I think I'm going -B. There were some holes on the roster (PF) which cost us games early. I think we're a boarder line NIT team with one more big man on the roster.
Now that it's over grade Howland year 1
- Thread starter 57stratdawg
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Based strictly on the on the court performance and not considering recruiting...
First 17 games of the season: D
Last 14 games of the season: A-
Average it together and you get a C+. We did not finish the season where I wanted us to be- but by the end of the year we were playing every bit as good as I thought we could at the beginning of the season.
First 17 games of the season: D
Last 14 games of the season: A-
Average it together and you get a C+. We did not finish the season where I wanted us to be- but by the end of the year we were playing every bit as good as I thought we could at the beginning of the season.
I think the switch between man and zone was a calculated move that he used to motivate the team to play man better down the stretch without everyone getting in foul trouble. It may have cost us a few games, but it worked, and the team came together. If we had a better bench and post players to complement Gavin we would have done some damage. Somehow Ben Howland was eventually able to coach the "Rick Ray" out of the seniors. IJ needs to make better decisions next year on a consistent basis. B+ for the coaching effort.
There's 2 parts to being a HC... Recruiting and coaching. Recruiting he gets an A+. For coaching, I'd give him a C. There's no way we should've lost to southern and umkc... Those 2 losses cost us a winning season. Last year, we lost 9 games by 6 or less. We added a 5* and 2 4*'s to pretty much our entire core from last year. We should've turned those close losses into wins this year, but we didn't. Overall grade is a B, but mainly for his recruiting.
I'm very happy to have Howland as our HC
I'm very happy to have Howland as our HC
I'll go B+
"A" anything would have been post season play. This team could have gotten to the NIT had we been employing our weapons like we have the past 2 months. I only slightly fault Howland for that being its year 1.
"A" anything would have been post season play. This team could have gotten to the NIT had we been employing our weapons like we have the past 2 months. I only slightly fault Howland for that being its year 1.
I'll give him a B-, and that's being generous because of his high marks in recruiting. Of course, I don't think its fair to say recruiting rankings are nonsense in football, and then turn around and praise Howland for signing highly ranked basketball recruits. I hope they pan out, but you just have to look at Malik to see that they don't always turn out as expected (even though Malik was injured, injuries happen, and he did not have half the impact people expected).
I was really disappointed with this team on the court. The 5-3 finish was nice, I just wish we had seen that type of effort earlier. My biggest concern, honestly, was all of the close losses. They continually made critical mistakes in close games, and Howland was never there with a key timeout, or drawing up something creative. He would just let them play and then shake his head when Ready was a ball hog or whatever. Yes, they had the one big shot to beat Vandy, but that was far and away the highlight of the year.
I still have high hopes for Howland, but I cannot give him high marks for this year. They finished only a couple of games better than last year's team, even with two great new Freshmen. Things are looking up, though.
I was really disappointed with this team on the court. The 5-3 finish was nice, I just wish we had seen that type of effort earlier. My biggest concern, honestly, was all of the close losses. They continually made critical mistakes in close games, and Howland was never there with a key timeout, or drawing up something creative. He would just let them play and then shake his head when Ready was a ball hog or whatever. Yes, they had the one big shot to beat Vandy, but that was far and away the highlight of the year.
I still have high hopes for Howland, but I cannot give him high marks for this year. They finished only a couple of games better than last year's team, even with two great new Freshmen. Things are looking up, though.
B. I thought we should have made the NIT before the season and that's the way we were playing by the end of the season. Took longer than expected for everything to gel and I was hoping for more out of the seniors in the beginning. Plus - Malik just wasn't what we all hoped. He has unreal potential but didn't realize it this season.
Also, we didn't figure out how to play defense until mid January.
Also, we didn't figure out how to play defense until mid January.
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What was different between this years team and last year's team? We would have won 11-14 games with Ray. Who did we lose last year that was a big loss?
We're in alignment, but I think it's important to remember that 2 of those freshmen battled injuries throughout and never really got to participate in preseason workouts. Missing practice really, really hurt them I think.
Holman really turned a corner after he got some PT though.
Holman really turned a corner after he got some PT though.
Solid C work for the season.
We added talent to an experienced core and the record didnt show as really being better than before. Thats called underachieving in most circles.
We lost to friggin Southern and UMKC! And a couple(few?) other games we let slip away.
Howland tried to hammer a square peg into a round hole for the first 1/3+ of the season with how we played defense. His refusal to adjust to what worked best for the players he had available lost us games and equals a C in my book.
Solid A for recruiting over the last 11 months.
We added talent to an experienced core and the record didnt show as really being better than before. Thats called underachieving in most circles.
We lost to friggin Southern and UMKC! And a couple(few?) other games we let slip away.
Howland tried to hammer a square peg into a round hole for the first 1/3+ of the season with how we played defense. His refusal to adjust to what worked best for the players he had available lost us games and equals a C in my book.
Solid A for recruiting over the last 11 months.
Its not who we lost but what we would have lost. Can yall not see that? Our team would have folded early this year with the rough start. The mental toughness and tenacity Ben brought to this team was great. This team had a bunch to overcome. Its my opinion he gets an A.
A first year coach changed our program in one season. Yall are basing his grade in W&L to much.
A first year coach changed our program in one season. Yall are basing his grade in W&L to much.
Yea that experienced bunch he added talent to underachieved for 3 years prior. That new talent wasn't healthy all year either.
Defensive adjustments for our team at the time was based off the personel we had at the time. You cant freaking man up all the time and get in foul trouble when you have 2 guys on the bench.
Yes we lost some close games but when players miss and make certain shots those can make him look bad or good.
We competed and got better throughout the season. RR's team would have seen no improvement.
We won a few more games with Howland. I think Ray would have won in double digits like he always did. His system was in place. He preached defense.
We just were never going to be a tournament team.
We just were never going to be a tournament team.
Knocking the rust off: 4/5 (no excuse for losing a few of our OOC games and our inexcusably bad defense for a long stretch)
Public face of the program: 4/5 (he didn't blow me away in interviews; would love to see him get some exposure as a guest host on CBS or ESPN during the tournament)
Recruiting: 30/30 (I don't know what else we could reasonably expect; hoping to see Garrison Brooks and Robert Woodard added over the next two years)
Results: 50/60
The three most significant wins were Vandy, South Carolina and at Bama because all three were in the bubble conversation and we showed the ability to be right there with them. Unfortunately we gave that chance away (and the NIT too) in November and December, so for all the credit Howland gets on the wins, he gets that much blame for the losses. I would be a little happier if we had been able to close out some games. Just remember:
Texas Tech: four point lead with five minutes to play
UMKC: Three point lead with two minutes to play
TAMU: One point lead under three minutes
at UF: Two different one point leads in the last two minutes
Bama: Missed FTs by Ware and Sword at end of regulation cost us
at TAMU: One point lead with three minutes left
and there was no good excuse for losing to Tennessee.
Overall that's still a solid B+. Expectations are going to rise though, and quickly.
Public face of the program: 4/5 (he didn't blow me away in interviews; would love to see him get some exposure as a guest host on CBS or ESPN during the tournament)
Recruiting: 30/30 (I don't know what else we could reasonably expect; hoping to see Garrison Brooks and Robert Woodard added over the next two years)
Results: 50/60
The three most significant wins were Vandy, South Carolina and at Bama because all three were in the bubble conversation and we showed the ability to be right there with them. Unfortunately we gave that chance away (and the NIT too) in November and December, so for all the credit Howland gets on the wins, he gets that much blame for the losses. I would be a little happier if we had been able to close out some games. Just remember:
Texas Tech: four point lead with five minutes to play
UMKC: Three point lead with two minutes to play
TAMU: One point lead under three minutes
at UF: Two different one point leads in the last two minutes
Bama: Missed FTs by Ware and Sword at end of regulation cost us
at TAMU: One point lead with three minutes left
and there was no good excuse for losing to Tennessee.
Overall that's still a solid B+. Expectations are going to rise though, and quickly.
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I agree you cant man up all the time- that was the issue early on- he forced man when zone would have been better. We got worked over and again. Our zone had issues thru the year too, to be clear, but the inability/refusal to adjust early on meant us losing games we had no business losing.
I agree that the team got better thru the season. Had the team not gotten better, I would have said Howland deserved an F. We had nowhere to go but up...we had lost to Southern and UMKC. If we didnt improve from that, Howland should have donated his salary back to the Athletic Dept.
"Yes we lost some close games but when players miss and make certain shots those can make him look bad or good."
Yup- thats sorta how it always goes. Along the line of this insight- I hear the team which scores the most points wins.
Just stop. You're embarrassing yourself. Howland had more talent with a core of seniors and only showed quality improvement in a stretch of about 4 games this year. Plus he doesn't get a pass for kicking serviceable players off the team or for injuries.
Here's Howland's improvement on a quantitative basis:
He won ONE more regular season game.
He won ONE more SEC game.
He was ONE seed higher in the SEC tournament.
I love Howland and think he will take us to new heights. However, anyone that says year 1 was anything other than a failure is just kidding themselves. We returned a veteran team with 2 new 4 star freshmen from a team that won 13 last year. Most teams would kill for those odds. So this year was an F, short and simple. However, Howland has never done well his first year at a new job, so I'll give him a pass especially with the team he has assembled for next year.
So Howland did a little bit better than Ray in his first year, with Rays players, while implementing a new system, all while leaning heavily on two freshmen? And Ray did what he did last year after a couple years of implementing his system? I'm not saying Howland is the greatest thing ever, but he sure as heck did a great job.
We're talking about coaching grade here. Effort is all that matters. He got out of his players all that he could. Let's not judge him for that.**
You are very elementary in your views counting ones and twos so stop before you embarrass someone.
This team so divided in the offseason and at the beginning on the season it was not even funny. Our head coach got them to gel off the court and on the court. It was a super bad mess.
I agree with this. Satisfactory overall. He definitely did some tearing down then building back up. I think Ray would have probably won about the same number of games because there wouldn't have been that period needed to gel like we saw. But I loved the way we improved over the year and I think Howland set the stage well for the next couple of years. I certainly saw enough (including recruiting) to know we made the right move hiring Howland. I know some folks had NIT or even NCAA aspirations based on all the seniors and Malik, but the reality was that the seniors (other than Ware) just weren't good and Malik didn't come anywhere near the realm of his expectations.
Sorry, I never got to TWO. Neither did Howland.**
Keep the Howland Apology Tour moving with your excuses. It's is a super bad mess that RR would have matched the productivity of Howland. RR might not have had MN and Holmon, but he would have had at least Black and Houston. Given the learning curve for MN and Holmon, I don't know if they would have mattered.
I think Howland did a good job. But I don't think that he did a great job. He showed only slight improvement over RR.
In place of Malik, Ray would've had tookie brown...
17.8 ppg 3.2 rpg 3.4 apg
I know those stats would most likely be less here, but he's solid
I enjoyed watching us
For the first time in a long time. Sure we lacked talent, but we actually attempted to run an offense. Getting fancy and using picks and ball movement. When was the last time we did that?
I'll give him a B+ due to lack of talent, A+ compared to the last few years.
For the first time in a long time. Sure we lacked talent, but we actually attempted to run an offense. Getting fancy and using picks and ball movement. When was the last time we did that?
I'll give him a B+ due to lack of talent, A+ compared to the last few years.
I think some of you are giving RR too much credit for what he would have done this year. I actually think we would have been worse and won only in the single digits. I for one am glad RR is gone and am glad Howland is our coach. I dont really see the need in grading him this year in the first place. Also keep in mind wasnt Howland out of coaching a couple of years before he came to us? We WILL get better.
Anybody that says this year was a failure doesn't understand sports. Everything we needed to happen happened. Our young players got better and were not infected with a losing mentality. Our bench was stocked for next year. Our upper classmen eventually bought end and managed to not let their ego impact their ability to play with more talented younger players, although this wasn't really that important except that it helped make it more likely that our freshmen wouldn't be negatively impacted.
It would have been nice to win some more games, but it would have been terrible to sacrifice anything for the future just to maybe make the NIT. Much better to tear down bad habits where necessary, even if it resulted in worse play initially.
I would give him a C+. I expected a better W-L record given the returning roster and the addition of Newman and Witherspoon, but given how they played the last month he gets slightly better than average.
The incoming recruiting class looks good on paper, although there are always question marks until they show up. Kegler was suspended at Oak Hill and missed about a month of their season. Eli Wright attended 3 schools in a matter of 5 months and recently quit 22 Feet Academy to return home. Those are potential red flags. Peters and Carter look like solid players and the big guys are a necessity. I would expect next year to be similar to this year with a slower than expected start getting everyone on the same page but the program seems to be headed in the right direction.
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