Tubby on Buggs, U's strength program, tighter curfew's, sideline engagement, etc.

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savagerube said:
It makes a difference. A significant difference? probably not. For example, Gopher football recruit Martez Shabbaz couldn't get into Baylor (Private), but was accepted into the U. Now is there a correlation with grades and a higher quality person? That's for another conversation. Furthermore, a private school like Georgetown has a completely different student base. The overall culture at a private school is different; from the people you surround yourself with, to the level of education. The U has 52,000 students --Three times the size of a Georgetown. It might not make a big difference but comparing the Georgetown atmosphere to the U's atmosphere could be questionable. Just because you're really good at basketball doesn't mean you can get into any school. You still have to provide good grades to get into a Duke, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Temple, Marquette, etc.
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Don't private schools have the ability to grant entry to athletes? Allan Iverson got into Georgetown after serving time in jail.
 

From the Barn said:
It is pretty interesting that in the top 25 that Ohio State is the only major university in a big city, though I supposed you could include San Diego State and UNLV I suppose. Three out of 25 seems to be more than a trend.
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Duke/North Carolina
Georgetown

Villanova and Pitt are usually in the top 25.
UCLA has had some good teams.
 

The basketball team has the same staff to player ratio as other schools. I guess I'm slightly confused, I thought all schools had booze, bars, drugs, video games and women? I knew a whole lot of people who went to the U and didn't get caught up in the culture to the point where their education suffered.
 

Winnipegopher said:
Don't private schools have the ability to grant entry to athletes? Allan Iverson got into Georgetown after serving time in jail.
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Iverson spent a night in jail and it was overturned. From my understanding, players in all sports (Shabazz being one of them) are denied entry to certain schools.
 

goldengophers said:
The basketball team has the same staff to player ratio as other schools. I guess I'm slightly confused, I thought all schools had booze, bars, drugs, video games and women? I knew a whole lot of people who went to the U and didn't get caught up in the culture to the point where their education suffered.
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I hear ya. However, I'm guessing your friends weren't basketball players? I think there are few benefits come with being a scholared athlete; popularity, parties, etc. Every school has got their nightlife but looking at Royce's situation, there is no way that Royce has as many opportunities to get mixed up in the wrong crowd in Ames versus Minneapolis. Besides, this is all speculation. Like I said before, it probably doesn't make a big difference. However, if coaches at the U have struggled with it in the past, I will take their word for it.
 


GophersInIowa said:
At this point, I really don't think it matters that much what he says. If he talked a bunch about the future, there would have been those that said, "Yeah it's always about potential and next year. How about now?"

I'm not blaming anyone for having that or any other negative point of view, I just don't think words mean a whole lot right now.
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You may be right. Not sure. To me, letting us know that he is optimistic about the young players he has and the ones he has coming in and telling us that the future is bright would be a lot more helpful than what I heard. An interview like this just further lends to the impression that the present is a mess and the future is cloudy. The amount of time I want my customers thinking that about my product is as little as possible.
 

scher215 said:
Marquette could be a comparison. Milwaukee is urban (too lazy to look up the nature of the school) but they just had players suspended for a half for violating team rules.

It's definitely not an excuse for poor play though, at all.
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I'm a little late on this and it was kind of hinted at in another post, but Marquette is another Catholic school (FWIW). Tubby's definition of "urban environment" isn't really well-defined though. Marquette is located right downtown, but NBA players from other cities rip Milwaukee all the time for being extremely boring compared to other major cities with NBA teams. Of course, NBA players don't necessarily look for the same types of trouble that college kids might look for.

As a recent college grad who has visited friends at colleges of all shapes and sizes, I still think there is plenty of "trouble" for kids to get into at, say, a 30,000-student school in the middle of nowhere. EDIT: Savagerube makes a good point though in that it could be a totally different environment for the big men on campus.
 

According to my trusted source (Wikipedia). Iverson was sentenced to 10 years in jail and spent 4 months in jail before being granted clemency.

Players are denied entry to schools all the time, both public and private. My completely unresearched belief is that it is easier for athletes to get entry to private schools since they have more flexibility than a public institution.
 

Duke and UNC are pretty isolated and are definitely not in a major city.
 



I currently work at a private school in higher education in the Twin Cities and I can tell you that Private Schools usually have a more stringent admissions process. As for athletes, some of the admissions requirements are dismissed. The Higher Learning Commission is still the same accrediting body for Public vs Private so there isn't any more flexibility for a private school. Schools, especially Duke, have tough admissions requirements that result in turning down plenty of potential scholared athletes. A lot of private schools will require students to pass a background check (not sure if the U does this). I was mistaken by Iverson's sentence; I was using his biography as a reference and it stated one night in jail. Maybe since it was a correctional facility, it wasn't considered "jail time?" If Iverson wasn't granted clemency, I find it hard to believe that he would've been accepted at a school like Georgetown.
 

Interesting how he reacted after the NU game, kinda sending a strong message to them, and then they responded with a good effort in the MSU game. Perhaps this slate of players requires more tough love? Maybe the crew prior was a group he needed to come with the more "positive" and "laid back" approach and they would have responded better.

All I know is, it doesn't take much to turn a bad situation into a good one, when you consider how many times over the last calendar year this team has blown opportunities that were right there for the taking. You look back on this season, and 10-6 right now was easily doable with just one or two plays in given games. @ Illinois, Wisconsin, MSU, both Iowa games, it's just a constant theme with Gopher teams from like the last decade and it's frustrating. It's just that in Tubby's earlier years, we had more experience out there, right now we don't have it and it shows.
 

He seems to have the PR skills of Glen Mason. Now we can throw the big city college excuse into the fray. He must have had more fire at Tulsa or Georgia . I have never been as disappointed in a coach. I was wrong and the Kentucky fans were right.
The best shooting team he's had type remarks make him a fraud in my book.
 

Mulligan said:
+1 As it's been noted, we really do spend a lot of time analyzing "coach speak". Don't know if it's because as Gopher fans we always seem to be searching for answers to the latest disaster. Tubby has always rambled as he searches for the words he wants, but it doesn't make any difference because there's a level that we fans never see. I'm much more interested in seeing how we play against Wisconsin. Another lifeless, disengaged performance by the lads does not bode well.
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Yep, this is who Tubby is. It's just that when things aren't going well, fans tend to pay a lot more attention to the things he (or any other coach in America) is saying.

Tubby is paid to coach the team, not speak well. If we see another lackluster performance and effort tonight, then that is what we should be talking about.
 



GophersInIowa said:
Yep, this is who Tubby is. It's just that when things aren't going well, fans tend to pay a lot more attention to the things he (or any other coach in America) is saying.

Tubby is paid to coach the team, not speak well. If we see another lackluster performance and effort tonight, then that is what we should be talking about.
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If you aren't winning and you don't speak well- the mood of the fans, players and potential recruits (who hear the same speaker) can go downhill in a hurry. Speaking clearly and optimistically can get you through some lean times.
 

bga1 said:
If you aren't winning and you don't speak well- the mood of the fans, players and potential recruits (who hear the same speaker) can go downhill in a hurry. Speaking clearly and optimistically can get you through some lean times.
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I thought Brewster spoke pretty clearly and optimistically.....:)

I don't think it matters what you say, if you aren't winning, people are gonna be pissed and look at the negative side of anything you say. The only way to change that is to win more games IMO.
 

Was this the interview where he talked about the "urban enviroment" and how it causes problems for his players. Great job of marketing the program Tubby. Jeez.
 

Monty519 said:
Interesting how he reacted after the NU game, kinda sending a strong message to them, and then they responded with a good effort in the MSU game. Perhaps this slate of players requires more tough love? Maybe the crew prior was a group he needed to come with the more "positive" and "laid back" approach and they would have responded better.

All I know is, it doesn't take much to turn a bad situation into a good one, when you consider how many times over the last calendar year this team has blown opportunities that were right there for the taking. You look back on this season, and 10-6 right now was easily doable with just one or two plays in given games.
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Stop right there. I think it's important to understand that basketball -- like all sports -- is literally a game of seconds and inches. Almost every single team in the nation could have a better record, or several more wins like you proclaim with just a few bounces. Believe me, Minnesota isn't the only team in college basketball that's a few bounces away from having a much better record. I just think everything from facilities, to injuries, to Minnesota's poor basketball history, to transfers and now "a few plays" are just excuses people are fabricating for a poorly coached team with second-rate players.
 

BigGopherFan said:
Stop right there. I think it's important to understand that basketball -- like all sports -- is literally a game of seconds and inches. Almost every single team in the nation could have a better record, or several more wins like you proclaim with just a few bounces. Believe me, Minnesota isn't the only team in college basketball that's a few bounces away from having a much better record. I just think everything from facilities, to injuries, to Minnesota's poor basketball history, to transfers and now "a few plays" are just excuses people are fabricating for a poorly coached team with second-rate players.
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Usually teams that lose a lot of close games is an indicator of having more than "second-rate" players IMO. I'm not going to argue whether this team is poorly coached, but they could be, there are signs that they are. It's just there are so many reasons why things have gotten the way they are currently. I just think people too often jump to the easy route of just simply "fire the coach" and think that will automatically shift everything in our favor. I think right now is just the latest example of issues beyond just coaching.
 

BigGopherFan said:
Stop right there. I think it's important to understand that basketball -- like all sports -- is literally a game of seconds and inches. Almost every single team in the nation could have a better record, or several more wins like you proclaim with just a few bounces. Believe me, Minnesota isn't the only team in college basketball that's a few bounces away from having a much better record. I just think everything from facilities, to injuries, to Minnesota's poor basketball history, to transfers and now "a few plays" are just excuses people are fabricating for a poorly coached team with second-rate players.
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Fans can just as easily turn it around and say that people who blame Tubby are using a poor excuse for a team who lacks adaquete facilities, have had a ton of injuries, and a coach who is heading a program that is sub-par based on their three B1G championships in the last 75 years.
 

savagerube said:
Fans can just as easily turn it around and say that people who blame Tubby are using a poor excuse for a team who lacks adaquete facilities, have had a ton of injuries, and a coach who is heading a program that is sub-par based on their three B1G championships in the last 75 years.
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You are right. But that's why the price of Coach Smith always comes into the disussion. It can be easily argued that the U could pay half as much for mediocre seasons and go ahead and invest the difference in the practice facility. That's not what I advocate, but that's the counter.
 

From the Barn said:
It is pretty interesting that in the top 25 that Ohio State is the only major university in a big city, though I supposed you could include San Diego State and UNLV I suppose. Three out of 25 seems to be more than a trend.
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Georgetown would make 4.
 

I don't think it hurts to toke up now and again, but if a person is habitually doping it up, it dulls your brain, man. I don't know if that's necessarily what's going on here, but if I were Tubby and wanted to say that without saying, I would have said what he said. Every time I see a team or individual players underachieving and looking lifeless in the process, I suspect the doob.
 

I was trying to remember when Tubby made the "when the cat's away the mice will play" comment last year and found this thread. Read the article linked in the OP. Deja vu.

Judd Zulgad said:
With his team in the midst of a five-game losing streak and a second consecutive late-season free fall, Minnesota Gophers men's basketball coach Tubby Smith is a man looking for answers.....
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I started reading this thread and missed the dates. When I realized it was from last year, I was stunned. pretty much déjà vu.
 

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