Interested in fan thoughts on UNLV bball

[jdgaucho]

12 hours ago, ph90702 said:

You can say what you want, but recruiting is #1 and always will be.  Lon Kruger has been around long enough to find players who will fit with his system and coaching style.

 

In our last meeting in 2013 UNLV had Khem Birch, Roscoe Smith, Christian Wood, Kendall Smith and the late BDJ on their roster.  Multiple four and five star players.  We won by 21.  Recruiting doesn't matter as much if you cannot coach up the talent.  

Dave Rice was unable to do that.  Marvin Menzies?  To be determined.  I like his chances though.

[BestintheWest]

4 hours ago, toonkee said:

I heard McCoy has taken one official visit and 4 unofficial. Not a bad sign at all that he wants to hang around the program.

Actually I believe it's other way around.

He took 4 officials and "1 unofficial."

He never took an official at SDSU. But has been a few times. He's been spotted in Vegas quite a bit though. He's been to multiple games this year.

[BestintheWest]

12 hours ago, VincentVegaBond said:

Interesting comparison:

Kruger (taking over the mediocre Spoonball program):

1st 2 years had an average RPI of 92.

Subsequent years after that (5 years), his teams' average RPI was 36, while his average recruiting class was in the 50's (depending where you look for recruiting rankings).

Rice (taking over the solid and loaded Kruger program):

1st 2 years had an average RPI of 19.

Subsequent years (3 years), his teams' average RPI was 116, even though his average recruiting class was in the teens (with 2 years firmly in the top 10).

But yeah, recruiting is the #1 thing, isn't it?!?!

I'll add onto this with some Kenpom statistics.

Kruger never finished outside the top 100. Season ending ranks from 05-11:

90, 89, 39, 48, 73, 42, 28 

 

Rice after being handed the best roster in Kruger era:

37, 38, 79, 101, 117

 

 

Another telling stat of running a program?

Minutes continuity from previous seasons. Kruger constantly had a balance.

Kruger's last 2 years, UNLV was in the top 50 for bringing back players. (37th and 31st)

Under Rice? It fell fast.

NCAA ranks for continuity:

211, 334, 347, 310, 350- This year.

 

[PrimeReb]

14 minutes ago, BestintheWest said:

Actually I believe it's other way around.

He took 4 officials and "1 unofficial."

He never took an official at SDSU. But has been a few times. He's been spotted in Vegas quite a bit though. He's been to multiple games this year.

Actually I think he pointing out that McCoy made an official and 4 unofficial visits to UNLV as being a good sign. 

[BestintheWest]

Just now, PrimeReb said:

Actually I think he pointing out that McCoy made an official and 4 unofficial visits to UNLV as being a good sign. 

Oh...makes more sense. I believe it.

Some around the program seem to think it could happen, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's kinda crazy to even be in the conversation for a top 10 kid.

[4UNLV]

4 minutes ago, BestintheWest said:

Oh...makes more sense. I believe it.

Some around the program seem to think it could happen, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's kinda crazy to even be in the conversation for a top 10 kid.

i'm not holding mine, either, but he would be a great get, on many levels, he seems like a really nice kid. but i'd also take another anthony marshall (NOT a 5 *) in a heartbeat.

[BestintheWest]

1 minute ago, 4UNLV said:

i'm not holding mine, either, but he would be a great get, on many levels, he seems like a really nice kid. but i'd also take another anthony marshall (NOT a 5 *) in a heartbeat.

I'll take 5 Anthony Marshall's. LOL.

His 3 pt shot was good his senior year and he's been our best post player since Kaspars Kambala.

Plus the kid blocked shots like no other guard.

He was UNLV's lil Dwayne Wade.  Did it all. Tough as nails.

[kalua pig]

50 minutes ago, jdgaucho said:

gaucho basketball is the worst in the big west.

[PrimeReb]

Here a response that was tweeted to Ziegler's tweet. I hear Neal is pretty connected to So Cal AAU hoops. 

 

 

Neal Nieves‏ @NealNieves

That's Done.

Mark Zeigler‏ @sdutzeiglerHearing Brandon McCoy is "leaning" toward UNLV, but as a wise man told me: In the world of 5-star recruits, it's never done until it's done.

8:32 PM · Jan 19, 2017

1 RETWEET

2 LIKES

[ph90702]

1 hour ago, VincentVegaBond said:

Coming from you, I absolutely take that as a compliment.

 

Kruger himself has many big wins, the biggest being over a top-5 ranked Wisconsin team ON THE BIGGEST STAGE, the NCAA tournament.  You know, where it matters.  That win sent UNLV to the Sweet sixteen for the first and only time in the past 27 years.  

He beat nationally-ranked BYU squads TWICE in both 06-07 and 07-08  (I know you couldn't care less about those because it was only MW play... you would be perfectly satisfied if UNLV went 0-16 in MW play, as long as we beat a top team early in the season).  In stark contrast to Rice, Lon managed to NOT be the laughingstock of the Mountain West Conference.

He beat Arizona and a nationally-ranked Louisville squad on the road in 08-09.  He beat both teams again (this time Arizona on the road) the following year (09-10).  Unlike Rice's teams did every year, his teams stayed strong in MWC play and beat very strong squads from BYU, SDSU, and New Mexico that year.  Did you think it was time to let him go then?

He beat nationally-ranked Wisconsin and Kansas St. teams the next year (10-11).  And again, didn't collapse when MWC play rolled around.  Was it time to let him go then?  

We all know you'd rather have Rice's pathetic and embarrassing squads struggle to finish .500 in weak MW seasons and fail to make any postseason tourney, rather than have a team consistently making the NCAA's year after year.  You'd rather have a team that manages to beat a few strong squads early, then inevitably collapses and crumbles EVERY SINGLE YEAR, like Rice's teams did.  Inexplicably you'd rather have a team manned by a nerdy weenie whom the players openly don't respect or respond to, rather than one who commands national respect like Kruger did.  

I do realize I have my own problems by taking the nonsense you constantly spew so seriously and becoming so irritated by it.  Time for some work on my own psyche, hope you follow suit!!!   

Lon Kruger was never taking us anywhere.  Dave Rice brought in the talent necessary to compete for a championship.

[PrimeReb]

I have just one more and don't really know if these tweets have been posted. But UNLV have recieved a verbal from high flying junior college wing Anthony Smith from Feather River who is averaging 22 ppg and 8 rpg. He is connected to McCoy according to Ziegler:

 

Mark Zeigler‏ @sdutzeigler

Not sure anyone noticed but UNLV JC commit Anthony Smith played for Ground-Up AAU club run by Shaun Manning, who is Brandon McCoy's guardian7:17 PM · Jan 19, 2017

 

 

[BestintheWest]

1 minute ago, PrimeReb said:

I have just one more and don't really know if these tweets have been posted. But UNLV have recieved a verbal from high flying junior college wing Anthony Smith from Feather River who is averaging 22 ppg and 8 rpg. He is connected to McCoy according to Ziegler:

 

Mark Zeigler‏ @sdutzeigler

 

Not sure anyone noticed but UNLV JC commit Anthony Smith played for Ground-Up AAU club run by Shaun Manning, who is Brandon McCoy's guardian7:17 PM · Jan 19, 2017

 

 

 

Anthony Smith may very well be a great pickup.

McCoy was on an unofficial at Oregon on Saturday when they beat down AZ. They might have an opening for him too.

[PrimeReb]

1 hour ago, BestintheWest said:

 

Anthony Smith may very well be a great pickup.

McCoy was on an unofficial at Oregon on Saturday when they beat down AZ. They might have an opening for him too.

Oregon worries me. 

[toonkee]

9 hours ago, PrimeReb said:

Oregon worries me. 

The ace in the hole we have over Oregon is that Marvin has a track record of running offenses through the post and getting those guys into pro ball. Oregon not so much. Altman seems to prefer more SDSU style guys and the offense is more centered around guard and wing play. That being said their main big, Boucher, is having a hell of a year but he's not really a post-up kind of guy like McCoy.

  

[BleedRed702]

13 hours ago, ph90702 said:

Lon Kruger was never taking us anywhere.  Dave Rice brought in the talent necessary to compete for a championship.

We're not talking about recruiting championships here. Because Dave sure as hell never came close to any other type of championship. Keep sucking on those nuts though. Maybe you can move up to Reno and go to every game and support him there? I can picture you in reno gear. 

[renoskier]

7 minutes ago, BleedRed702 said:

We're not talking about recruiting championships here. Because Dave sure as hell never came close to any other type of championship. Keep sucking on those nuts though. Maybe you can move up to Reno and go to every game and support him there? I can picture you in reno gear. 

[BleedRed702]

Just now, renoskier said:

I don't know... I picture him looking way more socially awkward. I mean, he can't even talk to girls. 

[ph90702]

2 hours ago, BleedRed702 said:

We're not talking about recruiting championships here. Because Dave sure as hell never came close to any other type of championship. Keep sucking on those nuts though. Maybe you can move up to Reno and go to every game and support him there? I can picture you in reno gear. 

You have to keep deflecting on Lon Kruger because you know it's true.

[BleedRed702]

31 minutes ago, ph90702 said:

You have to keep deflecting on Lon Kruger because you know it's true.

I haven't deflected anything.

[ph90702]

10 minutes ago, BleedRed702 said:

I haven't deflected anything.

Lon Kruger was never getting us past the Sweet 16.  We had a greater chance of getting past the Sweet 16 with Dave Rice because he wasn't recruiting 27 year old air condition repairmen.  Getting to the Sweet 16 as a ceiling is not good enough for me.  Also, I highly doubt he would be successful in the MW now unless he upped his recruiting.  The level of talent in the conference has gone up since he left.