RE: Not having a practice facility:
At Ky he had practice facilities and everything he needed yet by the time he was finished UK was not even a top 20 Program his last 2 seasons. He had stopped recruiting the best when he had everything at his fingertips.
The practice facility is an excuse.
Yes he has had bad luck, much more than a coach deserves, but a coach is suppose to cover his bases. You don't build a team and base everything on 1 player. The loss of Trevor is huge but he should have enough great players by now to still be a great team so that the loss is a setback, not a season buster.
The fact is that this is Tubby's 5th year. Every player he has on the floor is his pick, his teachings. How much has Sampson learned and improved as a player since he was a freshman. How much has Tubby developed him?
People think that because Tubby had some success at UK it meant he was automatically going to be the same at Minn.
People and coaches change. Was Bobby Knight the same at the end of his career as he was in his hey day? How about Denny Crumb. Many coaches fade as they approach the end of their career and Tubby is no different.
Recruiting, Recruiting, Recruiting, did I mention Recruiting.
Ask yourself If you are a top 10 prospect who wants to go to the NBA as most of the top 10 prospects have dreams of. Are you going to a school where the coach preaches offense and gives you the freedom to learn and showcase offense to get ready for the next level or are you going to pick Tubby where the only words out of his mouth are DEFENSE. Where instead of being allowed to score you spend your whole college career getting ready to play defense? Like it or not the top picks don't want to play for Tubby. Those are the cold hard facts, like it or not.
The kids of today know how each coach runs his team. Tubby is known as a coach who builds his game around defense and that is not going to get the best players, plain and simple.
As I said, Tubby has had some bad luck but with Tubby it is always something, always.
Tubby is doing at Minn what he did the last few years at KY. He racks up his wins by getting little wins over the cupcake schools, then plucks off enough ( just enough) in conference to get to 20. People think he's great because he wins 20 and the Tubby Myth rolls on. When it comes to playing equal or greater competition the mask comes off.
But his fans fall back on that 20 wins like its gold even though most teams play 30 plus games a year now and winning 20 isn't what it used to be.
5 years ago I made a prediction on this board
Tubby would win 20 games most, if not each year.
He would finish in the middle of the Big Ten each year.
He would get post season play each year but not any big wins.
He would NEVER get to the Sweet 16
When he got ready to retire he would groom Saul for the job.
So far I'm pretty close as we are still waiting on Saul
I am sure I going to get ripped for this post but know this fans, Tubby has already peaked at Minn in the first couple of years he has been here. He has already given the fans the most excitement they are going to get out of him when he turned Monson's team around. It is going to be mediocre basketball at best as long as he remains.