coolhandgopher
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While reading the previous posts on the Gopher loss to Portland, the disrespect for Portland and Butler was pretty glaring and quite short-sighted. From this point forward, don't we want Portland and Butler (and all our non-conf. opponents for that matter) to do quite well? That being said, I feel the need to address some of this misinformation thrown against the wall:
* The WCC is not an awful conference. Yes, they have some dregs at the bottom of the conference (although I don't know that anyone whose conference affiliation counts the recent versions of Iowa and Indiana should be so haughty), but this is where Gonzaga plays ball, and St. Mary's, San Diego and now Portland are all quality programs.
* Portland finishing third last season in the WCC meant they finished behind Gonzaga and St. Mary's, likely the last team out of the March Madness field. No shame in that.
* I believe this was addressed already, but the disparaging of the Portland head coach was not only petulant but wrong-headed. To rebuild a program that was in the depths like Portland was to the point that they have realistic hopes for a NCAA berth speaks to an impressive program builder and sideline coach.
* And for the buffoonish statement that Portland shouldn't have won because they didn't have any 4 star players or something to that effect, well then they and the majority of D-1 basketball programs might as well just shut off the gym lights. To build a program, whether from a power conference or a smaller conference, you need to hit on those "diamonds in the rough", develop them for four years, and have them buy into a coach's system. It seems that Portland is doing a fine job of making this happen.
Now, for Butler. . .
* They have not been a program that gets knocked out of the tourney every year in the first round. In fact, during the past decade they made six trips to the NCAA tournament and only lost their opening game on two occasions. Twice they advanced to the Round of 32 and twice they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. That's six wins in the NCAA tournament this past decade or six more than our beloved Gophers earned during the same period.
* The reason for Butler's hype was not only because they were returning all their players, but also because those players are good. Gordon Hayward and Shevlin Mack were chosen for the U-19 World Championships this past season and their center/power forward Matt Howard also is pretty formidable. It doesn't appear that Hayward has had a very good tournament in Anaheim, but he was a star over the summer and the pros have noticed-Hayward's projected by draft express to go in the middle of the first round in '11.
If you're going to knock a program, at least be accurate about it, rather than making yourself, and by extension the Gopher fanbase look like misinformed idiots.
* The WCC is not an awful conference. Yes, they have some dregs at the bottom of the conference (although I don't know that anyone whose conference affiliation counts the recent versions of Iowa and Indiana should be so haughty), but this is where Gonzaga plays ball, and St. Mary's, San Diego and now Portland are all quality programs.
* Portland finishing third last season in the WCC meant they finished behind Gonzaga and St. Mary's, likely the last team out of the March Madness field. No shame in that.
* I believe this was addressed already, but the disparaging of the Portland head coach was not only petulant but wrong-headed. To rebuild a program that was in the depths like Portland was to the point that they have realistic hopes for a NCAA berth speaks to an impressive program builder and sideline coach.
* And for the buffoonish statement that Portland shouldn't have won because they didn't have any 4 star players or something to that effect, well then they and the majority of D-1 basketball programs might as well just shut off the gym lights. To build a program, whether from a power conference or a smaller conference, you need to hit on those "diamonds in the rough", develop them for four years, and have them buy into a coach's system. It seems that Portland is doing a fine job of making this happen.
Now, for Butler. . .
* They have not been a program that gets knocked out of the tourney every year in the first round. In fact, during the past decade they made six trips to the NCAA tournament and only lost their opening game on two occasions. Twice they advanced to the Round of 32 and twice they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. That's six wins in the NCAA tournament this past decade or six more than our beloved Gophers earned during the same period.
* The reason for Butler's hype was not only because they were returning all their players, but also because those players are good. Gordon Hayward and Shevlin Mack were chosen for the U-19 World Championships this past season and their center/power forward Matt Howard also is pretty formidable. It doesn't appear that Hayward has had a very good tournament in Anaheim, but he was a star over the summer and the pros have noticed-Hayward's projected by draft express to go in the middle of the first round in '11.
If you're going to knock a program, at least be accurate about it, rather than making yourself, and by extension the Gopher fanbase look like misinformed idiots.
