First of all, my grapevine tells me that it wasn't a diversity hire; it was a budget hire. At least according to my source. OR...maybe we should take Coyle at his word that he was impressed with Ben when they spoke and that compelled him to take this risk.
It's not a knock on Ben to give some or even much of the credit to Thorson and the rest of his staff. That's the way it's supposed to work, right? Hey, would Phil Jackson have had the same success without Tex Winter? One way or another, I think we have Thorson here from this point forward until he retires. He's kind of a secret weapon. AND...let's take Thorson at his word when he said that he knew years ago that he'd be working for Ben Johnson someday.
I don't know what to make of this team, and I mean that in a good way. We could end up at a point later in the season when they've hit a wall of sorts or get into a slump, or whatever, but that won't change that this team is well coached and knows what they're doing out there. And they've won close games! They won't win all the close games, of course, but you have to like their poise and moxy, staring other teams in the face and getting them to blink.
I remember thinking, during the hiring process, there were SO MANY awesome, interested candidates, and the U could not go wrong hiring ANY of them. My favorite was Craig Smith because of how well schooled they were and how well they executed. I never dreamed we'd see the same kind of heady play and execution under Ben, whose hire devastated me. Regardless of what happens the rest of the year, I rest comfortable that they made a heck of a hire, and I was very, very wrong.
The thing that I wonder--and I posted this sentiment in another thread--is whether constituting a team largely of experienced transfers is an undiscovered way of doing business. These guys have seen it all and done it all, and they've developed at a lower level where they could get playing time and leadership development that they almost certainly wouldn't have gotten at a high major level. If Ben and his staff have now shown the ability to get a team of strangers to mesh very quickly and thoroughly--and that seems to be what's happened here--can that be repeated? I get the business from people for respecting the job Calipari does in having so many newcomers and a newly constituted roster every year and getting them to mesh. That's way easier said than done, even with their high talent levels. If he can do that there perennially with freshman, can it be done perennially with upperclassmen?
