If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
My sincere apologies, Don. It's obvious my oblique reference to a line from Top Gun missed its mark.
Nah. You’re okay Tex.
I got a chuckle about the disclaimer that anyone using this research must credit the Original creator. Right. Like this is actually something real or noteworthy.
sigpic
“To be continued …”. Fr Tony Lehman, SJ
——-
List of All Americans (1st Team Top 5) and Academic All Americans (1st Team Top 5) in the same season since '00:
Shane Battier, Dan Dickau, Omeka Okafor, DJ Augustin, Kelly Olynyk, Nigel Williams-Goss, Corey Kispert.
First of all, the Gaels are being compared to all of college basketball, not just Gonzaga.
From that perspective, I would say it is an interesting result.
I like to use the "if you were to swap places" vantage. How would some coaches fare if they were transplanted to the WCC? Obviously, some rose up the ranks by beginning their careers, and winning, at that level.
There are some coaches that would probably win anywhere. I think Bennett and Few are on that list. The most recent addition may be Chris Beard (Watch some video of his practice sessions. Very impressive). You may dislike Bruce Pearl, but he wins wherever he goes. Calipari left the rise and fall of UMass and Memphis in his wake. They were good when he was there, and fell off a cliff when he left.
The main point I am trying to get home is that this is less to do about money spent and more to do with the person in charge of the program. Money may help perpetuate, bring a little more consistency, or raise the program another tier, but it is the guy in charge that makes it work. Some people are just more efficient and skilled than others.
Having said all of that, there is a legitimate question of how much Bennett challenges his team in out of conference play. How that scheduling has historically influenced the selection committee. How would that winning percentage used in the fore mentioned analysis hold up if Bennett's scheduling was in line with the post season bar set by the selection committee? This is an old argument of course, and I will give Bennett credit for improving his scheduling lately. Obviously, he has heard the criticisms, primarily those criticisms from the selection committee. It would be interesting to track the given data set in the future with the tougher scheduling. It will likely validate or invalidate the results of this budgeting analyisis, but to what degree, no one knows. I just believe that this has much more to do with Bennett as a coach and administrator then how the Gaels budget their basketball program. I will also add that the Australian pipeline was a godsend, especially early on, and it's value converted to dollars as a quantative measure may have been the best "bang for the buck" in college basketball. I will even narrow this down to Daniel Kickert. I think that this player, specifically, was the player that initially defined their winning culture. Made St Marys a worth destination for Australians.
How would some coaches fare if they were transplanted to the WCC?
We have one example now: Herb Sendek at Santa Clara. It's early in his tenure, and results are mixed. Perhaps his hiring encouraged some wealthy donors to open their wallets.
I am bad at excel spreadsheets so I don't pretend to understand the spread sheet, but it seems like you would need to subtract gross revenue from the gross expenses to get the net expenses number and then you would have a more valid comparison. But I may be off base.
Watch the official trailer for Top Gun: Maverick starring Tom Cruise. In theatres May 27, 2022.Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films Prese...
for a minute, i was worried they'd lost that lovin' feelin'.
My bad...I'd forgotten what a "target rich environment" for quotes Top Gun is.
O/T, the movie did a great job of capturing the bravado of fighter pilots. My 4+ years in Germany were spent on Tac Fighter Bases, and it was never boring at the Officers Clubs. Naturally, we were able to match their bravado, leading to interesting "discussions".
Our ADA battery was usually good for a full point increase in "Base Survivability" during their Tac Evals...we knew how to put on a dog and pony show when evaluators would visit our gun & missile positions. I was also the Wing Commander's go-to guy on NBC warfare inputs, which rankled a number of AF officers. How that came to be is a story likely interesting only to myself.
The plaque for being first on this list is in the ladies room.
Gotta hand it to ya, Tex. After reading this and Don’s initial response I thought the PC police were going to shut the thread down. Instead we got what I believe is our first Top Gun thread derailment. Usually it’s Caddy Shack or Animal House.
Comment