Devries or TJ poll

Who should be the next coach of ISUBB?


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3 of the starters from Menzies never played for T.J. I would imagine at the end of the year UNLV finishes 9-7 in the conference. Is that going to change your opinion?

Cant believe the minutiae people get bogged down in for coaching changes. “TJ’s team shot 9-15 from the line against MSVSU 5 years ago and only won by 26! They should have won by 32! Don’t want!”
 
3 of the starters from Menzies never played for T.J. I would imagine at the end of the year UNLV finishes 9-7 in the conference. Is that going to change your opinion?
Sure it would - and if they finish 6-10 would it change yours?
Losing PG Coleman has hurt them to be sure - but he was a Menzies player too. So is Hamilton, UNLV's top scorer.
Still have to point out again that an 11-7 conference record got the HC fired...but yeah TJ "inherited a mess."
 
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Sure it would - and if they finish 6-10 would it change yours?
Losing PG Coleman has hurt them to be sure - but he was a Menzies player too. So is Hamilton, UNLV's top scorer.
Still have to point out again that an 11-7 conference record got the HC fired...but yeah TJ "inherited a mess."
I never said he inherited a “mess” but inheriting two starters from the former coach isn’t quite like walking into a stacked team either.
 
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Did you miss that TJ is about 18 months on the job and inherited a mess and is in the process of cleaning house and rebuilding? You ***** act like he’s in Year 5.

No I’m aware.

I’m also aware that you still haven’t answered either question I have asked and probably don’t have anything basketball wise to add to the discussion.

Im not against TJ just haven’t seen why I should be excited including his days at SDSU. I don’t think he’s bad. I don’t think he gets us to the top half of the big 12
 
No I’m aware.

I’m also aware that you still haven’t answered either question I have asked and probably don’t have anything basketball wise to add to the discussion.

Im not against TJ just haven’t seen why I should be excited including his days at SDSU. I don’t think he’s bad. I don’t think he gets us to the top half of the big 12

I'm not pro TJ or against. If he's the next coach, so be it. I'm more curious as to who you think would get us to the top half of the big 12?

My point being is that it will be a crapshoot no matter who we hire. I'm just along for the ride and will support the next coach to the best of my abilities no matter who it is.
 
I'm not pro TJ or against. If he's the next coach, so be it. I'm more curious as to who you think would get us to the top half of the big 12?

My point being is that it will be a crapshoot no matter who we hire. I'm just along for the ride and will support the next coach to the best of my abilities no matter who it is.

Thats a very fair question and I admit I don’t have a good answer yet. For a few reasons my college basketball watching has been down the last few years (kids very busy basketball schedule, Iowa State is down, the NBA is really good to watch right now). I’ve been pretty limited to watching power 5 the last couple years so admittedly out of touch on coaching prospects. Been fun watching some non power five games lately. Chris Smith stuck out but only watched him vs UNLV so need a bigger sample size. I’ve only got to watch Drake once and was impressed with the way they played but one game and I think there are good questions asked here about Devries.

Porter Moser would be high on my list but I he looks like he doesn’t want to leave Loyola. Him vs Devries next weekend will be fun to watch.

While I agree the next selection is somewhat of a crapshoot there are indicators that can also increase the odds of success. If in ends up being TJ then like you said I’ll be the biggest TJ fan out there. At the same time I’m a basketball nerd so watching to see who is out there is a lot of fun even if Jamie isn’t going to call and ask my advice lol
 
Thank you. You obviously have more experience and knowledge on the situation and options than I do.

To be honest... I don't care what style ball we play. Slow... fine... Tim Floyd won with that. Fast... Hoiberg etc.. The key is to win. Pick a game plan and stick to it. In my mind at least.

I think a coach with a plan is the first thing we need, and go from there.

Just my 2 cents... lol
 
Thank you. You obviously have more experience and knowledge on the situation and options than I do.

To be honest... I don't care what style ball we play. Slow... fine... Tim Floyd won with that. Fast... Hoiberg etc.. The key is to win. Pick a game plan and stick to it. In my mind at least.

I think a coach with a plan is the first thing we need, and go from there.

Just my 2 cents... lol

Breaking: every coach has a plan.
 
Sure it would - and if they finish 6-10 would it change yours?
Losing PG Coleman has hurt them to be sure - but he was a Menzies player too. So is Hamilton, UNLV's top scorer.
Still have to point out again that an 11-7 conference record got the HC fired...but yeah TJ "inherited a mess."
TJ did not inherit a roster mess from a talent perspective but there were cultural adjustments to be made which resulted in a rocky start to the 2019-20 season. Things got squared away and the team ended up at 12-6 which had to be considered a success given the prior underachieving of UNLV teams with more talent.

This season's team has been impacted by COVID, a season ending injury to his PG (Coleman) and a recent injury to his leading scorer (Hamilton). He also elected to fill roster gaps after last season with primarily 4 yr players instead of quick fix transfers. Grill was an immediately eligible transfer. Wood and Jenkins were sit out transfers but he had the opportunity to pursue more. He also had starting G Amauri Hardy poached off by Oregon. He brought along Jenkins from SDSU and he has been wildly inconsistent after sitting out last season. They have what I consider one "bad" loss this season and that was to Montana St in the opener (and they lead the Big Sky).

They split with Utah State and lost two games at Colorado St by 3 points each. Both of those teams are in position to get NCAA at-large bids. With Coleman, they get at least a split with CSU.
 
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TJ did not inherit a roster mess from a talent perspective but there were cultural adjustments to be made which resulted in a rocky start to the 2019-20 season. Things got squared away and the team ended up at 12-6 which had to be considered a success given the prior underachieving of UNLV teams with more talent.

This season's team has been impacted by COVID, a season ending injury to his PG (Coleman) and a recent injury to his leading scorer (Hamilton). He also elected to fill roster gaps after last season with primarily 4 yr players instead of quick fix transfers. Grill was an immediately eligible transfer. Wood and Jenkins were sit out transfers but he had the opportunity to pursue more. He also had starting G Amauri Hardy poached off by Oregon. He brought along Jenkins from SDSU and he has been wildly inconsistent after sitting out last season. They have what I consider one "bad" loss this season and that was to Montana St in the opener (and they lead the Big Sky).

They split with Utah State and lost two games at Colorado St by 3 points each. Both of those teams are in position to get NCAA at-large bids. With Coleman, they get at least a split with CSU.

Can’t be true. Craig Smith is undefeated and the greatest coaching candidate since Darian Devries.
 
Thats the thing about “plans”. They don’t always work out. That’s why you always go with the guy that can recruit recruit recruit.

Point taken. Is it better to have a plan or recruit and only have one of the two? I don't know which side I'm on in that debate. Obviously both is best.
 
Point taken. Is it better to have a plan or recruit and only have one of the two? I don't know which side I'm on in that debate. Obviously both is best.

The plan needs to adapt and CSP seems to stick with what he wants no matter the results or strengths that are present. Not just in-game but over the course of many games.
 
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Point taken. Is it better to have a plan or recruit and only have one of the two? I don't know which side I'm on in that debate. Obviously both is best.

My opinion is recruiting to Ames Iowa isn’t the challenge. Every coach we’ve had has brought talent here. There are lots of guys you can add to the staff as assistants that will bring in talent. Developing them and getting them to play in a system is the key. Even a phenomenal recruiter isn’t going to bring in blue blood level talent that will just carry you by itself.
 
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Watching Loyola. This Lickliter has his guys playing well. Anyone know anything about him?

(I’m kidding)
 
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TJ did not inherit a roster mess from a talent perspective but there were cultural adjustments to be made which resulted in a rocky start to the 2019-20 season.

They have what I consider one "bad" loss this season and that was to Montana St in the opener (and they lead the Big Sky).

Well I would consider TJ's two losses this week to Alford and arch-rival Nevada - the first by 29, and the second being outscored 19-4 at the end - to be "bad losses."
This is the first I've heard about any "cultural" issues at UNLV that TJ had to "adjust." Could you explain?
 
Well I would consider TJ's two losses this week to Alford and arch-rival Nevada - the first by 29, and the second being outscored 19-4 at the end - to be "bad losses."
This is the first I've heard about any "cultural" issues at UNLV that TJ had to "adjust." Could you explain?

Didn't say “cultural issues”. The post said “cultural adjustments”.
 
Well I would consider TJ's two losses this week to Alford and arch-rival Nevada - the first by 29, and the second being outscored 19-4 at the end - to be "bad losses."
This is the first I've heard about any "cultural" issues at UNLV that TJ had to "adjust." Could you explain?
UNLV played Nevada without Coleman and Hamilton so the odds of winning at least one of those games were slim. They did play bad in Game 1 while Nevada was hot from the arc. UNLV had a 5 point lead and then Nevada went on a late game run. BTW, Nevada beat MWC leader Boise St on Thursday night so they certainly aren't a slouch.

It's no secret UNLV had underachieved under Menzies with their talent level and TJO had to change the culture with the returning players and it didn't go well in non con play as previously posted. They ended up 12-6 in MWC play (tied with Utah St), their best conference record in 10 years since Lon Kruger left.

And speaking of Craig Smith, he and TJO went at it in Summit play as well. In 2017, Smith and South Dakota won the conference title but TJO and SDSU beat them in the conference tourney semis and went on the NCAAs. In 2018, TJO and SDSU won the conference title and beat Smith/USD in the conference tourney finals. And TJO left Eric Henderson a conference title roster unlike Smith at South Dakota.
 
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I don't care who we hire, but he needs to bring in a solid coaching staff with him. Or her like S.A. Spur assistant.