Tubby Smith rips into 12-th ranked Gophers after loss to Northwestern



Tactic that has worked so well in the past. Loved it when he kept bringing up that Hoff wasn't a good pg. Yeah no kidding but for whatever reason the year before you had FR, SO, and JR Pg that you recruited and by Feb the next year all couldn't play or were gone.
 

That's a shock.

Maybe you should read the article. I think the headline overstates the "rips" a fair amount. He did say Dre looked like he was scared out there, do you disagree? TM even said it was the worst game he has ever seen Dre play, it's just fact. Tubby also thought Austin was more "heady" and shouldn't have picked up his 5th. I think Austin would agree with him.

Would you be happier if the coach came out after every loss and said it was bad coaching and wouldn't elaborate? Coach was stating the obvious in this article that everyone could see by watching the game. I think the "rips" gets way over blown.
 

I hate coach speak as much as the next fan, but Tubby needs to show some composure there. Its no surprise that our guys fold under pressure, because obviously they are following their leader. I don't mind calling people out on occasion but this is at minimum 2 games in a row where its all been "not my fault". At my company the word "Should" is a swear word, if any of my managers say "they should have...." I correct it, no such thing as should, they did or didn't and why.

I really cannot imagine Thad Matta, Tom Izzo, Coach K, Roy Williams etc etc coming out of a terrible stretch of 3 games laying it on the players Tubby consistently has.

I have yet to see Tubby say it was his fault, and I don't care if he believes it is his fault or not, to the public it needs to be HIS FAULT. HE IS THE COACH, he's the one getting paid, and he's not getting it done. Period. He comes off as he's bigger and better than this school sometimes, and to this point, he has not proved that.

I like Tubby, he's brought more hope and expectations than our previous 2 basketball coaches ever mustered. Sure Monson got to the dance a couple times, but did we ever expect those teams to contend for Big 10 titles? No not really. Tubby has at least made us think we can make it there, but where he has failed is getting the team to meet expectations, and essentially, that's exactly the job of any leader, manage/motivate/coach your people to perform above their ability level.
 


In the end, we got out coached.

Even before the 1-3-1, some of the substitutions, time outs, etc...were all questionable. Shooting was horrible...for the first time this year, Austin didn't look engaged at all and Rodney, as he admits happens, got frustrated and can't seem to just move on to the next play, live in the moment if you will. Seems like whenever something bad happens on one end of the floor, Rodney does something stupid on the other end to make up for it. Passing seemed very lackadaisical and no sense of urgency, really, on either end of the floor.

Is it all coaching? Absolutely not. However, at some point, Tubby has to step up and admit HE didn't prepare them properly. The fact that a D1 team couldn't beat a 1-3-1 at some point was very telling. I have seen HS teams react to a 1-3-1 better than they did.

Now, we go into the KC that the Badgers just lost in...which they rarely lose in, and try to get out of this funk. Doesn't bode well. Hopefully they surprise me and play with a little more sense of purpose. I honestly wonder if the ranking was too much for them to bear.
 

I've said it on here many, many times and I'll say it again. Tubby teams at Minnesota have always been mentally fragile. They are always basket cases and it's just one big emotional rollercoaster. That's 100% on Tubby. He sets the tone and the culture of the program. These are all his players. His teams fold at the site of adversity and it takes them a long time to dig out of it. There were so many hesitant players out there last night. There were players playing trying not to mess up instead of trying to create. There were players afraid to shoot.

Last night's loss was waaaaaay to predictable. It's shocking (heavy sarcasm) that the Gophers lost at NW coming off of 2 straight losses. Just shocking!
 

In the end, we got out coached.

Even before the 1-3-1, some of the substitutions, time outs, etc...were all questionable. Shooting was horrible...for the first time this year, Austin didn't look engaged at all and Rodney, as he admits happens, got frustrated and can't seem to just move on to the next play, live in the moment if you will. Seems like whenever something bad happens on one end of the floor, Rodney does something stupid on the other end to make up for it. Passing seemed very lackadaisical and no sense of urgency, really, on either end of the floor.

Is it all coaching? Absolutely not. However, at some point, Tubby has to step up and admit HE didn't prepare them properly. The fact that a D1 team couldn't beat a 1-3-1 at some point was very telling. I have seen HS teams react to a 1-3-1 better than they did.

Now, we go into the KC that the Badgers just lost in...which they rarely lose in, and try to get out of this funk. Doesn't bode well. Hopefully they surprise me and play with a little more sense of purpose. I honestly wonder if the ranking was too much for them to bear.

I would like to hear from someone on this board who knows anyone with basketball expertise that thinks Tubby is a good game coach. There is a reason Carmody doesn't go 1-3-1 the full game. It's a gimmick and a gamble and a good team should adjust and beat it without much of a problem.

Sixth Place Tubby (high water mark). That's what he is until he changes it. He is a good man, a good solid recruiter who demands defense but who is stubborn, uninspiring and extremely uncreative. In bounds plays, offensive scheme, subsitution patterns, calling plays at crucial times that work- he rates a 'D' on all of these.
 

I would like to hear from someone on this board who knows anyone with basketball expertise that thinks Tubby is a good game coach. There is a reason Carmody doesn't go 1-3-1 the full game. It's a gimmick and a gamble and a good team should adjust and beat it without much of a problem.

Sixth Place Tubby (high water mark). That's what he is until he changes it. He is a good man, a good solid recruiter who demands defense but who is stubborn, uninspiring and extremely uncreative. In bounds plays, offensive scheme, subsitution patterns, calling plays at crucial times that work- he rates a 'D' on all of these.

That goes against everything I've heard. Vince Taylor does all of the work. Tubby puts hardly any effort into recruiting. I think people would be shocked to see the comparison of the time, effort, and travel someone like Tom Izzo or Tom Crean puts into recruiting and what Tubby puts in...and Izzo and Crean already have some big built-in advantages. Tubby needs to outwork his competition on the recruiting trail and that ain't happening. "Deferring responsibilities" is an appropriate way to describe his recruiting.
 



Is it all coaching? Absolutely not. However, at some point, Tubby has to step up and admit HE didn't prepare them properly. The fact that a D1 team couldn't beat a 1-3-1 at some point was very telling. I have seen HS teams react to a 1-3-1 better than they did.

He has been coaching against that zone for 6 years now too...
 

I fans bitching about the team on the GopherHole hurts the program, then Tubby bitching about the team hurts the program, too. (Obviously I don't think either hurts the program.)
 

That goes against everything I've heard. Vince Taylor does all of the work. Tubby puts hardly any effort into recruiting. I think people would be shocked to see the comparison of the time, effort, and travel someone like Tom Izzo or Tom Crean puts into recruiting and what Tubby puts in...and Izzo and Crean already have some big built-in advantages. Tubby needs to outwork his competition on the recruiting trail and that ain't happening. "Deferring responsibilities" is an appropriate way to describe his recruiting.

I personally have no insight on this, but I would like to learn more.
 

Maybe you should read the article. I think the headline overstates the "rips" a fair amount. He did say Dre looked like he was scared out there, do you disagree? TM even said it was the worst game he has ever seen Dre play, it's just fact. Tubby also thought Austin was more "heady" and shouldn't have picked up his 5th. I think Austin would agree with him.

Would you be happier if the coach came out after every loss and said it was bad coaching and wouldn't elaborate? Coach was stating the obvious in this article that everyone could see by watching the game. I think the "rips" gets way over blown.

He was out coached. Evidently he was the only person on the planet who was surprised by NU's 1-3-1 defense. His movement free offensive system made it seem like NU had 8 players on defense.
 



I've said it on here many, many times and I'll say it again. Tubby teams at Minnesota have always been mentally fragile. They are always basket cases and it's just one big emotional rollercoaster. That's 100% on Tubby. He sets the tone and the culture of the program. These are all his players. His teams fold at the site of adversity and it takes them a long time to dig out of it. There were so many hesitant players out there last night. There were players playing trying not to mess up instead of trying to create. There were players afraid to shoot.

Last night's loss was waaaaaay to predictable. It's shocking (heavy sarcasm) that the Gophers lost at NW coming off of 2 straight losses. Just shocking!

Can't argue with most of this. Tubby blew it by not getting Austin out of there when he picked-up his 4th foul. No reason any head coach at any level blows that.
 

my level of coaching topped out at 8th grade traveling but even at that level, I never had to call a time-out on the first possession of seeing a 1-3-1 zone trap - especially from a team that is coming with it at some point in the game. Horrible game preparation and that is all on the coaching staff.

a couple of phrases I have seen in different threads that I agree with are - Mentally fragile (as in the team) and to put a bunch of comments together, your players will play like they are coached and how they are led. And that falls back on "it's not my fault Tubby"
 


Admittedly, I didn't see any of last night's game due to work responsibilities. But I have to admit I'm very concerned about what I've read in terms of comments by Tubby after this game. It seems the players are checking out and the coach is making some critical mistakes at key times. On top of that, it sounds like Tubby is at the end of his rope right now, which tells me there's some major major problems with this bunch. A lot of that would seem to fall on Smith and his coaching staff, especially since he's paid to get them ready to play and after six years he apparently still hasn't figured out the 1-3-1 zone that Northwestern trots out every single time we play them. But these guys also need to take some responsibilities for themselves and it sounds like nobody wants to do that.

Hopefully, this thing doesn't completely unravel. But boy, the way things are sounding right now, there's a trainwreck in progress and it's name is the Gopher basketball team.
 

That goes against everything I've heard. Vince Taylor does all of the work. Tubby puts hardly any effort into recruiting. I think people would be shocked to see the comparison of the time, effort, and travel someone like Tom Izzo or Tom Crean puts into recruiting and what Tubby puts in...and Izzo and Crean already have some big built-in advantages. Tubby needs to outwork his competition on the recruiting trail and that ain't happening. "Deferring responsibilities" is an appropriate way to describe his recruiting.

I agree. However, I have to give Tubby credit for what his organization accomplishes- however it happens. He has a lot of talent assembled here and that's a feat to accomplish at Minnesota where recruiting is the biggest challenge. I don't care if Tubby is laying fast asleep on a cot at courtside if his team looks like a well oiled machine on the court- I'm going to give him credit for that. Regarding recruiting I think Tubby has this badge of credibility and personal character attached to him that does aid recruiting regardless of what often appears to be a lazy effort at it.
 

Most of last night's game fleshed out the stuff I've been harping on for 3 years now. Our players don't value the ball. Our players are not smart with the ball and our coach doesn't seem to coach them very well. Other teams improve during the course of a season. We always seem to regress and implode. The only conclusion to this house of horrors that a logical person can come up with is that Tubby has is not a big time coach. There are probably 50 coaches in the metro area who could have prepared the Gophers better for that 1-3-1. Most of this board could have.

Tubby needs to go to USC, retire or get fired. I'm done with Tubby.
 

Joe Esposito ‏@Coach_JEsposito

Things I know for sure 1. The sun will come up today 2. I love our team 3. We will get better 4. We won't point fingers 5. Learn and move on

apparently Tubby doesn't follow Coach Joe on twitter--#4 ( or Coach Joe didn't listen to Tubby talk to the press.)

interesting to me- one of the last timeouts of the game and Tubby was talking to the players and Jirza was the only coach even remotely interested in the huddle. Saul was checking the crowd, Joe was talking to someone else, Taylor wasn't even in the picture.
 

Joe Esposito ‏@Coach_JEsposito

Things I know for sure 1. The sun will come up today 2. I love our team 3. We will get better 4. We won't point fingers 5. Learn and move on

apparently Tubby doesn't follow Coach Joe on twitter--#4 ( or Coach Joe didn't listen to Tubby talk to the press.)

interesting to me- one of the last timeouts of the game and Tubby was talking to the players and Jirza was the only coach even remotely interested in the huddle. Saul was checking the crowd, Joe was talking to someone else, Taylor wasn't even in the picture.

Maybe Saul can head off to Ukraine for his next recruiting venture...I heard there's a 6-8 sharpshooter in Kiev within walking distance of a vintage vodka distillary.
 

I agree. However, I have to give Tubby credit for what his organization accomplishes- however it happens. He has a lot of talent assembled here and that's a feat to accomplish at Minnesota where recruiting is the biggest challenge. I don't care if Tubby is laying fast asleep on a cot at courtside if his team looks like a well oiled machine on the court- I'm going to give him credit for that. Regarding recruiting I think Tubby has this badge of credibility and personal character attached to him that does aid recruiting regardless of what often appears to be a lazy effort at it.

Tubby has indeed got some talent on the team, but don't forget that a major Achilles heel rearing its head right now is the lack of true depth. We don't have the strong top 7 and the reliable top 9 you need to be a truly good team.
 

Tubby needs to look in the mirror. I've been a Tubby-backer with the best of them but last night was unacceptable. How can we not break the 1-3-1 after 5 years?! We have two high flyers around the rim (Rodney and Trevor) and we can't beat the 1-3-1? The design of the 1-3-1 consists of a center or power forward under the basket. Last night the center was a Freshman (Alex Olah), and Tubby still can't figure out the 1-3-1 with the athleticism we have around this basket ??

What a major letdown. I know the season is long but we've all heard this same song and dance before and it's starting to look like 2011 all over again. The half court offense is still pathetic; watching the three-man weave around the perimeter makes me want to scream! Get it together Tubby! Look in the mirror and figure this out! This is the most talented starting 5 you'll ever have at Minnesota. If you can't do it this year, well it might be time to move on.
 

Tubby has indeed got some talent on the team, but don't forget that a major Achilles heel rearing its head right now is the lack of true depth. We don't have the strong top 7 and the reliable top 9 you need to be a truly good team.

Bad- Honestly I think that goes more to his poor coaching style than his recruiting. I think that with Welch, Elliason and Ellenson you have the makings of a nice top 8 which includes a combo guard a wing and a big. But he comes out with these silly line changes putting all subs on the floor. I think this hurts the confidence and development of your better bench players. All of the sudden your 6th best player is forced into a scorers role when all of the subs are out there together. Now finally, Tubby is realizing that he has to spot guys in- starting with Welch and Welch is playing a little better when in with the starters. Go figure.
 

Any other coach in the Big Ten could have taken Tubby's troops and won comfortably, perhaps by 25 last night. I'd love to see a true coach like Bo Ryan given the Gophers job and the talent that Tubby has. What a waste of talent!
 

Al Nolen on twitter was saying how hard it is to break the 1-3-1. Tubby was in Ohio Friday recruiting to say Vince Taylor does all the recruiting is dumb. Wojo does a lot of the recruiting at Duke.
 

If nothing else, Tubby refuses to adapt to his local media/fans. Ripping your players a new one at the press conference doesn't fly well in MN (or most places.) Take a lesson from Tom Kelly who managed some truly awful teams but was never ripped like this and fall on the sword a bit. You are at least partly responsible. Act like it.
 

Recruit some shooters! Missing wide open shots - mostly bricks - and layups (Joe, Ingrim, Mo and Rodney)!!! Free throws - if we miss the front end of a 1 and 1 (Trevor - 3 times) it hould be a turnover stat... and missing 2 fts the same.... Argh!!!!!!!!!! Should have been ahead at half by 20!!! And of course giving up the score before half has become a tradtion in Gopherville!!!
 

Bad- Honestly I think that goes more to his poor coaching style than his recruiting. I think that with Welch, Elliason and Ellenson you have the makings of a nice top 8 which includes a combo guard a wing and a big. But he comes out with these silly line changes putting all subs on the floor. I think this hurts the confidence and development of your better bench players. All of the sudden your 6th best player is forced into a scorers role when all of the subs are out there together. Now finally, Tubby is realizing that he has to spot guys in- starting with Welch and Welch is playing a little better when in with the starters. Go figure.

Excellent points, bga.
 

Al Nolen on twitter was saying how hard it is to break the 1-3-1. Tubby was in Ohio Friday recruiting to say Vince Taylor does all the recruiting is dumb. Wojo does a lot of the recruiting at Duke.

My wife and I have always told our daughters that the one excuse we won't accept is, "It's too hard!"
 




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