Bye Bye Cuonzo

#202
#202
When Bruce was coach we went into games like this expecting to win and pissed if we didn't. Expectations shouldn't be lowered because of a new coach. The coach is hired to meet those expectations and cut loose if he can't meet them. I like Cuonzo and don't think he should necessarily be fired if he doesn't make the tourney this year. But this is a roster that should have expectations of making the tourney and being even a 4 or 5 seed, and they are playing NIT ball. It's the coaches fault if our expectations aren't for this team to go on the road and get a win vs. a Xavier or even a tough top 15 team. Stop making excuses that we shouldn't expect to win a game like this; if that's the mindset then might as well go ahead and give up on him now.
 
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#203
#203
Darth_Shiveman said:
You can't spell Cuonzo Martin with out NIT. That's exactly where we can count on ending up every season if he sticks around.
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You make it sound like he has been here 30 years instead of 3 years. Anyhow, nobody knows for sure what will happen in the future but I think his approach has a good chance of working if we stick with it and have some patience.
 
#204
#204
vols1389 said:
When Bruce was coach we went into games like this expecting to win and pissed if we didn't. Expectations shouldn't be lowered because of a new coach. The coach is hired to meet those expectations and cut loose if he can't meet them. I like Cuonzo and don't think he should necessarily be fired if he doesn't make the tourney this year. But this is a roster that should have expectations of making the tourney and being even a 4 or 5 seed, and they are playing NIT ball. It's the coaches fault if our expectations aren't for this team to go on the road and get a win vs. a Xavier or even a tough top 15 team. Stop making excuses that we shouldn't expect to win a game like this; if that's the mindset then might as well go ahead and give up on him now.
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If he doesn't make it this year he will probably never reach it here.
 
#205
#205
vols1389 said:
When Bruce was coach we went into games like this expecting to win and pissed if we didn't. Expectations shouldn't be lowered because of a new coach. The coach is hired to meet those expectations and cut loose if he can't meet them.
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I expected to win this (just like when Bruce was here) and am pissed we lost (just like when Bruce was here).
Having said this we played a very good, ranked, and undefeated team very close on the road today and came up a little bit short - nobody should be asking for people to get fired over that.
 
#206
#206
TGVol said:
I expected to win this (just like when Bruce was here) and am pissed we lost (just like when Bruce was here).
Having said this we played a very good, ranked, and undefeated team very close on the road today and came up a little bit short - nobody should be asking for people to get fired over that.
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It's not that we lost to Wichita state. It's that he put us in a position that this was a must win game because of bad losses early. Also, this team has a poor track record of winning those must win games under Cuonzo.

Yeah, we had a good streak late last year, but his team still had bad losses against USC and UGA when we couldn't afford it. You can bank on having 1-3 of those same losses late this season.

Cuonzo hasn't, won't, and can't get it done. He's shown that repeatedly.
 
#207
#207
GBO97 said:
We are on the road against the #12 team in the nation. Honestly, some of the stupidity/unrealisticness on the basketball forums recently seems to rival that of the football forums.
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We should have been #12 or so in the nation at this point.
 
#208
#208
I love Zo. I would love to see him get it done at UT and be there a long time. However, he has had several chances to prove he can get it done, and has not. So, as much as I like him and would love to defend him on here, I simply can't.
 
#209
#209
CCM could get it turned around. WSU is obviously a damn good team. You don't make the final four by accident.
Here is the question, if you just swapped talent on both teams what would the results look like? UT is littered with 4 and 5 star guys. How about WSU?

Marshall is as proven a coach at this level. Consider also that Marshall hired Pearl's best assistant, Steve Forbes.
 
#210
#210
VolsSportsFan said:
That assumes we would have done well. The speculation alone tanked Pearl's last season. With a cloud hanging over the program at least 2 years, I think it's more likely it would have been some tough times. I think believing everyone would be rosy with Pearl is naive.
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And you think people have been rosy with Martin? I know you and the other martinites would be content to win 19-20 games a year from now on just to keep Martin, but remember the poll where 76.88% said they wanted Pearl back?
 
#211
#211
TGVol said:
That same approach (very tough defense and somehow come up with just enough offense) worked wonders for his mentor Gene Kaedy at Purdue for 25+ years.
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Keady averaged 20.3 wins per year and always played a very weak ooc schedule to attain the twenty win seasons.
 
#212
#212
TGVol said:
We will have to agree to disagree on this. I think a very athletic and physical style Cuonzo is trying to play will always be successful and never outdated (supplemented with few skilled playmakers like McRae and Hubbs). People will hate to play this team later in the year when they gel some more (we have seen evidence of this in last few years when they had nice stretches of wins little bit later in the year). After all, even the commentators during today's game were praising out staff - perhaps those guys know a little bit more about basketball than you and me?
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We certainly looked like a powerhouse team in the NIT last year. Oh wait, I forgot our best player was on the bench ( Maymon). How could I forget that since it was posted every other post last year as an excuse for losing.
 
#213
#213
TGVol said:
We will have to agree to disagree on this. I think a very athletic and physical style Cuonzo is trying to play will always be successful and never outdated (supplemented with few skilled playmakers like McRae and Hubbs). People will hate to play this team later in the year when they gel some more (we have seen evidence of this in last few years when they had nice stretches of wins little bit later in the year). After all, even the commentators during today's game were praising out staff - perhaps those guys know a little bit more about basketball than you and me?
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Later in the year won't matter. We needed to not lose 3 games already. We aren't going to make the tournament.

If he does stay next year will be horrendous. Imagine this "offense" without a player like Jordan McRea to score. We might avg 35ppg next year.
 
#214
#214
GBO97 said:
We are on the road against the #12 team in the nation. Honestly, some of the stupidity/unrealisticness on the basketball forums recently seems to rival that of the football forums.
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I guess like everyone else with out athletic program the " true fans" are now content with losing because all I ever hear are excuses..
 
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#215
#215
K-town Vol Fan said:
This game was our season and we had a week off to prepare. Yeah we still have UF on the schedule but we beat them last year along WITH having decent OOC wins and didn't make the tourney. Not happening this year.
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No this game was not our season. It would have been nice to pick up a quality road win, but those are very tough to get. We just need to win a lot of conference games.
 
#216
#216
golfballs said:
No this game was not our season. It would have been nice to pick up a quality road win, but those are very tough to get. We just need to win a lot of conference games.
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Our conference isn't strong enough. Good OOC wins are crucial for us we are 0-2 in those games.
 
#220
#220
golfballs said:
Yes it is. We just need to win a lot of games. This isn't the WAC
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That's the problem though. Cuonzo isn't good enough to not blow a few games against less talented teams. Remember going 0-2 vs UGA in conference play last season? How about losing 2-3 against Alabama and needing a miracle to win the one. Losing to Arkansas?

You can pretty much bank on Martin's teams losing 3-5 games in conference play that they can't afford to lose. But there will probably be a seven game win streak in the middle that convinces people like you that Cuonzo really has what it takes and he just had some bad luck along the way.
 
#222
#222
VolStudent5 said:
This was really our only chance at a big win all year, no way we make the tournament now.

:peace2:
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According to live RPI if we win 22 games no matter which games we win on the schedule we will end up with an rpi of 35. That will get us in the tournament. Of course we still have to win 22 games. That means we definitely need to win these 4 OOC games coming up at home and then go 12 and 6 in the SEC. So 16 and 6 the rest of the way. We only have 9 road games left and 13 at home so we need to win the home games and 3 of 9 on the road. If we can't do that then we need to fire CCM and hire someone else. That is where we are we'll see if this team can do it.
 
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#223
#223
We are in the dark ages of UT athletics. Terrible at football, baseball, basketball. Just have to keep waiting. May be another 20 years. Just suck it up.
 
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#224
#224
GBO97 said:
We are on the road against the #12 team in the nation. Honestly, some of the stupidity/unrealisticness on the basketball forums recently seems to rival that of the football forums.
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We need a coach which has the ability to motivate the players and make the most of the talent he has available. CCM is a stiff. He is a man of CHARCTER but he is still a stiff. Having followed UT sports beginning in the late sixties. I have seen many different coaches come and go. In my personal opinion the most engaging coaches we have had during the last forty years is Phil Fulmer,Bruce Pearl and Butch Jones. I feel Bruce was given his walking paper by the administration with little respect for what he was able to achieve during his tenure. His program was not in decline when he was dismissed. He loved The University of Tennessee and he demonstrated this every day. A tribe, employees, fans and players typical take on the character of their leader or coach. When you have an capable, confident, enthusiastic, highly motivated, energetic, articulate coach you do not through him under the bus. The players and fans loved the enthusiasm and positive energy he constantly projected. Yes he made one mistake. He has accepted the punishment dealt by the NCAA and UT which was extremely harsh for the infraction. UT and coach Pearl basically accepted the NCAA punishment to avoid more severe sanction being placed on the university. As I stated above I have followed Tennessee Sports for over forty years and I have never seen UT play better basketball than when Bruce Pearl was the coach. I am a graduate of the University of Tennessee and have always take pride in the University of Tennessee and education I received. Without reservation I would rehire Coach Pearl should the opportunity arise.

:whistling:
 
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#225
#225
I agree, hire back Pearl! He brings more to the table than anyone else we could consider. Bottom line is winning and he does that.
 
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