Kevin McHale is a big Tubby Smith fan

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BleedGopher

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Some nice comments from the Gopher legend on Tubby, per Marcus' blog:

McHale is a big Tubby Smith fan
Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale had a lot of praise recently for the job Gophers coach Tubby Smith was doing at his alma mater.

"I said when they got Tubby, I said Tubby will coach more like he coached in Tulsa, where he's going to get good players,” McHale said. “They're going to be there three-four years and he's going to have a program where they're in the Sweet 16 sometimes. …They're going to be in the upper third of the Big Ten, have a chance to win the Big Ten title.”

McHale said that Kentucky was a weird situation for Smith, because Smith was criticized if he wasn’t “getting a top two or three recruiting class,” and when the “blue-chip guys are leaving early.”

“Tubby's system is a system of work, dedication,” McHale said. “It's like Clem (Haskins). It's just kind of a grind-it-out, punch-you-in-the mouth (system). And you know what? Those guys punch you in the mouth a lot harder when they're fifth-year seniors and four-year seniors. So, yeah, I'm a big fan."

http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers/

Go Gophers!!
 

Seems like a crappy piece of writing .. lol. :)

McHale thinks Tubby couldn't get good players anywhere else and only occasionally they'll advance in the NCAA ?
 

Tubby recruited or coached 3 NBA players at Tulsa, 2 NBA players at Georgia, and 14 NBA players at Kentucky. That's 19 in 16 years as HC.
 

Blizzard said:
Seems like a crappy piece of writing .. lol. :)

McHale thinks Tubby couldn't get good players anywhere else and only occasionally they'll advance in the NCAA ?
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I don't think that's what Kev was saying. I interpreted the remarks to mean that Tubby's "system" works best with players who are team players experienced in his system, and top ten (or whatever) recruits frequently don't end up fitting that profile.
 

Jim V2 said:
I don't think that's what Kev was saying. I interpreted the remarks to mean that Tubby's "system" works best with players who are team players experienced in his system, and top ten (or whatever) recruits frequently don't end up fitting that profile.
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Which is a problem he had at Kentucky as well as some recruiting mistakes/miscues (Rashaad Carruth > Daniel Ewing, Marvin Stone, Brandon Wright, Josh Carrier, Cory Brewer are examples)


Personally, McHale's comments are kind of insulting for Coach Smith and Minnesota but perhaps he was taken out of context.
 


The Truth said:
Which is a problem he had at Kentucky as well as some recruiting mistakes/miscues (Rashaad Carruth > Daniel Ewing, Marvin Stone, Brandon Wright, Josh Carrier, Cory Brewer are examples)


Personally, McHale's comments are kind of insulting for Coach Smith and Minnesota but perhaps he was taken out of context.
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I guess I don't see the insult.
 

Jim V2 said:
I guess I don't see the insult.
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Implying that he wasn't as good a coach at UGA or Kentucky as he was at Tulsa seems insulting as well as suggesting that recruiting blue chip prospects at a place like Kentucky (or Minnesota) is a bad thing. You have two incoming blue chip caliber prospects (I think Rodney Williams is highly undervalued by Rivals.com but that's probably because Jerry Meyer is a bit of a flibbertygibit) who have NBA aspirations and potential-one of whom is viewed by some as a potential one and done'er.


Tubby had very few early entries by the way at UK of players he recruited. Rondo was his only early entrant who was drafted. The Morris debacle is well documented of course but I don't think anyone wants to bring that up. You could count Kellenna Azibuike (who was also undrafted) but his father's legal situation left him no choice but to declare.


I think McHale is off-base and has little grasp of the situations. I know he's a Minnesota alum and a Celtic great but his comments show a distinct lack of understanding. If Coach Smith could have gotten his players to another Final Four in 2001, 2003, 2004 or 2005 (all years he had a roster capable of reaching a Final Four or even winning a National Championship) he'd still be at Kentucky and I don't believe anyone would have doubts about his ability to recruit, his system or anything else. Hopefully he'll be able to cement his legacy at Minnesota with another title or FF appearance.
 

The Truth said:
Implying that he wasn't as good a coach at UGA or Kentucky as he was at Tulsa seems insulting as well as suggesting that recruiting blue chip prospects at a place like Kentucky (or Minnesota) is a bad thing. You have two incoming blue chip caliber prospects (I think Rodney Williams is highly undervalued by Rivals.com but that's probably because Jerry Meyer is a bit of a flibbertygibit) who have NBA aspirations and potential-one of whom is viewed by some as a potential one and done'er.


Tubby had very few early entries by the way at UK of players he recruited. Rondo was his only early entrant who was drafted. The Morris debacle is well documented of course but I don't think anyone wants to bring that up. You could count Kellenna Azibuike (who was also undrafted) but his father's legal situation left him no choice but to declare.


I think McHale is off-base and has little grasp of the situations. I know he's a Minnesota alum and a Celtic great but his comments show a distinct lack of understanding. If Coach Smith could have gotten his players to another Final Four in 2001, 2003, 2004 or 2005 (all years he had a roster capable of reaching a Final Four or even winning a National Championship) he'd still be at Kentucky and I don't believe anyone would have doubts about his ability to recruit, his system or anything else. Hopefully he'll be able to cement his legacy at Minnesota with another title or FF appearance.
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I think you're inferring stuff that's not there. Kevin's pretty plainspoken. He doesn't imply much, and I dont think he implied Tubby wasn't as good a coach at KY. I think Kevin's point was that coaches have approaches to the game, and the players that KY fans expected him to bring to KY didn't necessarily fit with his style. Perhaps the reason he didn't get to another final four is that his recruits didn't buy into the system.

I think Kevin is saying that MN fans are less demanding than KY ones, and that that will give Tubby room to do things his way and be considered successful. And BTW, while we may have 2 blue chip recruits coming in, they don't seem to be guys who will expect Tubby to change for them.
 

The Truth said:
Implying that he wasn't as good a coach at UGA or Kentucky as he was at Tulsa seems insulting as well as suggesting that recruiting blue chip prospects at a place like Kentucky (or Minnesota) is a bad thing. You have two incoming blue chip caliber prospects (I think Rodney Williams is highly undervalued by Rivals.com but that's probably because Jerry Meyer is a bit of a flibbertygibit) who have NBA aspirations and potential-one of whom is viewed by some as a potential one and done'er.


Tubby had very few early entries by the way at UK of players he recruited. Rondo was his only early entrant who was drafted. The Morris debacle is well documented of course but I don't think anyone wants to bring that up. You could count Kellenna Azibuike (who was also undrafted) but his father's legal situation left him no choice but to declare.


I think McHale is off-base and has little grasp of the situations. I know he's a Minnesota alum and a Celtic great but his comments show a distinct lack of understanding. If Coach Smith could have gotten his players to another Final Four in 2001, 2003, 2004 or 2005 (all years he had a roster capable of reaching a Final Four or even winning a National Championship) he'd still be at Kentucky and I don't believe anyone would have doubts about his ability to recruit, his system or anything else. Hopefully he'll be able to cement his legacy at Minnesota with another title or FF appearance.
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Early departures from UK for pro basketball in recent years:

1993 Jamaal Mashburn, 1996 Antoine Walker, 1997 Ron Mercer. That's 3 under Pitino.

1998 Nazr Mohammed, 2005 Kelenna Azubuike, 2006 Rajon Rondo, 2007 Randolph Morris. That's 4 under Tubby.

Before that, the only other UK players to leave early for NBA were 1971 Tom Payne and 1988 Rex Chapman.
 



Jim V2 said:
I think you're inferring stuff that's not there. Kevin's pretty plainspoken. He doesn't imply much, and I dont think he implied Tubby wasn't as good a coach at KY. I think Kevin's point was that coaches have approaches to the game, and the players that KY fans expected him to bring to KY didn't necessarily fit with his style. Perhaps the reason he didn't get to another final four is that his recruits didn't buy into the system.

I think Kevin is saying that MN fans are less demanding than KY ones, and that that will give Tubby room to do things his way and be considered successful. And BTW, while we may have 2 blue chip recruits coming in, they don't seem to be guys who will expect Tubby to change for them.
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I think McHale knows that Minnesota fans are smarter than Kentucky fans (on average) and will recognize a great coach when they see that they have one.
 

The Truth said:
Which is a problem he had at Kentucky as well as some recruiting mistakes/miscues (Rashaad Carruth > Daniel Ewing, Marvin Stone, Brandon Wright, Josh Carrier, Cory Brewer are examples)


Personally, McHale's comments are kind of insulting for Coach Smith and Minnesota but perhaps he was taken out of context.
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Rashaad Carruth was higher rated than Ewing.

Marvin Stone was Top 5-10 rated recruit in 1999.

Brandan Wright opted for UNC, no shame there.

Josh Carrier was KY Mr. Basketball, no mistake there.

The 2004 UK recuiting class had 4 openings. They were filled by HS All-Americans Randolph Morris, Rajon Rondo, Joe Crawford and prep school star Ramel Bradley. The class was rated #1 in the nation. Cory Brewer was in the 2004 HS class. Hardly was the #1 class in 2004 any kind of recruiting mistake.
 

An amazing amount of spin by the Goperhole's resident Sean Hannity.

I'm not going to debate this with someone who has no objectivity nor has the ability reason above a biased, prejudicial level. At times when I've read your posts over the years Smokey it seems that you'd put Goebbel's to shame with the amount of propaganda you disseminate on a constant basis.
 

The Truth, is there any reason you came back to our board after leaving for an extended period of time? Many people here on the 'Hole have already said that they don't want you popping up to get into Forum Fights with FoT.

You're a Kentucky fan who has no interest in Gopher basketball...why throw out ad hominem attacks with references to a college drop-out and a Nazi without adding anything to the discussion?
 



The Truth said:
An amazing amount of spin by the Goperhole's resident Sean Hannity.

I'm not going to debate this with someone who has no objectivity nor has the ability reason above a biased, prejudicial level. At times when I've read your posts over the years Smokey it seems that you'd put Goebbel's to shame with the amount of propaganda you disseminate on a constant basis.
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Facts are what they are. Hard to argue FACTS.
 

ShowinGoldyLove said:
The Truth, is there any reason you came back to our board after leaving for an extended period of time? Many people here on the 'Hole have already said that they don't want you popping up to get into Forum Fights with FoT.

You're a Kentucky fan who has no interest in Gopher basketball...why throw out ad hominem attacks with references to a college drop-out and a Nazi without adding anything to the discussion?
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1. I do have interest in Gopher basketball. I'm hoping for great success for Coach Smith with your program and try to catch every game that I'm able to.

2. I don't have the time to constantly check and post on message boards. Sorry, but my postings are sporadic.

3. My "attacks" aren't anything and are based in fact. They just go deeper than throwing out random numbers and saying everything that happened at UK under Smith was those crazy UK fan's fault. I like Coach Smith (I've even met him on two seperate occasions and he was extremely generous with his time on both accounts and something that really meant a lot to me) and wish him nothing but great and continued success with Minnesota basketball.
 

It's actually a ideal fit for both coaches and programs.

Tubby needed a place where he can enjoy his work and be respected for it. Minnesota needed a bigger name coach who could restore the strong Gopher basketball tradition. Win. Win.

Gillispie needed a place where the brights lights and national exposure would put him in the limelight. Kentucky wanted a coach with no outside interests (no family, nothing) who thinks basketball 24/7/365. Win. Win.

Minnesota 35-15 so far.

Kentucky 31-17 so far.
 

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