Oldbird

He took Chauncy Billups, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun and company and beat Shaq, Kobe, Karl Malone, Gary Payton, and Derek Fisher for an NBA title. :lol: Larry Brown has his baggage, but he is still a pretty darn good coach.

Just saw that. Interesting twist.

The only thing that was more expensive than buying Tubby out was keeping him.

Building is an interesting word to describe what Tubby was doing. :jump: He "built" Memphis into a 161st ranked KenPom team (lowest KenPom ranking ever - believe KenPom started in early 2000's) and 71 spots worse than Josh Pastner's lowest rated team and 86 spots worse than Pastner's last team. Tubby "built" Memphis total attendance to its lowest in 48 years with season tickets dropping to 4,115. Memphis president said that they lost over $4MM last season - Memphis basketball has always been the money maker for the school. Tubby did win 21 games. 21 wins was more than enough to get lots of teams into the NIT like Utah, LSU, Stanford, Boston College, and others, but it wasn't enough to get Memphis in. Why? Because the Tigers, "didn't beat anyone of consequence, I guess you could say" - those are Tubby's own words. The only thing Tubby built was his own wealth. Penny might not be the answer long term, but in the short term he is the closest thing to a sure thing to correct the disaster that was Tubby Smith by addressing recruiting and selling tickets. Maybe someone else could have as well, but I have a difficult time coming up with name (that isn't the subject of an FBI investigation).

It is amazing how much Tubby embraced nepotism and is still universally described as a "good guy". I am not saying he isn't a good guy, but nepotism is an ugly trait and was always very visible.

Who do you think would have been a better hire for Memphis?

All kidding aside... Castro has introduced a "new" movement each week so you would think he would have something new this last week.

50 pound dumbbell thrusters are more than 5 pounds worse than 95 pound barbell thrusters.

I am going to go ahead and call 18.5, so you guys can get mentally prepared. :jump: 18.5 is max effort thrusters with a 10 minute CAP. Rx 125 for males 95 for females

If you have 4-5 minutes to do the handstand walks, then you have done well!!! Very well!!! :jump:

I can't do handstand push-ups (especially with these new standards), so I was left deciding scaled or Rx. I decided I would do RX (basically just do 21 deadlifts - record the score) and finish the workout scaled (except with the heavier deadlifts). I made it through the first 21-15-9 in about 6 minutes and I spent the last 3 minutes doing 315 pound deadlifts (I got 10). I did the first set of 21 225 pound deadlifts in 45 seconds. Made me wish he would have repeated 17.4 from last year.

I saw someone mention him and it made a lot of sense to me.

How about Scott County native AW Hamilton to EKU?

Very true. I could be wrong, but I think there is a team that will roll the dice with Pitino.

Bruce Pearl was still under a show cause when Auburn hired him.

I am skeptical about this story. Josh probably broke some NCAA rules, but the guy behind this story acts like a spurned lover responding to Josh not giving him the attention he wanted. No idea where the truth lies, but he seems a little off.

He was not left with a mess. You (and Hellcats) have not idea what you are talking about. Memphis wanted Josh Pastner gone, but what he left behind is far better than what Tubby is leaving for Penny. Here are the facts: - Pastner left behind four 100 recruits (Dedric Lawson, KJ Lawson, Markel Crawford and Nick Marshall). Plus they had another top 100 prospect Charlie Moore signed to national letter of intent. Marshall transferred to a Junior college. Moore played his freshman year at Cal (averaging 12 points), but is now at Kansas. Markel Crawford transferred to Ole Miss (averaged 9 points per game). - Tubby demoted Keelon Lawson from a coach to a staff positon. Why? To make room for Saul - Tubby loves nepotism despite everyone always labeling him a "good guy". Problem with demoting Lawson is.... Dedrick and KJ Lawson were Tubby's best players. Both decided to transfer to Kansas after the demotion. Keelon Lawson is also the father of Chandler Lawson and Jonathan Lawson, both top players in their classes and the uncle of DJ Jeffries (recent UK commit). Obviously having Pappa Lawson on the bench insured more talent for the Tigers than having Saul. Although Tubby is a great coach, everyone needs talent and Keelon Lawson was a key for Memphis now and in the foreseeable future. You can lose everyone on your roster like Cal if you can replace them, but Tubby doesn't like to recruit (even a little)e. Tubby has been on the job two years and he has secured exactly zero top 100 recruits. He got two 2 star recruits during the early signing period. One was 7-4 (think he might be a project?), who picked Memphis over Oral Roberts, Tulsa, UTEP and Rice. Good luck winning with that formula. As far as finishing above predictions there are two problems with that. #1 why is Memphis ever projected to finish 8th, 9th or wherever they were predicted to finish that low in their horrible conference? Those are some seriously low expectations for a program like Memphis. Second - yes they finished fifth; however, they benefited from an unbalanced schedule only playing Houston and Wichita State one time each. By Tubby's own admission they beat nobody (I would give him credit for Houston, but Tubby knows those 21 wins were suspect. Not to mention 21 wins and they didn't sniff the NIT. KenPom rating of #159 puts them in the company of Albany, Townson, Drake and Weber State. Tubby was a disaster at Memphis. Memphis made a huge mistake hiring Tubby, but that doesn't mean that Tubby was anything but horrible. The good news he can spend lots of time with Saul.

Yes, please tell us about that good job Tubby did and what he deserved.

What kind of mess did Pastner leave? Details please.

Agreed.

I thought it was good attendance and fans were into it. That is why I asked VOR the question. When UK hosted the NIT - they did it at Memorial because they couldn't draw 23,000 to an NIT game either.

No one gambles on him in the short term? Even with baggage that is hard to believe.

Define "showing up" - they had just under 10,000 last night.

What about a return to his Alma Mater - High Point. Recruiting demands (or lack thereof) there have to be more to his taste.

If you are Pitt what are you risking? Didn't they just go Ofer? UConn has historically shown they value winning over not stepping outside the NCAA lines. Are they really risking anything? You hire Pitino. He starts to work putting a team/program together, he gets suspended and misses part (or all) of a season - so what? It is going to take a while to get the ship turned at any of these schools anyway. Where is the risk if you are already a bottom feeder school with a pedigree?