Travis Ford is a child.

[fhosu]

While he did a decent job managing them through those injuries, their non conf was not very difficult outside of a couple of games. They are healthy now, have been for awhile, and, regardless of Fords ability to read juries, this is the team everyone else expected them to have when they were picked right where they finished.

Except for the fact that a two-year starter tore his ACL two games into the season and another player in the top seven broke his wrist just before the season started and missed nearly half of conference play, both of which occurred after Big 12 predictions were made by the coaches/media, but anyway...

 

[oSuJeff97]

However, I attribute their success this season more to health and Smarts impact than to Fords ability to coach at a high level. For me, the jury is still out on his ability to truly match wits with the top coaches in this league.

Well here we get into the chicken/egg debate about players' vs. coaches' impact.

Smart has certainly had a big impact, but so has the improvements and contributions of guys like Markel Brown, Mike Cobbins and Brian Williams. All of those guys are in their 3rd year in the program and have all improved significantly. Does Ford not get credit for that?

And how do you define "match wits with the top coaches in the league"? It seems like you want to give some coaches complete credit for their success, but excuse Ford's success away because of the impact of his players.

I can assure you that Bill Self isn't winning 9 straight Big 12 titles with TCU's roster.

 

[KBaden145]

Well here we get into the chicken/egg debate about players' vs. coaches' impact.

Smart has certainly had a big impact, but so has the improvements and contributions of guys like Markel Brown, Mike Cobbins and Brian Williams. All of those guys are in their 3rd year in the program and have all improved significantly. Does Ford not get credit for that?

And how do you define "match wits with the top coaches in the league"? It seems like you want to give some coaches complete credit for their success, but excuse Ford's success away because of the impact of his players.

I can assure you that Bill Self isn't winning 9 straight Big 12 titles with TCU's roster.

To me it's all relative to the talent on the roster. Guys like Self and Kruger have done it when they didn't have Mc AAs. Ford hasn't. He gets credit for the recruiting them but I'm just not convinced he is much of a coach when he just met expectations. Webber, Hoiberg, and Kruger led their teams to far better finishes than they were picked. If Ford had done as good a job relative to his talent, he would have won the league by a game or two.

Ive said this before but I'm done posting about OState on this board.

 

[oSuJeff97]

To me it's all relative to the talent on the roster. Guys like Self and Kruger have done it when they didn't have Mc AAs. Ford hasn't.

Ummm... Kruger doesn't get to be lumped in with Self. Self is an elite coach with a national title and multiple Final Fours/Elite Eights. Kruger is a good coach, but he's not in Self's class.

He gets credit for the recruiting them but I'm just not convinced he is much of a coach when he just met expectations.

What? How and who decides what expectations are? Nobody knows how HS players are going to play until they actually get into games.

You act like all McDonald's AAs are created equally and have the same impact when that CLEARLY isn't the case...

Wasn't Drew Lavendar a McDonald's AA? Are you really telling me that, in hindsight, it would be fair to have equal expectations about his, or, say, Byron Eaton's impact on a team compared with guys like Blake Griffin or Marcus Smart? Most of those guys are like the former... talented, yes, but they often take time to develop into impact players. That's where the coaching comes in.

Webber, Hoiberg, and Kruger led their teams to far better finishes than they were picked. If Ford had done as good a job relative to his talent, he would have won the league by a game or two.

Says who? So you're telling me that OSU's level of talent is "a game or two" better than what Kansas is rolling out there? You can't be serious.

Every one of Kansas' starters were 4-star, elite recruits, and they're starting 4 seniors and a RS-freshman. They've also got other elite recruits like Perry Ellis and Tharpe coming off the bench.

OSU only has two players on its roster who were even offered by KU - Nash and Smart. Furthermore, OSU's only senior is a 3-star "project" guy who was a multi-school transfer. Not exactly blue-blood talent.

Ive said this before but I'm done posting about OState on this board.

OK.

 

[campbest]

OSU only has two players on its roster who were even offered by KU - Nash and Smart. Furthermore, OSU's only senior is a 3-star "project" guy who was a multi-school transfer. Not exactly blue-blood talent.

Pretty sure Forte was offered as well.

 

[oSuJeff97]

Pretty sure Forte was offered as well.

Didn't realize that.

It doesn't change the fact that Kansas' roster, from top to bottom, is much more talented than OSU's. And much more experienced to boot.

 

[campbest]

Didn't realize that.

It doesn't change the fact that Kansas' roster, from top to bottom, is much more talented than OSU's. And much more experienced to boot.

I was just helping you out.

 

[oSuJeff97]

I was just helping you out.

Thank you, sir.



That's actually a bit surprising. Were they offering Forte just to get Smart?

I think Forte is a good player and I'm glad OSU has him, but a 3-star, smallish shooting guard doesn't really seem like the typical KU offer.

Looks like his other offers were from K-State, TTech, Iowa and SMU, which seems about right.

 

[Max Power]

Thank you, sir.



That's actually a bit surprising. Were they offering Forte just to get Smart?

I think Forte is a good player and I'm glad OSU has him, but a 3-star, smallish shooting guard doesn't really seem like the typical KU offer.

Looks like his other offers were from K-State, TTech, Iowa and SMU, which seems about right.

If I remember correctly it was a package deal

 

[CompOUnder]

Does Ford get any credit for producing each programs winningest season in 3 previous stops?

 

[snydrosooner]

In my humble opinion, I think Ford gets the rep he has from some of his past seasons and not seeing much improvement throughout the year to not seeing much in game adjustments. Some coaches don't make huge in game adjustments even if getting beat. They would rather stick with what they know there team is best at. From watching OSU in the past some of there teams did not seem to improve that much over the season. There are reasons you can attribute that fall outside of a coaches control, such as injuries. As mentioned above, some of his teams seemed to not see a shot they did not like and were limited definsivly by who they had on the court playing.

 

[ByronHoustonsSweatyPalms]

Lon Kruger hasn't fallen far from the OSU tree.