Future of CKK
- Thread starter bcvegaspt
- Start date
Absolutely. The fact you rarely truly hear talk of the MWCT tournament being held on our home court as unfair says it all. More Sdsu fans yesterday than rebel fans. In our city. Our arena. That's pathetic. The MWCT tournament should be looked at as unfair and we should be comsistently winning it to the point they move it. Yet somehow we cant even sniff the Semis. Embarassing. I remember the first 2 years it was back in Vegas under Kruger, rebel fans showed up big and made it truly an advantage. We were winning then though so a little different. Miss those days. Those Friday night games were sold out and you'd have UNLV, SDSU, UNM, and BYU fans packed un there. Was an exciting time. Almost forget how it felt...lol
Seems like a waste of money when you got a coach that can't seem to get us into the big dance.
Would seem a little to early to do that. We wont really know what direction the program chooses till the NIT fails to invite us. Then we may see the hammer drop or we might not.
Yeah don't expect any coaching movemenent until the NIT dust settles imo. With that said, unless Harper is looking at someone coaching a team in either tournament, I expect him to move quickly in either announcing Kevin is staying, or hiring his replacement. As in before the end of March. With how the portal is these days, it cannot be a drawn out process with questions lingering. Any good AD has already done the work for a hire by this point. And Harper is a good AD. I expect a quick decision.
Agreed, Harper is more media savvy.
It wasn’t early enough for TKM, I think she talked to the media right after a loss to SDSU in the tournament, I think it was two or three consecutive years she pulled that shit.
I’m sure they did reach out, Harper isn’t dumb enough to take the bait or has an ego to show he’s in charge unlike previous ADs.
Bingo. Spot on. Harper won't talk until NIT decision finalized. If we arent in, he will move quick in letting out Kevin is staying, or announcing his replacement. I expect this to be quick.
I dont expect the hire to be quick, at least not until after first week of the tournament depending on who he has lined up. I would however expect if a move happens for "reports" to come out before the NIT selection show floating the move.
I can tell you that is one thing harper is well aware of when he makes his rounds through the t&m. He does what he can to keep asses in the seats and is not working. Eventually if not now somebody is going to be thrown under the bus. Wether kruger loses his job or no. From what I gather am not sure harper has much faith in ckk's brand of bb is capable of building ,much less retaining any fan base..
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For those of us that wondered what if we had a second guard to go with DTJ...
Gilbert and TJO just win the Big 12 tournament and Gilbert had 16/6/3...
Gilbert and TJO just win the Big 12 tournament and Gilbert had 16/6/3...
We need two guys to go with what we have to flank DJ and a sniper/hustler type off the bench who can get hot from 3!
But we got CKK. We'll be back here same time next year saying the same shyt. Congrats to Pitino and NM for the tournament championship.
Hall also averaged 17/8 this year... what does this team look like if we kept both of them and didn't have Webster or LuRod...
Agreed!
Im still hoping Harper surprises us like he did when he canned Arroyo after many here wanted to stay the course of mediocrity!
I’m not sure there’s been a more recent disappointing year in hindsight than this year’s team in terms of missed opportunities. I didn’t go into the year thinking the team had a strong shot at the MWC title or the tournament championship much less the NCAA and certainly with the way the season began it only reinforced that viewpoint, but the team and coaching staff found their strengths and seized upon them. UNLV became a legit contender. The Boone injury (and to a lesser extent Whaley’s injury) killed the MWCT hopes. Watching UNM win the MWCT only reinforces the feeling that it was ours for the taking. Regardless, if we handled our business against the quad 3/4 teams we would be an at-large NCAA team even with the injuries. This falls squarely on the coaching staff imo. The emotional side of me says pull the trigger and make a change, but the staff actually did a good job finding the strengths of this team and getting the players to execute on them. It turned the season around. It’s really been an odd season and the case for or against CKK could be made either way. I’ve rolled numerous scenarios around my head but they all come back to the main question: who is the replacement? If it’s a serious upgrade, pull the trigger. If it’s just another coaching search and total reset including likely losing DJ, stick with another year and see if this coaching staff can turn the corner.
Imagine if we had a bigger budget for NIL and if we closed down the built in kitchen at our practice facility.
No, we wouldn't have been a bubble team. There's been 4 bid stealers already and 1 more possible today. I don't think we would've made it as at large team 6 in MWC to give us 7.
Buy I do agree there was missed opportunity and I don't think injuries was the reason. Dropping games in final minutes definitely was our Achilles heel all the way to the end. We had 4 point leads at USU, vs Reno at home, Vs SDSU, and I think vs CSU. Not finishing games has to do with bench and one dimensional offense. Especially late vs SDSU all we did was run 2 screens for DTJ and no one else was looking for the ball or shot. That's been a consistent theme at end of games
Losses to USU, RENO, CSU and SDSU were not the reason we didn't go to the dance. The Q4 losses were the reason. Win those and we're talking about seeding.
Yeah sure, but if I recall outside Southern and getting the doors beat off us by AFA, we had leads in final few minutes of both LMU and St. Mary's... add to that leads vs CSU/USU/SDSU/Reno... that's what 4 more Q1 wins... all it shows is how many lost opportunities we had and in most of those we suffered the same fate where we lost leads in either final minutes of regulation or OT... just makes you go "what if"
You have mentioned poor roster construction time and time again and I agree! We only had DJ for “end of game” scenarios, WHY did we not have another creator on this team recruited?!! I will tell you why look no further than who is sitting at the head of the bench, Kevin, that’s why! He has shown no ability to recruit more than one guy who can be the guy in crunch time for the last 3 years we have seen this same deficiency and many here think this will magically change this season? Coaching the players once they get here is another shortcoming of Kevin, see Gilbert and Hall! Why is this guy still here, oh yeah we won 10 of 12 to finish the year, uh 5 or 6 of those games were against bottom feeders in the MWC. Who cares, we had 3 quad 4 losses by this time, what about that?! Next season will be more disappointment, more underachieving and next March we will be here arguing amongst ourselves about why… I am hoping for a March surprise from Harper, just like the surprise he gave us when he fired Arroyo after many here said 5-7 yet again was good progress for our Rebels football program.
The only way he fires CKK is if he has someone already lined up. Harper should and hopefully will not put us thru that again. Kind of quite. U would think he would say CKK will be out HC going into next year. U might have to give him a extension so he can he can use that to sign players
They're waiting to see if they get an NIT invite. If not, I'm not sure Kevin returns. The NIT at least says look we're moving forward, first postseason in 10 years, etc..
No point in rushing unless you knew there was no postseason coming.
This. Look at Whaley's minutes before we had an injury that put him in the game. CKK can't see player chemistry from practicing imo. I don't think he knows what he as on the bench until things work out in a game where the right players are on the floor and they start making things happen. It's why you have former players like Gilbert and Hall lighting it up on other teams. This guy has got to go. I've been saying this for two years now.
Yeah, I remember Hall wanted more minutes and after 1 down game Kruger benched him and he got frustrated. Burned bridge. Sacrificed his future core for mythical "win now" and its cost him good players each year.. imagine our core- Gilbert/Hall/Whaley/DTJ, bring in a few solid transfers to play the 5(not undersized stretch big men the Krugers love) and add the new freshman/Juco guys in... but no, we're sitting here hoping Whaley comes back, and that we keep Nowell and JJ and Karl Jones? Lol
You can still fire him... but what if you fire him say yesterday or earlier today and then get an NIT invite...
After beating the centerless Princeton last night and shooting 65% or so for the 2d half, UNLV exposed the Ivy League. Then listless passing and then being saved by Nowell and the bench, DJT lived to see another day. He is only as good as the players he has to pass to, and not lob passes over the double team. Rebs needed to clean up their press break and they did to stop a hot shooting Princeton team in the last three minutes. As I said and Meister Rebel and others, Nowell has to be on the floor. In MWC, his rust was on display but rotation and defensive stance have been solid. How he would have done with DJT and a more controlled HIcks drove me crazy all year. I am rooting for the Rebels but hoping for a new offensive minded coach.
I bet CKK would not have recruited anyone on the Oakland team that just beat Kentucky. Since they still count points for balls going thru the hoop, shooting does matter.
3 years if beat bc..
Good chance Calipari all done in kentucky..be a good fit here..find 8 mil a year and go get him harper!!
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