Shaka Smart is a no-brainer people...

[HeismanWatch]

I saw this elsewhere, so I wanted to share here.

He's the best speaker I've heard in some time at his age. It's refreshing to hear a coach without bs banter for a change.

Get this done Joe...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lt22tW1RRs&feature=related[/ame]

 

[seniorsooner]

He will re-up with VCU.

 

[afaSooner]

Joe...

 

[HeismanWatch]

He will re-up with VCU.

He is making $325K at VCU, and they can't pay $1M, so OU offering $1.5M with a bonus of $300K performance bonus for .500 or better would get this deal done.

 

[colston15]

If nothing else, I want to hire a coach so the constant Shaka Smart, Johnnie Jones, Terry Evans for coach threads will go away forever.

 

[HOTROD21]

All these Shaka Smart "fans" do realize that his team barely made the NCAA tournament and had some ugly losses earlier this season correct? sounds like the flavor of the month to me. Don't fall for it Joe C.

 

[sooners78]

he will be the next coach at n.c. state

 

[steverocks35]

Brad Stevens > Shaka Smart

 

[inoref]

Shaka Smart will not take this job..IMO but if he does that would be great

 

[Dave4OU]

NC State makes more sense for Shaka

 

[Soonerspiff]

Hiring a coach because of the success they've had in literally the past three weeks, with zero ties to the area for recruiting, and that comes from the exact same school as the last coach we hired/fired makes perfect sense.

Awesome.

 

[Romulus]

Reminds me of the guy who went to Ark two coaches back

 

[dahldennsull]

All these Shaka Smart "fans" do realize that his team barely made the NCAA tournament and had some ugly losses earlier this season correct? sounds like the flavor of the month to me. Don't fall for it Joe C.

Yep, posted this on rivals but will do so here as well:

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I'm sorry but I simply don't understand the infatuation with Smart. Some team is going to come in and completely overpay for a decent coach.

They have made a HELL of a run through the tournament, but it's because they are hot, and shooting lights out. Don't completely discredit the regular season. They play in a bad conference, and didn't do all that well in it, so bad that everyone saying them making it was a complete joke for the tournament. They have simply used that as motivation and are now shooting lights out.

On the season they shot around 34% from 3, and the tourny? ~45%. That's not his ability to coach, that's just getting hot. Don't forget that his coaching ability got them a mediocre record and shouldn't have even made the tourny and was a 30+ game sample, not 5 games.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Yep, posted this on rivals but will do so here as well:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm sorry but I simply don't understand the infatuation with Smart. Some team is going to come in and completely overpay for a decent coach.

They have made a HELL of a run through the tournament, but it's because they are hot, and shooting lights out. Don't completely discredit the regular season. They play in a bad conference, and didn't do all that well in it, so bad that everyone saying them making it was a complete joke for the tournament. They have simply used that as motivation and are now shooting lights out.

On the season they shot around 34% from 3, and the tourny? ~45%. That's not his ability to coach, that's just getting hot. Don't forget that his coaching ability got them a mediocre record and shouldn't have even made the tourny and was a 30+ game sample, not 5 games.

good post. I still like his defensive style though and think it would do good at OU if he got his kind of guys. My only concern with him would be recruiting the area.

 

[HeismanWatch]

Brad Stevens > Shaka Smart

$2.5M > $1.5M, you are correct.

 

[Tundrasooner]

Yep, posted this on rivals but will do so here as well:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm sorry but I simply don't understand the infatuation with Smart. Some team is going to come in and completely overpay for a decent coach.

They have made a HELL of a run through the tournament, but it's because they are hot, and shooting lights out. Don't completely discredit the regular season. They play in a bad conference, and didn't do all that well in it, so bad that everyone saying them making it was a complete joke for the tournament. They have simply used that as motivation and are now shooting lights out.

On the season they shot around 34% from 3, and the tourny? ~45%. That's not his ability to coach, that's just getting hot. Don't forget that his coaching ability got them a mediocre record and shouldn't have even made the tourny and was a 30+ game sample, not 5 games.

Agree

 

[steverocks35]

$2.5M > $1.5M, you are correct.

You get what you pay for.

 

[coolm]

dulldens' logic would make sense if a teams' ability was a constant all season long - but it's not.

Smart plays a style of ball that has a MUCH higher chance of translating well to the Big-12. Defense tends to travel much better than offense and his switching/harassing/pressing tendencies let him reach deep into a bench and take advantage of guys who are great athletes and not necessarily the top pure basketball players. This matches up well with the types of players OU can historically recruit.

Offensively it certainly isn't an issue of the hot shooting that is the attraction. It is how he responds to the other side's efforts. How he gets them to speed up vice bog down when the opposition's defense is tight (to get a space) ... how he looks to control the ebb and flow of the game instead of just the moment ... he does a very good job of game management IMO when you start looking at the game in 5 minute periods and comparing what he has on the bench to affect that. Quite honestly his team had NO business beating Florida State and the Noles should have won easily in regulation ... but Shaka took Leonard to the woodshed in the coaching dep't milking things when he needed to and rushing them when it would benefit his guys. He willed them into OT and his guys didn't let him down in the extra 5.

Last, he has the personna to be an excellent recruiter and he's smart as hell. He was spoken highly of at Dayton, Clemson, and Florida for his interaction with the players and how he was persuading them in the living room.

In short he's the goods and we'd be idiots not to hire him.

 

[NormanPride]

So a mediocre coach in a bad conference will suddenly be awesome in the Big 12 against BCG, Barnes, Self, etc? Wow.

 

[boksooner]

So a mediocre coach in a bad conference will suddenly be awesome in the Big 12 against BCG, Barnes, Self, etc? Wow.

How is the CAA a bad conference? It is arguable the best low major conference and is better than most mid major conferences. They consistently put 2-3 teams in the NCAA tourney.