care about basketball. Trolling, he is. "Don't argue with fools, because from a distance it's hard to tell who is who."
I think that's all you can do with this team. In a college bball season, essentially, the first half of the season (unless your a top 10 team and playing in more exciting pre-season type tourneys) is sort of a throw-away, where you're using the time to get into conference shape. I think it's fair to say that there have been some good unexpected things, and some bad unexpected things, that are affecting the Tigers this year. First, let's be clear about White and Warren. If folks want to get some good insight, go listen to CTJ's media day yesterday--we forget that Warren actually had surgery before the season started. So, he's had some of his practice affected. White, is of course, a transfer who has some "rust", but as CTJ pointed out, White's 8+ppg and 5+rpg are actually right now better than his averages when he was at Ole Miss. We obviously expected more from him, given potential "hype", but I've tempered my expectations for these transfers (that includes Justin Hamilton, who frankly, has his share of practice time issues due to concussions). I think you can be pleasantly surprised by Stringer and Turner. Noone knows whether the "typical" freshman will adjust smoothly to college, and I think it's fair to say both have done better than I expected--especially Stringer at point. His 1:1 Assist to TO ratio is ok, but his ability to shoot (while having the pressure of needing him to score, and still shoot a reasonable 3ptFG% (almost 40%) and FT% (83%)) and involve teammates has been better than expected. Turner is also very dependable and playing well. Dotson's improvement is also impressive--I think he's got to be more aggressive on offense--he's got the best shooting % of anyone, and he's not taking enough shots. I think the key is rebounding and defending and cutting down on turnovers. This team is not going to be a great defensive team just yet, but they've got to get better and rebound. They are technically getting more rebounds than last year pg, and they have a + rebounding margin overall, but they picked a bad game to lose that battle to CCU. We'll see how they do tonight. As for SabanFan... I do think if you're really going to judge the Brady/Johnson success ratio, to me it's not just "both will have ups and downs", b/c frankly there's always a little bit of that as players come and go. The key is who is going to be a better overall coach (i.e., development of players, teaching the system, maintaining a positive culture around the program) AND who is going to be the more consistent recruiter. The end goal, I think, is to develop LSU into a more consistent winning program. To me, you have less ups and downs, if you're maintaining a consistent talent level, and keeping continuity in development. IMO, Trent is a better overall coach than Brady--he's knowledgeable, but he's also a better "father figure" for his players and program. The key is how consistent of a recruiter, and how good of a recruiter, can Trent be. So far, he has developed recruiting momentum, and at least from 2010 and 2011 doesn't have a "hole" or "gap" year. If he adds 3 decent recruits in 2012, I do think we'll see less peaks and valleys in a year and from there.
