Kevin has got to go. We are just delaying the inevitable if we keep him moving forward. We all know he should have never gotten the job in the first place and he has done nothing to show otherwise. Downright criminal the way this roster is constructed.
Fresno rematch @ T&M
- Thread starter AnthemRebel
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Muoka, a 6-foot-11 senior, started the first 17 games of the season but now finds himself in the doghouse, buried behind senior Victor Iwuakor (the new starter) and freshman Keyshawn Hall.
Iwuakor finished with a plus/minus rating of -9 in his 20 minutes, while Hall was -1 in eight minutes.
UNLV outscored Fresno State by seven points in Muoka’s 11 minutes of court time, but that wasn’t enough to earn him a longer leash.
Kruger was asked if he considered extending Muoka’s playing time in the second half, but didn’t offer much in the way of an answer
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah.”
Muoka, a 6-foot-11 senior, started the first 17 games of the season but now finds himself in the doghouse, buried behind senior Victor Iwuakor (the new starter) and freshman Keyshawn Hall.
Iwuakor finished with a plus/minus rating of -9 in his 20 minutes, while Hall was -1 in eight minutes.
UNLV outscored Fresno State by seven points in Muoka’s 11 minutes of court time, but that wasn’t enough to earn him a longer leash.
Kruger was asked if he considered extending Muoka’s playing time in the second half, but didn’t offer much in the way of an answer
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah.”
Getting absolutely torched on defense and Muoka gets half the minutes as Iwuakor while the team outscored Fresno by 16 when he is in the game compared to when Iwuakor. This coach has absolutely no idea what he is doing and his answer to the question above completely illustrates that.
Muoka is on the bench because he was terrible guys... don't let recency bias mess with the facts that he was useless as a rebounder and got bullied inside and then on the offensive end did little..
Iwuakor fits much better and is more physical but he commits fouls on almost every possession hrs in, often just dumb fouls. Hall is Kevin's Joe Darger and he tries to adjust in game to create a match-up but he's not good enough defensively to guard a smaller guard and it's not fair to ask him to guard some of the larger bits. That's why he picks up alot of fouls as well..
Iwuakor fits much better and is more physical but he commits fouls on almost every possession hrs in, often just dumb fouls. Hall is Kevin's Joe Darger and he tries to adjust in game to create a match-up but he's not good enough defensively to guard a smaller guard and it's not fair to ask him to guard some of the larger bits. That's why he picks up alot of fouls as well..
So the question is will Kevin’s recruiting class this year save his job? It sounds like he is going to lose players, possibly Hall, Nowell or maybe both, can he recruit a PG and a quality big man to go with Whaley and the combo guard he already has or will it be like LK? Lon could not recruit bigs or PG here either… unless you count Kevin‘s transfer!
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Look I've been down on Muoka as much as the next guy but last night we needed defense. Iwuakor and Hall were absolute zeroes last night. Iwuakor is a walking foul machine who was getting abused on the boards.
During the half of the game he was on the floor we were outscored by 9. Numbers dont lie and its on the coach to see that game to game and make the adjustments but he is not a good coach so he doesn't and will not see these things.
During the half of the game he was on the floor we were outscored by 9. Numbers dont lie and its on the coach to see that game to game and make the adjustments but he is not a good coach so he doesn't and will not see these things.
Bullshit. You can criticize the coach all you want. We all do it. Calling for him to be fired before he's even completed 2 years though? Short of him choking his wife, having sex with a minor, or going damn near winless, that's idiotic.
@JTthe2nd his recruiting and coaching are idiotic. You call it after two years because he didnt deserve the job in the first place. Your just compounding your mistakes by allowing this play out even longer. This a disgrace and the fact the majority of our fans cant see it is honestly depressing.
I didn't have this opinion until last night but last night made it as clear as it possibly could be when you factor we had EP back and they were down a guy who started every game for them. Sweep by a team that is 6-14 against every single other team and were here making excuses. Sad times in Rebel land.
I didn't have this opinion until last night but last night made it as clear as it possibly could be when you factor we had EP back and they were down a guy who started every game for them. Sweep by a team that is 6-14 against every single other team and were here making excuses. Sad times in Rebel land.
Some really bi polar people in here. The team is super streaky, doesn’t have the ability to close out a close game the final 5 minutes. That brings a lot of highs and super lows with it. Harkless is crazy at finishing most plays, but is super loose with the ball and that alone creates untimely turnovers. If we can get hot in the mwc tourney they have the ability to win it all, but they can also get torched by Air Force in a weds matchup. Kruger wasn’t the right hire imo, but we are stuck with him another year, let’s hope the transfer portal is good to us, or maybe most Ou players want to transfer together for next season
I'm not making excuses. He should have had Fresno scouted out and gameplanned for every contingency and he didn't. This loss is completely on him. Just saying you toss a coach after 2 years with a winning record and zero criminal/integrity issues and who the f do you think we're going to get? Without rich boosters cutting checks? You tell me who the homerun hire is going to be?
@JTthe2nd no home run hires but plenty of options better than the guy who has a sub .200 average for his career.
If you were to score the hire on a 1-10, it couldnt be possibly be higher than a 2 or 3. Probably no 8-10's out there at this point with our budget but to say this is the best we can do couldnt be farther from the truth.
If you were to score the hire on a 1-10, it couldnt be possibly be higher than a 2 or 3. Probably no 8-10's out there at this point with our budget but to say this is the best we can do couldnt be farther from the truth.
I still say that we allow him one more season. I’m confident that his recruiting will improve and we may see better results next season.
If we don’t improve then we will have one year of football money (hopefully we turn a profit or it becomes self-sufficient) and then we can afford better after the buyout.
If we don’t improve then we will have one year of football money (hopefully we turn a profit or it becomes self-sufficient) and then we can afford better after the buyout.
His recruiting class this year is critical, he needs a good big and a pg to go with what he usually gets which are wing guys!
I completely agree that we need to overhaul the PG's. Gilbert is not a PG. JJ isn't, either. McCabe is gone.
Two or three new ones are needed. We currently have zero for next year.
But yet you said nothing the three games prior when his defense was great and mattered.
I think it's extremely unlikely he is fired. Just the $ 3.2 mil buyout should be enough to keep him.
Nowell would be foolish to leave. He has transferred once so he'd have to sit a year. Hall also shouldn't leave. If he can corral his fouling he's most likely a starter next year, IMO. Hard to transfer up and start.
Nowell for sure isnt transferring. He's been improving and if he keeps doing so, he will start next year. He knows that. Hall is more of a wildcard another offseason with conditioning and knowing that he can be the guy will keep him here imo.
Bruce Weber is 67 years old and he left his last two programs in the toilet. He averaged 11 wins per year over his final three seasons at KState. Also worth noting his 3 best teams ever were with rosters inherited from Bill Self and Frank Martin.
Sounds like a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
There are big name coaches available literally every offseason. If we need one, Bruce Weber wouldn’t be it.
Tom Crean is a different story. He’s a guy I could see getting another good job and having success.
Sounds like a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
There are big name coaches available literally every offseason. If we need one, Bruce Weber wouldn’t be it.
Tom Crean is a different story. He’s a guy I could see getting another good job and having success.
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He's been to NCAA tournament 13 times and a Final 4 and an Elite 8 and coached in 2 of the best conferences in college basketball. We could do alot worse than either
I'm way past 67 but I vaguely remember it.
There is absolutely a percentage of men this age who are willing to take on a new task and give it their all. They are still physically vigorous and, perhaps more important, their mind is still nimble enough to see the world as it is and not how it was. They may even have something to prove. But most of us are slowing fast in our late sixties and that slowing increases to an exponential rate no matter what. Additionally, we don't have to prove anything to anybody.
If I had anything to say about it I would suggest finding someone in their 40's to early 60's.
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With our rebounding being so bad, seems a case can be made for Nowell starting.
Chris Beard anyone? Lol
But seriously, there aren't alot of proven 40/50 yr old HCs out there that are looking to restart their careers by building off wgats been started in Vegas
So Waddilove is saying George Karl is interested in the job. Isn't he in his 70s now? I guess the Rick Pitino well has dried up
Bruce Weber would be a terrible choice. If we are going to fire Kruger, we better have a slam dunk hire lined up
Bruce Weber would be a terrible choice. If we are going to fire Kruger, we better have a slam dunk hire lined up
If George Karl is remotely interested, you have to send out feelers if you are Erick Harper. But this is the same AD who couldn’t shoot the shirt cannon at the game last Night so..
Karl's names only circulating because he started a podcast and had an episode about the good ole days and talked about Tarks teams and how he loved Vegas and what not. This generated alot of Rebel fans running around on Twitter talking to him about the Glory years in Vegas...
You know the rule, if you're a "big" name and talk Vegas and Tark you're immediately qualified and the clubhouse leader despite never having been a college coach and been out of coaching for 6 going on 7 years ..
Did you catch the part where I told you his three best teams were all with somebody else’s players? They were. 5 years after he took Bill Selfs team to that final four he turned the proud Illini into 17-14 basement dwellers because he couldn’t recruit for crap. He only lasted as long as he did there because some people couldn’t let go of the 2005 run.
What he did at KState was even less impressive. Just look at where he left that team compared to what he inherited from Martin? In year 1 with 100% Martin’s roster they won 27 games. The following three years there he won 20, 15 and 17 games. Awful. He’d have NEVER lasted to year 5 here with results like that and I think we all know it.
The point here isn’t actually about Bruce Weber. He’s a terrible choice and that’s another topic, but the bigger point is he’s a dime-a-dozen retread, and if a name like that is enough to excite you, there should be 20 names that excite you literally every offseason.
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I agree with you, @lobbybuu
There is more than the recent mentions about the old days for why Karl is being brought up. That being said, he hasn't coached since 2016 (according to Wikipedia). While he is a name for coaching in the NBA, he has no knowledge of coaching in college. He's never actively recruited high school and college players and is 71 years old. While "you're never too old to learn," this may be a case of does he actually want to commit the time and energy to learning that aspect and kissing up to inferior (to him) coaches from AAU and high school. The other important question is - why haven't any other schools picked him up since he last stopped coaching?
His X's and O's, as well as his command of games and practices, would be great. He'd excel in those regards. It's the other stuff that he may not want to commit to.
We had a better short-term candidate lined up last coaching search and we passed over him. I know that it was a different AD last time, but I don't see our current AD wanting to go the route of hanging his hat on a guy who hasn't been a coach for 7 years.
There is more than the recent mentions about the old days for why Karl is being brought up. That being said, he hasn't coached since 2016 (according to Wikipedia). While he is a name for coaching in the NBA, he has no knowledge of coaching in college. He's never actively recruited high school and college players and is 71 years old. While "you're never too old to learn," this may be a case of does he actually want to commit the time and energy to learning that aspect and kissing up to inferior (to him) coaches from AAU and high school. The other important question is - why haven't any other schools picked him up since he last stopped coaching?
His X's and O's, as well as his command of games and practices, would be great. He'd excel in those regards. It's the other stuff that he may not want to commit to.
We had a better short-term candidate lined up last coaching search and we passed over him. I know that it was a different AD last time, but I don't see our current AD wanting to go the route of hanging his hat on a guy who hasn't been a coach for 7 years.
Right now? It’s a silly suggestion.
15 years ago after he was out of the NBA and his son was at Boise? It could have been done, but UNLV had ZERO interest, only a token interview.
He would have been a slam dunk hire a decade ago but we went with Menzies instead
He was interested before that, as well, even got a token interview with Hamrick. Karl wasn’t fooled, he knew the hire had already been made (but unannounced).
Some people throw wild crap out there hoping something sticks at some point so they can claim “victory” while ignoring the losses. It’s not just sports, it’s virtually everything nowadays. Gimme hearts, gimme likes, I need the props, even if for just a moment, my internet existence is what matters in my life, it’s who I am … blah.
