Amath M'Baye video

[WillJennings]

Here is a sample of the Wyoming transfer who has to sit out.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqchmn-g40Q[/ame]

 

[WTSooner]

Reminds me a little bit of Ace, maybe without the range out to the 3 point line. Good touch inside, alot of good finesse moves. Nice jumper when taken in rhythm.

I still think he is a four with range, as opposed to an athletic three though.

 

[WillJennings]

One thing about the staff from their history at UNLV is they don't view players in terms of positions. The point guard position is important, but they really like to have the other 4 players interchangeable on the court. It works out if they have an undersized center, because the slack is made up by longer perimeter players in the 6'4 to 6'6 range. At UNLV, they were a high pressure team that switched at multiple positions defensively.

 

[garyeb2]

Will, you are right. But, I don't think it is just Kruger at UNLV. I think it is most coaches.

If this gets too long winded, I appologise. I'm friendly with an ex-coach that was a head man at good mid-major's and top assistant at a top program in their prime. He coached and gamed planned against Kruger at multiple locations over multiple years.

Last week I asked him, what he would run if he had the luxery of getting the kind of players he wanted year after year. He looked at me like that was the dumbest question he had ever been asked. His answer was " I don't know." Then, I asked him what he thought Kruger would run. His answer was, "I don't know."

When pressing him for an explanation, I got this. He said, " You need a really really good point guard and some height. Past that, you just recruit the best basketball player you can find. And on game day, you just take those players and work them in."

That is what Kruger will do.

 

[Sawyer]

I think I know why he's an ex-coach.

 

[garyeb2]

I think I know why he's an ex-coach.

You think you know? I'm thinking that you are not thinking at all. If you were, you wouldn't be popping off sacastically. You would have learned something.

I'll try to help you. His point was, that as a coach, you can not get mired in rigid process. There is a talent involved in coaching. The art of coaching trumps the x's and o's side. At some point they can all learn the x's and o's. It is the intangibles that separate the good ones from the also rans.

That "talent" threads it's way all through the coaching process from player evaluation to recruiting to game management. Kruger has got "it". Why do you think he opens up his practices to anyone that wants to show up. He is just showing the process of coaching. Something everyone already knows. Game management is literaly 100's of situation specific decisions.

My source is an accomplished retired coach. If you insist on impuning my source. I'll embarass you. If the abstract concept of process vs talent is too much for you, I'll be happy to provide you with a reading list that will enhance your basic understanding. Start with BLINK by Malcomb Gladwell and we will go from there.

 

[WTSooner]

He said, " You need a really really good point guard and some height. Past that, you just recruit the best basketball player you can find. And on game day, you just take those players and work them in."

Do you think that is what Kelvin Sampson does? How about Bill Self?

I guess you could maybe argue Self does that, but Sampson knew what he wanted at every spot on the floor, and recruited to that. I don't think it's fair to say that the vast majority of coaches simply recruit talent, without regards to how that talent fits together. I'll tell you one coach that did that.....Jeff Capel. And he was terrible at OU while doing it.

 

[garyeb2]

Yes WT. That is the way Billy did. Kelvin and Self too. Capel never did it. Other than the Blake gift, he never recruited in talent in or coached what he got.

And don't start telling me about a bunch of over rated over hyped McDonalds All Americans that couldn't beat anyone.

 

[WTSooner]

Yes WT. That is the way Billy did. Kelvin and Self too. Capel never did it. Other than the Blake gift, he never recruited in talent in or coached what he got.

And don't start telling me about a bunch of over rated over hyped McDonalds All Americans that couldn't beat anyone.

Perfect example. There was certainly no lack of talent there. The problem was how it fit together, and the intangibles. Again, proof that you have to recruit more than just "talent".