1. In a pretend scenario where Stack becomes the Head Coach at the start of SEC play in 2018, no doubt in my mind we win 5-6 SEC games. Stack would definitely bench Shittu, and he would definitely be able to unlock Nesmith and Lee like he did the next year, and he would get a lot out of Ryan and Wetzell too.
2. In a pretend scenario where we can just have last years team facing this year’s schedule (the team as counstructed last year), I think we’d make the tournament. I’ve said that if Robbins and Chatman were healthy all year we would have made the tourney last year. Even if they had the exact injury timelines they did last year, I think we’d make the tourney playing this years teams. The SEC has a few teams at the top with a large middle group that isn’t the best with several teams dropping off from last year.
Conclusion: The SEC has often been strong lately, but it has been by no means impossible to win in. There are many strong coaches in this league for sure. But the difference will always be the players. You can’t just roll the ball out there, but plenty of good basketball coaches have failed in this league. The teams that win consistently in this league have consistently good rosters. It’s not just bringing in 5 stars or transfers like Cal or like Musselman, for every 5 star Rick Barnes or Bruce Pearl bring in, they have an underrated 3 star who becomes a good player.
Having a good coach is a requirement in this league, but only the ones who can consistently have good rosters will succeed. Guys like Ben Howland, Tom Crean, Frank Martin, Cuonzo Martin have been great coaches but they couldn’t cut it in the league any more largely because they didn’t bring in and retain the guys consistently enough. Guys like Kermit Davis or Buzz Williams may have the same fate this year. Jerry is a good basketball coach despite certain issue I have with what he does. But him being that is irrelevant because he can’t do the most important thing to succeed in this league
2. In a pretend scenario where we can just have last years team facing this year’s schedule (the team as counstructed last year), I think we’d make the tournament. I’ve said that if Robbins and Chatman were healthy all year we would have made the tourney last year. Even if they had the exact injury timelines they did last year, I think we’d make the tourney playing this years teams. The SEC has a few teams at the top with a large middle group that isn’t the best with several teams dropping off from last year.
Conclusion: The SEC has often been strong lately, but it has been by no means impossible to win in. There are many strong coaches in this league for sure. But the difference will always be the players. You can’t just roll the ball out there, but plenty of good basketball coaches have failed in this league. The teams that win consistently in this league have consistently good rosters. It’s not just bringing in 5 stars or transfers like Cal or like Musselman, for every 5 star Rick Barnes or Bruce Pearl bring in, they have an underrated 3 star who becomes a good player.
Having a good coach is a requirement in this league, but only the ones who can consistently have good rosters will succeed. Guys like Ben Howland, Tom Crean, Frank Martin, Cuonzo Martin have been great coaches but they couldn’t cut it in the league any more largely because they didn’t bring in and retain the guys consistently enough. Guys like Kermit Davis or Buzz Williams may have the same fate this year. Jerry is a good basketball coach despite certain issue I have with what he does. But him being that is irrelevant because he can’t do the most important thing to succeed in this league
