Tony Bennett future UK coach?

[mjj_2K]

Not sure Bennett would ever be considered for the UK job but, it wouldn't be because of his style of play. Just not sure if he is dynamic enough to lead a program with the intense spotlight that is own UK.
He is a helluva coach though. His players play hard and defend like their lives depend on it. Nothing "boring" about good defense.

Yes, there is, when part of that great defense is playing at a snail's pace to keep scores down. Devoting your entire style, defense AND offense, to preventing the other team from scoring is not great coaching. Part of the reason that college basketball went through an entire era of suckitude was because of how many coaches focused entirely on one side of the court, as if actually being able to score was for pansies. Bennett is better than that, as he does have a coherent gameplan, but it's still one designed to play as low a possession game as possible.

No thanks. Great for Virginia, awful for UK.

 

[darkshadesofblue]

Bennett is a terrific coach and has run the packline defense/constricting tempo offense pretty effectively, but that's Virginia's image not ours. We're a run and gun, very fast pace program and should always be. Honestly, I think he'll be at UVA for the rest of his coaching career.

 

[Poetax]

I know many may not be a fan because of UVA's style of play. But the dude wins. Still relatively young for a coach too. What say you?

Nope, good coach but he needs 4 years to build a team and since 2009 with VA hasn't made a FF.

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

You try to play a 40 possession game, someone will hit some shots against you, you'll fall behind, and then have no ability to pick up the pace to catch up.

This reminds me of the complaint I always had with Tubby: if the pace of every game means that game is likely to be close, whether you're playing Duke or Auburn......if they're all close, you're going to lose a few, including a few to some teams that shouldn't beat you. Every team has occasional bad games and wil lose to inferior opponents, but if your philosophy dictates that the score will be 61-58 or whatever, you're going to lose more than your fair share.

The difference is I really didn't think tubby was committed to that pace - he was content to let the other team dictate pace. Bennett is very much committed to a very slow pace, seemingly...

 

[mjj_2K]

This reminds me of the complaint I always had with Tubby: if the pace of every game means that game is likely to be close, whether you're playing Duke or Auburn......if they're all close, you're going to lose a few, including a few to some teams that shouldn't beat you. Every team has occasional bad games and wil lose to inferior opponents, but if your philosophy dictates that the score will be 61-58 or whatever, you're going to lose more than your fair share.

The difference is I really didn't think tubby was committed to that pace - he was content to let the other team dictate pace. Bennett is very much committed to a very slow pace, seemingly...

That's pretty much dead on.

Every single extensive look at sports' history (and it crosses multiple sports) has shown that the more close games you play, the more luck becomes a huge factor. No baseball, basketball, or football team can consistently count on winning incredibly close games at any rate beyond a coin flip. The only real way to separate yourself from the pack is to not play very many of those games.

It's a margin of error thing. Tony Bennett's teams have almost none. Execute everything right, and yeah, they can beat almost anyone. Screw something up? Huge drop in any likelihood of winning. And when you play a style like Bennett, that can come down to a handful of possessions.

 

[mebeblue2]

You got to hire someone that can keep the recruiting momentum that understands program. I am goi g yo say it again . After Cal leaves it will be Billy Donovan after he does his 5-7 years in NBA . Billy will have the NBA backgroud with the 2 titles in UF. He recruited pretty well at UF and his recruiting would only get better at UK. I still think we will see Billy D on UK 'S sidelines before he retires from coaching. I will call it Kentucky basketball prophecy!

i think the lack of support was one of the main reasons BD left UF
after Pitino leaves ul, BD could very well come to UK

 

[mebeblue2]

Nope, good coach but he needs 4 years to build a team and since 2009 with VA hasn't made a FF.

yep
how many Bennett supporters in this thread would be happy with UK going to a FF every 8 years or so?

 

[jameslee32]

You got to hire someone that can keep the recruiting momentum that understands program. I am goi g yo say it again . After Cal leaves it will be Billy Donovan after he does his 5-7 years in NBA . Billy will have the NBA backgroud with the 2 titles in UF. He recruited pretty well at UF and his recruiting would only get better at UK. I still think we will see Billy D on UK 'S sidelines before he retires from coaching. I will call it Kentucky basketball prophecy!

How many times does Billy have to say no?

 

[jameslee32]

People on here go apeshit about Tubby....why would you want to hire Bennet a guy who plays slow *** "tubby ball"

Uh, off the top of my head, a ncaa championship, sec championships, 250 wins and winning NCAA tourney games every year for 10 straight years. I know that sucks but
still....

 

[mtn cat1]

sorry OP, but this is a dumb thread
Tubby played fast paste compared to Bennett

Was that the fast drying type of paste?

 

[Tblue60]

Everybody shoots within 30 seconds..... the game is much faster than it used to be.

 

[mjj_2K]

Everybody shoots within 30 seconds..... the game is much faster than it used to be.

And yet Virginia is managing to average only 69 ppg through the (easier) non-conference portion of their schedule. And that's despite playing really well offensively, shooting nearly 50% as a team.

That 69 ppg, BTW, would be the lowest UK scoring average since 99-2000 (one of the worst offensive teams in UK history), the only time since 88-89 that UK failed to crack 70 ppg.

There are still enormous differences in pace, even with a 30 second clock.

 

[true55]

I know many may not be a fan because of UVA's style of play. But the dude wins. Still relatively young for a coach too. What say you?

Well.........no!

 

[Blueworld_3.0]

How many times does Billy have to say no?

Won't be an issue the next time the UK job is open. Billy D. may not even be in the top 3 names on MB's list then. If MB is still here when the next search begins and has his way, the next coach will be nothing like Cal.