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[QUOTE="RF2044, post: 1990936, member: 40"]
Alsacs, I agree with Cusefan0307 here -- the legend of Bernie Fine is significantly overrated.  He was a lousy coach in virtually every respect.

Some of those players you mention--Seikaly, Etan, etc. were unbelievable athletes, which accounts for at least some of the players they eventually became.  And I've told this before, but Etan's freshman year, he had zero fundamentals.  None.  He couldn't catch the ball, he had no idea about footwork--nothing.  All he could do was run, dunk, and block shots, but otherwise had no idea how to play the game of basketball.  The guy who worked with him every day after practice was Louis Orr, not Fine--teaching him the nuances of how to play against players his own size [Orr was 6-9].  Every day, he would teach Etan how to post up, how to "feel" the defender with his back, how to catch the ball--I'm not kidding, it was that basic.

Etan's huge jump between his freshman and sophomore years is way more attributable to Orr than Fine, IMO.  That's not to say that Fine had no role, after all, he coached the kid, too--but his reputation as a big man guru is undeserved and not supported by the evidence of player development in my opinion.
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