Mike Hopkins to the Phoenix Suns

[OmahaCuse]

Nate Oats, guy can recruit he would get athletes here

 

[syrBossHogg]

Alabama’s offense looks wild. Quingly is a human turnover and their guards leave their feet on every pass. Not impressed at all.

I didn't see them play but maybe it was an off night. KenPom has their offense at 14th.

 

[SWC75]

We have talented, athletic players. What we don't have is a center. We are a headless horseman trying to win the ACC.

 

[orangefog]

We have talented, athletic players. What we don't have is a center. We are a headless horseman trying to win the ACC.

View attachment 195506

Hopefully we will have three healthy centers soon (Sidibe, Frank and Jesse). Hopefully they play.

 

[HOFCeluck]

We have talented, athletic players. What we don't have is a center. We are a headless horseman trying to win the ACC.

There’s an Ichabod Crane joke in here but that’s just low hanging fruit.

 

[CuseMan4]

I think our top 3 candidates that we could legitimately land should be

Mike Hopkins (Washington)
Nate Oats (Alabama)
Chris Beard (Texas Tech)

no specific order but we should call all three and I think all three would at least give us a listen

 

[orangefog]

I think our top 3 candidates that we could legitimately land should be

Mike Hopkins (Washington)
Nate Oats (Alabama)
Chris Beard (Texas Tech)

no specific order but we should call all three and I think all three would at least give us a listen

Can’t argue with that list. My personal opinion, throw the bank at Oats. Make sure he doesn’t alienate the former players first, but then do whatever you can to get him.

 

[Cusesky8214]

Would Beard take our call? He's doing pretty well at TT and they are currently building a 30 million dollar basketball facility that will be pretty nice. I know we are Syracuse and it shouldn't even be a discussion but its going to be interesting to see how attractive we really are to some of these big time coaching candidates when the time comes. We have the history/fan base/facilities but its still uncharted territory for us when JB decides to hangs em up.

 

[Caboose]

Good good, chase away Hop. Right back to Syracuse.

The definition of insanity needs to be changed in Webster's dictionary: "Enduring 45 years of 2/3 zone and wanting a refresh and possibly another 30 under a new 2/3 zone coach."

But he can recruit lol. Maybe another Carmelo Anthony will come along and a couple miraculous final four runs that will erase these perennial 13-15 loss seasons though. Smh x 1,000,000.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

We have talented, athletic players. What we don't have is a center. We are a headless horseman trying to win the ACC.

View attachment 195506

A donut team. A hole in the middle. We need to fill it up.

 

[kcsu]

A donut team. A hole in the middle. We need to fill it up.

We are not going to win many games against ACC teams playing Gumby at the 5.

 

[jdubs30]

I think our top 3 candidates that we could legitimately land should be

Mike Hopkins (Washington)
Nate Oats (Alabama)
Chris Beard (Texas Tech)

no specific order but we should call all three and I think all three would at least give us a listen

Beard has spent his whole life in the south, makes $4.5M a year, and is a coach at arguably a top 3 Big12 school ... really hard to think we’d be a draw for him

 

[Cusefan0307]

Beard is a Texas alum. I always thought he would end up there, but my next best guess is Kansas if Self leaves there.

 

[Cuse1055]

I think our top 3 candidates that we could legitimately land should be

Mike Hopkins (Washington)
Nate Oats (Alabama)
Chris Beard (Texas Tech)

no specific order but we should call all three and I think all three would at least give us a listen

All 3 are great candidates. My only worry with Beard is that he’s really just waiting for the Kansas job to open up.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I didn't see them play but maybe it was an off night. KenPom has their offense at 14th.

Not really sure I would draw conclusions from one game.

 

[DilemaCuse]

Alabama’s offense looks wild. Quingly is a human turnover and their guards leave their feet on every pass. Not impressed at all.

I didnt see the game but saw that they still won

What does that say about Kentucky when it sounds like AL didnt play their best and still beat UK

 

[DilemaCuse]

I think our top 3 candidates that we could legitimately land should be

Mike Hopkins (Washington)
Nate Oats (Alabama)
Chris Beard (Texas Tech)

no specific order but we should call all three and I think all three would at least give us a listen

Would love to have Beard
I looked at some of their past classes, he will do total roster overhauls of bringing in 7 and 10 guys of recruits and transfers in 1 cycle, crazy.
It appears he doesn't waste a scholarship and will quickly replace dead roster weight
Meanwhile we have a coach who tries to avoid competition for his son and his son's aau teammate

 

[Newhouser]

Sadly I don't think Oates would come. I guess a lot will depend on the salary but I think people are going to be surprised at how attractive others see this job.

 

[OHIORANGES]

Sadly I don't think Oates would come. I guess a lot will depend on the salary but I think people are going to be surprised at how attractive others see this job.

Or not

 

[RF2044]

I think our top 3 candidates that we could legitimately land should be

Mike Hopkins (Washington)
Nate Oats (Alabama)
Chris Beard (Texas Tech)

no specific order but we should call all three and I think all three would at least give us a listen

That may have been the list at one time, but I doubt it will be the list the AD focuses on.

Two years ago, Mike would have been a dream hire. Two years later, the bloom is off the rose and he might not be atop the list anymore.

 

[UpstateSM]

Write Oats a blank check

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Write Oats a blank check

Not sure our fanbase is ready for 43 3-point attempts a game...

 

[FrancoPizza]

The definition of insanity needs to be changed in Webster's dictionary: "Enduring 45 years of 2/3 zone and wanting a refresh and possibly another 30 under a new 2/3 zone coach."

But he can recruit lol. Maybe another Carmelo Anthony will come along and a couple miraculous final four runs that will erase these perennial 13-15 loss seasons though. Smh x 1,000,000.

Hopkins has shown that he can mix in m2m which is all most of us ever ask for. I’d like to know if he’d be willing to use a 2-2-1 press as well.

 

[Caboose]

Hopkins has shown that he can mix in m2m which is all most of us ever ask for. I’d like to know if he’d be willing to use a 2-2-1 press as well.

You know, that's a great point, and I will admit that I haven't watched enough of his games out there to ascertain whether or not he's a full-on 2/3 zone nut job like JB. I just assumed that he was because every time I've tuned into his late night games they were in the 2/3.

That being said, I'd be open to having him come back here, mainly due to his recruiting prowess in this region. It's much easier to be a good coach when you're getting solid talent. His problem out there right now is he's not recruiting like he can out here.

It's funny because I called his radio show like 5 years ago when, stupid me, I was under the assumption that he was about to take over the reigns, and I asked him, are you going to continue this 100% 2/3 zone mentality? His answer made it obvious he wasn't. He didn't specifically say no, and he sort of danced around it, obviously out of respect for JB, but it was clear that he planned to mix it up defensively. It's a shame that as of right now, JB ###ed his protege by being the selfish old grump he is.

Hop said on air that he always looked forward to my calls because he recognized that my analysis of what was going on w the team on the court was spot on. I met him a few times including at Hafners during one of his shows. Very very nice guy. I wouldn't mind seeing him back, despite a couple of my recent posts. I'll admit my lack of knowledge around what he's doing out there defensively. I made assumptions. Thanks for correcting me.

 

[dasher]

The definition of insanity needs to be changed in Webster's dictionary: "Enduring 45 years of 2/3 zone and wanting a refresh and possibly another 30 under a new 2/3 zone coach."

But he can recruit lol. Maybe another Carmelo Anthony will come along and a couple miraculous final four runs that will erase these perennial 13-15 loss seasons though. Smh x 1,000,000.

A little history lesson. We haven't been a 2-3 zone team for all of JB's 45 years. It really happened because our '96 team couldn't play man and lo and behold, we went to the title game playing only 2-3. And if you think the last 45 years have not been a success, you need to adjust your expectations.