Lol trying to choose between a good degree or playing with friends. Seems like he's serious about Harvard though, even took a visit out there with his family.
Any moment now from what I'm told
Are we good
- Thread starter rebel5280
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Wow so getting Dedan is really huge. If he lands he and Compton along with the transfers this will be easily the best class since Rice. Now we get to find out once and for all if Kruger can coach or not.
Compton would come in 2024 but yes this years class would be nice. 2024 would be the best HS only recruiting class since Rice. You’d have Compton, Freeny, and I’m sure a few more would come.
One would also hope that talent attracts other talent.. You'd have better shots at higher transfers, especially if Hill and Boone end up in league at end of year..
I swear I saw a post out there that read Mothers day weekend. This weekend, but hopefully sooner. They say patience is a virtue.
Does Mike Grimala know basketball at all? Serious question. In his most recent article, he said that Brooklyn Hicks' strength was his scoring mentality but his weaknesses are his outside shot and driving to the rim. So what are his true strengths?
Hicks averaged 30 a game so I'm assuming he has to have some type of bag to put up numbers like that.
Then he said that another one of Hicks' strengths is that he has 4 years of eligibility lmao what a joke
Hicks averaged 30 a game so I'm assuming he has to have some type of bag to put up numbers like that.
Then he said that another one of Hicks' strengths is that he has 4 years of eligibility lmao what a joke
Local Media coverage of UNLV has gone downhill since Ryan Greene left... Shame we dont have good writers anymore.
I think the guy at the Sun works hard, actually. Not crazy about his stuff, he’s a fluffy butt kisser but he works.
To be fair he was basing all of this off of film of one game, the only game film he said he could get his hands on.
It sounded Hicks was like Harlkess. Heavy burden of scoring, probably forcing not the best shots from the outside.
Its a slow time, so I appreciate the effort, but making an article based off of just one game probably isn't the best thing to do. Hard to get anything meaningful from that.
Compton blew up last year at Pangos. Now he is 6’8” and a consensus top 100 4:star.
https://youtube.com/shorts/zGDK6UbGClM?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/zGDK6UbGClM?feature=share
Grimala just churns out his once a week article to fulfill his contract. Just states the obvious based on his opinions. It’s just candy for us RR crack addicts. We’ll get an article on Jones before too long.
Ok got you thanks I thought I saw someone say he reclassified. In any event those would be some great gets
Idk anything about Pharaoh's academics, so this is purely a conjecture, but I think if we didnt get Hill or the Boones, we may have pushed for him to reclass or come at the semester break.
Now that I typed that out, I actually dont think that would be a bad idea lol. If he can, he should get on campus early, hit the weight and diet program, get some reps in, and get some garbage time minutes to get acclimated.
We have some really quality recruits with the hope of adding more. This is good for this year and in the future. But if KK doesn't win ( I mean a trip to the NCAA Tournament) it will be extremely hard to keep it going. Winning is the key.
If that is the case, why did Kruger not leave the spot open, instead of offering a second bench center?
I was just saying that it was conjecture that the staff and Pharoah would have been more inclined to have him on campus early if Hill and the Boones didn't come. Idk the whole process and how that works nor do I know about his academics. That's why I said it was conjecture and that it sounded good.
It won't happen.
Have you heard anything at all about Ibrahima Diallo or is it looking like Antwon Jackson filling in that center spot?
I haven't heard anything about extended communications with either since the initial mention of interest.
At this point, I don't think making the NCAA is the end all be all for "this year"... I do think minimum needs to be an NIT invite, something to show building and also knowing the HS recruiting class is coming together...
I'm just trying to be a realist because as much as I'd like to think 3 years and must win, I don't see Administration pulling trigger if he shows progress
Careful with this… if Dedan is here and Boone is the 5 we have been missin, what’s wrong with elevated expectations here? Just getting an invite to the NIT is bar on the floor type of low. Kevin needs to show he belongs on the sidelines and not get outcl in every big game, especially in crucial MWC games. The seat is warm and it should be, we finish 4th, I say show him the door!
At this point, there's no point in expecting more than the low floor. It'd be a disaster to get the talent here and not at least make it there, but it'd also be a disaster to just dismiss Kevin if he's got that young talented trio/group of 4 that want to play for Vegas and with each other coming in. I agree the seat is warm, it's UNLV, that's always the case, but I guess settled in on either the outcome of the season is disastrous or he gets another year with more building/core development being shown...
I'm with you. It appears that he's able to get talent here, with what he's done this year. Now, he needs to improve the game planning and overall coaching. It's funny, half way through the year last year, we were talking about having CKK get poached to the PAC or one of the other bigger conferences. Then conference play hits and we're talking about firing him.
While I agree that he needs to grow in his coaching, I don't like the 3 years and start over program that we've been on for a long time now. Every time, it's like we start over. So unless they have a real difference maker at coach lined up on a subsequent hire, I'd prefer to roll with CKK for a couple more years and see what he can do. I don't think he was qualified in the first place, but now that he's here, lets see if he can get it going.
Still pissed we fired Rice similarly.
But the 3 year revolving door has worked so well to this point.
No, wait…
The same people espousing that are the real reason for the state of the program for the past 12 years but they’ll never own up to it while continuing to call for more of the same.
Hey on paper we have a squad, even without a PG to be honest.
But we are Rebel fans, we have seen talented teams underperform. Even through our worst years, UNLV usually still has one of the top rectuiting classes in the conference. So this is something that we have heard before.
I do think the trio we have added is a very significant boost that should equate to more wins on the court. How much? Hard to say.
I would agree that at least a NIT berth would be a reasonable notable jump in results than we have seen in a while. Would it be disappointing with the group we have had? Perhaps, but still a huge leap forward.
Unfortunately we will have what, 3 players eligible to return next season? So there is that.
But we are Rebel fans, we have seen talented teams underperform. Even through our worst years, UNLV usually still has one of the top rectuiting classes in the conference. So this is something that we have heard before.
I do think the trio we have added is a very significant boost that should equate to more wins on the court. How much? Hard to say.
I would agree that at least a NIT berth would be a reasonable notable jump in results than we have seen in a while. Would it be disappointing with the group we have had? Perhaps, but still a huge leap forward.
Unfortunately we will have what, 3 players eligible to return next season? So there is that.
I'll own up to it. I don't disagree that that's part of the issue, but also so was poor hiring to begin with. Nothing MM did said "I deserve more years" and I know it's controversial to say because of the way he left, but TJO would've had us in that top 3 conference finishers after year 3 with a likely NCAA birth, especially with the free for all portal... as for Kevin, I didn't like the hire, thought it was the easy way out, he got lucky Bryce stayed and luckier that Harkless turned into a beast, otherwise we would've had 2 terrible years and a 3rd wouldn't have benefited either..
But now that we're here, and who he has been able to land, it's a show me season with hopefully a low floor and exciting ceiling... just can't finish 5/6 in conference and miss postseason and say "well, 3 years is a bad cycle, so give him another"
I think most of us are on the same page with that. No sense starting over with the potential hirings in which unlv would see. I figured ckk was the very least qualified. Now that in third season hc here give him time to build his own program. Everything else has turned out bad.. unless they decide to make a big time hire which apparently will never happen just as well roll with KK 5 year term..
Yeah I agree, NIT would be a disappointment but should still be enough if we have a bunch of local high school talent coming in. Then it would make no sense to fire him and hope he gets better with time.
If CKK gets fired after this season, every recruit is gone. It'll take a very long time to recover from that.
But I do understand that expectations are high this season. Steps need to be taken and I guess baby steps are fine but some type of excitement needs to be back.
But I do understand that expectations are high this season. Steps need to be taken and I guess baby steps are fine but some type of excitement needs to be back.
I don't know that I disagree with this sentiment, but I also think it's a simplistic view of the situation. I personally didn't like the Rice firing--but that was systemic pressure put on the AD from certain boosters.
However, I can understand how people looked at Rice's bottom line and wanted to move on. Each year progressively worse, no dancing 3 years in a row for a team that had been to the big dance 6 out of the last 7 years and there were definite questions about him constructing a team and managing a locker room.
They try to replace him with Cronin, who lets be honest would have been a huge upgrade but you don't seal the deal and he instead leverages us for a contract extension at UC. You actually hire Chris Beard and manage to botch that process so badly in optics and contractual security that he's hired for 11 days. Data shows that guy wins everywhere he goes.
Menzies was another pressure from the administration who didn't like the optics. And after Beard ran everyone off that last Rice squad they were brutal, but then showed improvement the following year with good recruiting and some scheduling smoke and mirrors. Had he made the dance in his 3rd year instead of regressing I think he gets an extension.
So you bring in Otz after being unable to sign Jaime Dixon who was your target when Pitt decided they wanted the buy out because you couldn't keep your mouths shut about it and couldn't convince Porter Moser to Loyola-Chicago. Otz isn't a fit, DRF is trying so hard to make him into a splash hire that he's not and he doesn't get the horses he was able to get with the Jackrabbits. We get lucky and ISU decides to buy him out (and for the record I do think Otz is a pretty good coach if he can get someone else to recruit for him).
Now we hire Kevin who is the definition of a nepotism hire--never even was a head coach of an AAU team. And 3 out of 4 of his jobs after his basketball career had ended were directly tied to his fathers influence. He lands in 5th place in the MWC after having to replace a ton of players with Otz's departure. Seems like a bit of promise. Retools the squad with a ton of portal dudes and a pillow soft schedule and finishes 7th in a relatively thin conference.
I like Kevin and I hope he succeeds, but if we're at the same place we were 3 years ago--a couple of games over .500 with no shot at even the CBI, do you really want to extend him? That just seems like a sunk cost fallacy to me.
Stability is important when you're moving in the right direction, but stability for stability's sake is a weak metric for coach retention--especially in the modern game.
I'm not a cup half empty or half full guy, I just want to know exactly how much volume the cup can hold and how much is in there.
Exactly.. well said.
Lazy and poor hiring has created the situation.. don't follow it up with another lazy or poor decision
CKK is learning on the fly as a headcoach. I agree if he is fired after this year we are starting over with all new players and I would bet Dedan would go somewhere else with his friends. It would set the program back again. Repeat and repeat. Have a coach for a year or two then let them go and start all over again. Did Kevin's Dad and even Tark start their head coaching jobs on fire and going to the NCAA tournament their first two years. Kevin is bringing in good recruits this year and it looks like some for next year. I hope we get to the Tournament, but if we don't and end up in the NIT I'm good with at least another year with Kevin. Tired of starting over!
Tark's four years with LBSU he went 99-16 with 4 conference championships and four NCAA tourney appearances.
Lon's first four years at UTRGV weren't super successful but he was building up a program that was in pretty bad shape and independent at the time so without a conference tourney to go dancing. He's always been the Rich Man's Tim Miles--can build a program in several years to be nationally relevant. There were people who were almost out of patience with Lon after his 2nd year of mediocre here.
If he's like his daddy and he gets us 30 wins next year everyone here will be on board.
But say he goes 19-13 next year, no post season at all and once again has to replace 50% of his roster. At what point does a pattern that is no post season, no consistent roster, mid-tier MWC performance okay to say 'screw it, let's start over?'
I kind of believe that most UNLV fans do have unreasonable expectations, but I don't think having a team that's in the upper half of the conference every year and has a chance at dancing every other year is asking too much. I'd rather start over and try to get out of mediocrity then stay in mediocrity because starting over is hard.
Would we really need to fire him after next season though? We'd have to pay 2 years of his buyout, I believe, so unless it's really bad, why can't we just let him continue on his contract for another year? He'd still have 2 years left, so if after the 4th year, still no progress, then yeah, maybe you buy out that last year. But if he gets it figured out, then you can do an extension.
I think a first time head coach deserves more leeway. It's not his fault that is the first time at this level. It isn't exactly fair ( or at the very least unrealistic) holding him to the same standards as a veteran head coach.
You do want to see growth. However, and we haven't seen much from him, at least not from year one to year two.
It's tough because we have not had much consistency so far. Almost 3 brand new teams in 3 consecutive years. And he had to completely turnover his coaching staff after year 1. Those are some tough obstacles for any coach, let alone a first timer.
On the court growth remains to be seen. 2 underwhelming offenses that relied on hero ball. Some hit and miss defenses.
This is his best offseason by far. Much better roster construction overall. Heopfully that translates to better on court performance, at least from a structure stand point.
If next season ends up being identical to this past season, then that does make it tough. That would be a bigger disappointment given the roster construction, barring catastrophic injuries.
Firing at that point still makes me uneasy from a big picture standpoint. Just 3 years for any coach is not fair IMO, compound him being a first timer and having to turnover his entire staff is just a lot.
That being said, I would understand if he were to be fired. He was not hired by this AD. Harper is not messing around and did fire Arroyo for disappointing results in year 3. In principle I would not like it ( I didn't like Arroyo's firing in principle, but I am ultimately happy, at least at the moment, that he did).
2 things- If your job was to deliver compete for Conference titles and NCAA births and you failed to meet those requirements 3 out of 3 years, you should expect to be let go, it'd be no different than delivering mediocre work product at your job..
2nd- Why delay the process of the inevitable another year. If you aren't able to make progress in 3 years, what does the 4th do other than further deteriorate the program and appeal. Yeah, it's not easy to be the HC at UNLV, but how many times are we going to have this dumb argument that other programs nationwide are able to hire and rebuild in 3 or less while we need 5... I think most of us are at the point of asking for competency rather than "Final 4" as the expectation
