Did MU Dodge A Bullet When Shaka Passed?

[Tugg Speedman]

Texas just lost to Kent State at home ... Kent State!  A holiday buy game!!!

Texas finished their non-conference schedule 6 - 6

They also lost to Northwestern by 19!

And no, this was not a rebuilding season.  They were ranked #21 preseason and predicted to finished second in the Big 12 behind Kansas.

Sum it up and a disaster is unfolding in Austin.

So, was MU lucky that Shaka's wife did not want to move to Milwaukee?  Is Texas "stuck" with him?

[4everwarriors]

NU is good, ai na?

[Tugg Speedman]

NU is good, ai na?

Ok, they might be ...

Texas also lost to Texas Arlington (UT's UWM)

[naginiF]

What's your opinion?

I know i just added to your click total but please, FFS , start threads with both the question and your opinion.

[rocket surgeon]

do they have a "'scoop'?  it's gotta be buzz'in, 'ey?

[tower912]

Any coaching hire is a dice roll.  He had the track record any major program would want.  His team is off to a slow start.  Do you think he is not the long term answer?

[Newsdreams]

Buzzer to texas, hey?

[wadesworld]

It's one thing to get all butthurt about people getting butthurt that you started a new thread that already had a thread of its own when it has to do with Marquette basketball. It's another when it has to do with Texas basketball and there is already a thread for that topic and the topic has already been discussed in that thread. We don't need a new topic for every game Texas loses because we once thought we might sign their coach to be our coach.

Can't wait for all the Cuonzo topics for every Cal loss.

[tower912]

So you are saying we can expect  'Did MU dodge a bullet by not offering Ben Howland' thread as well as 'Was Cuonzo a better choice' threads in the future?

[wadesworld]

Oh and the other thread is only 2 pages long so you should be safe to read it.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Texas also lost to Texas Arlington (UT's UWM)

To be fair, UT Arlington was a preseason top 75 team per KenPom. They are 63 in KenPom now. In addition to their win over Texas, they also won at St. Mary's, a preseason top 20 team.

I don't think UWM ever reached those levels.

[MU82]

To be fair, UT Arlington was a preseason top 75 team per KenPom. They are 63 in KenPom now. In addition to their win over Texas, they also won at St. Mary's, a preseason top 20 team.

I don't think UWM ever reached those levels.

Well, UWM did reach the Sweet 16 in 2005. Some might opine that's even more impressive than a December victory over St. Mary's.

[MU82]

So you are saying we can expect  'Did MU dodge a bullet by not offering Ben Howland' thread as well as 'Was Cuonzo a better choice' threads in the future?

I agree we don't need a new thread every time Texas loses. But neither Cuonzo nor Howland was our Bo Derek.

On a scale of 1-10 as Buzz's replacement, Shaka was a 10. Nobody else was prettier than 5 in this board's collective eye. Wojo probably wasn't even a 3.

I, for one, will admit to having a slight feeling of schadenfreude whenever Texas loses, offering proof that Shaka isn't some miracle worker.

He had an incredible Final Four run at VCU; every year after that, including his first season and a third at Texas, his teams underperformed a little more.

[brewcity77]

To be fair, UT Arlington was a preseason top 75 team per KenPom. They are 63 in KenPom now. In addition to their win over Texas, they also won at St. Mary's, a preseason top 20 team.

I don't think UWM ever reached those levels.

UW-M under Bruce Pearl was very good. Pretty routinely ranked in the 40-75 range.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Well, UWM did reach the Sweet 16 in 2005. Some might opine that's even more impressive than a December victory over St. Mary's.

I am one of those who don't believe the tournament means much about the actual quality of a team. Some might even call it a crapshoot. I wouldn't take it that far though...

UW-M under Bruce Pearl was very good. Pretty routinely ranked in the 40-75 range.

I honestly couldn't have guessed what they were ranked. I always remember them being that pesky Horizon team that occasionally won the conference tournament and got to play in the Big Dance.

My main point wasn't about how bad UWM is. It was that this particular UT-Arlington team is a better loss than you might expect.

[MU82]

I am one of those who don't believe the tournament means much about the actual quality of a team. Some might even call it a crapshoot. I wouldn't take it that far though...


I honestly couldn't have guessed what they were ranked. I always remember them being that pesky Horizon team that occasionally won the conference tournament and got to play in the Big Dance.

My main point wasn't about how bad UWM is. It was that this particular UT-Arlington team is a better loss than you might expect.

UT-A is a better loss than I thought. But this isn't about that loss. It's about Shaka's body of work so far at Texas. Losing at home to UT-A is only part of that. So is losing at home to Kent State and getting crushed twice in the same Brooklyn tourney we won last season.

So far, I'm not seeing how Shaka's second season at Texas is as good as Wojo's second season at Marquette was. It's still early, though, so we'll see!

[barfolomew]

UW-M under Bruce Pearl was very good. Pretty routinely ranked in the 40-75 range.

I mistakenly (but innocently) brought up the name Bruce Pearl over Christmas dinner in the presence of four University of Illinois alumni (including the host, my sister), and you would have thought I presented a cowpie for the dessert contribution.
The vitriol still reserved for Pearl by those people was more entertaining than the political arguments my sister feared.
When they broke out the Pictionary later that evening, every first guess by me was always "Bruce Pearl!".

[brewcity77]

I mistakenly (but innocently) brought up the name Bruce Pearl over Christmas dinner in the presence of four University of Illinois alumni (including the host, my sister), and you would have thought I presented a cowpie for the dessert contribution.
The vitriol still reserved for Pearl by those people was more entertaining than the political arguments my sister feared.
When they broke out the Pictionary later that evening, every first guess by me was always "Bruce Pearl!".

LOL When it comes to Illini fans, they have a special build-up of hate for Pearl.

[cheebs09]

I have to admit, I was pretty fired up for Shaka at the time. One thing that worried me though was he never won a regular season conference title. He had some talented teams in a conference that wasn't super strong. I also think we would have gotten "Shaka to..." rumors every year.

I think he would have brought some quality recruits here and our rebuild wouldn't be as drastic. He may have been able to keep a few recruits too. I'm happy with Wojo though and hoping we can get over the hump and have sustained success.

[Tugg Speedman]

So you are saying we can expect  'Did MU dodge a bullet by not offering Ben Howland' thread as well as 'Was Cuonzo a better choice' threads in the future?

No because MU never offered those two the position

[Tugg Speedman]

Any coaching hire is a dice roll.  He had the track record any major program would want.  His team is off to a slow start.  Do you think he is not the long term answer?

Slow start?

Preseason #21 is now 6-6 in non-conference and just lost to Kent State at home.

If I was describing MU your post game notes would be describing this season as a F**king disaster unfolding.

[Tugg Speedman]

Oh and the other thread is only 2 pages long so you should be safe to read it.

I stopped reading it when they wandered off into talking about Hillary's pantsuits

[Tugg Speedman]

I agree we don't need a new thread every time Texas loses. But neither Cuonzo nor Howland was our Bo Derek.

On a scale of 1-10 as Buzz's replacement, Shaka was a 10. Nobody else was prettier than 5 in this board's collective eye. Wojo probably wasn't even a 3.

I, for one, will admit to having a slight feeling of schadenfreude whenever Texas loses, offering proof that Shaka isn't some miracle worker.

He had an incredible Final Four run at VCU; every year after that, including his first season and a third at Texas, his teams underperformed a little more.

Well said

Some of the same posters complaining about this thread were peeing in their pants excited at possibly getting Shaka.  Now its non-news he taking a preseason ranked team to the worst non-conference record in the Big 12.

[bilsu]

Texas did make the NCAA tournament the last two years and has a young team this year.

[wadesworld]

Well said

Some of the same posters complaining about this thread were peeing in their pants excited at possibly getting Shaka.  Now its non-news he taking a preseason ranked team to the worst non-conference record in the Big 12.

Nope.  It's just news that has already been broken and has its own thread.