Tom Powers: Watch out, Big Ten. Tubby wants his Gophers to run, run, run -- pp Link

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Man...I've never heard that before, like 2 years ago, before last year, and now this year.

If the BSU game was any indication, I think Tubby and I have a different definition of the term "run, run, run."
 

ShowinGoldyLove said:
Man...I've never heard that before, like 2 years ago, before last year, and now this year.

If the BSU game was any indication, I think Tubby and I have a different definition of the term "run, run, run."
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Tubby was quoted as saying he was mad because they weren't running enough.
 

ShowinGoldyLove, it's clear you are not a fan of Tubby at all. What will it take for him to win you back? Heck, what will it take for you to give him credit for recruiting "possibly the toughest player" Trevor that you didn't want to give him credit for?

last year sucked for all of us. The Gophers need to have a much better season no doubt but your posts are heavy with a dislike of the tubster so I'm curious what the team has to do for you to change your tone?
 

Yup, and then he'll yank the first kid that forces a pass, causing a turnover on the break.

It's one thing to want up-tempo basketball, but it's another to be okay, or at least be willing to deal with a few more turnovers because of the style of play (pushing the ball, fast breaking, etc.).

Even last year, if someone was pushing it (like Maverick, for instance), he would jerk him out the second he pushed too far. Similar to what he did with Cobbs the year before, and what he did the year before with Westbrook.

Basically, it seems that Tubby wants to run the break at a fast pace, but will not tolerate any mistakes. In college basketball, that really doesn't seem to be reality. In fact, it usually makes guys more tentative out there with the ball, and usually becomes ho-hum pass it around until there are 2 seconds left on the shot clock.
 


Go4 said:
ShowinGoldyLove, it's clear you are not a fan of Tubby at all. What will it take for him to win you back? Heck, what will it take for you to give him credit for recruiting "possibly the toughest player" Trevor that you didn't want to give him credit for?

last year sucked for all of us. The Gophers need to have a much better season no doubt but your posts are heavy with a dislike of the tubster so I'm curious what the team has to do for you to change your tone?
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1st thing, I really wouldn't give him Trevor 100%, because it sounded like Trevor was coming back here if Humpty-Dumpty was the coach. However, he still needed some convincing I'm sure, so I can give him credit. And if that's a huge deal to you, no problem, call Trevor a 100% pure recruit by Tubby Smith. That's the least of my worries...

Second, I never said I'm not a fan of Tubby. In fact, I am a fan, but I think he's either been lazy, or too stubborn to realize when he has made major mistakes regarding our style of play, offense, personnel, etc. Even though he has a great track record historically, I think there are some legitimate concerns in those areas. Just because I'm a fan doesn't mean I will agree with 100% of what he says and does.

Lastly, he doesn't need to "win anyone back." Tubby is what he is; he seems to be a good guy, but I think his coaching ability is probably overrated. I don't think he's a Top 10 coach in the NCAA, period. I like him, and think he's a solid coach, but I don't think he comes close to some of the top coaches that many around here seem to.

He seems to be a good motivator (using the Tubby Stare, running his guys hard, using the bench as motivation, etc.), which is great for defense, and often winning basketball games. However, I think some of the reasons we have struggled is because I think we've come to find he's probably only an average X's and O's guy when it comes to offense.

I can't recall anything about any of his offensive sets, out of bounds plays, press breaks, etc. that have stood out as truly phenomenal coaching sets/plays. In fact, we often look extremely outcoached on the offensive end of the floor in my opinion. For 4 years now, the shot clock often winds down to 2 without a single good look at the basket, and we are forced to chuck a shot up. You may argue we haven't had great penetrators out there, but there are 2 problems with that. #1 was that he's had 4 years now to recruit at least one (and keep them here), and #2, I've seen many teams that don't have a really great creator/penetrator that can still get quality shots up with a good offense. Regarding out of bounds plays, we probably score less than anyone I've seen in recent times in college basketball under the basket. We're usually lucky if we get it in bounds without turning it over. It's either a toss to Sampson at the 3 pt line on the baseline, or whipping it out to half court. Our guys have looked completely lost for 4 years.

I don't mean to harp, but it's these types of weaknesses in Tubby's coaching ability that have me concerned. Couple that with the concept of the ball-line defense in this day and age, especially the automatic double down on a post entry pass regardless of who catches the ball in the post (seemingly the #1 reason Kentucky fans had a problem with him behind his supposed lack of landing 5* guys like Slick Cal), you could say I'm concerned.

It's not that I don't like Tubby, I just haven't seen many of things that I think need to be there for us to consistently be a Top 5 Big 10 team, despite paying him as though we are. Now hopefully he turns things around in the next year or two, but I think it's pretty fair to say that we've performed under most people's expectations now going into his 5th year at the helm. Maybe someone said when he was hired in 2007 that we should not expect a NCAA win in 4 years, but I really doubt it.

Granted, everyone can come up with some excuses about this or that, but ultimately, with his name, his reputation, and his salary, he really needs to start owning that subpar record and doing something about it. Otherwise, we'll continue to see a lot of fan's patience start to run thin...
 

ShowinGoldyLove said:
1st thing, I really wouldn't give him Trevor 100%, because it sounded like Trevor was coming back here if Humpty-Dumpty was the coach. However, he still needed some convincing I'm sure, so I can give him credit. And if that's a huge deal to you, no problem, call Trevor a 100% pure recruit by Tubby Smith. That's the least of my worries...

Second, I never said I'm not a fan of Tubby. In fact, I am a fan, but I think he's either been lazy, or too thick-headed to realize when he has made major mistakes regarding our style of play, offense, personnel, etc. Even though he has a great track record historically, I think there are some legitimate concerns in those areas. Just because I'm a fan doesn't mean I will agree with 100% of what he says and does.

Lastly, he doesn't need to "win anyone back." Tubby is what he is; he seems to be a good guy, but I think his coaching ability is probably overrated. I don't think he's a Top 10 coach in the NCAA, period. I like him, and think he's a solid coach, but I don't think he comes close to some of the top coaches that many around here seem to.

He seems to be a good motivator (using the Tubby Stare, running his guys hard, using the bench as motivation, etc.), which is great for defense, and often winning basketball games. However, I think some of the reasons we have struggled is because I think we've come to find he's probably only an average X's and O's guy when it comes to offense.

I can't recall anything about any of his offensive sets, out of bounds plays, press breaks, etc. that have stood out as truly phenomenal coaching sets/plays. In fact, we often look extremely outcoached on the offensive end of the floor in my opinion. For 4 years now, the shot clock often winds down to 2 without a single good look at the basket, and we are forced to chuck a shot up. You may argue we haven't had great penetrators out there, but there are 2 problems with that. #1 was that he's had 4 years now to recruit at least one (and keep them here), and #2, I've seen many teams that don't have a really great creator/penetrator that can still get quality shots up with a good offense. Regarding out of bounds plays, we probably score less than anyone I've seen in recent times in college basketball under the basket. We're usually lucky if we get it in bounds without turning it over. It's either a toss to Sampson at the 3 pt line on the baseline, or whipping it out to half court. Our guys have looked completely lost for 4 years.

I don't mean to harp, but it's these types of weaknesses in Tubby's coaching ability that have me concerned. Couple that with the concept of the ball-line defense in this day and age, especially the automatic double down on a post entry pass regardless of who catches the ball in the post (seemingly the #1 reason Kentucky fans had a problem with him behind his supposed lack of landing 5* guys like Slick Cal), you could say I'm concerned. It's not that I don't like Tubby, I just haven't seen many of things that I think need to be there for us to consistently be a Top 5 Big 10 team, despite paying him as though we are.
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fair enough and good post. i agree with most of what you said. just curious on where you stood. good post.
 

Realistically, Tubby should take some of his salary and use it towards paying an assistant that is considered an offensive expert.
 

Mr. Powers misses on some facts in this article, but SGL is right - it's just talk. You're not going to see a 'running, up-tempo style'.
 





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