Kevin

[j. spilotro]

I'm going to be honest, this is the season that broke me as Runnin' Rebel fan. I'm not a glass half full guy on the best of days, but I just don't see how anyone can get any optimism from this current regime. I think this offense is actually worse than Marv's offense. I think we are laden with tweeners and incomplete players and don't have any 'system' that we seem to be building a roster for. Kev's got his dad's stubborn propensity to play favorites despite having players who easily are better eye-test guys. Thomas is a really nice piece, I think that Pape and Hicks have some nice upside with development and other than that I can't see anyone else who really deserves a roster spot. Hill is a tweener who doesn't do anything terribly or very well, Henley at least plays a little defense and can slash a bit. Bedford was brought in to be a scoring wing and he simply isn't and a poor defender. Whaley is a tweener and is always hurt. Rishwain would be fine in a Travis Bice 12-15 minute role as a shooter but he's definitely not a starter on a top 50 team. Bear Cherry can't stay out of foul trouble and can't handle a big with a pulse on either end of the post. Bannarbie might have some upside, but he's got that super fast hook and he's definitely got some freshmen tendencies. I would have thought that Evans could have provided some bench offense to this team especially after the wing injuries we've been through but you leave the RS on him like your job is on the line. Jace Whiting is too small to be a wing, too slow to be a point, and has been hurt.

Roster construction, offensive and defensive cohesive philosophies, set plays, clock management, recruiting, development, understanding the feel of the game--someone tell me what Kevin does well? I can't see any real growth in any of these areas. This is the modern era of college hoops. It doesn't take more than 4 years to get performance out of a team. Kevin has been screaming what he is for 3.5 years and I just wonder if the front office is finally going to listen and move on. Honestly, this kills me to say--but my worst nightmare is that Kevin goes on a run and somehow saves his job and gets an extension. I never even reached that point with Marv, and while I think Marv was actually worse than Kevin because he had a TON of high level assistant and some lower level head coaching success, Kevin never did anything to heal the wounds that Marv inflicted.

I'm not even watching the games that get recorded to my DVR right now.

And you actually are one of the more balanced fans, probably even lean a little bit optimistic … I thank you for the post because I see things exactly as you do. I think it’s obvious. And when I see counters that aren’t close to what I think is obvious, I think agenda of some sort, even the kumbaya krew has to see the myriad of flaws with not a single strong positive.

I never thought we could do worse than Menzies. Otz was similar but he was disinterested and a known short timer, so I didn’t like his teams either, but I don’t think he was as bad as Menzies. Let’s remember, Menzies was at the bottom of the D list for UNLV and he got the job because he was last man standing. Not a soul in the fanbase or even admin wanted him at all - but what they wanted even less was the continued embarrassment of the botched mid season firing/messy hiring process.

Not his first team, that was a mess. And even though I didn’t like his next two teams, they were a little better, a little worse than KK’s …. But that we are comparing current to the potential worst ever … splitting hairs doesn’t matter, that there is any viable comparison is more than enough.

I don’t want KK to lose but understand what you’re saying … anytime we have a bad setback, we don’t recover. Switching coaches all the time just doesn’t work except for USU. I’d rather Kevin “gets it” and we move forward in the right direction, but my confidence level of that is zero. And your first inkling is offseason transfers/recruiting. If you’re going to battle NMSU/Irvine and Northridge for players, it’s going to be more the same. You need talent, one trick pony players need to be your 8-11 guys, not 2-5.

Thanks for the post.

 

[rebel5280]

I get it.
That Boise game was tough to get fired up about since we don’t have the talent or desire to compete with them (and I don’t think they are a top 50 team per my eye test). Sure, they looked like a FF playing us, but so do worse teams.

Dedan would be better in a better system. Pape could develop. I agree with the rest not standing out (I’m not a big Hicks guy but won’t squabble over that).

Agree!

Hicks is an “out of control” type that is typical for UNLV recruits!

By the time he learns how to play, he will be a freaking senior, we would be lucky to get 1 decent season out of him!

 

[Rebel1986]

And you actually are one of the more balanced fans, probably even lean a little bit optimistic … I thank you for the post because I see things exactly as you do. I think it’s obvious. And when I see counters that aren’t close to what I think is obvious, I think agenda of some sort, even the kumbaya krew has to see the myriad of flaws with not a single strong positive.

I never thought we could do worse than Menzies. Otz was similar but he was disinterested and a known short timer, so I didn’t like his teams either, but I don’t think he was as bad as Menzies. Let’s remember, Menzies was at the bottom of the D list for UNLV and he got the job because he was last man standing. Not a soul in the fanbase or even admin wanted him at all - but what they wanted even less was the continued embarrassment of the botched mid season firing/messy hiring process.

Not his first team, that was a mess. And even though I didn’t like his next two teams, they were a little better, a little worse than KK’s …. But that we are comparing current to the potential worst ever … splitting hairs doesn’t matter, that there is any viable comparison is more than enough.

I don’t want KK to lose but understand what you’re saying … anytime we have a bad setback, we don’t recover. Switching coaches all the time just doesn’t work except for USU. I’d rather Kevin “gets it” and we move forward in the right direction, but my confidence level of that is zero. And your first inkling is offseason transfers/recruiting. If you’re going to battle NMSU/Irvine and Northridge for players, it’s going to be more the same. You need talent, one trick pony players need to be your 8-11 guys, not 2-5.

Thanks for the post.

I really thought he was starting to get it at the end of the year in the NIT, but the last game in the NIT where UNLV was blown out started to sour me to the possibility he would figure things out, and so far this entire year has been cringe worthy!

 

[RebelScrub]

The writing on the wall was when Waley sat out for more money lol