When Tubby "forgot" how to coach

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Why is it that in Minnesota we are conditioned to tolerate P P Performance? We can spin rationalization -- finding little gems in the sand -- and think they are valuable. Guess what rubes! The Gophers basically are not competitive. No matter what stat you put together that shows them dominating the league, it simply is meaningless since the rest of the game play is sub par.
 

goldengophers said:
Great post I hope this is a post most of the board can agree on, this is the middle ground. Tubby gets one more year to make the Tourny.
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I agree with it as well.

It's funny because I think fans on both sides of the Tubby argument would agree with what he said. It's just that some have a glass half full view on Tubby while others are glass half empty. Either way, we all want the same thing (other than the few trolls): a successful program.
 

Dean S said:
Why is it that in Minnesota we are conditioned to tolerate P P Performance? We can spin rationalization -- finding little gems in the sand -- and think they are valuable. Guess what rubes! The Gophers basically are not competitive. No matter what stat you put together that shows them dominating the league, it simply is meaningless since the rest of the game play is sub par.
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For probably the same reason you felt compelled to write your post. You are correct, in anything in life or business, you look for grains of positive thoughts 'in the sand' to build on or you can be negative. The only games the team wasn't competitive in were against Dayton, Purdue, @MSU, and sadly last Saturday @ NW. That's probably why this season is so frustrating. Aside from Mbakwe going down, we've been, or had a chance to make run in the second half of every game or win it in the final minutes, which is probably why the frustration level of this board boiling over. Even the OSU game, down 8, they didn't have have the play or player that/who was able to cut it to a two possession game. IMO, to say they aren't competitive is wrong. To say the team is young and rudderless without a floor leader is accurate, IMO.
 

"Oh and the fact that he has not been able to recruit the caliber of player you would expect from an accomplished coach who clearly still has it as you seem to think he does."

Recruits pick a team partly because of the coach, but there are other reasons, too -- including the school and its environment. We haven't successfully recruited to our football team either since the early 60s under ten coaches. Maybe our assumption that all we need is the right coach in either sport and we can be a premier program is over-stated. Maybe there's something else wrong -- something fundamental at the UM.
 

The portion of the game which separates the men from the boys is the final 2 minutes. If you have played close all game, can you finish the game with points scored and ball control. Apparently, Tubby and his crew could not find that in the conference. Apparently, according to you, the Gophers were competitive until the final minutes, at which point 75% of their games they lost. Having success in 25% of your games in the final 2 minutes is not something to hang your hat on. It is something that makes me question the ability of the coach even more so than before. Since few on this board consider Tubbo an X and O guy, is there any wonder we have such a low % of wins in "close" games. They are close games if you really have a chance at winning. And, since it is demonstrable that in those final seconds Minnesota can not finish with wins, they are not as close as they appear. The opponents have a superior chance of winning them. How can a team, that you and others argue are fashionably in the games, in what I am sure you would argue until the final moments not even win 50% of the games at the close if they are "close" games. The reason they are not close to even have an opportunity to win in the final minutes is Tubby is being out coached. He can not identify what this team does that can dominate another team at will even for a minute. These are not close games at all. They are the illusion of being close.
 


balds said:
9-22 before he got here.

2007-08: Exact same team, plus two freshman = 20-14 (8-10) Inks a highly rated recruiting class. Man, can this guy coach!

2008-09: 22-10 (9-9) including a win over eventual #1 seed Louisville. Signs another highly rated class including the states top two rated players. Future looks bright.

2009-10: 21-13 (9-9) despite losing Nolen for the second half of the season. Wins include final 4 teams Butler and Michigan St., as well as Wisconsin and Ohio St.

2010-11 Starts out 16-4 (5-3) with wins against North Carolina, West Virginia and Purdue.

It is at this point, I believe, that Tubby Smith forgot how to coach.

All sarcasm set aside, The "Tubby Can't coach" drum that people have been beating is absurd. Imagine every Big Ten team without their starting PG. Now imagine every Big Ten team without their best front court player. That is the harsh reality he's dealt with the past two seasons, compounded by the untimely transfers of Cobbs and Joseph. That and Royce White's transfer have basically set us back a few years. Despite playing 4 Freshman, 3 Sophomores, 2 Juniors (1 Juco) and getting nothing from his lone Senior most of the year, he's had us in nearly every game in a season where people rave that the Big Ten is the best conference in the nation.

That is all, tee off.
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It's been pretty conclusively shown that Tubby's coaching ability is nowhere near what his reputation suggested when he was hired. He had enough coaching acumen to improve upon the mess he inherited, but of course most any breath of fresh air would have led to some improvement. It's not so much that Tubby can't "coach",
as much as it is that he can't coach well enough. He certainly has little aptitude for developing the talent he gets. And his in game coaching isn't exactly on the level of a Wooden or Krzyzewski.
 

tap said:
I struggle to believe he won a National Championship.
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Have to face facts, he was left with a roster full of players that had been on 2 national title
teams, many of whom would evenetually play in the NBA. Even if some/most had not been key players, they were there seeing it unfold, and practicing against the players that were doing it. And 1998 wasn't exactly a year of goliaths fighting for the title.
 





goldengophers said:
Great post I hope this is a post most of the board can agree on, this is the middle ground. Tubby gets one more year to make the Tourny.
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I am on the one more year trend, and I have a strong felling that things will be better.
 

Forget non-conference. Conference is what counts. Tubby "forgot" how to coach before he got here according to KY fans who happen to know their basketball very well. The trend is down, not up. Recruiting is down, not up. The longer we wait, the longer it is until we rebuild. Right now, this program is going nowhere. Sad.
 

Dean S said:
The portion of the game which separates the men from the boys is the final 2 minutes. If you have played close all game, can you finish the game with points scored and ball control. Apparently, Tubby and his crew could not find that in the conference. Apparently, according to you, the Gophers were competitive until the final minutes, at which point 75% of their games they lost. Having success in 25% of your games in the final 2 minutes is not something to hang your hat on. It is something that makes me question the ability of the coach even more so than before. Since few on this board consider Tubbo an X and O guy, is there any wonder we have such a low % of wins in "close" games. They are close games if you really have a chance at winning. And, since it is demonstrable that in those final seconds Minnesota can not finish with wins, they are not as close as they appear. The opponents have a superior chance of winning them. How can a team, that you and others argue are fashionably in the games, in what I am sure you would argue until the final moments not even win 50% of the games at the close if they are "close" games. The reason they are not close to even have an opportunity to win in the final minutes is Tubby is being out coached. He can not identify what this team does that can dominate another team at will even for a minute. These are not close games at all. They are the illusion of being close.
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I don't get why you changed your argument from 'competitive' to the word 'close.' You argued that they were not competitive, IMO i disagree. The team is young and competitive and with Mbakwe their at least 7-7 in BIG right now, at least in my opinion. The fact is outside of four games this year the team has been competitive.

Now as far as your rational of numbers, I agree in only 5 BIG games out of 15 have they been able to close out and win. I'd have to agree, at least one more year, before everyone jumps off the bandwagon. Either way, the end of the past two BIG conference seasons has been frustrating.
 

minngg said:
Forget non-conference. Conference is what counts. Tubby "forgot" how to coach before he got here according to KY fans who happen to know their basketball very well. The trend is down, not up. Recruiting is down, not up. The longer we wait, the longer it is until we rebuild. Right now, this program is going nowhere. Sad.
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Wow...what a surprising and fresh post from you. I never saw that coming.
 



minngg said:
Forget non-conference. Conference is what counts. Tubby "forgot" how to coach before he got here according to KY fans who happen to know their basketball very well. The trend is down, not up. Recruiting is down, not up. The longer we wait, the longer it is until we rebuild. Right now, this program is going nowhere. Sad.
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+1k
 

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