Point and laugh at Shaka Smart

[MotownHorn 1798]

Another impressive win for Shaka and his boys! 🤣

Cha-ching! 🤑

Edited February 3, 2022 by MotownHorn

[SL Xpress 7518]

46 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

I think that can happen to anyone that takes a high profile job in any profession. All of the sudden you're trying to square peg it for no reason when they actually wanted you for who you were before.

I believe that happens. I do not believe Shaka Smart hid his true nature for 6 years in an effort to meet what he considered the special circumstances of the job, and part of that consisted of not working officials. 

It’s my opinion that in many of these threads, particularly over the past few days, that there are a lot of us (not you, so I’m sorry this comment is being directed towards you - that part is unintended) who are coming to overarching conclusions regarding people like Beard, Adams, and Shaka Smart, when we simply have too little evidence to form anything remotely final. 

I feel highly confident Shaka is going to Shaka this up. If not this year, then certainly in years forthcoming. Congrats to him for doing well so far. As far as the other two, I feel like both fan bases have reason to be excited about their futures. 

[ztejas 43543]

5 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

i just read that Shaka was going after the officials so hard that multiple assistants had to pull him back. cool, that's great. thanks for uh, literally never doing that in six years here you fucking guy. 

i cannot believe that as right now, it simply appears that Shaka spent six years here trying to be someone he's not, without ever considering doing what got him here in the first place. that's just awesome. 

 

5 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

"justice for Shaka". holy shit that's funny. how dare big ole bad Texas pay him a top 10 national salary with the most job security in America for his zero tourney wins and sub-.500 conference record. JUSTICE 4 SHAKA!! 

🙄 

I guess these comments took me past my breaking point. I felt like writing a little. Sue me.

-

I didn't sign up for any of this. No - I had no say in the way that it enveloped me from a young age. I was cast into the fire before I was old enough to spell my own name. I can look back as far as I want - it's always there. Memories - some of them possibly imagined at this point. Faint glimmers of being part of the crowd that witnessed Ricky Williams break the NCAA rushing record. Something a bit more than that as I recall a hot day in which Texas fell victim to the NC State Wolfpack. I was probably more interested in the greasy slice of cheese pizza that I was endowed than the disappointing loss and what it meant for the Texas football program. The football fanaticism runs deep and always will. I or anyone else has as much chance at quelling that obsession as figuring out a way to keep me alive while keeping my heart from beating.

Basketball was a hair different. It felt more like a novelty at first as I grew into my understanding of the finer aspects of American sports culture - yet it quickly became a staple of my childhood. My earliest memory of Texas basketball is a trip to Fuddruckers with my - at the time - single father and running into soon-to-be-drafted Chris Mihm and friends. I was of course shoved in the back and introduced because, well, what the fuck else is a single dad good for if not introducing his 5 year old son to a soon to be NBA player from his Alma Mater?

It grew from there. Children are only so interested in the rigors of a college basketball schedule but the highs and lows are all easily recollected. The loss to Syracuse. The Kenton Paulino game winner. AJ Abrams' career. Kevin Durant almost putting back a free throw miss against aggy where I thought for the first time "oh wait - I think he's different". At this point I'm more of an adolescent and both more aware of what's happening and more capable of twisting it into everlasting pain. LaMarcus and DJ come and go.

J'Covan Brown. Jordan Hamilton. Dogus Balbay. Corey and Tristan and that shitty 5 second call. At home against UCLA. At home against UConn. House is packed. I don't know. It all blends together. And then... well... and then the magic dies. I go off to college and find a new team (in the process multiple unrelated, soul-crushing defeats occur). Texas hires a new guy. It's supposed to reinvigorate the program. And we wait... we wait... I pretty much quit giving a shit after a couple of years because it's so bad. I attempt to detach emotionally and not care what Texas basketball does or doesn't do. Besides - I have my own team now and they're doing better anyway. But you really can't. You've been to dozens of games at the Erwin Center. Your heart has broken multiple times watching your guys in white and burnt orange or in burnt orange and white come up short. You completely obsess over one NBA player and him only because of the stupid fucking school he went to.

So you buy back in when you can. And when you can happens to be right before the world shuts down. And then everything stops. Texas isn't in the tournament or out of it. There isn't a tournament. There's a next season, though, and maybe this next season is different. Maybe it took this new guy this many years to piece it together. Things are rolling in the right direction. Texas has an absolute stud-filled roster. This guy may actually, finally be turning things around and then THIS DICKHEAD GOES AND FUCKING LOSES TO A SHITASS - NOT EVEN DIRECTIONAL - REGIONAL AND RELIGIOUS OTHER TEXAS SCHOOL IN THE FIRST FUCKING ROUND OF THE GOD DAMN NCAA TOURNAMENT AGAIN AND COMPLETELY SHITS ON NOT ONLY YOUR ADULT HOPES AND DREAMS BUT ALSO YOIR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AND EXPECTATIONS AND HOLY SHIT FUCK THIS DUDE FOR ALL ETERNITY. 

Fuck Shaka Smart. Fuck him up the asshole. Repeatedly. 10 times as hard as Charlie Strong or Tom Herman. 

Fuck. That. Dude. I hope he never wins another tournament game. 

Christ. 

[SL Xpress 7518]

See. I liked that. Your best writing, really. Thanks for sharing. That was a fun read.

[Brian Fantana 6690]

Hell yeah @ztejas it's good to let it all out every once in a while. I imagine I would have felt the same in your shoes.

[Guest]

That's what being a fan is about.

Love it.

[Rockethorn1978 6106]

[dcar00 14375]

7 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

i just read that Shaka was going after the officials so hard that multiple assistants had to pull him back. cool, that's great. thanks for uh, literally never doing that in six years here you fucking guy. 

i cannot believe that as right now, it simply appears that Shaka spent six years here trying to be someone he's not, without ever considering doing what got him here in the first place. that's just awesome. 

Is he running the same offense he ran here?  My thought is he was trying to get to the NBA by getting one and done's and running an O he hadn't run before.  wonder who his OC is now.

while I didn't expect him to beat Nova twice(we will see how good they are), I expected him to do better because the Big East isn't the Big 12 night after night and everyone on his schedule isn't "getting up" to play Marquette.

we'll see where this ends up.  He couldn't handle Big 12 and Texas, that much was obvious.  He'd have some WTF wins but then have complete meltdown WTF losses.  maybe generally getting his ass handed to him multiple years and in multiple NCAA's had him do some soul searching.

[UpperWestside 6190]

It’s funny how these things work out. Smart is probably a better fit at a school like Marquette. It’s out of the limelight, but the school is all basketball all the time which helps. I think that this is a place he can probably consistently win at in the regular season. He’ll get players that fit what he wants to do and you can probably pencil him into the tournament every year.

His tournament coaching acumen, outside of that one Final Four run, leaves A LOT to be desired. Maybe he learned from his struggles at Texas and worked on his shortcomings as a coach. If so good for him. If not it’ll show when the lights are their brightest in March. 

[Revolution512 1495]

On 2/3/2022 at 10:26 AM, dcar00 said:

Is he running the same offense he ran here?  My thought is he was trying to get to the NBA by getting one and done's and running an O he hadn't run before.  wonder who his OC is now.

while I didn't expect him to beat Nova twice(we will see how good they are), I expected him to do better because the Big East isn't the Big 12 night after night and everyone on his schedule isn't "getting up" to play Marquette.

we'll see where this ends up.  He couldn't handle Big 12 and Texas, that much was obvious.  He'd have some WTF wins but then have complete meltdown WTF losses.  maybe generally getting his ass handed to him multiple years and in multiple NCAA's had him do some soul searching.

I believe he is back to pressing

[dcar00 14375]

5 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

It’s funny how these things work out. Smart is probably a better fit at a school like Marquette. It’s out of the limelight, but the school is all basketball all the time which helps. I think that this is a place he can probably consistently win at in the regular season. He’ll get players that fit what he wants to do and you can probably pencil him into the tournament every year.

His tournament coaching acumen, outside of that one Final Four run, leaves A LOT to be desired. Maybe he learned from his struggles at Texas and worked on his shortcomings as a coach. If so good for him. If not it’ll show when the lights are their brightest in March. 

If he's not trying to run an NBA offense, which he has no idea how to coach, with players who can't shoot and is back to pressing a lot(havoc) he'll probably do OK.

Shaka experimented with us, instead of running what got him the job, in a league that isn't going to allow you to experiment.  disasterous results followed.  we should have fired him after year 3 when it was obvious his "experiment" wasn't working.

[Loop 1604 227]

On 2/3/2022 at 8:03 AM, MotownHorn said:

Another impressive win for Shaka and his boys! 🤣

Cha-ching! 🤑

Right on schedule to lose another tough first round tourney game to traditional basketball powerhouse Stephen F. Austin Northern Iowa Nevada Abilene Christian err...South Dakota State? 

[shadow_operative 15932]

Shaka Smart, April 2021:

 

Texas Basketball, February 2022:

 

[shadow_operative 15932]

"And part of my job as a coach is to help
cultivate that. It's part of my job, again, to
share a vision and to communicate. But I'm
really excited about that, and how important
is it to success, it's hugely important. It's
going to be a phenomenal opportunity for us
to be part of just a basketball program that's
so beloved and supported by the folks around
it. And it's huge. It makes a huge difference."

Let's unpack that some more. Wow. First thought: *this* is who Shaka is- a much better mouth piece than he is a program builder. As he takes a an extremely thinly veiled shot at the UT students and fan support, emphasizing how hugely important it is to not only have great fan support, but to also have a great rapport between your players and their fans, Shaka straight up states that making that happen is part of his job. In other words, he says the right thing, and then does *nothing* to back it up.

SLX has been the flag bearer here in pointing out and praising the job that Coach Beard has done doing exactly what Shaka describes, and the difference between Beard and Shaka is night and day (no racist). Beard has been here 9 months, and in that time he has run laps around Shaka's entire six year body of work when it comes to getting fans and students engaged with your program and it's players. You cannot overstate how much more Beard has done for his program in this specific area, whereas Shaka, who will tell you that that's part of his job, and hugely important to winning, did nothing. From his phony personality to his never ending coachspeak answers and hollow platitudes, to his straight up apathy towards engaging the students, this is just another crystal clear example of what a fraud this guy is. thank god that he's Marquette's problem now. 

[Guest]

When I read that Shaka piece, rather than a shot at UT, I took it more that he was admitting he grossly neglected his job responsibilities, whether he meant to convey that or not.

He had 6 years of malingering and never built that real connection, while in reality achieving the opposite in alienating a significant portion of the fanbase and maybe his own team.  Maybe he just learned a lot from fucking up so bad?  IDK.

 

[dcar00 14375]

6 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

"And part of my job as a coach is to help
cultivate that. It's part of my job, again, to
share a vision and to communicate. But I'm
really excited about that, and how important
is it to success, it's hugely important. It's
going to be a phenomenal opportunity for us
to be part of just a basketball program that's
so beloved and supported by the folks around
it. And it's huge. It makes a huge difference."

Let's unpack that some more. Wow. First thought: *this* is who Shaka is- a much better mouth piece than he is a program builder. As he takes a an extremely thinly veiled shot at the UT students and fan support, emphasizing how hugely important it is to not only have great fan support, but to also have a great rapport between your players and their fans, Shaka straight up states that making that happen is part of his job. In other words, he says the right thing, and then does *nothing* to back it up.

SLX has been the flag bearer here in pointing out and praising the job that Coach Beard has done doing exactly what Shaka describes, and the difference between Beard and Shaka is night and day (no racist). Beard has been here 9 months, and in that time he has run laps around Shaka's entire six year body of work when it comes to getting fans and students engaged with your program and it's players. You cannot overstate how much more Beard has done for his program in this specific area, whereas Shaka, who will tell you that that's part of his job, and hugely important to winning, did nothing. From his phony personality to his never ending coachspeak answers and hollow platitudes, to his straight up apathy towards engaging the students, this is just another crystal clear example of what a fraud this guy is. thank god that he's Marquette's problem now. 

thats why he needed to be at a basketball only school. It was a horrible hire by Texas.  it's all those students have to look forward to on the sports front.  additionally, no one is expecting him to prepare players for the NBA.  he can run what he needs to and if he wins and makes the tourney he'll be fine.  Big East has enough clout that he doesn't HAVE to come in first or second or maybe even third to make the tourney.  it's not a one bid league and it's not the Big 12 or ACC.  good fit.

he'll get fired if he loses but the gym will still be pretty packed because what the fuck else is there to do at Marquette?

Barnes wasn't the best at engaging the students but he was good enough and he won and won at levels we hadn't really seen.  there were some rocking times at the Erwin Center for the first 12-13 years under him.  people just forgot.

[dcar00 14375]

5 hours ago, slorch said:

When I read that Shaka piece, rather than a shot at UT, I took it more that he was admitting he grossly neglected his job responsibilities, whether he meant to convey that or not.

He had 6 years of malingering and never built that real connection, while in reality achieving the opposite in alienating a significant portion of the fanbase and maybe his own team.  Maybe he just learned a lot from fucking up so bad?  IDK.

 

it was a shot but thinly veiled while trying to make it look like he was being reflective.  he's good at being disingenuous.  dude doesn't need to be a coach in a P5 conf and especially at a football school.  he's a good coach in the right situation and that's it.

[Catdaddyhorn 3447]

 

@SL Xpresshas mentioned it before and I noted it when we hired Beard,  but you're severely understating how exceptional he is in the area of engaging fan interest.  I literally have never seen a coach behave in this manner before.  Even Mack, who when he first arrived at UT, did a lot to motivate interest, didn't approach it in a manner in which he clearly took sole responsibility for the mission. Chris Beard is the fucking Michael Jordan of this sort of endeavor and the fact that other coaches don't come close to approaching him in this area ain't really that much of an  indictment. 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Catdaddyhorn

[jimmyjazz 46190]

The funny thing about Beard is that he has the personality of a feral hog, yet he's still good at engaging fans.  It's because he actually puts in the work.  Now that I think about it, he's a lot like his mentor Bobby Knight, but a better advocate for his program.

I can't imagine Beard criticizing the crowd at FEC/Moody.  If it's a bad crowd, he just won't say anything, or he'll thank them, regardless.  He's surprisingly adept at the politics, all the while coming across as a guy who couldn't care less about politics.

[Js1 85587]

11 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

 

@SL Xpresshas mentioned it before and I noted it when we hired Beard,  but you're severely understating how exceptional he is in the area of engaging fan interest.  I literally have never seen a coach behave in this manner before.  Even Mack, who when he first arrived at UT, did a lot to motivate interest, didn't approach it in a manner in which he clearly took sole responsibility for the mission. Chris Beard is the fucking Michael Jordan of this sort of endeavor and the fact that other coaches don't come close to approaching him in this area ain't really that much of an  indictment. 

Beard doing all these "Wanted" posters for specific fans (Hawaiian shirt guy, 1000 t-shirt girl) is really cool to highlight individual fans who are making an effort.  That's a great way to encourage fans to stand out more and be noticed. 

[Braff Zacklin 13665]

2 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Beard doing all these "Wanted" posters for specific fans (Hawaiian shirt guy, 1000 t-shirt girl) is really cool to highlight individual fans who are making an effort.  That's a great way to encourage fans to stand out more and be noticed. 

We just need the o.g. GOO dancing for the cameras before every Big Monday commercial break like back in the day.

[closetojumping 62880]

Tough break for Shakablah and undoubtedly @MotownHorn last night as the Marquette Marauders went to Connecticut and not only lost but failed to cover. 

Fucktwit goes @Butler, Georgetown, @Creighton, Butler, @DePaul, St John’s to close out the regular season. That should be a 6-0 run and Motown should go ahead and bet all of his family’s grocery and heating oil money each game on the spread. 

Then the postseason and comedy. 

[immamac 43126]

On 1/30/2022 at 2:21 PM, closetojumping said:

You negged me first, dipshit. Twice, because you couldn’t handle the back and forth. I let the first one go, but with the second one, it was obvious you’re just a pussy that can’t handle discourse. So I negged your weak shit on the last two pages, fully expecting to then come on here and see you whine about it, which you laughably and predictably did. 

I enjoy being petty. I’ll use a mid morning coffee break to go through tomorrow and neg every post you’ve ever made if you bitch any further and act duplicitous. You won’t be able to shame me or change my behavior with any of it either. So, your move, Mr. Checkers. 

Also, sorry for your loss today. Don’t take it too hard, I’m sure Shakablah will have a big recovery for you. 

Holy shit I was laughing so hard. 

[LTtxfan 49365]

On 2/3/2022 at 7:13 AM, Brian Fantana said:

I think that can happen to anyone that takes a high profile job in any profession. All of the sudden you're trying to square peg it for no reason when they actually wanted you for who you were before.

Yeah Shaka felt he was underappreciated and overcriticized for his poor results at Texas.  And unfortunately, he found it easier to blame others for his results than take ownership.

Culturally, Texas wasn't a good fit for Shaka -- he had no clue how to succeed at Texas,  and he resented Horns Fans and The University for his failures.  At Marquette, basketball is their most popular sport so now King Shaka and his ego are getting the praise that he believes is his birthright.

The interesting part will be when adversity strikes for King Shaka at Marquette.   Who will be at fault.  Who will the great King Shaka summon forth to appear and be beheaded to save his kingdom.

 

It won't be this season for King Shaka, but soon very soon...

 

                        WINTER IS COMING

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 49365]

We are laughing at Shakablah... 😂😂😂

 

[MotownHorn 1798]

3 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Tough break for Shakablah and undoubtedly @MotownHorn last night as the Marquette Marauders went to Connecticut and not only lost but failed to cover. 

Fucktwit goes @Butler, Georgetown, @Creighton, Butler, @DePaul, St John’s to close out the regular season. That should be a 6-0 run and Motown should go ahead and bet all of his family’s grocery and heating oil money each game on the spread. 

Then the postseason and comedy. 

Nice to hear that you were thinking of me as you went to bed last night!

[shakahorn 1645]

On 2/8/2022 at 9:19 AM, Js1 said:

Beard doing all these "Wanted" posters for specific fans (Hawaiian shirt guy, 1000 t-shirt girl) is really cool to highlight individual fans who are making an effort.  That's a great way to encourage fans to stand out more and be noticed. 

Don't forget Drunk David Ash.

[HookEm 2468]

It's going to be funny when we match up with them in some Round of 32 game.  The selection committee loves the potential of stuff like that.

[CowtownHorn 5126]

6 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Tough break for Shakablah and undoubtedly @MotownHorn last night as the Marquette Marauders went to Connecticut and not only lost but failed to cover. 

Fucktwit goes @Butler, Georgetown, @Creighton, Butler, @DePaul, St John’s to close out the regular season. That should be a 6-0 run and Motown should go ahead and bet all of his family’s grocery and heating oil money each game on the spread. 

Then the postseason and comedy. 

[Herpa Derpa 6132]

41 minutes ago, HookEm said:

It's going to be funny when we match up with them in some Round of 32 game.  The selection committee loves the potential of stuff like that.

It's funny you think he's getting out of the Round of 64.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, HookEm said:

It's going to be funny when we match up with them in some Round of 32 game.  The selection committee loves the potential of stuff like that.

And all of us on here, Horn or not, will watch that sumbeech.

Edited February 9, 2022 by slorch

[HookEm 2468]

2 hours ago, Herpa Derpa said:

It's funny you think he's getting out of the Round of 64.

Fair.

[Js1 85587]

Shakablah! That was not a good Butler team 

[shadow_operative 15932]

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by shadow_operative

[LTtxfan 49365]

3 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Shakablah! That was not a good Butler team 

Two losses in a row... the late season Shakablah fade might be in motion...

[CurlyDumps 4485]

Marquette fans getting a taste of what’s to come once Shaka has time to run off all these pesky inherited players who can score and shoot 3’s.

[Knoxtnhorn 6066]

Good Lord.  Butler was up 21 at one point.

[SL Xpress 7518]

18 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Good Lord.  Butler was up 21 at one point.

This post has a surprised tone to it which feels misplaced to me. 

Shaka is going to Shaka things up. It's like gravity. His teams will always come up with surprising wins/performances. And they'll always have surprising losses/performances. It's the Way of Shaka. Shakablah. 

[Dbeasy 15094]

I"m trying to come up with a theory of how Shaka can beat teams like Kansas but then woefully underperform during the rest of the year. I think because he coaches so poorly, he basically lets the great athletes he's recruited just do their thing, along with a constant barrage of indescriminate 3 pointers from shooters who can't shoot (because he hasn't developed them). This combination produces lightning in a bottle every once in awhile.  The three pointers fall, and the athletes make incredible defensive plays and enough plays on offense to beat a better team. But math kicks-in eventually, and his teams lose way more than they should. This is pretty much how his whole coaching career has gone.

[Horn80 6131]

10 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I"m trying to come up with a theory of how Shaka can beat teams like Kansas but then woefully underperform during the rest of the year. I think because he coaches so poorly, he basically lets the great athletes he's recruited just do their thing, along with a constant barrage of indescriminate 3 pointers from shooters who can't shoot (because he hasn't developed them). This combination produces lightning in a bottle every once in awhile.  The three pointers fall, and the athletes make incredible defensive plays and enough plays on offense to beat a better team. But math kicks-in eventually, and his teams lose way more than they should. This is pretty much how his whole coaching career has gone.

He’s proven that being an emo coach is a very profitable business.

[LTtxfan 49365]

8 minutes ago, Horn80 said:

He’s proven that being an emo coach is a very profitable business.

 

More like a Chia Pet Coach

[SL Xpress 7518]

7 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I"m trying to come up with a theory of how Shaka can beat teams like Kansas but then woefully underperform during the rest of the year. I think because he coaches so poorly, he basically lets the great athletes he's recruited just do their thing, along with a constant barrage of indescriminate 3 pointers from shooters who can't shoot (because he hasn't developed them). This combination produces lightning in a bottle every once in awhile.  The three pointers fall, and the athletes make incredible defensive plays and enough plays on offense to beat a better team. But math kicks-in eventually, and his teams lose way more than they should. This is pretty much how his whole coaching career has gone.

 

I don't think it's that much of a mystery, frankly. It was very apparent from the moment he got to Texas. 

For one, he's charismatic. He's also not ignorant about basketball. Now, what he should do is replicate what he did at VCU. Recruit a team full of athletic guys who may not have pure basketball skills but have a chip on their shoulder. Full court press teams and just send waves of guys off the bench. Count on effort and transition baskets for wins. It's a limited formula, but there's an inherent amount of success available if done right.

But he's not going to do that, because that's not his identity. He wants to coach NBA players. Probably wants to coach in the NBA. He's enamored with getting the most talented guys he can, not in getting the guys who fit his system, or create an identity around a program and recruit to that. Kids want to have freedom on the court. Shaka is going to give them that.

He doesn't know how to build a coaching staff, or a support staff. He doesn't know how to raise the expectations for the people around him. He doesn't know how to create a sense of urgency. He doesn't know how to change his mind on something, and then get buy in on that change in direction. He doesn't know how to manage upwards, through administrations and donors. He has no idea how to manage laterally, through peers within the program or with people outside the program. He only knows how to be charismatic, and he thinks that should be enough. He doesn't have any kind of feel for how to create a legitimate two way relationship with folks.

He doesn't know how to create measurements for success. He doesn't know how to build relationships where he can call people accountable, and they'll respond in a positive manner. 

What this all means is that he'll never create a consistent product. When things go well, it will snowball. Confidence will soar. Players will feed off of one another. When there are struggles, there's no resiliency. People point fingers. They play hero ball. 

Shaka's counter at Texas is opposite of Beard's this year. Shaka would do his best against athletic teams when his team had success, because that success snowballed. Shaka had his most difficulty against disciplined teams that ran systems, especially on defense. Beard on the other hand, is going to have his biggest issues against athletic teams, because his guys don't match up. If I see a team like Kentucky or Auburn in our bracket, it means trouble. But Beard is going to be great against the Abilene Christians of the world, because this team is going to out Abilene Christian them. 

Beard's approach is going to produce a lot more consistency. And if he can get the athletes, too, like he did at Tech, he can make some deep runs. Shaka is always going to have issues, both through the course of a season, and then in the tournament, because he'll never be able to produce a consistent product. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

there are two "behind the scenes" stories, one about Rick Barnes, and one about Shaka Smart, that, when compared to each other, really drive home how fundamentally clueless Shaka Smart is.

Rick Barnes told Kevin Durant, "you're the worst defender i've ever coached. I thought AJ Abrams was the worst, but i've got to apologize to him for that, because you are somehow even worse."

meanwhile, according to Jase Febres in 2021: "Shaka tells me i'm the best shooter in the country every day."

one coach takes a once-in-a-generation player, finds his weaknesses, puts said weaknesses on front street, and challenges him as a man to do better. the other coach takes a guy who offers nothing outside of the idea that he's a good shooter, and then tells him every day how great he is, even though he's not even shooting well. it's embarrassing that we even offered Shaka Smart the job. 

[Js1 85587]

Challenging a player to be better defensively versus giving a shooter confidence, considering how much it’s a mental thing?

Sorry Derka, I think your example was not good

[shadow_operative 15932]

4 hours ago, Js1 said:

Challenging a player to be better defensively versus giving a shooter confidence, considering how much it’s a mental thing?

Sorry Derka, I think your example was not good

 he isn't "giving him confidence" by lying to his face about the quality of his play for an extended period of time, he's actually neglecting to do anything to substantive to improve Jase's shooting while gassing him up with hollow nonsense. if you can name a single championship coach who operates that way then maybe you'll have a point, but i won't hold my breath. you think Nick Saban, Gregg Popovich, or Bill Belichick are constantly telling their shitty players that they're best at what they do in their respective sport? 

Edited February 13, 2022 by shadow_operative

[MotownHorn 1798]

10 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

there are two "behind the scenes" stories, one about Rick Barnes, and one about Shaka Smart, that, when compared to each other, really drive home how fundamentally clueless Shaka Smart is.

Rick Barnes told Kevin Durant, "you're the worst defender i've ever coached. I thought AJ Abrams was the worst, but i've got to apologize to him for that, because you are somehow even worse."

meanwhile, according to Jase Febres in 2021: "Shaka tells me i'm the best shooter in the country every day."

one coach takes a once-in-a-generation player, finds his weaknesses, puts said weaknesses on front street, and challenges him as a man to do better. the other coach takes a guy who offers nothing outside of the idea that he's a good shooter, and then tells him every day how great he is, even though he's not even shooting well. it's embarrassing that we even offered Shaka Smart the job. 

It’s funny that you tell that story like it shows what a great coach Barnes is instead of it being clear evidence that he wears his guys down and that’s why his teams almost always get worse as the season goes on instead of getting better. 

Edited February 13, 2022 by MotownHorn

[shadow_operative 15932]

Rick Barnes has one of the best track records of developing players in all of CBB, and down to a man they all credit him for pushing them beyond what they thought they were capable of. that's a common trait among winning coaches (Barnes is top 20 all time in wins) and it's a trait which Shaka does not have. major d-1 players need to be challenged, not coddled, or worse, repeatedly told that they're the best at what they do when that's far from the truth. you look up now and KD is now one of the better defensive players in basketball, while Febres is a career .358 shooter from deep who has no impact on his team as a senior. you tell me which guy's method works and which one doesn't. 

Edited February 13, 2022 by shadow_operative

[Braff Zacklin 13665]

There is no "one size fits all" to coaching. Some guys need to be torn down to truly reach their potential; others need to be built up. For most, it's probably a mix of both. The key to being a great coach, I think, is understanding how much--or little--of one technique is ideal.

That said, give me Rick over Shaka all day, every day. It's stupid to even be discussing this.

[Red Five 40896]

I swear to god if y'all start fighting about fucking Rick Barnes in the Shaka thread..

[LTtxfan 49365]

1 hour ago, Red Five said:

I swear to god if y'all start fighting about fucking Rick Barnes in the Shaka thread..