Coach Zo deserves

#179
#179
BigOrangeCrush32 said:
I see your point to certain extent...but I really hope that by your last comment, you're not saying that Martin is a better Coach than Pearl. Martin has his qualities, seems to be a good recruiter and all around likable guy, but in game coaching is not his strong point and neither is being a motivator...the team seems to play hard when they want to and when they do, they are Really Really good and hard to beat.
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Just addressing the logic that when one guy wins its because he's a great coach but when the other guy wins he's still a lousy coach. If we're just talking best strategist, Don DeVoe is easily the best we ever had, and Ray Mears leaves Pearl in the dust as well. I loved the DeVoe teams, simply because DeVoe himself gave us hope every time out. But coaching a college basketball team is more than that. Success is measured by wins. If the argument is just that Cuonzo has not yet matched Bruce's best years, then okay; I'll agree to that. If we're just saying Cuonzo makes some mysterious in-game coaching decisions, I'll agree to that, but I'll add, so did Pearl.
 
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#180
#180
papatomany said:
Just addressing the logic that when one guy wins its because he's a great coach but when the other guy wins he's still a lousy coach. If we're just talking best strategist, Don DeVoe is easily the best we ever had, and Ray Mears leaves Pearl in the dust as well. I loved the DeVoe teams, simply because DeVoe himself gave us hope every time out. But coaching a college basketball team is more than that. Success is measured by wins. If the argument is just that Cuonzo has not yet matched Bruce's best years, then okay; I'll agree to that. If we're just saying Cuonzo makes some mysterious in-game coaching decisions, I'll agree to that, but I'll add, so did Pearl.
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Coaching in college is teaching, game planning and recruiting. Bruce Pearl did all of those together better than anyone else here has before.

DeVoe wasn't a good recruiter, and I'd say he wasn't quite Pearl in the teaching department either. Mears was a great recruiter, but he actually underachieved. Not winning a national championship with Ernie and Bernie was underachieving really. Not advancing beyond the first round with those guys is ridiculous.

Pearl didn't just win at the highest level we've ever saw here, he did it at every level he coached at for 20 years. And I'd wager a good amount he'll do it at his next stop, wherever that place may be.

Pearl is 462-183 for a 72% career winning percentage. He's coached 10 seasons in Div 1 and made 8 NCAA tournaments, 4 of the 8 he went to the sweet 16 or beyond.

He's the best we've ever had and holds most of our great coaching records like most NCAA wins, furthest advancement in the NCAA, only #1 ranking, first SEC championship in 40 years.

Pearl is better than DeVoe ever was, he's better than Mears ever was. And that's not a slam against them, Pearl was just that good.
 
#181
#181
VolArmy74 said:
Coaching in college is teaching, game planning and recruiting. Bruce Pearl did all of those together better than anyone else here has before.

DeVoe wasn't a good recruiter, and I'd say he wasn't quite Pearl in the teaching department either. Mears was a great recruiter, but he actually underachieved. Not winning a national championship with Ernie and Bernie was underachieving really. Not advancing beyond the first round with those guys is ridiculous.

Pearl didn't just win at the highest level we've ever saw here, he did it at every level he coached at for 20 years. And I'd wager a good amount he'll do it at his next stop, wherever that place may be.

Pearl is 462-183 for a 72% career winning percentage. He's coached 10 seasons in Div 1 and made 8 NCAA tournaments, 4 of the 8 he went to the sweet 16 or beyond.

He's the best we've ever had and holds most of our great coaching records like most NCAA wins, furthest advancement in the NCAA, only #1 ranking, first SEC championship in 40 years.

Pearl is better than DeVoe ever was, he's better than Mears ever was. And that's not a slam against them, Pearl was just that good.
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You have said this before but UT won titles in 72,77,82 and 2000. At least accord to UT's own web site.

UTSPORTS.COM - University of Tennessee Athletics - Fans
 
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#182
#182
VolArmy74 said:
Coaching in college is teaching, game planning and recruiting. Bruce Pearl did all of those together better than anyone else here has before.

DeVoe wasn't a good recruiter, and I'd say he wasn't quite Pearl in the teaching department either. Mears was a great recruiter, but he actually underachieved. Not winning a national championship with Ernie and Bernie was underachieving really. Not advancing beyond the first round with those guys is ridiculous.

Pearl didn't just win at the highest level we've ever saw here, he did it at every level he coached at for 20 years. And I'd wager a good amount he'll do it at his next stop, wherever that place may be.

Pearl is 462-183 for a 72% career winning percentage. He's coached 10 seasons in Div 1 and made 8 NCAA tournaments, 4 of the 8 he went to the sweet 16 or beyond.

He's the best we've ever had and holds most of our great coaching records like most NCAA wins, furthest advancement in the NCAA, only #1 ranking, first SEC championship in 40 years.

Pearl is better than DeVoe ever was, he's better than Mears ever was. And that's not a slam against them, Pearl was just that good.
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If you're going to say Mears underachieved by not winning an NC with Ernie and Bernie, then Pearl's best team was an underachiever as well.
 
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#184
#184
VolsSportsFan said:
If you're going to say Mears underachieved by not winning an NC with Ernie and Bernie, then Pearl's best team was an underachiever as well.
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Ernie and Bernie were multi-year First team All-American's. Bernard is the best player in SEC history. Mike Jackson was pretty great himself and Reggie Johnson was no slouch. The NCAA loss to VMI in 1976 may be the worst in program history for what it represented. Ernie and Bernard averaged 25 a game each that season, and a combined 20 rebounds. Mike Jackson averaged 16 a game himself. The loss to Syracuse the next year was just as bad, after they beat us, Charlotte beat them 81-59 in the next round.

Pearl never had a talent like Ernie or Bernard, let alone both at the same time but was a bucket away from the Final Four.
 
#186
#186
VolArmy74 said:
I mean outright title. Those were shared titles, mostly with Kentucky. 1967 was the last straight up, non-shared league title before 2008.
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Site shows 77 as an outright title. Also, I'm not sure why you would want to make a distinction. A shared title is still a title.
 
#187
#187
VolArmy74 said:
Ernie and Bernie were multi-year First team All-American's. Bernard is the best player in SEC history. Mike Jackson was pretty great himself and Reggie Johnson was no slouch. The NCAA loss to VMI in 1976 may be the worst in program history for what it represented. Ernie and Bernard averaged 25 a game each that season, and a combined 20 rebounds. Mike Jackson averaged 16 a game himself. The loss to Syracuse the next year was just as bad, after they beat us, Charlotte beat them 81-59 in the next round.

Pearl never had a talent like Ernie or Bernard, let alone both at the same time but was a bucket away from the Final Four.
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Pearl's best team wasn't a bucket away from the Final Four. His best team was the 2008 team that was ranked #1, won over 30 games, won the SEC outright, and got a #2 seed. They also got destroyed by Louisville in the Sweet 16.
 
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#188
#188
VolArmy74 said:
Ernie and Bernie were multi-year First team All-American's. Bernard is the best player in SEC history. Mike Jackson was pretty great himself and Reggie Johnson was no slouch. The NCAA loss to VMI in 1976 may be the worst in program history for what it represented. Ernie and Bernard averaged 25 a game each that season, and a combined 20 rebounds. Mike Jackson averaged 16 a game himself. The loss to Syracuse the next year was just as bad, after they beat us, Charlotte beat them 81-59 in the next round.

Pearl never had a talent like Ernie or Bernard, let alone both at the same time but was a bucket away from the Final Four.
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Sure. Ernie and Bernie in Pearl's flex offense. Six points a game less for each of them.

Anyhow, that Mears team had the best starting 5 in the country, but no bench at all. (In fact, none of Mears' teams had bench, while Kentucky always had two full units of top recruits.) Also, Mears raised the ire of more than one ref, which often resulted in foul trouble for Bernie, Ernie or both. (Though some of Ernie's were because he was as hard a driver as I've ever seen. The block/charge thing came up between 3 and 9 times a game.) Unless my memory fails me, which is possible, during the VMI game Bernie stayed in foul trouble and was essentially beaten up. We easily could have had 20 more free throws.

Also, Mears would have been in the NCAA tourney every year if it were like today. You had to actually win the regular season conference title to get in.
 
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#189
#189
VolArmy74 said:
Coaching in college is teaching, game planning and recruiting. Bruce Pearl did all of those together better than anyone else here has before.

DeVoe wasn't a good recruiter, and I'd say he wasn't quite Pearl in the teaching department either. Mears was a great recruiter, but he actually underachieved. Not winning a national championship with Ernie and Bernie was underachieving really. Not advancing beyond the first round with those guys is ridiculous.

Pearl didn't just win at the highest level we've ever saw here, he did it at every level he coached at for 20 years. And I'd wager a good amount he'll do it at his next stop, wherever that place may be.

Pearl is 462-183 for a 72% career winning percentage. He's coached 10 seasons in Div 1 and made 8 NCAA tournaments, 4 of the 8 he went to the sweet 16 or beyond.

He's the best we've ever had and holds most of our great coaching records like most NCAA wins, furthest advancement in the NCAA, only #1 ranking, first SEC championship in 40 years.

Pearl is better than DeVoe ever was, he's better than Mears ever was. And that's not a slam against them, Pearl was just that good.
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I appreciate you responding to my post after, apparently, not reading it. Thanks.

I will answer, though:

Pearl at UT 233-99 70.1
Mears at UT 278-112 71.3

(Sorry to repeat myself) Except for his last 2 years, Mears had to win the regular season title to get into the NCAA tournament. Only once did Pearl have the best regular season record in the SEC.
 
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