Trent Johnson ... time to go???

Sounds like Crowton. (Oh no he di-int!)

 

kidding ... no ... rebuilding or not, they don't play fundamental basketball. keep in mind, they aren't losing to SEC teams here. Other than maybe Nicholls, there isn't a team we have lost to where you would want one of their players ... playing fundamental basketball is all about COACHING!

yes, the talent is there. yes, they are young. but if we can't play defense and can't run a offense, can't feed the post against a mismatch, will talent really matter?

i'm quickly losing my trust in CTJ.

 

And who recruited that "slew of seniors"??

And it doesn't look like Johnson did much with his 2 recruiting classes either. It only takes one great player to be competitive. You'd think he could snag ONE.

 

No way am I wanting to get another new BB coach.. I think he will get it right, gonna take a little more time it seems not because of youth or inexperence ether. This team is slow & if your gonna recruit "program" players you better get fast quick ones & kids that can shoot that ball. Green (6-11) is just now coming around on offense because of injuries but he is way to slow on defense to keep up. Harris is also 6-11 and has been hurt, still not seeing any playing time out of him. Both White & Warren have been a disappointment against sub SEC teams so far. Almost seems we should put all the freshmen in, play them & get ready for next year AGAIN. Just a note on freshmen playing .. two freshmen are our leading scorers, if your good you can play as a freshman. What I am saying is playing freshmen is not necessarly a bad thing & is not really a good excuse.

 

Absolutely. Florida won a NC with a "slew of freshmen".

 

When they were sophomores and juniors, yeah.

People need to relax. The team is going to be bad this year, and that's just the reality. After losing all the veterans two year ago, the cupboard was bare. BARE. Rebuilding doesn't always happen over night. Trent hasn't recruited well so far but that doesn't mean he's incapable of it.

He didn't see many fits for what he looks for out of the last few classes, and opted to hoard his schollies. We'll have better days ahead. Trent's track record at his previous stops tells me that he'll eventually get us earning NCAA tournament berths consistently. There's no reason why someone could win consistently at Stanford, in a much tougher basketball conference and with stricter academic requirements, and wouldn't be able to do it here. He'll get the ship turned around, but it's going to require a very wide turn.

This team is short on experience and in some cases, talent. Got to be patient. It's not like the NBA where he can make a trade at the deadline. This year will be what it is, we shouldn't be shocked by this. The next two years will be the ones to judge him on. I suspect we'll see improvement, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

For now, just appreciate that we have a young bunch of kids and at the least, there's more depth than last season. For those of us with the patience, it will be fun to watch them grow into good players. Andre Stringer and Ralston Turner should be a great scoring duo a year or two from now.

 

Actually, if you're going to be fair (and get your facts straight), you should state that they won with a "slew of sophomores". The years that Florida won (and frankly, the only years that the great Billy D sniffed the final four) were '05-07, when Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Taureen Green were sophomores and juniors. On top of that these were all top recruits, sons of professional ball players, and were mostly all first round draft picks when they all went out as Juniors.

So, if you go back to my post on the UNT thread, I think Trent is sort of getting the shaft with this sentiment that freshman can instantly turn a team around, and oh, so these freshman aren't really good (not enough talent) or Trent's coaching isn't that good. Ball clubs are NOT turned around, on average, overnight with a few recruits here or there. They are built on a few years in a system with talented players coming in consistently.

Now, you can ask perhaps why Trent isn't signing classes like Billy D that year, or why he isn't signing classes like Kentucky, but then if you did that you'd sort of be ignorant about how often those classes come along. Frankly, Billy D (who once was considered the hot coaching name) has struggled to get his teams back to the promised land since those particular classes. We often forget just how hard it is to consistently win in college basketball to the level that most fans demand.

:geauxtige

 

Beat me to the punch.

I think if you're fair, too, I think for folks that follow recruiting, it's a little harsh to even say that Trent "hasn't recruited well so far". His 2010 class is pretty much better than any of the prior regime's last 3-4 classes, and you have to examine what was "readily available" for him to sign. That is, the talent in LA and in the nearby states, hasn't necessarily been great when Trent was here. His 2010 class has him signing the best LA, MS, and AL players, generally speaking. I think you can maybe get on him for not converting sooner in 2009, but as you said, sometimes it's hard to turn the switch if you're not hiring a super big name. LSU wasn't close to a Calipari type of multi-million dollar basketball hire, so they got a mid-tier, well-respected coach. I think Trent's recruiting now is good to very good. As with any coach though, you have to see how consistently good he is, and what he does with that talent. I have faith in Trent.

 

I'm thinking Trent can't get good players to come here. At least he hasn't proven he can.